Burger Review: The Farm Burger

There are two — no, three —  reasons why I really want to dislike Farm Burger, a Georgia-based chain, fast-casual that just moved into the new Hill Center Sylvan Heights development. One of them isn't even of their doing, so I'll cover that first: bad design.

How is it that H.G. Hill was able to mimic an urban environment in the Belle Meade and Green Hills Hill Centers, allowing for on-street parking in front of several shops, but when it came to an actual, honest-to-goodness urban environment, the closest one can get to the entrance demands a walk of half a block or more? That's even with parking provided. There is no back door for the public to enter from the large parking lot in the rear of the development, nor side door to cut into. You have to walk all the way around to the front and center of the building, which houses some three-four options. Why is it a problem? Ask anyone recovering from a recent ankle sprain, foot/leg injury, or otherwise handicapped. Another minor annoyance that will be a greater annoyance when it gets cold out: no vestibule. When that door swings out to Charlotte Pike traffic, 3/4 of the room can feel it.

Number two: Nashville eaters are grown up now, and compared to most of the Southeast, we're already well-educated about organics, slow food, and the farm-to-table movement. So when you base your marketing strategy on presenting yourself as a stand-out because you're serving up grass-fed, organically-raised livestock, like no one in the world ever thought about it until you opened up your lumbersexual-staffed joint ... as the saying goes, your panty lines are showing.

Three: a little on the nickel and dimey side .. but that's avoidable and I'll get to the detail later.

All that said, here's why I can't dislike Farm Burger: Strip away everything, and you've got one really, really good, fresh, beefy burger in your hand. 

On my first visit, I used the lunch special to 'build a burger' and took the bartender's advice to get their special "FB sauce," which turned out to be a flavorless, runny, mayo affair. 

I also thought the flavorings on their french fries — a mix of garlic and other herbs — was surprisingly bland, considering how much of it was laid on. Lastly, I was suspicious about the $2 slice of VT white cheddar cheese. At that price point, it looked awfully thin. But underneath it all, the burger seemed pretty good, so I wanted to give Farm Burger a second chance. I'm glad I did. Second time around I got pimento cheese fries. Again, as you can see from the pics, they were a little stingy with the cheese, burger and fries, both. Few pimentos. Many jalapeños. But they did have a lot more flavor this time.

More on the build-a-burger: it starts at a reasonable $6.75, but the add ons .. add on. Standard iceburg lettuce/tomato/low ranking condiments are all free; orange cheddar (show me a cow that gives orange milk, please) and condiment with some fuss will add $1; real cheddar, gouda and other fussier items come in at $2 a pop. So it's really your choice: you can stay minimal and have an organic, grass-fed cheeseburger come in under $10, or you can spend $20 or more and make a big deal of things. To the points:

Attractiveness: 7. The overall presentation with the fries in the same basket and all is lovely, but I was afraid to pick it up and make a mess of everything.

Flavor: 10. Oh, my! This is a real burger-burger. For a chain, that's just unheard of.

Juiciness: 6. This is a burger that's not going to make too much of a mess, in spite of my fears.

Digestivity: 10. Although I can reminisce about the flavor, I'm not actually tasting it four hours later

Atmosphere: Eh .... 5.

Overall: 6 +

Farm Burger does have a really good burger, one that in Nashville, ranks right up there with Burger Up and Brown's. If they can get a little less stingy with the cheese, turn the oh-wow marketing down, and add a back door, I'd be raving about them.

Nashville Scene's Burger Week — Quick(ish) Notes 3: Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint

    And finally, the last of my three participating visits from the Nashville Scene's Burger Week promotion. It turns out, Germantown's newest chain restaurant had what Scene readers voted the best burger - the Greg Brady.

    The average-sized patty comes to the table smothered with a mac & cheese (really, cheese & mac) topping, and topped with barbeque-flavored potato chips.

    The interior is very shack; Jack Brown's would probably make a great stopping point for lunch after wandering around American Picker's homestand Antique Archaeology. If that looks like someone cleaned out your uncle's barn and turned it into a retail store, Jack Brown's looks like grandpa's garage. At least the materials look more genuine than Martin's BBQ. Wonderful beer list here.

