Quatman's Cafe

Burger #31: Quatman’s Cafe – Cheeseburger 6.57$

Outside on a Monday night in July.

 

It’s the Tuesday right after Labor Day weekend and what a crazy weekend it was.  I used Saturday night as the calm before the storm and just played some Xbox and then watched a movie.  Sunday, on the other hand, was just insane with the thousands of people that barge into Newport and downtown Cincinnati for the WEBN fireworks.  This is one of those days when all of the suburbanites come out of their homes surrounded by perfect white picket fences and actually come into the city.  It’s scary, I know, I live in the entertainment district on the Kentucky side of the river and there are lights and people and fun shit to do everywhere!  The fireworks Sunday were a blast, although the night gets blurry after that.  It was storming during the fireworks so that meant that everyone rushed home right afterword soaking wet. I’m not sure how many of you aren’t really feeling work today, but I for one gave up early on being productive, so onto a burger review and then looking for a new job. 

Today I am reviewing a restaurant that is always on the Cincinnati.com top 10 burger list and is the 31^st burger on the list and the 22^nd burger I’ve reviewed.  Quatman’s has been open for about 50 years and is located in Norwood, with a second restaurant now open in Mason.  It’s a place that I’ve gone to quite a few times but I never had the burger.  I know, I know, you are asking how I didn’t get the burger at a place that’s so highly rated, and I will tell you that I don’t really go out and eat burgers before my New Year’s resolution for this year.  At a restaurant I am normally a chicken/pork/seafood/tofu kind of person, not red meat.  I was not a fan of Quatman’s originally because this is the kind of shady, no frills place that doesn’t have lettuce or tomatoes on hand.  The first few times I went I had some Boar’s Head deli sandwiches and they only topping they have is a huge slice thru a raw onion.  This is my first time going to Quatman’s in almost 3 years and my review this time is significantly better than I was hoping to give them.  What can I say, what they do, they do well and stay dirt cheap. 

I went to Quatman’s on Monday, July 18^th with a friend who got lost getting there, which is normal it seems, so help your friends out when trying to give them directions to get there.  Of course it was fairly empty, but I will say that it still had more people than I would expect to see on a Monday night.  The best part of the night was while waiting for my friend to get there, I got a feel for the types of people that go to a place like Quatman’s.  There were people in the seats watching sports, or just coming from playing softball across the street, and as one of the younger guys was leaving, a lady about twice his age called out his name, they guy looked confused, and she then told him how she used to baby sit him as a kid and blah, blah, blah.  Long story short, everyone in there was a regular and the kind of people that don’t go out of their element often.  Everyone knows each other at Quatman’s and it seems almost like cheers, but less funny and with more getdafuckouttahere stares from the crowd.  This is a hole in the wall in every aspect, even up to the point that they do NOT have menus…yup, you heard me, and they do not have menus at a sit down place because they don’t have much selection.  I asked for a menu and was pointed to the above your head menu you’d expect at McDonald’s, only 50 years old and looking like it.  The server did it in a manner that made me feel dumb for not knowing.  Not cool!  The online menu has about 20 items consisting of burgers, lunch meats, fish and soups.  What I can’t see is what goes thru their mind with the place not wanting menus.  It’s not like their items are changing daily or anything.  It’s a good thing you’re reading this review so you’ll know how to order when you go.  Also, check out the daily specials Monday thru Saturday and you can get a great deal on cheeseburgers, ham and cheese, bbq or a fish sandwich combo for 6.57$

I was starving as I waited for my company to find here way there, so I went with a completely new food item for me and slightly scary to order in a place like this, but I had the Mock Turtle soup for 2.95$.  I didn’t know what “mock” turtle is to start and I still don’t afterward.  What I can say is that I had a giant bowl of soup that had the look and nearly the consistency of skyline chili with shreds of a dark meat, probably beef, that was flavored with cinnamon like Cincinnati chili but didn’t come with noodles.  It was sweeter than I’ve had and I’d say I liked it over both skyline and goldstar, and it was half the price.  The Polish heritage in me remembers a sweet and sour Czernina, or duck blood soup, only thicker from Milwaukee’s Polish Fest where I grew up.  I would get it again if I go back. 

