Well you can't say nothing
if your money ain't right
'Cause that government trash
will keep you up all night
Some folks work so hard
they nearly break their backs
Don't step on the cracks
'cause you know about that
Another Tuesday... another Taste! You'll notice I left out the full title of our restaurant this week, which has an additional dash of "Best Burgers Toronto". Well spoilers but... they're not.
Okay I guess that's the review! Thanks for reading, please subscribe and don't spill that mus--- okay fine. There is actually plenty to say about Matty's Patty's and while I will double down on my quick assertion they are not Toronto's best burger... we've done some pretty damn good cheeseburgers this year (Friday, Burger Drops, Harry's). It's a tough field, and as of writing this I still have yet to try this Toronto version of Shake Shack either.
Matty's Patty's is, as I'm sure you know, a venture of celebrity chef Matty Matheson (his name is in the freaking title) and I quite enjoy the interviews and videos I've seen of Matheson. He brings an energetic wide-eyed playful enthusiasm towards food that comes across as very accessible and unpretentious. Many of his restaurant ventures* reflect this attitude: whether it be his original stomping ground Parts & Labour (or its brief offshoot P&L Burger near Queen/Spadina) or Maker Pizza which he co-founded, a BBQ pop-up in his hometown based on the American style of "meat + 3", and of course this here basic little cheeseburger and fries joint across the street from arguably the most social park (for hipsters heh) in downtown Toronto.
*I'm just going to leave Prime Seafood Palace out of this... I'd be Doctor Zoidberg asking if bread is free in that place
The idea for Matty's Patty's becoming an actual thing became about several years ago when Matheson and RVCA (had to look up what that was, it's a clothing brand... I do not know these things) founder Pat Tenore were in Hawaii giving away cheeseburgers for a community event at a skate park. The feeling re-invigorated Matheson's love of cooking and giving food to people (he'd mostly been focused on cookbooks and the business side of the industry). After multiple additional pop-ups, Matty's Patty's Burger Club officially opened a fixed location on Queen West and Niagara in late 2020 with considerable hoopla. As much hoopla as late 2020 could provide, at least.
It took me four years to finally try this place... but I have my excus-I-mean-reasons! Mainly that I don't live anywhere nearby, it isn't pizza, and I generally don't like most of Queen West. *coughs*. However! I consistently get a warm nostalgic feeling once I'm on Queen west of Bathurst. I played many a bar-level softball game at Trinity Bellwoods as a teenager, and seeing those distinctive gates to the park again right across the street from Matty's Patty's brought back some memories.
Helping the warm vibes of the day was also the general sense of freeness (totally a word) you get with a sunny, pleasantly temperate late-afternoon Sunday in late September. Plenty of people, many couples, were out just going for walks, hitting ice cream spots, or unsurprisingly drinking wine in the large park across the street (I did not go to investigate that last fact, we all know it's true).
The inside of this 'Burger Club' is quite small, with about three tables should you want to stay in with your order. All the walls have a smooth, sleek wood paneling to them... like cottage cabin meets modern basement rec room. The lady who took my order was quite chipper, which while my long grizzled instincts of similar service work made me think this was a bit of a showtime face... friendliness is friendliness and it's far better than the opposite. Anyhow, my order was ready quite quickly (maybe seven minutes?).
Obviously the lead photo gives it away but regardless here's what I got: their single patty cheeseburger with the "Matty's Sauce" (they offer three sauces and the signature one made the most reviewable sense)... and their chili cheese fries because... it's chili cheese fries.
Also, isn't there just something inherently 'summertime' about chili-cheese fries? The tomatoey beef smell with the saltiness of the fries... something about it just reminds me of being a little kid going down with my parents to the old Lick's Burgers in the Beaches (long long before I lived down here)... the open kitchen with the employees singing out the orders and the names of the customers, with that same smell of their chili in the air. Mid-1990s simple innocence and summertime.
So yeah, no pressure Matty.
Somebody get that thumb out of the way! So these are Matty's Patty's chili cheese fries and as you can see, it is quite a heaping portion. There is, no lie, at least an inch of cheddar cheese as that top layer... it's madness! At ten bucks... quite a solid amount for what you're paying for.
Where does the cheese end and the rest begin? It's in there somewhere! Yeah, Matty likes his cheese clearly. This is a serious layer of fromage, folks. Taste-wise, it's a typical orange cheddar flavour (not gooey like an American processed cheese... this has more of a real flavour) and it's quite bright and heavy.
