Craft Burger

Oh mercy me-- The Time, She Has Flown! I have been chowing down on tasty, tasty burgers but I haven’t been writing them up. Why not, you might ask? "Why so selfish, AGP? Have you been hogging Toronto’s best burgers? Huddled away in your burger cave licking your greasy lips, snarling at any burger lovers who get too close?" Um… yeah. No. Not exactly.

I see by my notes I’m exactly three entries away from crowning TORONTO’S BEST BURGER. "Is it Texas-style? Does it come wearing a little cowboy hat? Is it coated with a light dusting of gunpowder?" Memory is a tricky thing, my friends. I wish I could tell you that I took one bite of TORONTO’S BEST BURGER and was magically transported through time and space, back to my awkward-legged Texas Childhood…

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s continue to do this chronologically, shall we? Not quite the rigid unrelenting structure of "My Year Of ________" ("I’m going to eat nothing but marshmallows for an entire year and blog about it!" CUT TO Blogger’s Tombstone: "He Almost Had A Book Deal") but a faithful retelling of how Time has unspooled… come with me now, back to June 1st, 2010 and CRAFT BURGER. (which now has been renamed "Big Smoke Burger"... uh... "Craft Burger" was a much better name, don't you think?)

Trying to make my way to King & Bathurst I get sucked into Streetcar Hell: Queen Car rerouted through one of Toronto’s many Construction Mazes, King Car delayed-- finally I get out and walk, pushing through the crowds, running about fifteen minutes late to meet my friend Corin Raymond (check out his tunes! Although no songs about burgers yet... c’mon, Corin!) for dinner. He’s about to pass out from hunger-- for me this is dinner but for him it’s breakfast, the first meal of the day.

The restaurant is full (and I hear it gets really full during lunch) but our orders arrive quickly, served up on long rectangular trays lined with brown butcher paper: an organic burger with Gouda for Corin and a classic burger with the works for me. The burgers smell GREAT. The First Bite: AMAZING! Hot, Juicy, BEEFY. Perfectly cooked. The sesame seed bun is pillowy soft. We dig into our burgers and catch up, talking about music and movies and books. Later we’ll head to The Cameron House to catch the band New Country Rehab but for now it’s all about two old friends sharing fun burger-fueled good times.

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At the end of our meal Craft Burger became the Front Runner for Toronto’s Best Burger. Did it stay in first place? Stay tuned!