Burger with horseradish cheddar and a slice of onion.

 

The burger list here is short, either a hamburger or a cheeseburger.  The nice thing about this burger was the Boar’s Head cheese selection.  I ordered my burger with horseradish cheddar which was thick cut and a huge flavor to add to the burger.  The meat came with a great flavor even if it wasn’t seasoned much.  It came slightly overcooked, not medium since there was no pink middle and I expected it to be much greasier for the price.  The burger was on an average bun with a huge slice of onion, no lettuce or tomato was available.  My friend thought that this burger was better than Daveed’s, my second favorite, because the text was what a burger should feel like when you chew it.  The fries were a huge mound of thin potatoes cooked until crisp which was nice, but nothing above average.  This was all on special for 6.57$ with fries and a beer/soda, even a Hudy Delight!  You will have trouble finding a sandwich and fries for in this city for near 6.57$, and add the beer/soda and you have the cheapest burger special I’ve seen around.  I can see how this is a recurring top burger in the city for value alone. 

If you love a no frills, standard burger and a mountain of fries for a great price this one is for you.  Quatman’s wins this top 40 burger list award for “affordability” without losing taste by far.  I would recommend this place to any poor college kids reading this review, you’ll love it.  It’s not my favorite, but this burger is up there. 

Midpoint Rankings

Everyone has been asking, so here it is.  This is the rankings for all of the burger places I've been to up to September.  I'm sure there will be some people with different opinions on their favorite burger, but until you've had 25 of them to compare, don't complain your favorite is not first.   Senate: senate burger (over the rhine) 12$

Daveed's: the black angus burger (mt. adams) 16$

Gordo's: Gordo's burger (rookwood) 8$

Terry's Turf Club: burger with Burgundy Wine, wild mushrooms & truffle sauce 10$

Oakley pub and grill: the soul burger (oakley) 6.95$

Maribelle's tavern: 100% Natural beef burger (east end) 10$

Friendly Stop: garlic burger (glendale) 5.50$

Habit's cafe: the Habits burger (oakley) 8.25$

Gabby's Cafe: angus beef burger (wyoming) 8.49$

915 Pub and grill: Black and Bleu burger (ft. Thomas) $6.75

Arthur's Cafe: boursin burger (hyde park) 9$

Zola's: zola burger (covington) 7.25$

The Rookwood: the barnsdale (mt. adams) 12$

Anderson Township pub: federal Hill (anderson) $7.95

Quatman Cafe: Cheeseburger (norwood) 4.50$

City View Tavern: big ted deluxe (mt. adams) 6.95$

Virgil's cafe: beef hamburger (bellevue, KY) 10$

Lavomatic: green acres burger (over the rhine) $11.49$

Keystone: keystone burger (covington) 7.99$

Gas light cafe: gas light burger (pleasant ridge) 5.75$

Wildflower Cafe: the world's best burger (mason) 10$

Skinny Legs: Black and bleu burger (bellevue, ky) 6.95$

Sammy's Gourmet burger's and beers: sammy's burger (blue ash) 8.95$

The Black Sheep: Bah Bah Black Sheep burger (cheviot) 6.99$

Zip's cafe: zip's burger with cheese (mt. lookout) 5$

By Golly's: 5 alarm burger (milford) 7.50$

Habits Cafe

Burger #22: Habits Cafe– Habits Burger + bacon 8.50$ 

Habits Cafe is a well known burger place in Cincy.  Not my picture. 

Happy labor day weekend!  It's a hot weekend so far with about 98 degrees out until late last night.  It seemed like no one was out last night as I went for a jog fairly late in the evening.  It's the second week of class and I am loving my intro to business class.  The subject material is more like behavioral psychology, psychology being my first major I loved.  I like finding out what makes people tick and the books I have read recently have been about social dynamics.  This is the one of the biggest weekends for Cincinnati.  I am looking forward to the fireworks tomorrow night. Luckily, I am only 2 blocks from the levee and can see it all from the comfort of my own home.  How about all of you, any big plans? 

