* Stop #7 to 12 of my 2016 Burger Love adventure.
So today I did something that many will think is totally crazy and others might think is awesome, I think it might be a little of both.
If you've been following along, you know that April on PEI is Burger Love month and I've been sampling several from around the Island. For those that aren't aware, every April restaurants across the Island create a special burger and compete for votes for the best. This year there are 73 different burgers across PEI.
A group of friends decided that we would take a road trip to the eastern end of the Island and sample the 8 different Burger Love creations. It was an ambitious plan but we felt ready and up to task. The plan was to split each burger 2, 3, or 4 ways depending on how we were feeling.
Stop #1 - "The Holy Grill" at the Holy Cow in Morell. Fan of bacon and cheese? This one is for you. The combo of bacon wrapped mozza sticks combined with the hickory BBQ sauce and a perfectly cooked burger kicked off the tour in a perfect way.
Rating - 9/10
Stop #2 - "Absolute Breakwater" from 21 Breakwater Restaurant in Souris. Set in a old historic home right on the waterfront, the view and atmosphere are amazing.
Although only a 5 oz burger it oozed with flavour, smokey bacon, homemade BBQ sauce and a little bit of guacamole put this one over the top. This one has set the bar for my 2016 Burger Love experience thus far.
If you're looking for a spot to eat in Eastern PEI I'd highly recommend this spot.
Rating - 9.5/10
Stop #3 - "Diggers Classic" from the Clamdigger in Georgetown. Another waterfront vista, although cool today I'm sure it would be amazing to enjoy a meal on their deck and enjoy the water view. The restaurant itself is designed as a replica of the old train station and it is a great looking building, inside and out.
For the burger, it was pretty good. We split this one 4 ways and all wished we'd had a full amount of the candied bacon which was the star of the burger. The flavours were good, but nothing really jumped out, other than the bacon.
Rating - 7.5/10
For burgers 4 through 6 we made our way into Montague. I'm not going to write much about these ones as, in all honesty, we were disappointed in them. The biggest disappointment was the
"Wrap Around" from the Tailgate Bar and Grill. The burger didn't have much taste and the toppings were basically a bunch of different processed meat slices.
Rating - 2/10
The
"Shanghai Dragon" from Lady Slipper was a better burger but the sauce was a bit overpowering and made the bun pretty soggy. I liked the addition of the wonton strips, and although the sauce was tasty, there was just too much.
Rating - 6.5/10
The
"Big Tex" from Main Street Pub was our last stop and, in all honesty, it was likely hurt in our eyes just because it was our 6th of the day. It was a pretty plain burger and the store bought bun didn't help it any. The flavour was ok but was pretty basic.
Rating - 6/10
We'd originally set out to do 8 burgers but unfortunately one location wasn't opening until 4 pm and another is only open Thursday - Sunday. Both of which we would have known if we'd looked at the Burger Love site more closely.
All in all it was a great day and we had a lot of fun, I expect that we'll make this an annual Burger Love excursion but with the disappointment in Montague we may decide to only go as far as Charlottetown next year and try to do a variety of burgers there. It was a great way to experience a large number of burgers in a short period of time. By splitting most of them in 4 it wasn't overwhelming and the driving to the different locations broke things up as well.
I'd highly recommend getting a group together and hit the road to get your PEI Burger Love on.
