Unofficial MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR! - Henry's Tavern

Perhaps I should have had Totes McCoates make an unofficial MMBT! logo, as this tour stop was not planned by Scro nor a Texas independent burger joint.

I wanted to have lunch with CC and she suggested Henry's Tavern in Plano since it was just up the street from me and down the way from her new job. (I found out later that she had a coupon.)

Took a fun selfie outside because it was so gorgeous today. My smile doesn't translate well in this pic. Let's look at CC's selfie instead.

Much better! We got a table and dove into all the latest gossip. After our waiter, Cody, took our order the place started to fill up. And I mean PACKED with guys cheering on the US Hockey team. At one point, it felt like CC and I were shouting at each other. 

This is a before photo. You can see the bar and big screen before the place got slammed. We waited 35 minutes for our meal and I finally had to track down the hostess to ask about the delay. She was apologetic and blamed the game, but we still didn't see Cody anywhere. I got the burger, nothing fancy, and had asked for it medium.

Lovely brioche bun and crisp seasoned fries. The pickle was rather spicy and that's garlic mayo on the side. 

That's not medium, but I was hungry.The tavern started to really fill up.

A lot of cursing when Canada scored. I felt bad for CC and wanted to cover her ears. 

I don't remember taking this photo. It looks like my camera is on an acid trip. 

Finished everything on my plate (which I regret 3 hours later... ugh, burger baby.) Before we left, I made a quick stop to the Ladies. It's really large. 

Six stalls and three sinks! It definitely is more of a tavern bar than a restaurant, that's for sure.

I tipped Cody $4, even though our food was late and he barely checked on us. Didn't seem like there was a lot of waitstaff, so I didn't want to punish him for that. 

Ambiance – 5 (Sports bar, uncomfortable chairs, no outside patio.)
Burger – 5.5 (Overdone.)
Cleanliness – 8. (Very tidy.)

Drinks – 8 (Two different ciders on tap.)
Location – 7 (Parking is easiest in the complex, though they offer valet.)
Misc. – 5 (Open bar and televisions throughout, very loud.)
Restroom – 8 (HUGE!)
Sides – 9 (The fries were actually better than the burger. Hold on the pickle though.)
Staff – 3 (Sorry Cody, you were charming to begin with, but lost us once you left the table.)

Bonus points – 5 (Cloth napkin.)

TOTAL SCORE: 58.5 of a possible 100. 

Since it was an unofficial burger stop, they have room for improvement before I would head back.
Happy Friday!

MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR! - Olive Burger

Putting all the weirdness from this week aside, I got a message from Breet that Friday was the day for the next MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR! stop. A was a little disappointed when I saw the location was Olive Burger. Not that they don't have great food, part of the MMBT rules is that each establishment must have at least 4 stars on Yelp. It's just that the great Macedonian himself had taken me and Totes McCoates there about a month ago. So, it wasn't a fresh new experience.

But whatevs! Burgers ON!

Olive Burger is in Richardson, Texas off Arapaho and Custer. It's not much to look at from the outside, but there WILL be a line going out the door if you visit at lunchtime. Only took 15 minutes to get to the register and another 10 to get our food. Not too bad!  If you visit, make sure you have the time, because you can't rush good food.

Here's me and PinTrish waiting in line. I look ridiculous. 

But not as silly as Ivanny doing her best "Away Paparazzi!" with Barb. 

PINTRISH PHOTO BOMB!

The menu is good. It's not just a burger joint, you can get gyro and chicken as well. And it's Halal, so you know you're getting GOOD stuff here. 

 Like I said, there's only one register and two guys on the grill, so be patient. 

I ordered the House cheeseburger which is a 1/2 pounder with double cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and pickle PLUS bacon, mushrooms, jalapenos and onions. I held the jalapenos since I'm not a fan. 

$7.52 plus tip. Not bad! (I got a water, but they have ample soda beverages.)

At this point, we converged to take over tables and the rest of the gang arrived just as our food was being delivered. 

Looking good there Breet!

Sup?

LaLa!

Ah, poor Totes McCoates looks like he's at the kiddie table.

Here's the top view of the burger masterpiece. 

Wow. Shaky cam. Sorry, still getting used to the iPod Touch. 

And an interior halfsie.

 Your mouth is watering just a little bit, isn't it?

