Park Burger on a Bench Across From Park Burger

Despite the unfortunate closing of Deluxe Burger last month, there are, thanks to the mini-boom of burger joints in our fair city over the last few years, many other options for the burger-seeking general public. The other day my family and I found ourselves (read: I dragged them along on an errand) in the Platte Park area--hungry, but with a short window of eating opportunity. To me a meal of burger and fries is the definition of a quick meal, and I figured that any place that serves burgers exclusively would be perfect given our time constraints.

Hence, we ended up at Park Burger, which as it turns out is not in any way a fast option—at least not on a beautiful summer Friday evening. Located on the southern end of the South Pearl business district in this family-filled, foot-friendly neighborhood, the crowds there tell me that the folks behind Park Burger filled a long-standing neighborhood need: a casual, family friendly restaurant with an accessible menu of regular food at regular prices (either that or you can’t pack enough restaurants into this neighborhood).

The short of it was that Park Burger was packed. Forty-five minutes for a table? Good for the Park Burger investors, but even if we had the time, waiting that long with twin infants in the densely packed atrium would have been like dragging nails across the proverbial chalkboard for the duration. But we were really hungry, and going through the rest of our plans for that night (while trying to look after our twins) without proper nourishment (read: fatty meat and greasy carbs) would have been just as painful. Partly from my new-parent mindset and partly from my true vagabond nature, a light bulb went off when I spied a few empty benches across the street: I quickly placed an order to go.

The hostess was friendly and relatively collected amongst the chaos of waiting customers clogging the entrance, orders going in and out, phones ringing and all the other hubbub of a busy operation. Within fifteen minutes I placed and received my order. I walked across the street, baby in one arm and in the other a white paper bag, partially see-through with grease spots and surprisingly heavy with only two burgers and an order of fries. (The only thing missing was another brown paper bag with a cold bottle of beer inside.)

What was so heavy was the extra order of fries that she had mistakenly included in my order (and that I paid for-- I checked) likely because it was hard to hear much over the din of diners and drinkers. My wife and I are not ones to complain about extra fried potatoes, but if I was going to get two orders, I would have made one regular fries instead of two sweet potatoes.

Oh well. We were here for the burgers anyway. I ordered the Chef's special: a green chile burger, medium rare. Unlike other burger joints (Deluxe), Park burger lets one choose the doneness of one’s burger, something I appreciate. My burger was cooked just as I ordered and had a wonderful kick from the surprisingly spicy chiles that was well-balanced by the creamy, cheesy sauce. I'm not sure how a Denver burger joint doesn't have a green chile burger on the menu all the time, but I was glad to be here when it was. 

I almost always get sweet potato fries over regular fries when I can. At Park Burger, the sweet potato fries were pretty standard, which is to say I ravenously devoured mine. Thin cut, salted, a little crispy-- but a little floppy with grease-- they were solid fries to go along with my stand-up burger.

For my wife I ordered a Chilango burger. Chilango is of course a word used to describe those from Mexico City. In retrospect, neither my Chilanga wife nor I are aware of any particular requirements that need to be fufilled in order for a burger to carry the name Chilango, but either way I thought she should have it. They only thing that made it really all that Mexican were jalapeños and guacamole. The cheddar cheese? Not so much. 

My wife didn’t love it. She felt like the guacamole wasn't all that great and did not go well with the other, more "traditional" burger adornments. I liked it fine, and she liked it enough that she finished it all herself rather than accepting my offer to eat the rest of it for her. I might be mistaken, but I think Park Burger won the Denver Burger Battle in 2010 with this burger. A winner is a winner, but from my sampling, I think they would be better off swapping out the Chilango for my green chile burger on both the menu and the next Burger Battle.

In the end it was a thoroughly enjoyable meal on the bench across the street from Park Burger. I’m actually surprised that no one else had thought to do the same. Next to the patio of Park Burger itself, this was probably the best place to enjoy a burger on the corner of Pearl and Jewell on that pleasant summer evening. And with a squirming twin in each of our respective arms, it was certainly better for us and the rest of the Park Burger faithful. 

