Flay Day

Sooner or later the ThegreatDCburgercaper was going to find itself at a burger hub known more for its celebrity chef than the product itself... After "throwing it down" across the United States for the past few years, Bobby Flay took his craft to DC back in August when he opened the first Bobby's Burger Palace (BBP) in the DMV. Bobby chose a K Street location in Foggy Bottom for his District location. When it opened, the DC location served as the sixth BBP location and the first outside of the Mid-Atlantic. BBP's are spreading like wildfire though as Terrapins got there own Bobby Flay burger joint last month in College Park, while another opened in New Jersey earlier this month.

The Burger: DARN IT! I'm going to have to forgo my Throwup! with Bobby Flay joke that I was itching to break out. The Palace Classic Burger, with its yellow American cheese, lettuce and red onion, was unexpectedly amazing. To keep the basic ingredients as standardized as possible, the slimy red tomato was removed and replaced with a couple nice slabs of thick, crispy bacon. Juices oozed out of the medium-cooked burger as I took my first bite into the sesame seed bun. Flay's ingredients are the opposite of a melee. They all blend together quite well without any one item overpowering another. That's not to say that you can't taste the cheese, bacon or nicely-seasoned certified angus beef. They all take part in the main feature. The size of the burger is what one would expect: not too large and not too small. Unlike most burger joints, BBP does not put a signature sauce on their main burger.

The Fries: The mayo chili pepper sauce that accompanies the fries is blended perfectly. It would no doubt be great on the onion rings, sweet potato fries or even most of the burgers. Clearly, the fries are no good or I would have described them in the first sentence. McDonalds fries that have been sitting for an hour after cooking might be a fair description.

Free Fixins: Since you had to actually purchase the fries to get the mayo chili pepper sauce, it may be unfair to assess them in this category. Nonetheless, that sauce deserves as many mentions as I can muster. BBP did have a number of sauces though. Besides the ketchup and mustard, a chipotle ketchup, jalapeno hot sauce and a A-1-esque burger sauce are featured on every table. All three of the special sauces were fine, but the mayo chili pepper sauce takes the cake.

Atmosphere: While the interior design might be labeled modern, the orange and green tints seemed like something out of the 70's. Still, it all seemed to mesh together well, just like the burger. The canvas art was pretty clever. Everything had a burger theme. A large counter area like you would find at a bar or a dinner was also featured. The place was about half full on a Sunday evening, which is pretty good considering the location. Young professionals were the dominant demographic; however, a mixture of families, older folk and GW students were also sprinkled throughout.

Cost: $7.75 for the burger with the bacon added and $3.00 for the fries.

Overall: The Palace makes you feel like a king. To clarify the earlier statement about the burger being unexpectedly good, it has been a long time since we ventured to BGR. We haven't had a burger this good in some time.

Burger:
The Burger Joint
Bobby's Burger Palace
Good Stuff Eatery
Elevation Burger
Ray's Hell Burger Too
Shake Shack
Z Burger
Desperados

Fries:
The Burger Joint
Ray's Hell Burger Too
Elevation Burger
Good Stuff Eatery
Shake Shack
Bobby's Burger Palace
Z Burger
Desperados

Free Fixins:
Good Stuff Eatery
Ray's Hell Burger Too
Bobby's Burger Palace
Z Burger
Elevation Burger
The Burger Joint
Desperados
Shake Shack

Atmosphere:
The Burger Joint
Shake Shack
Bobby's Burger Palace
Good Stuff Eatery
Desperados
Ray's Hell Burger Too
Elevation Burger
Z Burger

Cost:
Elevation Burger $3.99/$2.59
Z Burger $4.38/$2.59
Shake Shack $4.75/$2.65
Desperados $9.00
Good Stuff Eatery $6.69/$3.69
Bobby's Burger Palace $7.75/$3.00
The Burger Joint $8.99/$2.89
Ray's Hell Burger Too $10.50/$2.50

Overall:
The Burger Joint
Bobby's Burger Palace
Good Stuff Eatery
Elevation Burger
Ray's Hell Burger Too
Shake Shack
Z Burger
Desperados