7/19/2018 Nick and Nino's Cheeseburger

If you are ever in Toledo on a Thursday afternoon, head over to Levis square. There you will find food trucks. I stopped at Nick and Ninos to taste their spin on cheeseburgers.

The bun did its job. Nothing special, no complaints, and held the cheeseburger nicely. It was soft and felt fresh.

The burger patties were seasoned well. They are nice thin charred patties. I was surprised to get two on my sandwich. I will have to watch the menus better.

The topping were average. They boasted a secret sauce. It was orange in color, but I could only see it on my bun. I did not taste it's flavor, which lead me to using the mayonnaise packet provided. The lettuce was nice and crisp. Cheese is a favorite of mine and I was glad to see there was a piece for each patty and not only one thrown between the patties.


Bun: 5
Burger: 6
Toppings: 5

Overall: 5

-Kristina
Kristina@rateaburger.com

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7/17/18: Legends' Legendary Ono Burger

As followers of this blog may have figured out by now, I like weird burgers. I like burgers with unique presentations and flavors. Some are strikes and are pretty bad (for example, Ralphie's Peach Habanero). Some are home runs and present everything that a burger should be (for example, Five Guy's Burgers and Fries...fantastic). Today...this was a double...the metaphor and not the burger. It was a single.

The Ono Burger is a single patty with pepperjack cheese, cooked ham slices, cooked pineapple chunks, and honey barbeque sauce.

The bun was a nice, toasted bun. It is a bun that didn't engulf the patty, but it didn't skimp on the flavor and adds well as an accessory rather than a burden.

The patty was a beautifully-seasoned and didn't take away from the overall taste. It was a bit salty for my liking, but it has been a better attempt than many burgers.

The toppings is what I came for in this burger. I've had apples and peaches (kinda) on my burger. So me, who loves pineapple in its many forms, had to try pineapple on a burger. Having had two different apple burgers before, the biggest take away from them had to be how the fruit was presented. One apple burger had pieces of apple in the burger and one had the apple slices on top like a topping. The pieces of apple in the burger became the centerpiece of the burger, mixing in the juice of the patty and the sweet flavor of the apple. Putting apple slices on the burger and covering it with cheese gave me a taste of "old" (if I can describe that, I would) and the sense of "this should not be on my burger". Unfortunately, the pineapple gave me the latter feeling. I imagine it could've been the size of the chunks or the overall presentation, but it did not belong on this burger. I cannot see chunks of pineapple being in the burger either, but I have been proven wrong before. The ham with the patty was a nice flavor. The honey barbeque was a nice addition that was great with the burger overall.

The burger was great sans the pineapple. I really want it to work, but it became the topping that almost ruined the burger.

Toppings: 7
Patty: 7
Bun: 7

OVERALL: 7
-Nick
nick@rateaburger,com

7/17/2018 Legends #gastromelt

Today, we were in Findlay and decided to stop downtown at Legends. Legends is a quaint pub that is proud of its Findlay athletes. The decor features blown up newspaper articles from different sporting events.

The #gastromelt is an open faced cheeseburger served with sauteed onions, a fried cheese slice, and super secret sauce.

The bun is typically a mayo toasted marble rye. I, however, do not like rye bread. I swapped it out for toasted sour dough. The sour dough was toasted nicely and was not oversized compared to the size of the burger. It complimented the burger well and was an excellent substitute.

The burger is an 8 ounce prime beef patty. It cut easily with a fork. The burger had a lovely charring on the outside but was still soft on the inside. I ordered my burger medium rare. Unfortunately, it came out borderline well done. This was easily forgotten due to flavor of the burger and the juiciness of the burger. I thought that the Patty was the perfect thickness as well. Not too think, but not so thick that all you tasted was burger.

The toppings made this burger. I want a large bottle of the Super Secret Sauce and I want to put it on everything. I decided to eat the sauce first to see if I liked the flavor. It was at first sweet like honey, then moved to almost a tangy mustard taste and finished with a burn in the back of the throat. A very mild burn but full of flavor. The onions were nicely sauteed and balance the sauce nicely. I would have liked the fried cheese slice to have been thicker. You couldn't taste much of the cheese flavor, but the breading on the cheese was well seasoned. It was unfortunate how much of the oil stayed in the breading of the cheese. I think that is why the cheese flavor was lost.

I will definitely be back to Legends for this burger again. I believe I will be craving this burger in the future.

Bun: 5
Patty: 6
Toppings:8

Overall:7

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-Kristina
Kristina@rateaburger.com

7/12/18: Ralphie's Peach Habanero Burger

Kristina and I headed to Findlay for round two of Ralphie's burgers. This time, I examined the Peach Habanero Burger.

The only topping is the peach habanero jam. I was surprised that there was no additional toppings like cheese. I am not a hot/spicy person as I prefer to have mellow or mild items. I want to TASTE the food and not the burn. This was a nice hit of flavor. The jam starts with a heavy peach flavor...kicks in the habanero...and the peach finishes the bite. Very good.

The patty left a lot on the table. A big no-no for me is getting my burger cooked wrong. I order well done, as noted before, and a good chef can make a well done burger or steak and still have flavor. In this case, the cook mixed up the orders with me and Kristina...her patty was well done, mine was medium. By proxy, I only ate the edges of the burger due to the pink. Of what I sampled, the patty itself offered no flavor.

The bun was meh this time. It did its role, but didn't distract.

Overall, very disappointed with the patty, but the jam was delicious. Down to the bones of it, there is nothing in this burger, really. They slapped a jam on a patty and charged 10 bucks.

Toppings: 7
Patty: 2
Bun: 4

OVERALL: 4

-Nick
nick@rateaburger.com

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7-12-18 Ralphie's Peanut Butter Bacon Burger

Tonight we ordered from Ralphie's in Findlay. We had been here before and had wonderful burgers- see our other reviews. I had heard that once you have peanut butter on a burger that you won't want it any other way.

The bun I believe was made fresh in the kitchen. I think it was homemade because of the way the seeds were sporadically on only half on the bun. It was soft and had black sesame seeds on it. The bun complimented the burger well. It was a solid bun.

The burger was seasoned averagely. I wish there was more salt on the burger. Unfortunately, the burger cook was switched between Nick and I's burger. Mine, regrettably, came out well done and a little dry. I could have forgiven the over cooking of the burger if it would have still been juicy.

The toppings were a surprising combination. The bacon was perfectly cooked. It broke off when you bit into the burger but wasn't overdone. It is the kind of bacon you want to eat more and more. The peanut butter was a little too much. It was so thick that it distracted from the burger. You took a bite, and by the time you swallowed the burger, you still had a mouth full of peanut butter. The thickness of the peanut butter made the burger feel even more dry.

Will I try a peanut butter burger again? Absolutely. Will it be from Ralphie's? No, I will stick with their wonderful queso burger.

Toppings: 4
Burger:4
Bun:4

Overall:4

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Kristina
Kristina@rateaburger.com