Our review for the week is for Habits Cafe which was number 22 on the list and it was the 21st burger I had this year.  This is one of the best known burger places in the city and they are located in  Oakley Square right across the street from the Oakley Pub which I reviewed earlier this year as having a great burger for a great price.  Habits is a great bar and has a great beer selection until 2:30 am.  It is a fairly large place with plenty of seating and definitely is not a hole in the wall bar.  Plus, there are always some local sports on the flat screens located throughout the place.  I went on a Monday night, 7-11-11, and watched most of the home run Derby.  It wasn't that empty on a Monday so I just sat at the bar.  I think this is my fifth or sixth time going there but it's been about 2 years. 

The menu at habits is pub food with an upscale flavor for a very reasonable price.  Nothing on the menu is over 16$ and that is a sirloin steak and most things are under 10$.  This is a great place to take a cheap date if you are hurting for money in this economy.  The bartender recommended the potato rags which are apparently a "Cincinnati Classic", which I had never heard of after 4 years here so I don't know how much of a classic they are.  I didn't try them this time since I don't think I could handle more grease from the hash browns covered with bacon, cheeses, and ranch.  They also have sandwiches and burritos.  I definitely wasn't expecting the burrito section but I guess they make some of their own ingredients like the black beans and salsas.  I would be interested in knowing if anyone has ever had the tofu in one of these?

Habits burger w/ bacon added, and yes that is apple butter on the right!

The burger list here is impressive to say the least!  Oh, and the burger and sides list is extensive and some of the best sounding I've seen!  I love a place that has takes pride in it's food.  The meat here is delivered daily by a local "prime butcher."  You have several choices of meat to choose including the regular burger, cajun, garden, orstrich, and turkey burger.  Plus, if you are trying to stay extra healthy you can get a chicken breast instead.  You then can choose what you want on your burger.  Some of the styles are the Godzilla (pepper jack, spicy onion straws + jalapeno mayo), Texas (cheeses, Worcestershire mayo, onions, mushrooms), royal Mountie (Canadian bacon, cheese, red onion, honey mustard mayo), and bacon blues (honey pepper bacon, bleu cheese, bbq sauce).  You can add just about anything you can think of to the burger including rice?, sprouts, seasame sticks?,and  avocado.  As for the sides there are tons!  You can get not just fries, but Texas, cajun, or sweet potato fries, red beans and rice, mac & cheese, apple sauce, onion rings and a few more things. 

I started my meal with a bowl of white chicken chili that came with tortilla stripes, which was damn good, but not as seasoned as I would like.  My burger was supposed to be the Godzilla burger but I thought that the onion straws didn't seem like they'd let me really taste the burger, so I opted for the standard Habits burger and added bacon and jalapeno mayo.  The burger here is rated highly in all of the reviews and I'd say it did not disappoint.  The meat was not greasy, cooked pink in the middle and juicy.  It was fresh and well seasoned.  It's always nice when you know when you can tell your burger has not been frozen.  The jalapeno mayo wasn't strong flavored so I wouldn't miss it if I didn't get it again.  The bacon was thin and average, as was the bun, but this was definitely not your average burger.  As for sides I went with a split half and half with the cole slaw, which was recommended by the server, and the sweet potato fries.  The cole slaw was sweet, but white and creamy which isn't my thing, so I wouldn't get it again.  I had no idea but the sweet potato fries come with apple butter.  If you have not had apple butter before you need to get to Habits and try it.  It is not what you are expecting, there is no butter, but it's more like a thicker version of sweetened apple sauce with seasonings including cinnamon that just goes with the sweet flavor of the sweet potato fries. 