From my very small sample, Park Burger makes some average to very good burgers but is nothing spectacular. That being said, I suppose I am not really a "burger guy" and very rarely is a burger spectacular in my opinion. Regardless of that, however, I do think that every neighborhood would be a little better with a burger joint like this (and Mayfair is a little worse off for losing Deluxe). But Park Burger is not so much of a “joint” as it is a restaurant. With this in mind you can choose to have your burger cooked in something other than well-done-- and get table service; but you have to wait to be seated and it is not the best option for grabbing a quick bite—unless you are willing to grab a seat on the bench across the street. 

Deluxe Burger: Remembering Your Loved Ones With Meat

Memorial Day is upon us, and for us North Americans between Canada and Mexico it usually signals the beginning of the summer season. Maybe it is this reason that all over the internet (and I assume places like daytime TV and the Food Network) are articles, video clips and tips about "Memorial Day Grilling." And the favorite topic of this concentrated media blitz of "top-ten lists" and "tips from the pros" is, as far as I can tell, the burger.

It could be (and probably has been) argued that the hamburger is an iconic American food. Maybe this is why grilling one has somehow become synonymous with what once was a patriotic holiday that originated with the idea of honoring those who died serving our country. Of course it is harder and harder to find people who remember what this holiday was created for 153 years ago, and because of that there are those that would like nothing more than to relive the olden days when it was called Decoration Day by having everyone be a little more solemn and practice a little "proper flag etiquette."

Not proper flag etiquette, I imagine.
(from Grub Street)

Wherever you fall on the Memorial Day solemnity scale, one thing you can agree with me is that it is turning out to be a less-than-ideal grilling weekend in Denver (although of course as I am finishing this Sunday afternoon has turned into a perfect day for grilling). In fact this Spring in Denver has been more like summer in San Francisco and I surely grilled more in January and February than I have yet in May. With summer grilling season still not quite there, we should be thankful for the increased attention that has been paid to the burger all over Denver, from the burger battle that is just around the corner again, to the numerous burger-centric restaurants that have of late popped up like cupcake shops did in 2008 and 2009.

By chance I ate last week at Deluxe Burger on East Colfax. This was my first time in Deluxe Burger although last summer I visited the mostly-mobile Deluxe food truck and joked about how often I would see it parked ironically in front of its stationary, sit-down counterparts. This night the food truck was nowhere to be seen as my wife and I pulled up to park in front of the trademark orange logo.

Deluxe just may be the only burger shop anywhere to share space with a designer furniture store. It's not a bad combination, as we were able to browse some over-priced used designer furniture while we waited for our burgers. Although I will blame the inordinately long wait for what otherwise is essentially a fast food experience for allowing my wife sufficient time to turn our $20 meal into a $70 shopping trip.

Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. I ordered the Denver burger, which was a mash of green chiles and a fresh, poignant pico de gallo of wonderfully ripe tomatoes, red onions and cilantro. Over that was drizzled an excellent jalapeño aioli while melted cheddar oozed everywhere.

We got our food to go and I inhaled this burger before starting the car but only after stuffing on it a bunch of the house fries, that are thickly hand cut and sprinkled with thyme and garlic.

I had eaten these fries before at the Deluxe truck and will have to say while they were great layered on my burger, they were not as good as I remember them. I think on this trip they were the major part of our extended wait time as they came out scorching hot from the fryer and slightly undercooked. On top of that they were a little plain. Next time I will have to try the truffle fries.

I didn't try the truffle fries mainly because they have cheese on them and due to some breast-feeding baby-dietary-changes my wife is not eating any dairy. That also made her burger-experience less-than-optimal, as no one in the kitchen knew if the buns had dairy. I must say, however, that they did their best to find out and came up with the solution of sandwiching her burger between some lettuce halves. In the end, my wife was pleased and although it doesn't look that great to me, it will let you see the Deluxe burger au natural:

And it was a good thing she didn't order the bun, because regardless of the dairy content inside, on the underside it was slathered in butter and grilled to perfection. Here is a close-up of my outstanding burger again, so we don't go out on such a plain note:

Deluxe Burger is a perfect place to get a satisfying and great-tasting greasy, gut-bomb-of-a-burger. I would go back without hesitation when I'm in the mood for a fast burger that is not at all like fast food, although next time I think I'll go back well after Mod Livin' closes.

