dining out: bgr

Last Friday after work, Tony and I didn't have plans, so instead of going straight home, we decided to stop for dinner. I had heard good things about the veggie burger at BGR, so we made our way to the location in Old Town.

In so many restaurants, the veggie options are either (a) nonexistent or (b) an afterthought. BGR is different. You can tell that some chef somewhere spent a lot of hours trying a lot of different recipes to perfect a veggie burger that doesn't fall apart and has a unique sweet flavor. I read later that the company founder's wife is a vegetarian, and then it all made sense. A man who is in love with a vegetarian, who dines out with said vegetarian, who is keenly aware of the pitfalls of vegetarian options on restaurant menus -- that man is going to make sure his own restaurant prioritizes the veggie burger.

So, the food was great. Tony ordered the ahi tuna burger, which he really enjoyed. He also raved about his parmesan-garlic French fries, but that's when things started to go south. His fries were tossed with the cheese and about a dozen roasted garlic cloves. So the cloves were on his plate, and he thought, hey, eating a dozen garlic cloves is probably a good idea. Said garlic cloves can be spotted in the photo below:

Folks, if you order the garlic fries at BGR, please, for the love of all that is good, do not also eat the cloves. Leave the cloves on the plate. There is no rule that says you must eat all of the food on your plate. Tony had garlic pouring out of his skin for 48 hours. Before Camille and Matt came over for dinner Saturday night, Tony put on several layers of clothing and went for a long run to sweat some of it out, then he took a hot shower to flush more of it out, all while drinking copious amounts of water.

Now, the cost. The meal cost about $36, which I'd say is about double what seems appropriate for the ambience and the fact you order at a counter. Would I go back? Maybe. I don't think it's a place I'd ever suggest that we go, but if someone we're hanging out with is ever in the mood to go to BGR, we'd go along. Or maybe I'd go back if I'm around a BGR for its lunch special (burger + fries + drink for $8.99).

BGR is a locally based chain that seems to be expanding rapidly.