Am I Going to Steal This Idea?

But more on that later.

Normally, I am the one who does the dining research. But our recent meal at Classics Burgers and “Moore” in Kerrville, TX that received the #40 spot on Texas Monthly’s list of Texas’ Best Burgers sent Chuck to that magazine’s website. And what did he find? He found than #38 on the list could be found here in Bastrop. So we are taking a break from history for lunch at The Roadhouse.

“Since April 2004, the Roadhouse, a Bastrop, Texas grill, has placed a priority on old fashioned quality and old fashioned service to match the old fashioned decor of the building. Success soon followed as word spread about the great food being served…

“Within six months of opening…the readers of the Bastrop Advertiser voted the Roadhouse as having the best hamburgers in the entire Bastrop County! They have continued to bestow that honor on the Roadhouse every year since then…” (roadhousebastrop.com).

“Situated about a block from the entrance to Bastrop State Park, Roadhouse is continually busy, which is always good news, because it ensures that everything is always fresh. Roadhouse specializes in hamburgers, sandwiches, fries, and shakes, but the menu also includes salads, queso and chips, hot dogs, cheesesteaks, and a goodly number of vegetarian items. The hamburgers—the biggest draw—are served open face on a sweet sourdough bun, an onion bun, or a jalapeño cheese bun…” (austinchronicle.com).

When we arrived the parking lot was full (many of the vehicles being very large trucks), the dining room was almost full, and maybe half of the tables on the porch were full.

But the Austin area is experiencing a cold spell with daytime temps not reaching 70°, so we elected to wait for a table indoors. (I know. We are getting no sympathy from our friends and family in the Midwest and East who have--and may still be--experiencing the Winter from Hell.)

Our fellow diners included a party of nine from (we think) the Camp Swift National Guard Training Center.

Would you believe they asked for separate checks? And their server handled the request with good grace even though no ammo was visible.

In a roadhouse one would expect a number of neon beer signs,

but you might not expect to see a plethora of children’s crayon drawings expressing their appreciation of the restaurant’s burgers.

The menu is heavily reliant on items that can be placed on a bun and eaten with the hands. There is an extensive listing of chicken sandwiches—Mushroom Swiss Grilled Chicken, Avocado Pepperjack Chicken, Avocado Swiss Grilled Chicken, Bacon Cheddar Grilled Chicken, Fried Chicken, and Buffalo Chicken.

And for those wishing to eat “meat free,” the choices include The “Hiker” (a grilled cheese on wheatberry bread with cheddar and Swiss cheeses, fresh avocados, baby spinach, and tomato slices) and a Black Bean Burger.

But we were there to see how the Roadhouse’s burgers could compete with Classics’ burgers. And we had a variety of choices—a Mushroom Swiss Burger, an Avocado Cheeseburger, a Bacon Cheeseburger, a Bleu Cheese Burger, a Greek burger with crumbled feta cheese and kalamata olives, a Green Chili Cheeseburger, and a Western Burger with BBQ sauce. And then there is Ted’s “Destruction” Burger—cheddar and Swiss cheese, fresh avocado, and bacon all topped with pico de gallo and drizzled with queso.

Now every once in a while Chuck surprises me. Instead of being his purist self and ordering either a hamburger or cheeseburger with raw onion, he went wild and selected the “Jack” Burger with cream cheese topped with pico de gallo and served on a jalapeno bun.

For me it would be the burger that made Bastrop famous—the Jalapeno Cream Cheese Burger with fresh, (Hot) jalapenos and cream cheese. In naming this the 38th best burger in Texas, Texas Monthly said: “In Texas, many people rightly contend that any dish can be improved upon by adding jalapeños. Elsewhere, others hold similar beliefs concerning cream cheese. This masterful sandwich brings these two camps together with spectacular results. The peppers lend fire while the big slices of cheese melt soothingly over a juicy beef patty on a sourdough bun.

"Somehow the spiky heat and the creamy richness bracket the beef to create a taste bomb that will knock you out of your chair, or at least leave you slumped half-conscious over the table in some gastronomical delirium” (texasmonthly.com).

I couldn’t describe it any better. So there I am, picking some of the jalapenos off my burger (These babies were really HOT!), I hear a woman over my shoulder and behind me: “I’ll have the jalapeno Cream Cheese burger with extra grilled jalapenos. Oh, and I’d like that on the jalapeno bun.” That woman will suffer later.

And how did my Favorite Traveling Companion fare eating out of the “burger box.” “This is really good.” he mumbled through a mouth of meat, cream cheese, and pico. “I wasn’t sure how this would work, but it really does.”

So when our server checked in with us, I told her “I am so stealing the idea of cream cheese on a hamburger.”

So how does the Jalapeno Cream Cheese Burger compare to Classic’s Jalapeno Mushroom Swiss burger. Classics’ scores extra points for being one of the juiciest I have eaten. Roadhouse’s scores extra points for great char grilled flavor. So we’ll call the Burger Battle a draw.

But the Roadhouse only earns 4.5 Addies (as compared to Classics’ 5.0 Addies) because the fries that came with our sandwiches were limp and flabby. And you know how painful that can be.

And so we leave you with the thought of the day – “Peace, Love & Hamburgers.”

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.