Not so anymore. Now if you’re choosing your burger from a menu that only offers tomato, lettuce and mayo as toppings, you may want to rethink your list of favorite restaurants. You’re missing out on things like blue or feta cheese, chorizo sausage, grilled pineapple, mango salsa, ginger soy glaze, foie gras, fried oysters or a fried egg.
Specialty burgers are now the way to go, even for the most blue-collar of eaters (hey, even places like Wendy’s have kicked it up a notch with things like the Baconator). No longer the grab-and-go meal, burgers have gone gourmet and, after a quick scan of some local menus, it looks like there’s no turning back.
If you’d like to try your burger with a little something different, check out the Caesar avocado burger at Shay’s Grill & Pub in Portland. The half-pound Black Angus burger is topped with a caesar salad, tomato and avocado ($8.45). At the Peaks Island House (on Peaks Island), you can try a California burger with guacamole, swiss cheese and cucumbers ($8.50) on top. And Five Fifty-Five gets a little more fancy with its Maine-raised grass fed burger ($11.95), featuring chili flecked kim cha, black trumpet mushroom ketchup, Pineland Farms cheese curd and a “wonder bread” bun. It sounds too classy to be a sandwich.
When it comes to today’s burger, we’re not just talking beef. You can find some great burger options locally that have nothing to do with cows. The Cafe at Pat’s in Portland serves up a ground lamb burger ($13), dressed with pickled red onion, feta, greens and roasted red pepper tzatziki, and tucks it into a house-made bun. The Dogfish Bar and Grille offers a locally made Blue Mango veggie burger ($8.95), with mayo chutney, lettuce, tomato and sprouts on a ciabatta roll. O’Naturals patrons can enjoy wild prairie raised bison meatloaf with roasted red peppers, cheddar and mustard on flatbread ($6.99). And the Broad Arrow Tavern at the Harraseeket Inn serves the Wild Idea Buffalo Burger ($13).
A grill-fried burger from Harmon’s Lunch in Falmouth still hits the spot on occasion, but for true foodies there’s a whole other burger world to be explored — no Heinz products needed. Take a walk through the farmers’ market or the produce and dairy sections of the grocery store and see what interesting toppings you can find to enjoy at home.
— Karen Beaudoin