The Burger Thread!

[PepsiFree]

Lil Empire is great and would probably be a hit for you if you like Clive Burger, In N Out, and burgers of that general order. I think it’s better than anything similar though.

[Erick Estrada]

Anyone in the south end should check out The J Spot in the Avedina Food Hall.

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by EverfresH15

I had an amazing breakfast burger at Waterloo Pub.

https://waterlookitchenandbar.com/

This looks right up my alley. Thank you!

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Lil Empire is great and would probably be a hit for you if you like Clive Burger, In N Out, and burgers of that general order. I think it’s better than anything similar though.

Love it. Will give it a shot

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Jbo

3) National - The Clive Burger - Two beef patties, American Cheese, Clive Sauce, lettuce, tomato, dill pickles on a brioche bun. I dont know what it is about this one, but always hits the spot and love the clive sauce

I'm interested in the first two, which I have not tried as I have not had a lot of burgers lately, but honestly, just having this on the list kind of undermines your whole list.

I mean... it's fine. Third best burger in town? Not remotely close.

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I'm interested in the first two, which I have not tried as I have not had a lot of burgers lately, but honestly, just having this on the list kind of undermines your whole list.

I mean... it's fine. Third best burger in town? Not remotely close.

I had one on 17th this week that was incredible. Was not expecting much, but it easily made the list. Have you had it before? Maybe I’m a sucker for the Clive sauce

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Lil Empire is great and would probably be a hit for you if you like Clive Burger, In N Out, and burgers of that general order. I think it’s better than anything similar though.

Just ordered it.

Got the Empire burger and some “Dirty Fries” wow did this ever hit the spot. Love the smash burger style and the home made sauce was really tasty. Huge mess to eat, so if you try it make sure to bring lots of napkins, but that is great because I love the style.

Will say not a ton of burgers in Calgary like it. My wife gave it an 8.7 on our completely unscientific taste scale and I came in about the same. Highly recommended! The Dirty Fries were the surprise for me. The sauce, onions and jalapeño relish were really good, but I’ll be paying for it as they were pretty spicy and I’ll have heartburn.


To satisfy Corsi and my burger cred, I think I’ll move lil empire in and Clive burger at National out.

Thanks for the recommendation! Didn’t even know it existed

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Jbo

Just ordered it.

Got the Empire burger and some “Dirty Fries” wow did this ever hit the spot. Love the smash burger style and the home made sauce was really tasty. Huge mess to eat, so if you try it make sure to bring lots of napkins, but that is great because I love the style.

Will say not a ton of burgers in Calgary like it. My wife gave it an 8.7 on our completely unscientific taste scale and I came in about the same. Highly recommended! The Dirty Fries were the surprise for me. The sauce, onions and jalapeño relish were really good, but I’ll be paying for it as they were pretty spicy and I’ll have heartburn.


To satisfy Corsi and my burger cred, I think I’ll move lil empire in and Clive burger at National out.

Thanks for the recommendation! Didn’t even know it existed

Happy you enjoyed it! It’s been one of my favourites since it opened. The dirty fries were the correct choice. I keep meaning to go there and try other things but the Empire w/cheese and dirty fries is so good I just get that every time.

I still think Clive is a respectable choice to have in your tops, Lil Empire is just that much better. Smash style burgers always rank way higher for me than any other burgers.

[DownInFlames]

'Mama and Papa' bid farewell after 30 years at popular Calgary drive-in

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...ma-papa-retire

I’m happy for them. The burgers are ok but they have my favourite fries in the city and the service was unforgettable.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Jbo

I had one on 17th this week that was incredible. Was not expecting much, but it easily made the list. Have you had it before? Maybe I’m a sucker for the Clive sauce

Yep. It's solid for what it is, and maybe if you're really into that Clive style it's just up your alley. And I'm not going to suggest that I am in a position to do a top 3 city-wide right now with how few burgers I have eaten that I didn't cook myself recently - maybe 8-9 years ago I actually did eat a bunch of them one summer and made a pretty solid list, but that was back when Naina's was still on Ogden Rd and still held the crown.

There are two burgers that generally are a measuring stick for me: the NOtaBLE burger, and the Vintage burger. Like I say, I haven't tried enough of what's out there nowadays to rank other burgers against them, it's entirely possible that there are three (or more) better options and that the top two on your list are among them. but I do know they are consistently excellent, so if someone says "I've had those two and this one is better than those two", I figure that's saying something. The Dairy Lane Cafe burger used to be up there too, but it's been too long and I don't know if that's true anymore.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

'Mama and Papa' bid farewell after 30 years at popular Calgary drive-in

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...ma-papa-retire

I’m happy for them. The burgers are ok but they have my favourite fries in the city and the service was unforgettable.

