I hate the feeling
when you're looking at me that way
'Cause we're North Americans
But if we act all shy
it'll make it okay
Makes it go away
Another Tuesday.... another Taste! Much like the previous week, it was a tight time crunch in regards to what I could try for this review. I needed a fast food chain in my neighbourhood I could eat quickly enough before working the Duran Duran show, but also something that I haven't already reviewed and isn't A&W (seriously seems like a good quarter of these Tuesday reviews end up being something from A&W).
Harvey's? Nope and nope. Fat Bastard Burrito? Did that. Burger's Priest? Also done. Subway? Hard pass. Pizza? That's been done too, plus not a great order for a time limit. Tim Horton's? Apparently they have pizza now so... I'll file that one away for another time.
What to do? Then miraculously I remembered... we have a Hero Burger down here in the Beaches. For some reason I constantly forget this fact, despite it being close to the liquor stor-I mean the deli I like to visit!
Now, Hero Burger has been featured on here before... their entry in the Veggie Burger Showdown last March, as well as a Proto-Taste when I tried their spicy chicken sandwich. Yet somehow, I've never reviewed their actual beef burger. Plus, now that they've recently begun offering a smash-style burger, well this surely appears an optimal time to give them a proper look.
Hero first came into existence around 2003-2004, with founder John Lettieri (if you remember Lettieri cafes here in Toronto, same guy) opening the first location in the Hazelton Lanes mall in downtown Toronto. The franchise quickly expanded, as I personally recall locations on Yonge/Gloucester Street and another in the Annex during my later high school years. They now boast roughly sixty locations, most of them in the GTA/southern Ontario region... although there is one in Sudbury and another in Montreal (along with one in northern New York state that may or may not still be open, reports are conflicting).
As most fast food chains do, Hero claims their beef is 100 percent natural, hormone and antibiotic free. I'm more willing to believe them on this than I would, say, Burger King... but lets jump into these two burgers (and fries) pictured above and see how much of a difference quality-wise there really is.
First off, you can likely gather that I indeed ordered this new Hero smash burger, so we'll start with that. I will say it definitely has the right idea: the greasiness of the burger patty, the potato bun, gooey cheese melted into the beef... it all adds up to a reasonably fine homage. Alas, it doesn't quite ascend to the level of true delicious originality. All the elements are good but none exactly stand out, and once the burger gets cold all you really taste is that griddle grease in the beef. You get a bit of that crispy edge but not nearly far enough... as though they played grilling it a bit too safe. There is too much bun also, which itself doesn't quite have the correct delicate softness you want in a smash burger. Overall, a perfectly okay-ish burger and an admirable attempt at this style... it is notably different than their usual offering (more on that in a moment).
Switching over to the fries (as an intermission between burgers). Appearance-wise they do look like fairly generic previously frozen fast food fare, however these were actually quite good. Not aggressively seasoned (maybe the tiniest pinch of salt in there) and there is a crucially enjoyable light crispiness to them that makes it work. On first glance I was concerned they might be undercooked and cold in spots (which has always been my complaint about Wendy's fries) but not at all in this case... not a single fry had that gross limp softness (insert your own joke with that description).
Onto their regular burger, or the "Hero Signature" as they call it. Like Five Guys, Hero Burger is one of those chains where you can select your own toppings (with extra charges for additional cheese or guacamole unsurprisingly). However, in my Monday time crunch I also had a stop to make at the "deli" closeby, so I did that while my order was being prepared. In a way, this gave me the most standard configuration of a Hero burger since the cooks decided the dressings for me. I should've still said no red onions though.
The result of my hands-off approach is a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, mustard (though faint) and a tart green relish mixed into their Hero sauce. This relish/secret mayo sauce in fact dominates among these secondary flavours and itself is quite nice... the basic sweetness of the relish alongside a salty creaminess of the mayo works really well and is a bit different than your usual burger sauce (which tend to have ketchup in them). The cheese here is legit also... the smash burger used processed/American cheese (as they should, you need that specific melted texture) but here you get a nice slice of genuine cheddar to add a subtle punch to the proceedings.
