Review #57 – Zinburger (Durham, NC)

The Zen of Zinburger

Three Burgiatrists Ponder the Conundrum of a Boutique Burger Chain

 

As a wine, Zinfandel runs the gamut from cheap, tarty white zinfandel designed to be swilled by mindless twenty-somethings who just want something sweet, to brawny, tannic red zinfandels that can stand up to the burliest steak. The atmosphere and menu of Zinburger encompass a similar spectrum. The upscale boutique burger chain is situated in trendy Streets of Southpoint in Durham. It is bright, garish and loud, catering to a young, well-heeled white zinfandel crowd busy with their smartphones. The burgers, however, are red zinfandel serious. How can this place be both? That is the Zen of Zinburger.

Michael

This place is loud. Even a roadie for an 80s hair-metal band would say, “Man, that place is loud.” Loud music, big TVs. I thought they tried too hard to make the place trendy, so my hopes for a good burger experience were not high.

THIS IS A GREAT BURGER! WHAT?

THIS IS A GREAT BURGER!
WHAT?

I eschewed the Manchego cheese and fancy shmancy Neuske’s Maple Bacon and ordered the Double which consisted of two 3.5 ounce patties, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and ketchup. It is hard to cook a thin patty without turning it into shoe leather. The cook nailed it beautifully, but the burger experience took a big hit with the bun. The thickness of the bread was far greater than the burger and toppings inside. A simple potato bun grilled with a little butter would have vaulted this burger to top ten status in my book. I still give it a 4 out of 5 as that is the only complaint that I had.

image001BW image004 image007BW image010BW image013BW

 

Chad

What is the sound of one bun flapping? No, wait, that’s not right. It doesn’t matter anyway, you’d never hear it over the noise level in Zinburger, one of the latest boutique burger chains to call the Triangle home. It’s loud, it’s friendly, and they make a decent burger.

They also make a very messy burger. Listen, burger joint owners, toast your buns. If you pride yourself on particularly juicy burgers and then slather that burger with any kind of sauce, you have a disaster in the making if the bun doesn’t have some structural integrity. The signature Samburger boasts Neuske’s Applewood smoked bacon, American cheese and Thousand Island dressing. It tastes pretty darn good. But pair that with a squishy bun and big, sloppy leaf of iceberg lettuce and you have a burger patty that squirts out the back of the bun on the first (and every subsequent) bite. I ended up eating it with a knife and fork. At least until it got cold, which happened alarmingly quickly. I suspect my burger sat on the pass while waiting for the others to come up for service.

On the other hand, the Zingria sangria was quite tasty and the zucchini fries were excellent, making up for a slightly disappointing burger experience. The underlying burger was well prepared and should have scored higher. The build, the bun and the serving temperature knock it down to a 3.0 out of 5.

chad5bw chad4bw chad3c chad2bw chad1bw

Don

I have to admit, I was looking forward to Zinburger much like I would going to any chain- with much trepidation. But I put my game face on, climbed up to my bench seat, to peruse a fairly succinct menu. The Breakfast Burger stood out as a burger aimed directly at my sensibilities – burger, bun, bacon, egg, mayo, American cheese, and avocado. The first bite showed me that the burger meant business, with very good flavor and the first of a series of happy accidents. The burger was a little closer to medium rare, than the medium I had ordered it- which I actually prefer. This first bite also showed me that this was going to be a messy dining experience. The next happy accident was that the egg was hard fried, meaning no runny yolk adding to the concoction of burger juice, mayo, and avocado now residing in my beard.  The bacon was a very nice accompaniment to the burger, egg, and cheese, really rounding out the flavors and not over powering them as it is apt to do.

IMG_1776

As I worked through this spiritual journey of a burger, I became enlighted to a few things that would make this burger better. First, toast the bun. I don’t need to go through all the issues with a non-toasted bun, just toast it. Second, the 1/3 of a whole avocado was a bit excessive and it acted as a fulcrum to dislodge all the other ingredients into my beard with each bite. But this did allow me to enjoy my burger again driving home, another happy little accident. 4.0 out of 5

don5bw don4 don3bw don2bw don1bw

Overall 3.66 out of 5, putting Zinburger 27 out of 57.