A couple months ago, while CT and I were walking through our neighborhood, we noticed a new burger restaurant called Bareburger. After reading the menu posted outside we learned it was a “organic, all natural, free-range, grass-fed meats; organic and all-natural cheeses; and organic vegetables” burger place that served a variety of burger combinations with a wide selection of meats including wild game such as elk and ostrich. We both like wild game and the burger combinations sounded tasty so we put it on our list. A couple weeks after that a Groupon came out for the place for $10 for $20 worth of food. This moved Bareburger even higher up the list after I purchased the deal. We(I) decided it would make for a good casual Sunday night dinner after seeing X-Men: First Class(which was better than expected).
CT says: Actually I expected X-Men: First Class to be awesome, and it was. Awesome!
While perusing the menu, we noticed that basically all of the burgers hovered around the $10 range and did not include any sides like fries. Also it would be an additional cost for any of the game meats; lamb $1, elk $1.45, bison $1.65, ostrich (market price i.e. $3.10). Yes, these could end up being some pretty expensive burgers, but if everything is organic and high quality, it may be worth the price.
Luckily, the beers were much more reasonable, in fact CHEAP! They offered a nice selection of beers that I think even the Beer Boor would be happy with. The top of their list had one of the only mass produced organic beers on the market, Peak Organic. There were also offerings from Sierra Nevada, Ommegang and a few others. They offer beer in 16, 25, or 60 ounce increments. CT got a 16 oz. Ommegang Wit for $6 and was quite happy since she loves a good wheat beer. I got a 25 oz. Sierra Nevada Summerfest for $7. It was a HUGE beer and cost about the same as what you would normally pay for a beer half that size. They didn’t really have a bar in the restaurant, but I wonder if they would let me come to just drink since their “premium” beers were so cheap.
Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Ommegang Wit
Since the burgers didn’t come with any fries, we order the Rings & Fries Bareburger Combo appetizer $6.95 to share with our meal. The onion rings were the star of the show. They were perfectly battered so once cooked the onion didn’t pull away from the batter. Super crunchy and not greasy at all. I may have had more than my fair share of these. While the fries looked good, they could have been fried a bit longer.
This came with five of their dipping sauces(peppercorn steak sauce, curry ketchup, spicy chipotle mayo, spicy ranch and Bareburger special sauce). Unfortunately the server didn’t explain any of the sauces to us, so we were left to our own devices to figure it out. None of the sauces really stood out to me. The onion rings definitely did not need any sauce as they were seasoned perfectly.
CT says: The fries were good, but I wish we knew what the sauces were. The menu of dipping sauces was pretty long, so those were my best guesses based on taste. I only found the dip-menu after ordering, but wished we had been offered the choice of picking which we wanted. Either way, I only used one (the Bareburger special sauce, I think?). It was a nice alternative to ketchup, as somewhere between a ketchup and BBQ sauce.
CT wasn’t especially hungry since she had a late lunch at the Big Apple BBQ so she decided to get the sliders since it would be easier to save some for later. For $8.95 for three plus $1.45 for elk, they came with colby jack cheese, dill pickle relish, grilled onions, grape tomato and Bareburger special sauce. I believed she liked these eventhough she wasn’t that hungry. I had a bite and was impressed that meat wasn’t completely overcooked as most sliders tend to be. They were juicy although not very “elk-y” and the toppings added a lot more flavor.
CT says: I usually order my burgers medium or medium-rare, depending on the location; however since sliders are often overcooked due to their size, I went with rare for these and that was the right decision. Though not red (or even dark pink) in the middle, the sliders retained their juiciness and made for a nice dinner. I ended up only eating 1 slider then and saving the other 2 for dinner the next night, when I found them to still be quite juicy after a quick ride in the toaster oven. Overall, I was pretty happy with the flavor combination and the quality of the elk.
I decided to kick up the spice a bit and get the “Jalapeno Express” $9.35 plus $1.45 for elk. It had pepperjack, romaine lettuce, tomato, raw red onion, jalapeno relish, horseradish mayo and chipotle ketchup. Although I have been eating more and more spicy foods over the past couple of years thus building my tolerance, I still usually don’t go for the spiciest thing on the menu. The menu made the burger sound really good so I took a shot and figured my extra large beer would help tame the heat if need be. In addition to choosing your meat, there is a option of buns(brioche bun, multi-grain roll, iceberg lettuce wrap, wheat flour wrap or tapioca rice bun (gluten-free)). I decided to be “healthy” and get the multi-grain roll. As you can see it was a relatively well constructed burger, although the big metal skewer in the middle helped. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare(as most game should be). The burger had a lot of flavor and I enjoyed it, but the heat was not there. Strange considering the variety of peppers involved.
CT says: I took a bite of TT’s burger and really enjoyed it. Cooked perfectly throughout with a perfect balance of toppings. If I go back there, and actually eat a full dinner, I would definitely get a full burger over the sliders. Just more satisfying in my opinion.
For the sake of my readers, I cut my burger in half so you can see the juicy goodness without my off-putting, disgusting bite marks. 😉
All in all, Bareburger was very tasty albeit very expensive. They offer a ton of great burger combinations or you can design your own. The choice of wild game is also a nice touch. I am not sure how quick I would return, but am glad it is close by in case I change my mind.
BeerBoor says
Cutting a burger in half… that’s not right! I want more bite marks! I bet you didn’t even eat this.
For another grass-fed beef option (no game), brgr does more or less the same thing, and with beer and wine and milkshakes available.
TT says
Bareburger definitely has milkshakes and I am 84% sure they have wine too.
Feisty Foodie says
84% is so exact. Damn BeerBoor beat me to the “did you even eat this?” comment I told you I was going to post 😛
TT says
wait I was supposed to eat it too? DAMMIT! still getting the hang of this food blogger thing.
chakrateeze says
lol, Beer!
Tracie
Hungry says
Ooooh! I like the wild game options here. Time to do some stalking again.
TT says
SWEET, I mean eeks!
Just be warned, it ain’t cheap.
Goats says
Bite Marks!!!!!!!! Cutting a burger in half is not what we expect from TT!
BeerBoor says
From food bloggers in general! I wanna know you cared enough to eat this in its natural form.
Gross bite marks with chewy bits dangling everywhere, sure, that’s not right. But TT’s a sellout. Sellout!
T.C. says
Nice looking fried goodies and sliders.
No milkshakes to chase all this stuff down with? 😛
Definitely mo’ teeth marks next time or start cutting into their tapioca rice buns.