     

 Atmosphere: 8. Reluctantly. Although I love a dive bar, there's something about new restaurants deliberately conjuring the pre-indoor-plumbing, pre-plaster or even drywall look that makes me want to scream "enough," already. That said, Jack Brown's does it well. 

 Attractiveness: 7. Greg Brady is a remarkable little fellow. Sturdy, but soft. Crunchy, but gooey. All around studly. Although the overall table package matches the spare-everything theme of the restaurant, there's nothing wrong with plates. 

    Flavor: 5. The gooey cheese & mac, the chips, the special sauce all stood out. The burger itself, this world-famous Wagyu beef stuff? Unremarkable.

 Juiciness: 3. What's missing from that photo on the left? Nary a dribble.

 Digestivity: 10. No memorable after effects. 

 Overall: 6.  Although I'd definitely give them another chance to get a medium rare done right, I have to admit to being a little confounded as to how this burger wound up being voted #1 in the contest. 

Nashville Scene's Burger Week — Quick(ish) Notes 2: Dino's

   For my visit to a second of the participating Nashville Burger Week restaurants in the Nashville Scene's recent contest, I went to an old dive with new owners, one of whom was partly responsible for the place that set the bar for Nashville burgers in the 21st Century: Miranda Whitcomb Pontes of Burger Up. Pontes and partner Alex Wendkos took over the spot and opened it to the public this past January, to far less roar than was heard when Pontes' first burger joint starting serving, or other subsequent restaurant openings.

 A second craving Dino's serves is late-night food, with operating hours of 4pm-3am weekdays and noon-3am weekends. Even at most places that are open past 11, most Nashville kitchens close by 10; there's reason to cheer, here.

     Atmosphere: 9. Cheap burger joint at its best: 1970s thin wall paneling; diner-bar seating; the front window looks like it hasn't been completely cleaned since Bill Clinton was President. Friendly kitchen staff.

    Attractiveness: 9. Maybe it's because I was there for the late afternoon's light, or maybe it's because of the filtered goodness of the storefront window, but even onions and grocery-store-bought tomatoes couldn't detract from the immediacy of this burger's appeal.

Flavor: 8. There's nothing on Dino's website that indicates grass-fed, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is. If not, whomever's playing in the kitchen has hit on a perfect play of seasonings to bring up beef flavor that stands out, even with the above-mentioned toppings.

  Juiciness: 9 ... plenty of moisture, requiring extra napkins but not so much it bled over to the fries (which were also excellent). The burger was perfectly cooked, ordered medium-rare and it came that way, throughout.

Digestivity: 10. Happy to report, nothing lingered longer than it should have.

Overall: 9.

I'm trying not to get too excited about this, but the Odyssey just might have a new burger champ. By the numbers, it sure looks like it. But generally the only thing one might ask for to improve the burger is stick local tomatoes on, or have none at all. My initial impression is, this belongs right up there with Brown's Diner, Twin Kegs, and Burger Up.



Dino's Restaurant
Gallatin Pike, East Nashville

Nashville Scene's Burger Week — Quick(ish) Notes 1: Park Cafe

   Our local alt.weekly, the Nashville Scene, just ran a promotion for Nashville Burger Week. Some 15-20 restaurants put up the goods and invited eaters to vote for the champ, who will be selected to go on to represent Nashville at the World Food Championships (who knew this was a thing?) in Miami.

No word yet on the vote. 

   I've already given the rundown on a number of the participating restaurant burgers but there are several new places that I had/have yet to try, or old places I still hadn't gotten around to ... Anyway, by the end of the week, I managed to add three new burgers to my repertoire, at least one of which I'll return for more. And again.