Arggh!!! Awesome service

My girls love this guy

I wish it was easier to know about these things beforehand so you could have one last drop by

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

'Mama and Papa' bid farewell after 30 years at popular Calgary drive-in

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...ma-papa-retire

I’m happy for them. The burgers are ok but they have my favourite fries in the city and the service was unforgettable.

I went there for the first time last week after someone brought this retirement up in the "Calgary Opening/Closing" thread a couple of weeks ago. Certainly wouldn't call the burgers okay, it was an excellent burger and the fries were good, too.

It's too far away to be a regular stop, but I can't wait to get back again. Hopefully the kids keep everything the same.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Arggh!!! Awesome service

My girls love this guy

I wish it was easier to know about these things beforehand so you could have one last drop by

"this guy" was a couple and they're passing it off to their kids, it's not closing. I'd imagine they'll have a massive hand in making sure things stay on track with what they built. I'll be going back next month to try again.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by jayswin

"this guy" was a couple and they're passing it off to their kids, it's not closing. I'd imagine they'll have a massive hand in making sure things stay on track with what they built. I'll be going back next month to try again.

Maybe I can be more clear. (I can read the article as well as anyone on CP)

We actually went there. Quite a bit

And “this guy” was exactly the guy they know from going there several times the last few years and liked

I’m not lamenting the business. The guy.

His wife is lovely too. No dispute


Him: “Hello, hi”
Us: “Hi, how are you?”
Him: “Yes!”


They called him ‘the Yes guy’

We will still go there. But specifically will miss him

His zeal for the large shake was also awesome. The way he repeated “large!” and gestured, with hands spread wide

He was delightful

We very specifically got a kick out of every time we saw and supported him

[jayswin]

Ah, makes sense, thanks for the clarification. I really liked it when i had it recently and will keep going now. Hopefully the kids don't make the "sibling fatality" in the restaurant business and start trying to make cuts to quality because they're in the back calculating savings if they cut costs.

[jayswin]

"If we have all these customers and we cut the beef quality by 30% and the bun quality by 25% we could make an extra $3500 a month!!!!!!

*8 months later - "Oh, turns out our customer base was that high because of the quality that our parents maintained, who would've known!!?".

[Torture]

I got a drive thru fist bump from "this guy" when we went yesterday and I said congratulations on your retirement.

Burgers are good. Not trying to be anything fancy and they're priced accordingly.
Those fries though, they're crack. Seems like just crinkle cut and seasoning salt but there's something more going on there, what is the secret?? As long as they don't change that, I'll keep coming back.

[codfather]

Long time lurker here, been reading this thread for a bit and noticed a lot of (well deserved) love for Lil' Empire. A place I haven't seen mentioned yet however is The J Spot in the Avenida Food Hall and Fresh Market down on Lake Fraser Drive.

If you like Lil' Empire you'll almost certainly like the burgers here. My go to is the J Spot burger which is a couple smash patties, all the usual fixings, and a cheese skirt. Their fries are deadly too, especially the garlic fries, and they also have 'dirty fries' which is big enough to be a meal on its own.

I feel like I'm writing an ad for them but it's honestly one of the best burgers I've had in this city. It just nudged Lil' Empire into #2 for me.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by codfather

Long time lurker here, been reading this thread for a bit and noticed a lot of (well deserved) love for Lil' Empire. A place I haven't seen mentioned yet however is The J Spot in the Avenida Food Hall and Fresh Market down on Lake Fraser Drive.

If you like Lil' Empire you'll almost certainly like the burgers here. My go to is the J Spot burger which is a couple smash patties, all the usual fixings, and a cheese skirt. Their fries are deadly too, especially the garlic fries, and they also have 'dirty fries' which is big enough to be a meal on its own.

I feel like I'm writing an ad for them but it's honestly one of the best burgers I've had in this city. It just nudged Lil' Empire into #2 for me.

LOL I just mentioned at the top of the page. Good to see I'm not the only one that's unearthed this little gem of a place.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by codfather

Long time lurker here, been reading this thread for a bit and noticed a lot of (well deserved) love for Lil' Empire. A place I haven't seen mentioned yet however is The J Spot in the Avenida Food Hall and Fresh Market down on Lake Fraser Drive.

If you like Lil' Empire you'll almost certainly like the burgers here. My go to is the J Spot burger which is a couple smash patties, all the usual fixings, and a cheese skirt. Their fries are deadly too, especially the garlic fries, and they also have 'dirty fries' which is big enough to be a meal on its own.

I feel like I'm writing an ad for them but it's honestly one of the best burgers I've had in this city. It just nudged Lil' Empire into #2 for me.

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

LOL I just mentioned at the top of the page. Good to see I'm not the only one that's unearthed this little gem of a place.

I'm gonna hit that with my wife.

It will most likely be our Valentines Day dinner.