Eating at gourmet burger joints all over town has reminded me what I love about a burger. Combining contrasting textures and splashing wild flavor around is fun, but what are we really talking about here? That super juicy, savory-rich bite of beef. Everything else is just framing.
At our newest gourmet burger joint, Bottles & Burgers in the year-old Tivoli Village center, that beautiful bite is present. Cook the meat well, can’t go wrong. Some of the framing is colorful and interesting. There’s a chopped tuna burger with chiles and watercress, and a stuffed chicken burger with mozzarella and red pepper chutney. Other accoutrements are more straightforward and successful, such as the blend of onion marmalade, blue cheese and bacon.
Bottles & Burgers also taught me what I don’t want with a burger, and that’s sweetness. Most of the buns are soft, fluffy, brioche-style bread. This works on the sliders, where a little goes a long way. It’s a particularly nice match with the creamy coleslaw on the slightly spicy barbecue pulled pork mini-sandwiches. But a sweet roll doesn’t stack up well with the meatpile of the Double Helix stuffed burger, Angus beef and braised short ribs forming an unholy union, with horseradish, too. Sometimes drastic flavors fight it out instead of complementing each other, and now we’ve gotten away from what we love — a nice, juicy, simple burger.
If you like sweet stuff, get one of the devilish spiked milkshakes, Choco-Cherry with vodka or the Hostess with the Mostess, cake-flavored vodka with vanilla ice cream and the kitchen’s remake of a chocolate Hostess cupcake. Or maybe you like sweet potato fries, served with chipotle aioli and the suggestion of a half-bottle of pinot noir. There are plenty of bottles and plenty of burgers here, lots of fun, and lots of options. Choose the right adventure.