Post # 13 Atria Restaurant/Brick Cellar Bar

Atria Restaurant/Brick Cellar Bar
137 Main St.
Edgartown, MA 02539
atriamv.com

Of the many things I enjoy doing on Martha's Vineyard, several culinary outings have become "must dos" summer after summer. Sipping a Mermaid Farm Blueberry Lassie while watching the bulls in their morning pasture across Middle Road is one. Eating a cheeseburger smothered in Barbie Fenner's JD sauce on The Galley's back deck is another (see Post # 9 ). Slurping shucked clams with my wife on the sun-drenched docks behind Menemsha Fish Market never sucks; and imbibing in at least one but no more than three Holy Water martinis at the Park Corner Bistro is always a high point.

Hmm...a martini blog? Now that could be fun.

  

Surf

Turf

Mirth

   














This past summer I experienced a culinary curiosity to add to my traditions.

Have you ever eaten a McDonald's Big Mac and felt disgusting afterward--or disgusted with yourself? To a point where you need a shower but know that no amount of absolution will cleanse you of your indulgences? What if you could experience the salty, greasy, sinful taste of a Big Mac without the emotional disgust or physical damage?

That's the concept of the McRip Off Burger, developed by Christian Thornton, chef/owner of Edgartown's Atria Restaurant. The McRip Off is one of many burgers Thornton offers in Atria's Brick Cellar Bar downstairs, and it is as close to a guilt-free, farm-to-table Big Mac as you will find...as oxymoronic as that sounds.

The sign out front upscale Atria Restaurant. For killer burgers, head downstairs.

Chef Thornton with his favorite blogger

The McRip Off and the Big Mac are similar in that each features (chant with me, people) two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame-seed-bun. But the
marketing mantra, and surprisingly comparable tastes, are where the similarities end. While a Big Mac's meat is of dubious age and make-up, the two, four-ounce patties of the McRip Off are made from super fresh, hand-formed, 80/20 Angus beef. While a Big Mac's tomatoes are tasteless. lettuce listless and onions without odor, the McRip features farm fresh Martha's Vineyard produce whenever available. While a Big Mac's pickles are generic and special sauce nothing special, Atria makes its own pickles and sauce, and both are pretty special. Thornton has brought a chef's sensibilities to engineering the burger; so while a Big Mac is an assembly-line atrocity compiled by dazed high schoolers, the McRip Off is a handcrafted masterpiece prepared by serious chefs who love and respect food. When the ingredients are combined, the McRip Off tastes curiously like a Big Mac, but it does so while being fresh, authentic and clean.

OMG...this burger. Holy Shit.

I enjoyed two McRip Offs this summer: one with Scott, who introduced me to it after one but no more than three Holy Waters, and another with my glutenista wife Alicia, who sat patiently over a plate of goat cheese and portabellas as I burgasmed on a bar stool. The salt and grease components were high and spot on, the yellow American cheese was melted perfectly over the vegetable trifecta, and the Fireking Bakery bun was the quintessential burger girdle. Simply put, the eating experiences were ambrosial.

The only drawback to the McRip Off might be its name. At 19 bucks a pop, I don't want a hint of being McRipped off while I'm Loving It. After all, the price tag is almost three times that of a JD Burger and twice as much as a dozen shucked clams. But no matter how many clams it costs, the McRip Off is a hundred times better than a Big Mac, and comes with a psychological Get Out Of Jail Free card. Not to mention a generous helping of crispy, salty fries.

And besides, this is Edgartown we're talking about. By that measuring stick, the McRip Off is worth every penny. And worthy of inclusion in anybody's MV traditions.

Score: 9.3 out of 10 Napkins