PinTrish gave me half her fries which were tasty. Breet gave me an onion ring, very good too. Like a tempura onion ring, not super crispy, but good. 

A few shots of the decor. Hand sanitizer is thoughtful.

Movie posters on the wall and weird color schemes. Olive Burger (when you can't get olives on your burger) is kind of like that co-worker who's a little of kilter but means well and does good work. You kind of want to pat them on the head and say, "Good girl" but refrain. 

I was on a tight schedule so didn't have the opportunity to get additional photos, but I had visited the bathroom on the previous occasion. 

Ambiance – 4 (middle eastern architecture with a Hollywood vibe and strange seating.)
Burger – 6.5 (I only ate half. These are GIANT burgers. But it is tasty.)
Cleanliness – 6. (While I didn't see anything that would make me nervous, I don't think they take a lot of time scrubbing things down.)

Drinks – 7 (Good assortment of sodas, but that's about it.)
Location – 7 (You have to go through a weird intersection and then try to find parking.)
Misc. – 7 (Hand sanitizer after eating a juicy burger was nice.)
Restroom – 5 (Unisex.)
Sides – 7 (If you like tempura style / American Chinese fried food, you'll dig these.)
Staff – 8 (No-nonsense, down to business. No wait staff.)

Bonus points – 8 (Halal.)

TOTAL SCORE: 60.5 of a possible 100. 

Thumbs up from Breet. 

THE MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR! – Shady’s Burgers

It’s 11:00 am and a meeting invitation from Breet pops up on my screen. 

G, I know you are dining with Lana today, but if you would like to invite her to join the MMBT, she’s more than welcome.

Well, you know what I said… HECK YA!

Much like the last The first Magical Mystery Burger Tour stop, it is also an incredibly cold day.  Today's burger stop?

Shady's Burgers in Richardson. 

 I repeat, will the real Shady's Burgers please stand up?

While closed in, we were not going to dine on the patio.  Scro commented that the patio would be great in the summertime and I agreed. 

We walked in the back door so it was a little confusing where we were supposed to go.  Pintrish found the line to order and we examined the menu.

I was tempted to go with the special, the Chicken ‘Schroom-Wich, which is grilled chicken topped with grilled mushrooms and white cheddar cheese, but that would have thrown off the whole burger tour… and we can’t have that! Instead, I ordered the “Shady burger” and added bacon, avocado and white cheddar cheese.*  I added some frings (french fries + onion rings) and a water to my order. Decent price, I think it came to $12 + tip.

Went to the table to sit on the most A$$-FREEZING ALUMINUM CHAIRS OF ALL TIME! Why do burger joints do this?  They are either too cold in the winter or freaking hot-cross-buns burners in the summer. 

Here's the crew:

 

LALA, Pintrish and Lana (nickname TBD, who got a salad.)

$50 says Pintrish is thinking something naughty.

 

Nam, Nam, Nam... enjoying his noms. And by noms I mean a Slim Shady. 

Check out the Liquor jail behind him!

 

Scro doing a little trigger action and Totes McCoates looking swell.

 

The great Macedonian himself. What a great looking guy!

The food arrived REALLY quickly.  I was impressed. 

So was Breet. But not when he saw this photo…  

“Wow...I look like a psychopath...awesome."

Breet - “Good lord...I need to go see a professional stylist/groomer or something...that was craze, yet not amaze.”

LALA – “I look totes norm in this pic...“

There were four people in the kitchen and two servers who swapped roles at the cash register, bartending and serving foodies.  The guy was nice and friendly. He even said “thank you” when I asked him how his day was going.   

When the girl swapped him out at the register, she made a comment along the lines of “I’m prettier than he is.” Well, uh… okay little Miss Sassafras.

We noted that the food was on a tray, similar to Haystack’s.  

 Cut the burger in half with the big steak knife they thoughtfully supplied. Perfect medium.

We learned that LALA doesn't eat the onion part of onion rings... which is odd, but whatevs.

 

All in all, good place and great location. I guess I would go back, but probably more for a happy hour or during the summer.

Ambiance – 6 (post-apocalyptic slash recycle-land. FREEZING CHAIRS!)

Burger – 6.5 (a little salty. Not as juicy as expected. Light on the avocado and they gave me the wrong cheese.)

Cleanliness –9

Drinks – 9 (it’s happy hour ALL DAY LONG! I could have gotten a vodka tonic for $2!)

