The Tuesday Taste: The Great Canadian Veggie Burger Showdown

 

Another week, another taste! This week marks the end of Vegetarian Month, and so it's time to do something a little special. Instead of reviewing one particular thing, this time I'm looking at not two... but three! It's a veggie burger chowdown showdown!

Doing a bit of research, not many burger chains offer a veggie burger option. McDonalds doesn't at all, while Burger King does at the very back of their menu (and frankly, you'd have to pay me to try that one). Burger's Priest offers a fried portobello burger stuffed with cheese, which while intriguing, I decided to stick with a basic ol' veggie patty here. Which leaves these three! Who will come out on stop? We'll see. For now, we begin with...

 

A&W 

 

Did you know that A&W is actually an independent Canadian chain? Originally they were affiliated with the American company of the same name, but the Canadian operation was bought out by its own management in the 90s and is so now a separate entity. Neat stuff! Now somebody open up that In-N-Out chain up here and we'll be rolling. 

The A&W Beyond Meat burger is tasty, though is also the sauciest of the three. I find A&W burgers usually are this way (and their regular beef patties can be overly salty) and this one was loaded up with mayo. Not saying I mind that at all (I've been told my homemade sandwiches are often drenched in condiments) just saying its a consistent presence with this burger.

As a burger, the texture is extremely soft, the consistency like a disk of fried beans. There's a bit of mushroom taste to it, and a bit of grill flavour which is definitely most welcome, as is the nicely toasted sesame seed bun. I'd say of the three, this was the one most resembling a fast food beef burger... tasty stuff but the lack of firmness gives away the illusion.

 

Harvey's

 

 

Now we're getting spicy. Say what you will about their regular burgers (and I will eventually), Harvey's does the customization thing rather well. It's the accessibility of the condiments that does it for me: being able to see the lettuce, onions, relish, various sauces etc while they dress your burger in front of you, it's a nice touch and as a visual guide really helps you decide what you want.

I tend to go fairly bare bones with burgers when given the choice: gimme lettuce, pickle (or even better cucumber) one sauce and cheese if possible. Not to say I dislike extravagance either (whenever I get around to reviewing a place like Burger's Priest for instance, it'd be silly to play it safe instead of dipping into on of their crazy options). With the Harvey's veggie burger, I kept it along that simple framework: lettuce, relish, cucumber, the veggie patty (obviously) and something I found too compelling to resist: a creamy ghost pepper sauce. 

I even asked for more of it, and glad I did. It gives this burger a nice slow building heat... at first it seems like just any sweetish chipotle mayo, but by the end my mouth was exhaling some decent fire. The rest of the burger was fairly agreeable in certain degrees: the Harvey's buns can be kind of stiff, but this veggie patty was rather nice in taste and texture. Firm on the outside yet thankfully not dry, and with more of a plant taste than the grilled bean flavour of A&W.

Really quite impressed, especially with that sauce. Also a shoutout to the young fella who prepared my burger, as there were two containers of shredded lettuce (one significantly more wilted and brownish) and he elected for the much fresher one. It's the little things that can win you over.

 

Hero Burger

 

 

Our final entry into this grand contest, Hero Burger indeed features a veggie burger described as a "veggie soul patty", which... well it's got soul but is it a soldier? (2005 called, it wants its joke back). Well, if you were hoping I'd rip into at least one of these for being bad, sorry to disappoint you because this one was pretty decent also! I didn't exactly follow their exact menu (the Hero menu option has mushrooms, sauteed onions, which I omitted) but kept the jalapenos, lettuce, switched the multigrain bun for a poppy seed one and added some Hero sauce.

This "veggie soul" patty might be the weakest of the three. Not that it's bad, but with its external crunchiness and slight spongey internal texture it made me think this was like a falafel burger of some kind. It may have been semi-overcooked but hey, no redos here on the TT (especially since I've had enough veggie burgers to last a year this past month).

The biggest strengths are the supporting elements: this is easily the best bun (soft and compact, Ace Bakery I believe), the Hero Sauce is like a peppery citrus mayo (lemon sweet perhaps) and the jalapenos flavourful, juicy and large (not generic canned type stuff). At first I was unimpressed, since my first bite was entirely just bun and the crunchy veggie patty, but it grew on me enough that by the end I was rather satisfied. Perhaps not immediately craving another, though in a way (knowing certain chemicals you find in fast food) that could speak to a higher standard of ingredients. 

The Verdict!

They each have their strengths: A&W the best imitation of meat, Harvey's the best flavour and Hero the best overall quality. With all that in mind... I'd have to award Harvey's the winner. My vegetarian month ends very soon and their veggie option is the only one I could see myself actually returning to once eating meat again. Ironically, I think Hero and A&W both make better beef burgers, at least for now... Future reviews!

 

Burnt Ends - It's been a baseball week! Aside from being your friendly neighbourhood food reviewer, I occasionally write about Blue Jays baseball, or baseball in general, on Battersbox.ca. This past week I've been busy reviewing every MLB team, division by division, and just today my preview of the American League West is up. Wednesday will be the AL Central, and just in time for opening day will be my look at the AL East. The National League is already posted, so check out the NL West, NL Central and NL East if you're hungry for some wild baseball speculation.  

Tuesday Tune - As much as I enjoy all this free time to be able to write all these reviews, previews and hateviews of Season 1 Star Trek TNG, it'd be nice to get back to my regular (paying) job sometime soon. Definitely feeling the "waiting this out" blues, so here's a tune that sort of fits that (plus the drums are great on this track):

That's all for this week! With Vegetarian Month over, my options are wide open again. Will next week be something completely crazy to make up for all this meatless time? Find out next time. Until then, go Blue Jays, be kind to each other, take care and don't spill the mustard.