We walked into the renovated fire station on a Thursday night around 8:30. It was considerably crowded, but apparently there just happened to be a lot of parties there that night. The first thing I noticed was how loud the concrete floors made it the room (think Bottom’s Up x3). But there was a narrow seating area outside so we decided to give that a shot.
The outside seating space was nice but kinda weird since it’s sandwiched inbetween two brick walls. But the crowd seemed nice – 20 something’s up to 50 something’s (all coincidentally in big parties that night). So the place was loud but not rowdy, per se.
The waitstaff was nice but terribly unorganized. It took us so long to get a server, the host came over and got us our waters. But they were pretty busy that night with the all the big parties, so we cut ‘em some slack. They were definitely nice, but they couldn’t tell what table was what number. I’m pretty sure the manager brought our food out and he didn’t even know what table to go to. But they were all very polite and attentive.
I got the BBQ Barista – a seemingly typical BBQ burger, except it’s rubbed down with coffee grounds and topped with gouda cheese. It was deeeeeeeeelicious. The most flavorful BBQ burger I’ve ever tried. I think it’s the first time the sauce hasn’t completely taken over the whole burger before. And it was cooked PERFECTLY. *gasp* first time I've ever said that. Medium rare - just enough pink throughout (heh) and beef that was crumbling apart a little near the end. MMMM
(BTW New favorite salad dressing alert! Italian feta? Hell yes. For a cheese lover like me who’s getting sick of blue cheese dressing, it was a tasty, refreshing substitute.)
Enough about the food, can we talk about the milkshakes?! They have regular and alcohol options, although I couldn’t really detect much alcohol in my Naughty Girl Scout (either really weak or really dangerous J).
My comrade got the Chow Bella, which consisted of peppers, bacon, gouda, and arugula with a garlic aioli sauce. I love the way they don’t just stock a couple of basic ingredients and then use different combinations for each burger. They really thought about what unique ingredients go well together and came up with burgers I never would've thought of. My friend said his burger was really good (since I didn’t try it, I can’t say much).
For a milkshake he tried the Monkey Palm, which I’m glad he chose because I’ll probably never try it due to the real bananas in it (I’m sorry, if I want fruit, I’ll eat fruit – when I get milkshakes, I want chocolate, vanilla, and other eeeevil sugars only. THANKS). He said it was really good, which means a lot coming from someone lacking a sweet tooth.
In the end, this place definitely did not disappoint, and I am to get back there soon to try the other burgers and their delicious looking appetizers (beer cheese? Sign me up!). And of course, every milkshake.
PS- For anyone who’s a fan of eating challengers, check out The Ladder at the end of the burger list. If anyone tries this, write me when you get out of the hospital after your heart attack.
