| In a bold strategic move, the owners of the Metropolitan Grill have opened Tommy Burger almost directly beside popular sports bar Shanks on Macleod Trail South. With both catering to the hungry and thirsty sports fan, Tommy Burger has differentiated itself with a modern look and updated bar food menu. Shanks may have Duck Hunter, but it isn’t known for gourmet food.
My friend and I hit Tommy Burger on a Monday night during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Even though it wasn’t a Flames game night (R.I.P.), it was packed to the gills. We nabbed the last table, a skinny booth on the banquette side of the restaurant.
The room’s colour palette is a sleek and modern combination of lively lime green, dark hardwood, stainless steel accents and touches of pearl-white leather in the booths and on the walls. It was a tight squeeze, with mainly booth and bar seating and a small alcove of tables, but Tommy Burger maximizes every inch of the available space. Large, flat-screen televisions play sports, and you can see one from any angle you’re sitting at whether you want to or not. It’s a classic combination of sports bar and ultra-hip lounge.
The menu met the same description with a modern twist on old burger joint classics. We felt like little kids ordering our old-fashioned shakes ($5), then slurping them through straws. I ordered chocolate while my friend went for coffee. They were classic, with whipped cream and the shaker cup filled with extra shake – simply divine! My friend felt Tim Hortons should get the recipe for a huge improvement on its iced cappuccino.
For starters, we shared the gourmet poutine and O rings. The poutine ($7) features shoestring fries drowning in a thick blue cheese sauce and red wine-flavoured gravy. The flavours were so overpowering that we could barely finish a few bites before we’d reached our poutine limit. At first, I thought it was the blue cheese, but my friend argued that as a die-hard blue cheese lover she still felt there were too many competing strong flavours. The O rings were pretty standard, crispy and good.
We had high hopes for the sweet potato fries ($3.50) we had ordered with our burgers and they did not disappoint. Thin, tender pieces of sweet potato, slightly crispy on the outside, came lightly dressed in simple sea salt and pepper. They were so flavourful on their own we went without dipping sauce.
I decided to try the "build your own burger" six-ounce AAA Alberta Angus beef burger (comes with lettuce, tomatoes and Tommy sauce – tasted like ketchup to me – starts at $7.50). I added sautéed onions ($1.25), barbeque bacon ($1.50) and provolone cheese ($1.25). The beef patty was thick and juicy with generous portions of my add-ons. My friend ordered the California burger ($10). It came topped with guacamole, sprouts and Camembert cheese. The cheese came in cold slices, rather than melted. I thought this was odd, but my friend enjoyed. The burgers ranged from $7.50 to $14. There were also smokies, hot dogs, veggie and chicken burgers as alternatives.
We practically had to roll ourselves out of our booth, having only consumed half a burger each – I blame it on the super-thick shakes! Be sure to visit Tommy Burger next time you are feeling like catching the game and filling an empty stomach.
Tommy Burger is located at 9629 Macleod Trail South; phone, 258-1338. |
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