March 20 2015 – Driving down Kipling Avenue (843 Kipling to be exact), I saw a billboard for Big Butcher Barbeque. I heard some good things about it from a couple if friends so we decided to go in and try their burgers.
The place has a lot of parking space and it liked very neat from the outside – it almost looks like a steakhouse rather than a burger joint. The clean lines continue as you go in – clean floors, wooden high tables and metal chairs.
The choice a burgers was just great – 6 different beef burgers (spicy, double cheese with truffle aioli, Swiss and mushrooms, Brie cheese and caramelized onions, smoked cheese and bacon) lamb burger (with tzatziki, feta, tomato and onions), pork burger, pork belly with pickled cabbage, cilantro and spicy mayo, a couple of chicken burgers… Then they had this thing called chevaps (pork rolls), ribs and wings. Something that also caught my eye was a bean soul with bacon and pork hock! What the heck was that??? I have never even heard of such a thing. I guess we had that look on our face so the girl behind the counter broke this huge smile and said ‘first time here?’ And proceeded to help us decide. She said that everything was made in house – buns hand made and baked daily, meat cut and ground on premises, potatoes cut and fried right then and there, hot peppers grilled and hand peeled!
Any one that knows me will tell you I love spicy food which meant I was going to try Diablo, but then again, I am Greek so I wanted to try their Lamb burger with those Greek toppings! So I came up with this brilliant idea! I will have a bean soup and add hot peppers in it, and then have a lamb burger! My buddy decided to have Pork belly and fries. She said that it would take about 10 min to get the order as everything is made to order.
We got a couple of bottled Coke Classics to kill time while we waited. My bean soup arrived first. It smelled great and on the first look, this was no regular soup size. It was big, and it was hearty! Chunks of pork hock and bacon were noticeable, so the soup was almost looked like a meal by itself. I dag in. At the first spoon, this reminded me of a German soups and the hot peppers added a nice kick. This is a perfect soup to have on a cold day.
As I was finishing the soup, the burgers arrived. The buns were soft and fluffy, and you can tell they are hand made. They were not the typical burger buns, but I actually liked these even better. They felt like ‘real’ buns. They tasted like real buns. The burger was juicy and a bit pink inside. The ratio between burger and the bread was perfect – and the topping made the lamb taste great. I looked up and saw my friend already being half way through the pork belly – his hands messy and his mouth full. He laughed and said ‘man this is soooo good!’.
We didn’t talk much during the meal – the food did all the talking. The portions are big but we managed to finish it all.
Verdict – This is the best damn burgers in this town. Highly recommended and a best of T-Mak World award winner!