As for the burger itself: this thing is juicy to the point it drips out once you get to the center. Not to the point of being undercooked (there's no pink in the center, unlike the speckles of faded pink in their smash burger), rather this is more like a disc-shaped meat juice bomb once you hit a certain pocket of it. The taste reminds me of a grilled BBQ burger your buddy might whip up in a backyard, except a higher end and precisely well cooked version of that. This is really a very tasty burger, despite the drippiness. A bit of pepperiness, and the juiciness allows the taste to ooze into our mouth quite pleasantly. The texture reminds me of Harvey's as well, except I find Harvey's somewhat dry externally (not remotely a problem here). Flavour-wise it thankfully avoids the oppressive char taste that Harvey's constantly has, and I write that as somebody who indeed likes Harvey's burgers.
There really isn't a weakness I can point out with this one. It's not super filling? Perhaps... I did eat these two burgers in one sitting and wasn't stuffed... but I'm also a hungry gigantic monster sometimes also. The bun (though fancy looking) was just okay? Whatever... it was fresh enough and did an admirable job containing the many juices and sauces between its halves. This is a pretty damn good burger, and very different from other ones I've reviewed before.
---
Overall! The smash burger was a minor miss, but the fries were fine and the Hero Signature Burger is definitely the best thing I've reviewed from Hero before. I feel like this (the Signature) is a fine middle ground between a fast food offering and what you might get in more of a fancier sit down type of restaurant. It certainly can't match the super high-end quality of a properly prepared restaurant burger, but this is far superior to the generic mince-beef approach of many fast food burger joints as well.
It's difficult to compare Hero to places like Burger's Priest, Rudy or Five Guys, since those places are takes on classic American style cheeseburgers, which Hero is not. Comparing Hero's smash burger to those... that can be done and it falls well below that mark. Their regular offering though is a different type of burger, rather unique among burger chains I've (so far) tried, and indeed still quite tasty even almost twenty years since their inception and expansion.
Also... this bizarre napkin certainly raises some questions (and piques my particular culinary interests)...
Burnt Ends -- So... my long teased plan for a bonus review was to check out A&W (shocker) and try this 'famous' Whistle Dog that apparently has quite a devoted fanbase. I do enjoy a good hot dog, but alas it seems this return was for a limited time and now it is once again off the menu. Damnit! Even though there's an A&W barely a kilometre from my house and is open 24 hours and I often am very hungry coming home late from work... I'm still blaming this stretch of working ten straight nights, darngunnit.
Steamed Hams -- A scene that requires no introduction. And fitting for a week I review a fast food burger. Not sure I agree with the article's header that it's the funniest scene of the show (that list is insanely long) but it has to be up there. Besides, it's located entirely within your kitchen.
Tuesday Sip -- It's another edition of "I've Sold Hundreds of These At Work, I Should Actually Try One!"
Definitely a scent of pineapple on first smell... I'm also curious about the body since it is a lot murkier/not transparent as I expected. All right, lets give this a go... genuinely my first ever taste as I type this...
Hmmm... very sweet (what a surprise) and you taste more peach on the tounge. The flavour fades really quickly though... not much in aftertaste beyond lingering sugar in the roof of your mouth. There is a nice initial blend of those sweet flavours though... the can says peach, pineapple and mango and they mix together nicely (for a fleeting second at least). I can see how people regard this as a refreshing summer drink because of that tropical taste, it's almost like a juicebox with booze in it. Not quite my thing, the sugary aspects would probably give me a headache after more than one.
Tuesday Tune -- You know those songs that you hear a lot at a certain time, but never get completely sick of... then you rediscover a decade later and realize you really quite like it? Well, here's one of those... bring that groove.
That's it for me! I finally have a few days off this week so... I'm going to enjoy them, as I hope you likewise enjoy these last few nice weeks of summer. I'll back with something soon, probably maybe. Until then, stay safe, stay cool, if you're coming to the Metric-Interpol-Spoon concert Friday hit me up! Also don't spill that mustard.
No comments:
Post a Comment