I've Found It!

Last week T-bonz and I road tripped down to Albuquerque, New Mexico for a Morrissey concert (more on that later). The food in that part of the country kicks ass, so I had to get a couple of notable eats in.

First up:

Bert's Burger Bowl in Santa Fe was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. For 54 years they've been doling out green chile cheeseburgers. They have all kinds of burgers - ostrich, lamb, Kobe beef - but they are famous for their deliciously simple green chili cheeseburger.

Meat, lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, and green chile. Between a bun. Sounds good!

Sounds good. Too bad mine was not bad but not achingly good either. Couldn't taste the individual ingredients. Sort of bland. And the bun was warmed on the flat top - but it became hard, almost like a stale hard. Obviously I didn't get a real representation of their burger, because mine was nothing to write home about.

World famous? Based on my one experience:

I gave it a rating just over 60%. Sure, it wasn't good really, but it's a burger place. They had an eating challenge until 2008 when they discontinued it. Dang.

This had no impact on their rating:

(Note the soap dispenser. YIKES!)

Now for something completely different...

In Albuquerque, the Standard Diner.

We had to eat before the show, so we stopped here. We had no idea what to expect. A diner. Meatloaf. Samwiches. Mashed potatoes. But it turns out Guy visited here too on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The decor and menu: definitely hipster doofus to the max, but we went in anyway. Wine? Weird lettuce? Words like 'brioche' and 'Gruyere'? I'm thinking this will suck! But suck it did not!

In fact, I had the Bulldog Burger. And it is - without a doubt - the best burger I've ever had. No - it's the best thing I've ever eaten at a restaurant! Seriously. I know I've raved about the applewood bacon burgers at Chili's and a BBQ burger at Jim 'n Nicks, and those could be #2 or #3, but #1 is totally the Bulldog Burger at the Standard Diner in Albuquerque, New Mexico!

It's 1/2 pound of fresh (never frozen) Black Angus beef, char-grilled, topped with cheddar, red onion, tomato, lettuce. And the tastiest New Mexico roasted green chile. And the bun. Brioche? I don't know. But, OMG!!!

No more words. Just go get one! I would kill or die to eat this burger again.

And to check out the photo gallery of Bert's and the Standard Diner, click here.