Place: S&B Burger Joint

Burger: The Black & Blue

Review: If you like blue cheese, this is the burger you. Too big to handle without a fork & knife, the black & blue will leave you happily pre-occupied. Layered with treasures such as avocado, bacon, blue cheese, grilled onions & ranch dressing- this burger is a considerable steal at $7.50. (Go Monday nights to get any burger for $5.)

Side options at this bizarrely situated joint are so-so (the fried green beans are the heroes), but the homemade pies are perfect. Try the s’mores pie- a warm, rich finish to an already gluttonous experience.

We were recently chatting on twitter, as we do now, with our friend Erik over at vegas burger blog about where to go in Detroit for a yummy burger. He found a great place! Check it out here and then wander over to his site for more places to eat.

by Erik Chudy

So I just spent a few days in Detroit, and while I typically try to line up several meals when I go to a new city, I knew that I would be very busy with work and somewhat at the mercy of my coworkers. I kind of poked around to ask a few people online as well as a few coworkers in Detroit, and even got a few suggestions but didn’t really get to research them ahead of time. My coworker in Vegas sent me a link to a total dive place called Motz’s Burgers a week before we left and even printed a map to it, but still didn’t really plan on going there at any point. Just as predicted the trip was jam packed and extremely busy, but I did manage to squeeze out one amazing burger for breakfast on the way to the airport my last morning, and that place happened to be the one he printed.

I carried that piece of paper with me throughout the couple of days I was in my office, but still never really had any definite intentions of going there. The day before I was set to leave, Burger Boy sent me an article claiming that this same place “serves some of the best sliders in the country” and I knew where I had to go. It was decided that we would go there for dinner that night, but we quickly determined that they closed at 6pm and our after-work drinks had held us up way beyond that. Their website said they opened at 10am so it was decided that we would go as soon as they opened on the way to the airport.

Motz is located across the street from a major trucker shipping location which I’m sure keeps them busy. I won’t bore you with too much of the history as you can read most of it from where I did. The location was built as a White Castle a very long time ago and still looks just like it from the outside. Inside there are maybe 10 built-in stools in front of a counter, giving you a front row seat of the grill and all the magic that’s about to happen, along with a handful of seats against the entry wall. The buns are on display on the left wall still in their packages, and there are signs all over the place offering combos, different types of patties, breakfasts and many other things.

As claimed in this article, the main attraction is their sliders, or as I found out are really just called ‘cheeseburgers’. I was a little unclear at first and thought about ordering a slider and a cheeseburger to try both, but was quickly corrected by the friendly and informative lady behind the counter. She was able to tell me when the building was built, that there were once seven locations of Motz’s, and that they’re now all closed but this one. The most important bit of info she probably told me was that I needed to get onions on my burger. I’m not always a fan of them as they don’t sit well in my stomach, and being that I was on my way to the airport to sit on a plane for 4+ hours I didn’t want to risk anything. She was insistent so I ordered one with-, and one without onions. I’m glad I listened to her but more on that in a minute.

The burger is composed of meatballs that are rolled daily in the back and mushed onto the grill. There was a large container of the meatballs in a refrigerated drawer under the grill which unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of. The onions are then piled on top, and end up underneath the patty once it’s flipped. Once complete, they add ketchup, mustard and pickles and put them in a deliciously soft and gooey bun. One thing I noticed during the preparation, and this might be one of the secrets to the soft bun, was that they placed a towel over the buns while they were on the grill with everything else. Maybe this circulates the steam within and keeps them soft? Whatever it is, it works and they are delicious.

The meat has great flavor, and the combination of the amazing grilled onions, pickles and everything else make for one hell of a slider. I ate my slider with onions first, and was almost disappointed that I had to eat my other one after. It was still delicious, but not nearly as good as the one with everything. I couldn’t stress any more that there’s no other way to go.

The fries were also great. They’re pretty much your run-of-the-mill frozen skinny fry, but they were cooked perfectly; crispy and delicious. I’ve had much fancier fries at much fancier locations that weren’t as good as these. Sometimes simple is better, and it just works.

There was a trucker eating a few seats down from us, and he was telling a story about how he had just driven some insane amount of miles in some length of time that was longer than I’d ever like to spend in a car or truck. He was awesome and completely added to the experience, as did the local mail lady and few others that made their way through while we were there. Towards the end of our visit my coworker and I struck up further conversation with the lady behind the bar and mentioned my blog and that we’re from Vegas. She started to tell a story about a guy from New York that comes in all the time, and happens to write for USA Today. One day he wrote a big article about them and all of a sudden they became a huge deal. What was great about her whole story is that she ended it with a “we’re just here making a regular burger, there are no secret ingredients or hidden tricks.” Her attitude couldn’t have been more perfect; as far as she knows she’s just some hole in the wall restaurant making a basic burger on an old grill. Based on the location, building and interior she’s right, but this is no basic burger. This truly is a great find and a great burger, and if you’re ever in Detroit you need to go here.

Weloveburgers made another twitter friend! thanks for submitting this burger from down south… way south! I’d like to go to columbia now…

Hamburgers die slowly… while eating them.

Located in a little street in Bogota, Colombia, these are the very best flavour of the old school style of hamburgers.

You can choose the kind of bread and meat you like out of 3 different flavours; jalapeños, classic, and bacon with parmesan cheese.  Enjoy it if you ever visit this corner of the world!