Films, Books, Music and Encore

If you read my post on the Starz Denver Film Festival then you will know that I am quite pleased that the Denver Film Society is moving its operations to East Colfax next to the green carpets of Tattered Cover and the endless aisles of CDs and vinyl at Twist and Shout. This despite the fact that both these stores have been responsible for garnering a substantial portion of my wages for close to a decade now. You would also learn by reading that post that I save money by sneaking my food into the movies-- so now in this cultural complex  I find a harmonious Yin-and-Yang-like balance of personal economic output and inflow. The fact is that these two stores along with a trip to the movies provides my wife and I so much entertainment in our otherwise thrilling life that I am happy to throw my hard-earned money around here and support these local businesses. What would make the whole experience complete would be of course a restaurant tailored to our liking, and that is why we found ourselves at the appropriately named Encore.

Our first trip was for brunch during the final farmer's market at East High. I was tempted to cross the street for some delicious arepas, but with two Encore DINR coupons burning a hole in my pocket, we stuck to the plan. I can't believe I had yet to set foot inside Encore, what with the lovely musical din and kitchen emanations wafting through the always ajar glass doors that loosely separate it from Tattered Cover's magazine area (here too I save money on magazine subscriptions). It was a chilly fall day and we huddled down in a booth under old Lowenstein Theater lettering from the building's historic past.

We scanned the menu and granted that it might have been one of those mornings where hunger clouds judgment (it usually is for me), everything looked good. I settled on the breakfast burrito and my wife a scramble with a side of fries. The scramble was classic omelet flavors: Swiss, tomato, spinach, mushroom-- the ingredients fresh and the eggs not overcooked. Pretty basic, and nothing too exciting, but the famous fries that came on the side were indeed good. To live up to their reputation as one of Denver's best plates of fries, however, you must love mustard and mayo. They come drenched in house-made blend of spicy mustard and mayonnaise, and while I did think the fries were excellent, my wife didn't love all that mustard-like-substance smothered all over, preferring it on the side.

Great fries-to-egg ratio

What we both did love smothered was the green chile all over my plate . For a place with cloth napkins and table service, Enocre puts together a respectable green chile. The tomatillo-based chile was classic and simple, the only drawback being that it was entirely without spice.

The burrito itself was filled with thick bacon, scrambled eggs, fresh avocado and big chunks of skin-on potatoes. The shredded lettuce looked nice, but just got it the way. All in all it was a worthy breakfast burrito that I would order again.

Impressed enough with our brunch visit, we returned one night in between films at the Denver Film Fest. This time around we were ready to try the much-hyped Encore burger. The Encore burger is often touted as one of Denver's better burgers (see here, and here) by burger lovers, and even if it were to disappoint, at least we got to order more of those fries.

My wife somehow tricked me into ordering the lamb burger, while she ordered the traditional Encore burger. The ground Colorado lamb was tender and packed with flavor. It was sandwiched between two pieces of flatbread, lathered in an excellent tzatziki sauce and padded with crisp lettuce and cool cucumbers. It was delicious.

As you can see in the picture above, my plate is noticeably without fries. My wife was feeling particularly devious that evening, and also hoodwinked me into getting the apple slaw instead of the fries, promising me she would hardly eat her fries so I could have "most" of them. Against my better judgment I consented, and while the apple slaw is decidedly not fried, it was quite refreshing against the strong, heavy flavors of my lamb burger.

I did get my hand on some fries after all, and also enjoyed two enormous bites of her Encore burger. This indeed is a very good burger. It was slightly charred but moist and well-cooked. The burger sauce is the hook-- an upscale bacon and bleu-cheese topping. An aside: trying to improve a classic burger topping like bacon and bleu cheese makes me skeptical at best. I am not a fan of fancy wording for simple dishes, and putting the words "compote" and "burger" together sounds like a slippery slope into a lifetime of pretension. But Encore has done well to improve upon the classic, and the creamy, rich compote, mixed with little chunks of bacon is delicious. Like the fries, no other condiments are offered. And none are needed.

Over 50 years ago, as you probably know, the Lowenstein Theater was one of Denver's hubs for theater and arts. It is nice to see it now fully revived and full of cultural-y things like books, music, film-- and well-crafted food. The execution on everything we sampled at Encore was spot-on, the service friendly and the atmosphere inviting. It is a shame that I waited so long to eat at Encore, and with the little I sampled earlier this year at a Harvest Week event, I shouldn't have been surprised at how good the whole package was. It won't be long until I return. Next on my list is that flatbread pizza with figs and prosciutto.