  First down was the burger at Park Cafe, on the commercial strip where Murphy Road turns and becomes 46th. Never having been there before, my immediate impression (and nothing changed it) was that it was one of the surprisingly bubba-centric watering holes due to its proximity to McCabe Golf Course.
   Park Cafe's burger offered TN Hereford beef, onion-bacon jam,  cheddar cheese, Duseldorf mustard & the usual accompaniments. I tossed the pickles. The result was a somewhat unevenly cooked (all burgers are ordered medium rare), but otherwise solid burger with a unique, sharp bite to its flavor.
   Attractiveness: 8 ... it's nice but not at the level that screams, "EAT ME!"
   Flavor: 7
   Juiciness: 5 ... I wouldn't say it was dry, but there were maybe two drops on the plate. Maybe.
   Atmosphere: 7 ... It's a nice restaurant way more than it's a burger joint. If we were rating wine bars, it'd score a 10 for casual chic.
   Digestivity:  9 .... some of the condiment flavors lingered for an hour or more but over all it went down soundly with no repercussions.

Overall: 6 ... solid, but would be better from a chef who believes a burger can be a gourmet statement on its own.

Silo: Southern Food or Die

   'twas a rainy Wednesday night in Nashville, and because one of my dining companions was working until nine, our options were limited: this city closes early. Finding a restaurant kitchen that stays open past, say, 11 pm is a challenge to put it mildly. And so we would up at The Silo, in Germantown.

    I was vaguely aware of Silo since its opening in 2012 by a pair of M Street grads, but upon opening, it was eclipsed in infamy by other summer openers Etch & Lockeland Table. Although those two have more food lit buzz, Silo has quietly become a Germantown staple, for tourists and locals, alike.

    It was only when I was seated and saw Silo's menu for the first time, I realized just how hardcore it is in its philosophy promoting Southern food traditions.

   This is the part where I mention to some prejudice, as a NY-raised eater who often thinks of Southern food as mushy vegetables, stored months in vinegar before ever seeing a plate, and over-processed meat often hard to distinguish from the sauce it's been smothered in.

   There, I said it.

   While I wouldn't begin to complain about the flavor of the food at Silo, or the preparation of the items I selected from the menu: when you come right down to it, taking traditional Southern Food items — which were developed by people whose top priority was simply to keep things from spoiling — and applying them to appeal in a city with a immigrating population of increasingly sophisticated tastes, isn't as simple as changing music keys.

    So readers may want to keep a salt shaker handy when a reviewer gets decidedly turned off because something on the Charcuterie plate was reminiscent of Deviled Ham. And okra. I did enjoy the house-made mustards and fig sauce. The Deviled Eggs fared better, but only when I removed their meat toppings. On their own, the top bites were intriguing but on the eggs, they overwhelmed the yolk batter. Something one doesn't need to do when they aren't adding pickled anything to the mix.

My companions on the other hand, Nashville boys born and raised, were mostly in heaven. They enjoyed the bone marrow I passed on (for me, marrow is one of those things you try once, and then you get back on with your eating life) and can only say that it smelled like a wonderful onion soup. I actually was very tempted, but our late friend had just arrived, and I'd eaten both our shares of the eggs.

Both the boys opted for Braised Rabbit in a house-made pasta (and loved it), with various herbs and cream, while I went for the least complicated thing I could find, Flat Iron Steak with mushrooms and veggies. It was a great little steak! Slightly tough, as the cut demands, perfectly cooked to medium rare and plenty of char-grilled beefy flavor. I didn't care for all of the accompaniments, but the broccoli was crisp (!) and not bitter at all.

One thing we all went weak for was the big bowl of Mac & Cheese, made with buttermilk & cheddar. Hands down the creamiest — and non-mushy — Mac & Cheese in town, with a super mild flavor. Big win. I mean, huge.

    Only two of us opted for desserts. Companion #1 opted for cake with much love, and I had a delightful Pot de Creme that took the popular flavor of salted caramel and put it on steroids, adding an additional caramel sauce and bacon-caramel popcorn. Granted, it was served in a Mason glass, and not a creme pot or ramekin — gotta be Southern, after all.









Two drinks, one side, one entree, one dessert: $60
 

Silo

1121 5th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37208

Gringo Taco #3: Bakersfield - Tasty, In Spite of the Marketing Department

   What started as a trickle in the neighborhoods, with The Local Taco, Mas Tacos, and Chagos, has lately stormed downtown Nashville with the opening of two or three such spots between Commerce and Korean Vets Blvd., 2nd and 5th.

