Pine Lake Ale House

Today's burger adventure found us at Pine Lake Ale House in Sammamish. The place was clean, a few TVs tuned to sports, but nothing extra special about the interior. Seemed like your basic pub, maybe a little better lighting than some and definitely not a dive. It's located in a Safeway parking lot, so about as suburban as you can get.

Our waiter was very friendly and helpful. Maybe it helped that Brian and I went with a local that was a regular customer (thanks for hosting us James!), as it seemed the staff knew him well. Picture the old TV show, "Cheers" and when Norm used to walk in everyone would say, "hey Normy!!". Kind of like that. :)

The waiter suggested that I try a modified version of their BBQ burger - it was bacon, crumbled bleu cheese, onion straws and barbeque sauce. It was very good. the regular, non-modified BBQ burger, which James had, has cheddar cheese instead crumbled bleu cheese and does not come with bacon. I would definitely suggest this place for a good burger to anyone. Maybe a little pricey, I think it was $12.95 for the burger and fries. But a good burger for sure.

Speaking of fries - they were good, but the best part was the amazing 'special' tartar sauce that they supplied for dipping. Not sure what was in it, but it was awesome!!

I'm thinking that I would rate my Pine Lake Ale House burger somewhere between Zippys (which was better) and Five Guys.

So many burgers, so little time..

Wibbley's Gourmet Burgers

Checked out Wibbley's Gourmet Hamburgers in Bellevue today. Nice little place. It is located just off of 140th and just north of 520. Servers were friendly, place was clean, pretty quick service. Kind of no frills or extras place.

I enjoyed the Picante burger: swiss, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos and chipotle mayo. Good burger.

Brian had the Century burger, bacon, blue cheese, bean sprouts (hmmm), lettuce and tomato.

The buns at this place were really good, perfectly toasted, so that it had a very light crunch on the outside but still soft on the inside. Burgers were juicy and bun to burger ratio pretty good. Not the biggest burger that we've come across in our journey, but tasty. Fries were run of the mill.

Would rank this one about even with Red Mill and Five Guys but below Zippys or Jaks.

The journey continues Seattle's best burger!

Zippys - West Seattle

Hit another 'must try' burger place from our life list today.

Zippys in West Seattle. It was a little bit hard to find, but definitely worth it. Small place, fun atmosphere, good food. The walls are covered with photos and memorabilia from classic burger joints. Soft drinks are all served in the old fashioned glass soda pop bottles. Staff was friendly and place was clean.

The only thing that you'll find on the menu is burgers - lots of them. I tried the Jimbo at the recommendation of the guy working the counter. Pepper jack cheese, jalapenos, lettuce, and mayo. It was a very good burger. I would put it in the same class as Red Mill or Five Guys, but below the level of Jaks in Issaquah (still the reigning champ). I would rate it higher than Fat Burger or Kid Valley and higher than the Keg.

Fries were okay - average, nothing special. Overall experience was great. Worth the drive.

Best Burger Hit List

Collected this list of 'must try' places for the best burger! Brian and I will hit them all - consider it a sort of 'gastronomical bucket list'.

(not in any specific order).

1. Kidd Valley - decent
   
2. Pine Lake Ale House - Good size burger, juicy, highly recommend their special tartar sauce to go with your fries!
   
3. Counter Burger
4. Woody's in Woodinville
5. Lunchbox Laboratory
6. Fat Burger - okay but a little too cookie cutter, commercial
   
7. Bob's Burgers and Brew
8. Wibbley's Gourmet Hamburgers - Great buns (sounds funny), juicy, not the biggest burger, good but no threat to the current champ.
   
9. Jaks in Issaquah - The current champ, best burger i've tasted!
10. Zippys West Seattle - worth the drive, cool place, good burgers
    
11. Bad Alberts
12. Latona Pub
13. Uneeda Burgers
14. Billy Bob's Burgers and Barbeque - The jalapeno cream cheese burger is awesome
15. Red Mill Fremont - Good burger, interesting place
16. Five Guys - Very Good burger, like it better than Red Mill, fries are the real story though - man they are good
17. Ixtapa Carnation - Their secret is the deep fried bacon on the bacon cheese burger. Really good, but not a consistent experience.
18. Brickhouse Tavern
19. Lil Woody's
20. Katsu Brger
    

Quincy's - Real charbroiled burgers... Seattle Center

I went to Seattle Center to meet my family and see Robin Hood at the children's theater...

To my surprise, I found a Burger joint...

Burger to bun ratio was good. Fresh lettuce, crisp tomato, crunchy fries...  Very nice surprise.  Bacon blue cheese did the trick this evening.  Accurately named, it was well charred on the outside of the patty, yet tender and flavorful.

This was a burger of convenience, if in the area, I'd recommend it... But not quote worth the half of parking and walking into Seattle Center.

It's no Jak's, but I'd come back if I were attending another event here.

Today's Lunch... Keg Burger

Mmmmm. Bacon cheese mushrooms.
Consensus was:
Burger to Bun ratio was good. 
A little greasy...
once cut, it was easy to handle.

List of burgers...

Red Mill. 
Zippy's.
Five Guys.
Uneeda Burger.

Long time coming... Mmmmmm... Burger Evaluators

Gary and I have slowly been trying the burger places around the Puget Sound area on lunch time.  We often talk about how much fun it would be to put together a list of all the great burgers within a "reasonable lunchtime drive", and then create an ongoing journal to document the adventure and evaluate our findings.

I'm pulling the trigger and creating an online space for us to do this.  Next we'll create a list of the burgers/burger places that we've enjoyed or need to enjoy.  We'd love to solicit this list from others, and eventually allow a trusted inner-circle of evaluators to contribute. The intent is smaller, "gourmet" type burgers, not the mass-chain or Starbucks of the burger world.  (those places are predicated on a consistent, yet marginal burger... ) We are in search of that "Something Special" burger. 

As part of the journey, we'll need to devise a way to rate/score/evaluate the burgers that still allows for their individuality to come through... we don't be limited to trying everyone's "Bacon double cheeseburger"...  BORING...

Thus, the journey begins.