@thingstea: Not to my knowledge, and definitely not here on SE. Perhaps locally, though I don't remember seeing anything in my research.
@Nezrite: It's on my list, I've been following news of that place closely.
Onion rings!
Also, recreate Wendy's Frosty, yum.
@ancf: I don't think I'm doing a disservice to Milwaukee by giving honest reviews. In fact, if I didn't, I'd be doing a disservice. You only mention Hollander and Hooligan's; perhaps you've only started reading recently? If so, take a look back at other reviews. There are many, many burgers in this city that I love. And obviously I can't be scaring too many people away, since you still enjoy both places, can I?
@timberbarrack: I didn't think "dirty refrigerator" would be so controversial! The wings tasted like they had been left in the walk-in for days on end, definitely far from fresh. I don't know if I've ever left wings uneaten, but this time I ate two and could not stomach any more!
Also, you're usually a fair and respectful commenter, so no hard feelings. I am concerned, however, when you describe my reviews at nitpicky and negative as a whole. The nitpicky thing...well, that's my job. Negative, though, not so much. I'm the kind of person to be honest, even if it's harsh. And when I love a place, I praise it pretty hard as well. People tend to latch on to the more "sensational" negative reviews and forget the good ones, though. In the end, everyone's entitled to their own opinion and I'd hope they form their own about each restaurant.
@beersnob: I'm not really sure the sauces are the main feature of the burger, but they all sounded great so I chose burgers with various ones. Certainly Dotty's also offers burgers without sauces, including a make-your-own version. And for the record, I'm not typically a big mayo fan (especially on burgers), and Dotty's were definitely the best mayo-based burger sauces I've had.
@Rodzilla: Yeah that was a little odd. Odder still was that the cheese on that particular burger was melted more than the others!
@scatteredsong: Thank you! And I hope for your sake that you DO visit Wisconsin.
timberbarrack: Off the top of my head from the places I've reviewed, the only ones that serve medium or lower burgers would be Elsa's, Champp's (go figure), B1, Stack'd, Sobelman's (though very inconsistently), and Oscar's on Pierce (they started out rough but currently seem to have the pink burger down pat).
There are others in the MKE area, but they tend to be more upscale places. I just don't get the problem!
Oh man I love hot ham and rolls chat. Our go-to place was Rupena's since we lived a few blocks away. I think they used Badger baked ham, and heat it in a spiced brine. But you don't get free hard rolls there, you get Vienna rolls, just roll versions of their Vienna bread. It's a little softer and sweeter than hard rolls, and of course delicious as well. Supplement your pound of ham with 6 more rolls! Then eat with OJ while watching cartoons, or more usually, American Gladiators :)
Shit, now I want some.
@KidRisky: I'm not sure if they're a regional thing, but I have a feeling they might be. Maybe someone else can shed some light on that.
@djmsalem: They do look a little sausagey, but I think the texture wasn't really an issue because they were relatively thin patties. Anything thicker and I might have noticed it more.
Hmmm, I made mayo with my stick blender a couple years ago and it broke. Ended up doing it by hand. I used AB's mayo recipe which calls for powdered mustard instead of regular mustard, perhaps that lack of extra emulsifiers is the culprit? What would cause it to break more easily with a stick blender?
@EatWisconsin: I'm sorry you feel I have some sort of vendetta against Bunker's, a review I did back in December. I made it clear in my review that I didn't like the burger, but still enjoyed the restaurant. For example:
"I will be going back to Bunkers, but unfortunately it won't be for the burger."
"The cons outweighed the pros for the burger on my visit, but non-burger items ordered by my dining companions were very good."
And finally I even tell people they should go regardless of my bad burger experience: "Between those items, inexpensive daily specials and the attentive customer service, Bunkers is worth a visit, whether you decide to try the burger or not."
My criticisms were fair and were backed up by my photos. I've never personally told anyone not to go there, only that I think the burger is overrated, in my experience. I most definitely never said that they have "crappy" food.
@EatWisconsin: I order two burgers or more each time I go (unless they only offer one burger on the menu), giving the restaurant usually two chances to get temperature right. In my experiences, restaurants don't get it right most of the time, which means I'd have to return almost every single burger I review. That just starts a slippery slope of returning to the kitchen. Do I do it just for temperature problems? What if the bun is stale? A topping is missing? I don't like the sauce? etc. etc. And then at what point am I just making sure I have a good burger to review, even if I wouldn't have liked what originally came out and what they generally serve to customers?
As for Bunker's specifically, there were other things I didn't like about that burger that had nothing to do with the beef. Most notably the huge, stale ciabatta bun.
@Hard2Handle: Thanks for the tip! It is a little far but if I'm ever out that way I'll try and make a stop.
I grew up just blocks from Rupena's, and they do indeed carry game meats. I highly recommend their homemade sausages (brats and Hungarians, especially) and smoked meats!
@Barbd: Thanks for the history lesson! I was trying to remember what the building used to be but couldn't come up with it. But actually, I often went to the Hales Corners Charcoal Grill location (on Hwy 100) to get my buffalo burgers most of the time. Too bad the specialty game place isn't still around, that sounds interesting! Kind of like the game burgers you can get at the State Fair.
