Place: Burger Jones
Where it is
I had high hopes for Burger Jones – one of the three hot new burger spots in the Twin Cities (the others being Smashburger and 5 Guys). Burger Jones is the brainchild of the Parasole Restaurant Group, which has given us Manny’s, Muffuletta and Chino Latino. They wanted to provide the ultimate burger experience – a place with great burgers and style. They’ve got at least the style part down. Burger Jones – ensconced on the outer perimeter of Calhoun Village – is the Ike’s of the burger world with cool retro-modern internal décor and waitstaff with appropriate modern edge. Not sure how well the cocktail bar part works (it works at Ike’s because its menu is more diverse). People expect burger joints to be a little less mod-cool. But no points down for this.
I made two trips to Burger Jones a few weeks apart, one of which I actually got to eat. The first was after running the Minneapolis Marathon (only mentioning to give hunger context). I wheeled over from St. Paul with family (wife, 3 kids) in tow. We got there at 5 p.m. on a Sunday, a time I considered safe for seating. But alas – we showed up with all sorts of people idling around the front of the joint and a 45-minute wait for a table. Uh, no. We bailed for the Bulldog (Uptown) where we enjoyed tasty burgers.
Trip 2 was a success – from the standpoint of getting a table. I tried lunch this time, getting there at 11:30 a.m. on a weekday. This worked. A fellow local startup junkie (Marti Nyman) and I showed up and got a table right away. I got the White Trash Burger, consisting of: a large specialty grind patty, lettuce, tomato, challah-style bun – and… VELVEETA cheese, chicken-fried bacon (yes, you read correctly), and deep-fried cheese curds. First – I ordered the meat medium and got it medium rare (the burger came out really fast). I like a little red and that’s it. This was a little too juicy.
Burger on.
Where it is
I had high hopes for Burger Jones – one of the three hot new burger spots in the Twin Cities (the others being Smashburger and 5 Guys). Burger Jones is the brainchild of the Parasole Restaurant Group, which has given us Manny’s, Muffuletta and Chino Latino. They wanted to provide the ultimate burger experience – a place with great burgers and style. They’ve got at least the style part down. Burger Jones – ensconced on the outer perimeter of Calhoun Village – is the Ike’s of the burger world with cool retro-modern internal décor and waitstaff with appropriate modern edge. Not sure how well the cocktail bar part works (it works at Ike’s because its menu is more diverse). People expect burger joints to be a little less mod-cool. But no points down for this.
I made two trips to Burger Jones a few weeks apart, one of which I actually got to eat. The first was after running the Minneapolis Marathon (only mentioning to give hunger context). I wheeled over from St. Paul with family (wife, 3 kids) in tow. We got there at 5 p.m. on a Sunday, a time I considered safe for seating. But alas – we showed up with all sorts of people idling around the front of the joint and a 45-minute wait for a table. Uh, no. We bailed for the Bulldog (Uptown) where we enjoyed tasty burgers.
Trip 2 was a success – from the standpoint of getting a table. I tried lunch this time, getting there at 11:30 a.m. on a weekday. This worked. A fellow local startup junkie (Marti Nyman) and I showed up and got a table right away. I got the White Trash Burger, consisting of: a large specialty grind patty, lettuce, tomato, challah-style bun – and… VELVEETA cheese, chicken-fried bacon (yes, you read correctly), and deep-fried cheese curds. First – I ordered the meat medium and got it medium rare (the burger came out really fast). I like a little red and that’s it. This was a little too juicy.
And the outrageous toppings were just that. Flavorful on their own, but with little business being on the burger. I could think of some good “white-trashy” burger concepts (with a middle name Willie and with East Texas roots), and simply piling on ingredients doesn’t work. The Velveeta was okay. But the deep-fried bacon tasted mostly like the batter and was too thick, especially 3 long pieces (see the messy hogpile above). Given the Velveeta already on the burger, the cheese curds were wholly superfluous. Note: the burger did not taste bad, just cluttered (like a lot of restaurant food these days). And the fries were delicious – thin cut, salty and crisp. I will try Burger Jones again – but aim for the simpler members of its burger family.
Burger on.
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