With gourmet burgers becoming ubiquitous in Toronto, which ones actually stand out from the rest? There’s so many to choose from you need not walk but a few blocks before you bump into one. In the first of an ongoing review of these burger joints, I’ve decided to write about Gourmet Burger Co.
Started By Australian John Ward, the idea for the place stemmed from food he used to get on the go when he was back home. Essentially it was fast food that wasn’t processed, frozen or microwaved. He wanted to bring that same idea here to Canada. He thought that burgers were the perfect way to showcase the fast and fresh approach to food.
The burgers are made from farm raised Canadian beef that’s been aged for at least 30 days. All of its sauces are homemade. In addition all of their packaging is biodegradable.
When I grab a burger on the go, I usually get the spicy Cajun burger ($5.95) which has avocado, jalapeños, lettuce, jalapeño havarti, tomatoes, Cajun spice and mokey chipotle & honey mayo. I also order a side of beer battered onion rings ($2.95) which I like, but the onions are sliced pretty thick. I would prefer the portions of the rings to be a bit larger. Though the burger is a bit thick from what I like, it is juicy and has always been cooked properly. The flavouring is basic which doesn’t detract from the taste of the beef.
The Gourmet Burger Company has various locations you can view here. All of their locations are wheelchair accessible.
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Must say I’m disappointed that you started with GBC. Apart from the sexy girl with the Aussie accent at the counter, not much to distinguish this from a fast food burger. For scrumptious custom burgers (especially the spicy!), there’s no beating Craft Burger (830 Yonge St, 573 King W). A combo with heavenly golden fries and a drink will cost you about $13.
Another joint I really enjoy, although it’s a little uppity both in terms of decor & price tag, is W Burger Bar (10 College St). It’s a ‘play chef’ establishment; you select each topping and choose between beef, lamb, bison (great). There is probably some vegetarian on offer too but I never bothered to check 🙂
Hope you get a chance to hit these places soon.
-Hiten
Thanks for your comment Hiten.
I’ll be writing about both of these in the upcoming weeks as well.
As for the your comment “not much to distinguish this from a fast food burger” I do like that they don’t use any binding agents in their burger, so you can taste the locally raised beef a lot more. Their toppins are always fresh and there’s a good selection. Is there another reason you don’t like the burgers?
Not saying I don’t like the others, but you’ll have to wait for upcoming posts to see!
I like the GBC burgers very much.For that matter, I like fast food burgers too, Johnny Rockets being an early love.
What I said was when it comes to ‘gourmet burgers’, GBC is probably the lowest of the lot. I guess my palate isn’t quite there yet in terms of being able to notice the lack of binding agents 🙂
Looking forward to your next in the series.
PS: Do look into getting the Twitter/facebook/backtype widget for your blog. People won’t need to sign in each time, and as an added bonus, can post their comments on Twitter for all to see.