Gabby's Cafe

Burger #13: Gabby's Cafe - Angus Beef Burger 9.49$

Oh, hello again!  Long time no see.  That is probably due to my procrastinating instead of actually writing a review.  And we know that you only keep me as a facebook friend for the burger stories right?  Well, you are in luck this time because I have a great review about Gabby's Cafe.  I am making a big dent in this top 40 list due to all of the support by friends and coworkers all wanting to get out of their element and try a new and possible amazing burger.

The 3rd burger that I practically devoured was #13 on the list of awesomeness, Gabby's Cafe.  It's located in Wyoming about 12 mins away from my work, so I dragged 3 coworkers with me.  When you drive to Gabby's and see it as you enter, the first thing to notice is all of the signs that say "best Italian restaurant" or "best meatballs in town" and a sign for bbq and blues on Thursdays.  This made me think we might be in the wrong place.  Gabby's it turns out is an Italian restaurant that just happens to have a superb burger.  They even have bbq on certain days.  I guess they might be trying to be a bit too much, but for all the awards they've gotten on their italian and burgers, they seem to have it all under control.  If you want you can even buy Gabby's own homemade pasta and sauces in nice baskets for birthdays or anniversaries.  The main dining area is a place that you could take a nice date.  The second dining area has a full bar with some cool beers on tap.  We couldn't have any since it was lunch time but we talked to the bartender and found out that the live music was a pretty busy time for them.

With the extensive italian influence on the menu, the burger probably wouldn't be your first choice.  I like'd some of the pizza's that they had on the lunch menu like the Mona Lisa ( sliced roasted eggplant, goat cheese, 3 cheese blend, diced tomatoes, and roasted garlic) because I think these toppings would indeed make my ultimate pizza.  The specialties that I would also like to try on a second visit would be DiStasi's Lasagna and eggplant parm.  I mean who doesn't love eggplant parm?  The best part about taking coworkers on this burger quest is that our order is simple, 4 of the burgers on the list, that's it.  Boom! Done.   The best part of the burger here is that there is only ONE burger here.  There aren't 15 different burgers trying too hard to be something they aren't .  There is the Angus Beef Burger, which is a half pound burger grilled with cheese, mushrooms, onions, or bacon.  I went with a medium burger with mushrooms and onions.  It reached our table as a huge burger with just enough pink in the middle to be called perfectly cooked.  The seasoning along with the meat just made for one of the best burgers I have had in this city.  Also, I was really impressed with the fact that all of the veggies were fresh when they started to saute and didn't get cooked down to flavorless mush, they were very tender still.  The buns were fresh and flavorful as well.  As a side you can pick saratoga chips, fries or homemade vegetable slaw.  Since I am trying to keep my fried food intake down during this quest, I chose the slaw.  I am always going to preface my choice of picking slaw by telling you that I don't really like cole slaw, it sucks normally.  It's a bunch of bland cabbage and carrots mixed with far too much of a bland and flavorless sauce.  It should've gone extinct like the but it persists somehow to this day in every grocery store!  Seriously, who out there really likes cole slaw or do you buy it because it is engrained in our head to buy it?  Ok, that was far too much conversation on cole slaw, sorry.  What I was getting at was that this was one of the best slaws I have had.  The first rule of fight club is you don't make a cream or mayo or whatever the white part is based slaw that is bland.  So far 915 Pub, Brazenhead, and Gabby's have passed my awesome slaw test.  The first thing that you notice in gabby's slaw is that it's more vinegar based.  The second is that the vegetables are bright, not that pale white you get from old, creamy slaw.  They are also very crisp and tasty in whatever sauce they have on them.  I give this an A for slaws.  My coworkers went with the fries so I had a few.  They were pretty good too.  Just perfectly crispy like I like them.

You can see Gabby's proudly sporting their top burgers Cincinnati magazine on the wall.  They also are a well known Italian restaurant that sells their products, sauces, etc. to go.

I think all in all I am going to say that so far Gabby's is in the lead.  I would recommend going out to Wyoming if you are looking for a great meal for a not too expensive price.  It's funny that even at an Italian restaurant you can find high caliber burgers.  This is a not so well known place that has more than you are expecting in both your meal and atmosphere.

Skinny Leg’s Pub and Grill

Burger #32: Skinny Leg’s Pub and Grill – Black and Bleu Burger 6.95$


This week’s review of Skinny Leg’s was number 32 on my list, but the 15^th burger I have had this year.  I hit this bar up on Saturday, April 30^th at 6pm.  Skinny Leg’s is located at 519 Fairfield Avenue, Bellevue, KY, so it is right down 6^th street from my house.  I do like burgers that are close by because this time I was able to get 3 people to come out with me for a new burger experience.  The reviews are mixed and most say the service is terrible.  We didn’t experience that because apparently 6pm is not the time to go get food at an establishment like this because there weren’t many people and it was fairly quiet except for the tv’s.  This is a hole in the wall bar if I ever saw one and it is the kind of place that I would picture where they know all the regular’s names like in Cheers.  It’s not a nice place, but it wasn’t by any means unclean in the seats we took; the bathroom is another story though.  The only place to park I street parking, but since it’s not a busy place don’t worry about that.

Skinny Leg's has some funny legs drawn on the outside that I laugh at every time I pass by.

I don’t have the menu to look at online so this’ll be short and simple.  I started off the meal with the Skinny Leg’s rolls which were recommended by the older waitress we had.  These are egg rolls with chicken, bleu cheese and a southwestern style egg roll taste to them.  I for one am a fan of this flavor, I don’t know what it is because I usually dislike the bastardization of ethnic food, but I like these kinds of egg rolls.  My burger was the black and bleu burger which was a half pound of greasy burger.  I ordered it medium and it came greasy and only slightly pink in the middle, but that’s better than a lot of other places.  The burger had a very good flavor to the seasoning, I liked it.  The bun was soft and full of grease which is always good.  I am noticing that black and blue burgers don’t come with toppings like lettuce and tomatoes.  The weird thing about this one was that there was mayo on it.  Who puts mayo on a burger with a white sauce?  Skinny Legs has a choice between fries and slaw and when I asked to have half of both I was denied, so they lose points on that.  The sides to go with the burger weren’t anything memorable, and I can say this because I honestly didn’t write notes on what I had and I don’t remember the  taste.  That’s me feeling my age! 

I didn't take any pictures this time, so I had to borrow some.

I would say overall this is an average place to stop for a burger.  I wouldn’t tell anyone to go out of their way to have their burger but if they were near there I may tell them to go try Skinny Leg’s burger.