   I've driven past Bakersfield at least twice a week since December and it's draw on my curiosity has been pretty relentless, so I answered the call without expecting much, as I'm a little prejudiced against chains. Bakersfield has spent time tuning up in Columbus, Cincinnati, Charlotte & Indianapolis before making its debut in Nashville.

   Because I had to drive, I took a pass on the tequillas for Jarritos, a Mexican soft drink favored by us non-HFCS types, that one finds at just about every authentic Mexican restaurant along Nashville's "wagon spokes" of Nolensville Road, Gallatin Pike, or Murfreesboro Road.

   In the press leading up to the opening, we've been told Bakersfield is inspired by the country music that sprang from that particular California scene. Think about that for a minute while you absorb the rustic interior, loud buzz from the sounds of patrons mixing with street noise of traffic and construction, and cheesy cowboy movies on the small screens, and peruse the menu. If you're looking for a salad, you might wonder why there are dishes named for Johnny Cash (not from Bakersfield), June Carter (not from Bakersfield), and Willie Nelson (not from Bakersfield). 

    Maybe somewhere in California, there's a restaurant named Nashville, serving up Buck, Merle, and Dwight salads.

    So. .. I call bullshit on Bakersfield's marketing and PR, but knowing that authenticity doesn't always matter to the American palate, let's get to the food. 
 

   The menu is fairly limited while still offering plenty of flavor combinations I want to go back and try. On this day I stuck to one appetizer and a couple of tacos. Bakersfield's queso & chips, on their  own, constitute a full meal. Under the attractively burned top layer lives an orange colored cheese sauce that's overcooked just enough for the ingredients to begin to separate, but retain overall cohesion and flavor. It's good, it's not great, but it is unique and will make fans and, for $6, it's a bargain and a half. 

   The highlight of Bakersfield is the taco selection. Where everything else on the menu is pared down to just a few choices, you can pick from a variety of meats, cheeses, and spice combos on the restaurant's kitchen-made, soft corn tortillas. I had a pollo rojo — tomato-braised chicken in a guajillo salsa, with queso fresco and the usual suspects. What I loved about it was the unique flavor imparted to the chicken, something that, in all of the rest of Nashville, I've only tasted at La Hacienda.    

   My other taco was the Huitlacoche, a vegetarian offering of corn truffles, poblano peppers, cotija cheese & more. That one was tasty, but nothing to write home about.

   There were no desserts on the menu, unfortunately, because I'm sure they'd have been enjoyable. And named after Dolly and Reba, or anyone else Not From Bakersfield. In the long run, the misnaming of this restaurant isn't going to matter very much; neither afternoon's office workers nor the evening's drunken country fans are going to care. They can get a taste of Nolensville Road without leaving downtown.

Soft drink, appetizer, & two tacos came to approx $17-$18

201 3rd Ave S Nashville, TN 37201 

Quick Burger Tally: Top 5

People are constantly asking me to rank Nashville's burgers. Why not, I've eaten enough of them, and set up this blog to detail as many as possible. But still, it can be hard — a little — because sometimes, the best burger isn't the perfect burger to have, in a given situation. For example: I'm not going to walk into Flip Burger after a day of kayaking 12 miles on the Harpeth River. I'm not going to be dressed properly for the place, and REALLY won't smell too good. You get the idea. That's why I include a restaurant's atmosphere as part of the review, so people can have an idea of what they're walking into.

But if I really had to limit things, and rank things, it would go something like this:

                                                           1   (three way tie) Burger Up

                                                                         Brown's

                                                                        Twin Kegs

All three of those are pretty great and if you wanted me to tell you which is best best, I'd have to go all Libra on you. It's just a matter of what atmosphere you're in the mood for. And it shall be noted that, since my initial review a couple years ago, TK has begun serving to order. ie, rare and medium rare are now in play.

                                                               4.  360 Burger

4 was a really hard choice. There are a lot of great burgers on my second tier, but 360 Burger takes props for its big flavor.

                
                                                            5. Dalt's

Again, it's flavor that rules this highly subjective, but trying to be somewhat objective, survey.  Dalt's was the big "who knew?"