The chili itself... a classic beefy-tomato union that smells wonderful. Very simple, not spicy whatsoever... an accessible topping designed to please and does just that. Hearty, is how I'd describe it... some hint of onion within but it's mostly beef cooked within tomatoey goodness. And it is plentiful: what impresses me most about these chili fries (once you excavate past the mantle of cheese) is how well layered it turned out to be. The chili seeps through into the bottom portions, and meanwhile there is so much damn cheese you're not gonna run out of that.
How about the fries? They remind me of McDonald's (whom I'm famously not very fond of)... but McDonald's done right. A light crisp, basic salty flavour, but without that weird processed oily taste that convinces your brain to eat more of them while your mouth disagrees. You can taste potato here, unlike whatever the hell the golden arches are using as potato-like substitute... and these are quite tasty fries. Hold up on a reheat as well (yeah that was too much cheese for a pre-work meal heh): frying pan with a bit of oil and none of this was dry or stale at all. Good stuff!
Now, it's burger time. I got a single patty as I most often do (yeah yeah yeah) and I'll say right off the top here that this is a cheeseburger worthy (and perhaps wanting) of that priceless additional patty. Okay a second patty isn't exactly "priceless" from a customer standpoint but you know what I mean.
The beef of it is really nice: not really any of that decadent greasy edges stuff you normally get from a smash burger, more of a tender chewy taste within (in a good way). For a beef burger cooked to medium-well, this is about has juicy and flavourful as you can make that. It's a compliment from me, typically a medium-rare-to-rare guy.
The burger itself needs more, but it's still plenty tasty. The 'Matty's Sauce' is essentially a mix of mustard with diced onions and pickles... which blends in with the classic American cheese so much that it's hard to discern where one ends and the other begins. Matheson really likes his cheese and onions... I wonder if this band ever inspired him...
When you think of a classic, typical old fashioned American-style cheeseburger... this burger here is definitely close to that image you're thinking of. A simple but very good beefy texture and flavour, combined with that irresistible plasticly cheese flavour and a distinct mustardy sauce filled with the sting of diced onion and pickles.
It definitely works, and is a damn tasty burger. But as I alluded to above... something is missing. The crunch of a lettuce perhaps? The seductive saltiness of bacon? Mayo? To be honest I'm not sure... there's a gap in here that I can't quite pin down, but it is there and it keeps this objectively good cheeseburger from being truly exceptional. Definitely needs something more and I can't quite imagine what that is.
Overall! Yeah they are worth a visit, and will not disappoint. Love the sesame seed bun, especially love the very beefy taste of the patty itself (ground chuck and brisket according to their site) which really shines through.
Alas, this has been the (accidental) summer/autumn of the cheeseburger in these parts... and the competition is stiff. Is Matty's better than those three I mentioned above? Friday Burger Co, or Harry's Charbroiled, or Burger Drops, or even Rudy? (which I reviewed a couple years ago). The answer is, unfortunately, no. It is a little step below all of those.
This is no slight to Matty's Patty's at all... those are all ridiculously good burgers and this is like being the guy batting behind Shohei Ohtani. Mookie Betts is a helluva player and probably going to the Hall of Fame, but come on. He's no Shotime.
What I like most about Matty's Patty's is the bare bones approach to the burger, which is simultaneously (and ironically) it's weakness. Heavy on the sauce and cheese, you can taste the beef, and that's really it. I'd recommend trying them for sure... but expecting it to be a mind-blowing "best burger in all of Toronto" will not quite happen. It's merely very good.
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How To Get Dead In Advertising
Found this article pretty interesting, as somebody who finds old adverts endlessly charming and (in this case) horrifying. Can't wait for the piece in fifty years admonishing all of us for keeping these smart phones so close to our vital organs.
Burger Dropped
I'm a fan of Andrew Rea's YouTube channel (wherein, if you don't know, he attempts to recreate food items from famous cartoons or films... often the most dutiful re-creations end up revolting, like 'rum ham' from It's Always Sunny, and he changes them up for the sake of appetites).
He also has an offshoot series explaining how easily you can mess up a recipe, and since we're doing a cheeseburger this week in my particularly weird corner of the internet... it seems fitting to share this video he made about screwing up a cheeseburger on a grill several times. It is hilarious.
Tuesday Tune
Saw these guys at History this past Friday night (great venue, first time there, and it helps when you know/work elsewhere with the bartender heh) and even these days later I'm still thinking about the show. So the song has to be a deep-ish cut from what I think is their best album (which they played a whole lot of). I was maybe five feet from the stage and goddamn. So fun.
That's it for this week! Plenty more coming up this month and in November, next week will be a big one... as will be the 100th episode! It's coming soon don't worry, and I have something special in mind... but until then: stay cool, stay safe, and don't spill that mustard.
Tight. Love the reviews, Liam. Matty's fine with me.
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