Focus on Takeout – NC Burger (Food Truck)
NC Burger food truck is a one-person, no frills operation that does one thing, and does it extremely well. I genuinely wish this was a full Straight Beef review with Michael, Carolyn, and Don in attendance because this burger was a 4.5 on the Straight Beef scale, and I want see it on our ratings list. Maybe when things get a little closer to normal we can do that.
My neighborhood has continued its series of food trucks scheduled prior to everyone staying at home, with the caveat that the truck has to offer online ordering. NC Burger has joined the many food trucks to use Streetfoodfinder.com (also available as a very handy app) for online ordering. You can review the menu, order, pay, tip, and schedule your pickup time to minimize the amount to time you are standing around in a parking lot.
The NC Burger menu is simple: double burger with fries, single burger with fries, burger bowl for the low-carb crowd, a veggie burger, and Buffalo bites. That’s it. You can get a side of fries gussied up with cheese curds or bacon and ranch, but fries come with the basic burger option, so we didn’t try the extras. Pricing is more than reasonable, with the double burger with fries at $9 and the single with fries at $7.
Michael would quibble with the build. The lettuce and condiments were on the bottom (gasp!), but watching the owner work solo, I can see the rationale. He was able to toast the bottom bun, assemble the base of the burger and have that ready to go as the burger and top bun came off the griddle. It’s efficient if not quite Straight Beef orthodoxy.
We ordered a single with bacon (no pickle or onion) and a double with bacon (no onion, extra pickle), both with fries, for pickup at 5:52. Pickup times are in slots scheduled by Streetfoodfinder, with a limited number of orders per slot. My name was called closer to 6:00, but that was mainly due to walk-up customers who apparently didn’t understand how restaurants (or viruses) work taking up the owner’s time at the window.
The burgers were excellent. I may have actually turned into Jules Winfield for a moment and exclaimed, “My, that is a tasty burger!” The patties are thin, so I’m glad I ordered the double. The buns were well toasted, the burgers had a nice char but were still a proper medium doneness, the bacon was crispy (chopped rather than in big floppy strips – nice!), condiments were plentiful but not overwhelming, and the fries were perfectly seasoned. I would put this burger up against any in the Triangle. If you get a chance — or see it pop up on your newly installed Streetfoodfinder app — definitely try NC Burger. — CW