“This is the bacon bleu burger, one of their signature burgers (double pattie with bacon, bleu cheese, lettuce, tomato and I added grilled onions). One of the best burgers I have had in ages.”

Thank you, Evan Mitchell, for sending this in. This photo has me thinking road trip. I’m not sure if this is an off-shoot of the original Boardwalk Fries that my family used to frequent on our trips to Baltimore, MD. The logo looks damn near the same. I have fond memories of those fries…and the 9 hours spent fighting in the back seat with my brother that led up to them. I’m happy to hear that they deliver a good burger too.

We hope you send us something again soon. -wlb

Another great contribution from Nate Henderson! Thanks Nate!

From our traveling Brooklyn contributor:

This mess is from Phil’s BBQ in San Diego. It swam through a pool of sauce to our table and gingerly toweled off before settling into bun. Was there lettuce? I don’t know. The tomatos were good. The onion ring was hewn from an onion tree which was felled, cut up into slices, center rings removed and fried deep leaving a giant halo of onion bark. The burger itself; sure, it was in there and it was good. I believe the story here is the pool this thing was dipped in. God must bleed this sauce as it opened up my eyes to the possibility that condiments may actually merit thought. They don’t give you anymore of this blood on the table as I’m sure people would walk off with it, you have to buy it. Bastards.

Fries. Good.

Would I recommend this joint? Sure.

Am I a qualified burger connoisseur? Nope. But I did enjoy myself.

Thanks to Nate Henderson for sending in this delicious looking burger. Worth a trip to texas if I do say so myself!

Denton County Independent Hamburger Co. is a classic, college town burger joint right on the square in Denton, Texas. Their very limited menu focuses your attention on the key varieties of a burger: bacon, (shredded) cheese, hickory sauce. All-you-want fries and beans come with the combo. The prime location and atmosphere give it a boost as well.

And now we give you the winner of the 2011 WLB Great Green Chile Cheeseburgers of the American Southwest Tour- or something like that. We’ll try to shorten this for next year as it’s a bit hard to remember. Bobcat Bite nearly took the prize. But while there, I got to talking to a nice gent who said that if I was heading to Taos, I should find some time to fill my belly at 5 Star Burgers. He happened to be in the cattle trade- one of the good guys who values good meat. With that strong rec. BW and I headed to Taos the very next day. We worked a little, visiting Taos Pueblo and tracing the steps of Willa Cather’s beloved Archbishop. Had 5 Star been around back then, that poor fellow never would have made it back to Santa Fe and probably would have died a whole lot sooner.

We stopped at 5 Star on our way out of town, grabbed some chairs on the outdoor patio, and glanced over the menu. I was tempted by their burger of the month, the “Dude” burger. In part because I believe one should always pay homage to “the Dude” and also because I’ve become quite taken with adding bits of crunch to my burger. Potato sticks sounded really good. But I stuck with the original plan and ordered the Green Chile Cheeseburger. 5 Star forms their 8 oz patties daily from freshly ground, hormone-free black Angus beef. It comes to you as an 8 oz burger should, shaped like the palm of your hand rather than balled up like a fist. It cooks more evenly this way and it’s just more manageable overall. One of the things that really makes this burger exceptional is the slice of pepper jack cheese that blankets the chopped green chiles, holding them in place over the burger.  A delicious green chile mayo softens up the toasted brioche and helps to blend all the flavors together smoothly. I’d say this is a flawless burger. And we like their style overall- 5 Star has made a commitment to using local purveyors when possible and bio-degradable goods when you wish to carry out your supper. They also have a good selection of beer and wine.

We were pretty quiet as we ate- just enjoying the late afternoon sun and silently giving thanks for the delicious wonder before us. Once our plates were clean, we really didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Do we stay, wait a few hours, and have another? It took all of our strength to pack ourselves up and get back on the road.

Thanks for the submission…looks delicious. We’ll have to check it out! -WLB

this is the double double.
i had it with extra meat. 3 stack!
best burger i ever had.
it was just good.
no special sause or anything gimmicky.
it was just plain good.
i really like this place.

WLB recently joined with a great group of people for a monthly burger club meeting.  We encourage you all to start your own club as it was a lot of fun. Our fist time to visit was a Monday night at the Sunburnt Cow in alphabet city.

Thanks Taya Mueller for this great review:
Sometimes a burger is more than just a burger. Sometimes “having burgers” is really just the centerpiece for a casual gathering of friends that come-as-you-are and probably have one too many beers. Sunburnt Cow is Burger Club’s pick for that kind of burger. The cozy (ie “NY-sized”, ie “small”) Alphabet City location is dark and humble, probably best-suited to an all-night, cold-weather hangout. Burger Club took advantage of their Monday night all-you-can-eat-and-drink-for-$20 deal and were blown away by their genuine hospitality. The place drips with down-home Aussie warmth, from the vintage Aussie surfer vids looping over the front bar, to the charmingly enthusiastic and attentive service that included dangerously frequent & discreet top-offs of our whole-fruit frozen cocktails. The beef burger is great–served traditional Aussie-style with bacon, cheese, fried egg, and pineapple–but the real winner here was the shrimp burger: super snappy chunks of chopped shrimp hand-formed in to a tender patty smeared with a bit of herb-y mayo on a buttery brioche.