After reading about a new restaurant in my neighborhood on the Deets' Blog, I had to check it out. Well, a short 2 months after I read his review, I finally got my ass over to Buster's on 28th.
Well, the Deets was all fired up about the lame Juicy Lucy, but I noticed very quickly that it was absent from the menu, probably a good thing since they never got it right, and there are plenty of other great places to score a delicious Lucy.
I'll do the food review first. The menu is pretty much elevated bar food, decent, but not outstanding. They had a buffalo burger that 3 of the 4 of us tried. We all agreed that the burger itself was delicious. Here's my problem with it. It is a huge burger smothered in BOTH mayo and a sour cream-based chipotle sauce. Why the need for both? Seems excessive. I asked for mine SIN mayo. The burger (cooking options: medium, medium-rare, charred, whatever... were not offered) showed up and there was about half an inch thick of the chipotle sauce which the waitress INSISTED made the burger. NO WAY! It was delicious, but the sauce was so spicy that it completely masked the flavor of the burger. I scraped off the sauce and discovered that the burger itself was pretty darn tasty too. I would highly recommend this burger with no or just a light amount of the sauce. Other than that, fries were good, onion rings were good.
They did have a difficult time finding BBQ sauce for my fries and malt vinegar was not an option. If they want to be a little better than bar food, those options should be available.
On to the beer. This is their specialty. Busters is owned by the same folks who brought us the Happy Gnome, and they bring their love of good beer. I must say I was exceedingly impressed with the beer list, especially with what was on tap. The gluten-free beer option was a nice touch since I was there with my old roommate Molly who cannot have gluten. I had a Hennepin Ale from NYC that I had had only once before in Brooklyn. I would HIGHLY recommend that. I also tried a MN beer, Flat Earth Element 115. Really interesting taste, but perhaps too many competing flavors. This unique beer is worth a try though. One complaint with their drink menu is that their draft root beer is Frost Top. That sh@t is nasty. Get some good ol' 1919 root beer from New Ulm! But I'm not there for the root beer so I don't really care.
Last comment, on the decor. Hopefully they spruce this up. I like the mirror at the back so even the last table (which we were) can see the whole restaurant. But if you're a place specializing in beers, show that! There's pretty much nothing on the walls, no flare. Of course we know from Office Space that too much flare is a bad thing, but no flare = no personality.
All in all, I'd recommend this place if you live in the neighborhood, but not as a destination, unless something off of their drink menu compels you.
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2 comments:
Great review. It seems like a work in progress. I hope they're reading the public feedback they're getting on sites like this.
I had some of the same feelings about the Flat Earth--however, it is a California common, which almost always has that kind of flavor. For those of you not familiar with a California Common, it is the same kind of beer as Anchor Steam--a lager beer fermented at ale temps (70 F). It is truly the only true American style beer.
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