King Street Sizzle

The King Street Sizzle is located on the ground floor of the Four Points Sheraton at King & Clarence. I had assumed it was a steak-house type outfit, which it mostly is, but it puts a spanish/portuguese twist on its menu. As it is a fancier place, the burger is only offered on the lunch menu. Which is unfortunate, cause it was really good.


The Sizzle Burger is an 8oz beef patty, topped with a slice of smoked chourico salami and pepper jack cheese, on a swiss chiabatta bun (I have no idea what makes it swiss) for $11. The patty was huge, actually larger than the square bun, almost negating the superfluous bread corner issue. The patty was very well seasoned and charbroiled without being burnt. The salami and cheese added a subtle heat and some extra flavour that married well with each other and the rest of the burger. The onions were red and slightly pickled - again, another layer of flavour, and pickles were somewhere between dill and bread & butter. All in all, a delicious and pleasing combination.

However, the bun, for reasons passing understanding, appeared to be buttered. On top of the juicy patty and all the vegetables, the melted butter pushed the sogginess too far. The bun was a thick-but-not-too-tough ciabatta, toasted and tasty, but by the end it was sopping. This is really my only criticism.

The fries, either yukon gold potato or sweet potato, were great. The potato fries were thick, crispy and tossed in seasoned salt. The sweet potato fries are also salted which balanced out the sweetness quite nicely.

4.5 out of 5 Pickles

Pan Chancho

Pan Chancho, and its other half Chez Piggy, are Kingston institutions. They've been around forever, they're in all the tourist guides, and they do a whole lotta business. I am slightly wary that this is leading to inflated prices and sloppy work. In any case, I was not impressed with their burger.

Pan Chancho offers two burgers on their lunch menu, the Meaty Meat Burger - a plain 7 ouncer for $13.25 - and the Mo' Better Meaty Meat Burger - the same thing but with stilton pate and crispy pancetta, or $14.75. Both come with frites and aoili.


I doubt it was on purpose, but the chefs at Pan Chancho seem to have gone out of their way to make this burger hard to eat. First of all, the patty was extremely thick, nearly spherical, making it a challenge to fit in your mouth. On top of that, the square (ugh) ciabatta bun was so crusty and tough, that it was impossibly to bite though with the front teeth, I actually had to rip pieces off in a very ungraceful way. I am sure that somewhere in all the bakery offerings there is a softer and easier to eat bun. This one was just annoying.

The patty itself was very herby and nice tasting, but besides some leaves and tomato and pickle slices, this was a very naked burger and was really not worth the price.

The fries were excellent, crispy and salty, although the aioli was too garlicky (something I don't think I've ever complained about before).

2 out of 5 Pickles.

Olivea

Olivea is the new kid on the market square block, but its owners are hardly rookie restaurateurs. Olivea is the slightly fancier little sister of Bella Bistro, the long-loved establishment out in Collin's Bay - if you haven't been, I recommend it, and don't let the slightly shabby exterior put you off.

Olivea is housed at the now-fabulous King & Brock location, overlooking market square. I say 'now fabulous' because the building went through several renovations over the years that never made any improvement. In fact, construction photos made their way into my 3rd year structural analysis class as examples of things to never, ever do to a building. These were 'before' photos however, and the place looks much better - and safer - now.

Being an Italian trattoria, I was surprised, but pleased, to find a burger on the lunch menu. The Olivea Burger is made with local Angus beef, Wilton cheddar, tomato relish and bacon on a homemade ciabatta roll and comes with a choice of soup, frites, or green salad for $13.

This burger, although straying from what might be considered 'traditional' for a burger, does everything right. The burger is thick and nicely grilled without tasting like burnt. The tomato relish is savoury and unusual, but highly addictive. The bacon is thick-cut and smokey. The bun is the ideal combination of crusty outside and soft interior, perfects fits the patty size, and never gets soggy. The frites and crispy and salty, and the saffron aoili is delicious and won't give you garlic breath.

During the Casa Domenico review I talked about fancy burgers that ended up being more like fancy sandwiches. This is definitely a burger. A really really awesome burger.

5 out of 5 Pickles.

Casa Domenico

Casa is the first of the 'Posh' restaurants on the list. The Posh designation is relatively arbitrary, but it's usually going to apply to places that only have burgers on their lunch menus, have cloth napkins, and you feel a bit self conscious wearing jeans to.

Casa Domenico may be the finest restaurant in Kingston and is certainly one of my favourite places to eat. I was therefore delighted to find they had a burger on their lunch menu, and got to try it one gorgeous sunny Saturday afternoon on their patio.


The burger can be found under the 'Panini' section on the menu, which raised some rather philosophical questions about the difference between a burger and a sandwich. This burger definitely blurs the line between the two, and, in my opinion, actually edges a little bit towards the sandwich side. Really, the only difference between this 'panini', and the other two on the menu, was that this was made with a ground beef patty, instead of a chicken breast or assorted italian cold cuts. (As an aside, all three paninis are delicious). There was nothing distinctly hamburger-y about this, but that doesn't take away from how good it was.

The Casa Burger is made from Angus beef, topped with caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, aged cheddar, truffled chevril mayonnaise, and comes with pecorino fries. It was every bit as delicious and fancy-pants as its sounds. The patty was moist without being greasy, the tomatoes were incredibly flavourful, and the onions, cheese, and mayonnaise all melted together into a saucy deliciousness that got all over the place. The bun - grilled but not crunchy - was a square ciabatta which once again left superfluous bread corners outside of the patty. But, the aforementioned melty-sauce helped with that issue.

The fries were very skinny 'frites' style, well seasoned with herbs and cheese. Also delicious.

At $15, this may be the most expensive burger in town, but it totally earns the price tag. 4.5 out of 5 Pickles.