Brindle Room

As much as I hate to say someone else is right, well, Noah was right.  The Brindle Room burger is really good.  I’ve been there quite a few times and have enjoyed it each and every time, so it’s not a fluke that I love it.  I recommend it via Twitter quite a lot, too, and I’ve yet to have someone come back and tell me it was bad.  AND it’s now available for dinner as well as lunch, making it more accessible for me to bring people to eat there… which brings us to this post.  I wanted to grab dinner with Hungry and needed a casual, low key spot… so I was thrilled when she suggested Brindle Room, as she’d yet to try the burger. 

After a brisk walk, I was thirsty, so I ordered a strawberry lemonade.  Surprisingly very strawberry-tasting, it was also a little too tart for my tastes.  As the ice melted, it became a little less bracing, but the initial sip was pretty in-your-face-I’m-lemon. 

The specials of the night all sounded fantastic, but when we heard “fried chicken with mashed potatoes and sauteed kale” we both perked up.  Communicating telepathically is something I practice with all my friends – no, seriously, if you ever see me biting my lower lip and staring at a friend, I am trying to send them a mental message – though it doesn’t always work.  This time, it worked as Hungry turned to me, looked me dead in the face and said, “Do you want to split the fried chicken… as an appetizer?”

Yes.  Yes I do.  And yes, yes we did.  Though the place is quite dark and I only had my point&shoot camera so you can’t see, I will tell you about this fried chicken.  First of all, it was all dark meat.  There were four pieces, and though I don’t remember the price, it couldn’t have been that awful.  The mashed potatoes were super creamy and flavorful, there was some ridiculously good gravy, the greens were cooked perfectly, and there was a side dish of unnecessary (but delicious) honey. 

And the fried chicken was crisp, tender, juicy, moist, and fantastic.  Even though it sat on top of a mound of hot mashed potatoes, it didn’t get soggy – maybe we ate it that fast?! – and it was just so good.  The skin was crispy, revealing a moist meat underneath, flavorful, just… I would totally go back just for this, because it was really good.  Really… really… good. 

Then our burgers came.  Since my throat was hurting, I asked to switch my fries for a salad as I’d done last time, and was informed it would carry a $2 surcharge – but I could choose any salad I wanted.  I chose the same one as last time, and it was, as last time, fantastic.  Love that raw kale, pear and pecorino salad… I made Hungry try some and she also thought it was very good. 

Unfortunately, as I was pretty full from my half of the fried chicken plate, I couldn’t appreciate the burger.  It was still very tasty, and cooked properly, but after eating so much fried chicken… I was pretty much done for food.  I soldiered on and managed to finish it at least, because it would be a damn shame to leave any behind… Still a very good burger but so far, nothing I’ve had at Brindle Room was bad (well, I didn’t like the duck confit poutine that much, but it wasn’t bad – just not to my taste!). 

Yvo says: Seriously, if you haven’t been to Brindle Room yet for the burger, what are you waiting for?  You don’t like burgers?  Then get the fried chicken, which is incredible.  (It’s a special, though, so check before you go if they have it!)  Come on, really.  Are you not reading? 
highly recommended burger & fried chicken… what else do you need?