Location – 10 (literally around the block.)

Misc. – 7 (LARGE patio space with space heaters and fans.)

Restroom – 5 (why is there a mirror right across from the toilet? It smelt like a zoo.)

Sides – 5.5 (fries were a little greasy and not crisp. Onion rings were MASSIVE!)

Staff – 8.5 (friendly, a little too much hovering and asking us if we wanted refills or to take trays away. But the guy did lower the back garage door when we said it was cold, which was nice.)

Bonus points – 3 (good social media on Facebook, but their website is down and twitter activity stopped in September of last year. They do have Instagram as well, but I haven't checked that out yet.)

TOTAL SCORE: 69.5 of a possible 100. 

We had to leave when a full on double rainbow hipster came in wearing vans. 

What do you see in this photograph?

And here are a few more photos of the environs before we left.

THE END... for now. Until it's time for another MMBT stop.

Catch you on the "flip" side.

*Note: the only cheese they serve is yellow cheddar and white cheddar. That’s it. No Swiss, no pepper-jack. Just cheddar. Swiss is the only cheese to be capitalized besides American (which is not cheese, it’s processed cheese food and it is gross. Don’t eat it.)

THE MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR! - Haystack Burgers

Tom* decided that the Lunch Bunch needed a new 2014 dining goal.  As such, he cultivated a list from Yelp.com of the top locally owned, non-chain, minimum four star burger spots in Richardson.  This would be called THE MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR!  The first on the list … Haystack Burgers off Belt Line and the 75. (Yes, I still say “the” before a freeway number. It’s the SoCal girl in me.)

It was an incredibly cold and windy day, so the first joke out of our mouths was whether we should eat on the patio.  It was decent sized and I’m sure lovely on a Spring day, but definitely not today.  We walked in and were greeted with a great atmosphere. Woodsy counter tops, paintings on the walls of goats, fake boar heads, steel/aluminum chair rails and funky green chandeliers (you gotta get yourself a shan-da-leeer! Like this one! Or dat one!)

 

Instead of ordering “The Haystack”, their specialty which comes with onions, cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, BBQ sauce and the usual burger fixings (just say no to BBQ sauce), I decided to build my own.  This monstrosity, here forth known as “The G”, included avocado, Swiss cheese, haystack onions, bacon, and all the fixings. I also included a side order of haystack onions and fries, what they call the “Half/Half”, to be shared with Pintrish (formally known as Trish the Dish). Also, they have a very long and diverse beer list, but I couldn’t read it all in time.  Looks like they have a good selection on tap too.

 

 

We collected our drinks (note they have Cherry Coke!)  along with CLOTH napkins and a choice of regular or chipotle ketchup. I was very excited about the large cloth napkins.  Used one on my lap and one as a bib; the chances of me spilling something on my chest are very, very great. They have that really cool slush/crunch ice, but the straws are a little too skinny and get clogged by the ice quickly. But that is acceptable because the seating allows for individual or large groups, so you can easily accommodate 2 or 7 in your party.

The food arrived.  Pintrish and I mao-ed on the fries and haystack onions; these came with a spicy ranch and a dip that is similar to what you’d find with blooming onions. 

I cut my burger in half because it was too big and clumsy for me to eat whole. Terribly delicious and prepared at a perfect medium. I finished the whole thing (sorry diet) and had a pleasant food belly – not burger coma.

All in all, fantastic place and will come back for more! Next time with BEER!

Ambiance – 7 (a little bit eclectic and modern at the same time.)

Burger – 8

Cleanliness – 8

Drinks – 8

Location -8

Misc. – 10 (CLOTH NAPKINS!)

Restroom – 5 (did not visit the restroom so I’m giving it an average.)

Sides – 7 (was not a huge fan of the onions or fried pickles that Laura got. The fries were okay.)

Staff – 8 (friendly, family owned)

Bonus points - 5 (good usage of promoting their social media and with a discount!)

 TOTAL SCORE: 74 of a possible 100. 

I may revisit this score based on the rest of the burger joints on the tour.  Especially as I am sure their restroom was fine and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Right now, we just need Andy to come up with our logo for THE MAGICAL MYSTERY BURGER TOUR!… get on it Andy!

*Who picked up the new nickname "Scro" at lunch. Confidentiality clauses and non-disclosure agreements prevent me from revealing why.