The things-from-your-childhood-never-live-up thing is definitely the case in some instances of burger (or restaurant) sadness. Things seem so much better when you're a kid. But I don't think that's what happened in this case. First, I went to Charcoal Grill well into my teens, so I'd remember it better than when I was 8. Second, I was even pickier back then about my burgers than I am now, so if they had served me a buffalo burger like the one I got for the review, there's no way I would have eaten it, just based on texture alone.
@Hard2Handle: Overcooking burgers is a huge problem in Milwaukee in general, so no surprises there. And I do love the topping bar too, though it used to be higher quality items. And it used to have pasta salads on it, too, a nice touch.
@matamua: Like lots of others have said (thanks, others!), I've given plenty of good reviews. Some of my favorite burgers are Oscar's, Sobelman's, Elsa's, B-1, Mazo's and Nite Owl, just off the top of my head. I even gave a couple chain restaurants pretty good reviews, which is somewhat uncommon around here. Perhaps, seeing that you don't live around MKE, you tend to skip over the positive headlines and fixate on the negative, since they're usually a bit more sensationalized.
As far as visiting a restaurant more than once, Kenji can do it because he's a SE staff member. While all the AHT correspondents would love to have an unlimited budget, I doubt that's possible. You'll also notice that this particular review is rather short, because I didn't find it necessary to go on and on about how bad the burgers were -- I'm not trying to simply bash a restaurant. But I'm not going to sugarcoat either, or I wouldn't be doing a very good job.
@JulietRomeo: Mine's always cloudy too, at first. As it sits, it seems to go clear again.
I tend to make mine less watered down too, especially if I'm going to be using it as a dressing for bun.
@Seipel: I'm sorry you're so upset over my review. As I said, I've been to Harry's a number of times and the food has always been good. Why would I not expect the burgers to be just as good? Should I only be reviewing places that are considered to have "the best burger in Milwaukee"? If you live here in MKE, then you must be aware that I've reviewed many of the more well-known burger places around town (Sobelman's, Mazo's, AJ Bombers, etc.). There's also a number of great burgers to be had at non-burger-specific restaurants, and that's what I expected at Harry's.
To address some of your specific comments, the first burger was definitely past medium (though not by a whole lot), and the second burger was also ordered medium. I like sour cream, and stated that I took most of it off because there was so much of it, not because I didn't like sour cream. As to the name Big Kahuna, if you frequent Harry's often you know that all of their burgers are a "whopping half pound" of meat, and the toppings on that particular burger aren't out of the ordinary compared to the rest of the burger offerings. You're "insulting your own intelligence" if you somehow overlook that fact and feel the need to fixate on that particular, unimportant part of my review.
I did not "blame" Harry's for putting shortribs on a burger, I stated that the burger patties really didn't do the shortribs justice. I did not say that the shortribs should be on their own sandwich, but perhaps on a single-patty burger. In fact, I complimented the shortribs, perhaps you missed that part. Feel free to reread my review if you need a refresher!
@ laetitiae:
Calling Ree's carefully calculated public products (recipes and persona) awful or hypocritical isn't mean. Calling her a name would be mean.
Like I said, she will fit in well with the likes of Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, and Sandra Lee, the cornerstones of the Food Network.
Most definitely not tuning in for this. Her recipes are awful, and her little ol' ranch-hand wife bit is so, so overdone and hypocritical.
I guess that means she's perfect for the Food Network!
I know you guys can't get them in NY, but I'm partial to a brand called Milwaukee's Pickles. I believe they're only available in the Midwest, but their Kosher dill is the only pickle I buy! So delicious. Grocery stores here (especially Woodman's) stock many shelves full of the different varieties.
Uh oh, add another contributor to the loves-smash-burgs list. Maybe I'll have to change my answer so it doesn't look like I copied!
MKE needs more smash places.
Ha! Perhaps I should have paid more attention to what I was eating in college, and less attention to pizza rumors.
Definitely leave room for beer. Ordering giant burgs is fun sometimes, but once we saw how large the pile of chili cheese fries was, we knew we made a mistake! The bartender chuckled and asked if we had ever been there before.
Definitely my favorite deep dish; I got hooked on it when I went to school in Chicago so much so that if I'm in the Chicago area, I often pick up a pie to go! I'm one of the people you haven't found though--I love the crust. The chewy, slightly crunchy texture of the back crust and the signature split at the top are great. But it is a sad day when there's not enough sauce on top and it dries out too much!
I always find it interesting how the spinach is their most popular topping/stuffing, and also how it's got poppy seeds in the mix (even the receipt used to say "poppy" for spinach). But unlike you, I actually enjoyed their thin crust as well, especially with their relatively spicy pepperoni.
Man, now I'm craving hard! So sad that the Milwaukee location closed years ago, before I got hooked. Might have to make a run to the border...
@drunkenchef: Cheese curds aren't usually made from mozz, because mozz curds are designed for stretching and aren't as salted as cheddar at that point, so they don't have as much flavor either. Some places maybe make them, but they're not too common. Most of the varieties in the stores/markets are flavored version of cheddar curd, like garlic, dill, etc. Both the white and yellow cheese curds at Culver's tasted the same, so I assume they're just white and yellow cheddar. It was certainly not a problem, it's just something you don't expect or see all the time.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
Lacey Muszynski hasn't written a post yet.
While Boulder Junction is far from a top burger in the city, it's still pretty good, especially considering there aren't a ton of other noteworthy burger places in Brookfield. More
Rao's is definitely fantastic, and I used to buy the Arrabbiatta as a treat sometimes... Only rarely because it's $8 here.