Habits knows it's business is in it's burgers and it does it well.  This is also a great bar to hit if you want to hang out with a younger crowd in the Oakley area late night with a cool craft beer selection.  I don't know if this will be in my top 10 just yet, but that is definitely a possibility.  Who knows what the future holds, because the best things in life are always surprises, maybe one of the unknown burger places I still need to go to will outshine Habits. 

Smashburger

Burger #X 1: Added burger 1: Smashburger – The BBQ, Bacon and Cheese Burger 6.99$ 

The inside of Smash Burger.  Not my picture.

It’s been a week and a half again and I seem to be great at procrastinating.  It’s not that that I have just been putting it off.  I have been busy, I swear. I mean what with school starting this week for my second semester of grad school I have been putting in as much time as I can at being social, looking for a new job and interviewing, getting outside in the warm weather, training for my half marathon, cooking, reading my own book I haven’t finished, and trying not to be single I may have gone on a date or 20.  I have no idea where I’m going to fit grad school and homework into my social life…I think I have to borrow a quote from someone I met this summer…damn my first world problems!  

It has a diner feel to the inside.  Not my picture.

Ok onto the review.  If you have been bored enough to follow me this far, I really feel bad for you, I mean, you’re following a mechanical engineer writing a food blog.  I guess you could just really be fond of burgers…yup, I’ll go with hoping that’s the case, so let’s do this!  We are up to burger #20 of the year and my declining health.  Smashburger has done two things for me during my quest.  I’ve added my first burger place to fill up the 5 that have gone out of business this last year and it’s the first great burger that is a chain I’ve had.  I added Smashburger onto the list because I’ve heard good things about it and they recently opened a new one in Blue Ash.  It was busy the day I went for lunch with 5 of the most random gathering of people in my party.  I had 2 fellow mechanical engineers, a gourmet food sales person, and a pediatrics doctor.  Tell me that isn’t a weird group?!  Like I’ve said before my burger quest has inspired countless others to join me or do something similar and get out of their element. 

The menu at Smashburger changes depending which location you go to, usually based on sports teams like the buckeye burger with fried pepper rings, haystack onions and cheese.  I’m sure it’s the same burger anywhere else just with a different name.  Our party went for a try one of everything option and share, which is the best way to do any meal, except maybe a first date, that could be creepy.  Our appetizers/sides, which there are plenty of options for a chain restaurant, were fried pickle chips, veggies frites, and smash fries, we had both regular and sweet potato fries.  I love fried pickles so that was a plus.  The veggie frites were original for a chain and surprisingly tasty, I mean have you ever had flash fried asparagus, carrots and green beans?  The last thing we had were both versions of the smash fries which are coated with olive oil, rosemary and garlic.  These were phenomenal!  If you go there, you have to get the smash fries.  I will say as much as I rave about sweet potato fries, this time regular fries won.  

My burger was pretty awesome!

The burger I tried was the bbq, bacon and cheese burger.  I know, I know, my motto is if it needs ketchup, it’s a bad burger.  I will say that I just wanted the bacon, so I had them put the bbq sauce on the side and ordered a side of the smash sauce just to try it on my fries.  First I have to say that the smash sauce is just a weird colored tartar sauce, so I didn’t like it, but have at it Cincinnati, I know you love that stuff on your Big Boy burgers.  The meat for the burger is fresh beef that isn’t frozen like the crap restaurants/chains that won’t make it on this list.  Also, you don’t get a choice of how it’s cooked, it’s coming cooked thru well, but the meat is moist and well flavored and not too greasy.  The bacon was one of the better ones you will have at a chain too. 

Overall I will put this as my second favorite chain burger joint under Culver’s in Wisconsin.  I won’t compare it to the Culver’s in Cincy because that’s NOT what I remember from home.  I wish I had traveled to the West coast to try some of those chains we’ve all heard of like Big Kahuna Burger in Pulp Fiction and In-and-Out burger in Big Lebowski.  Make sure you try the smash fries as well.  It’s busy during lunch so make sure you have enough time.  For your amusement, I added my favorite burger conversation in a movie. 

http://youtu.be/x6TjN5cmEaA 

Jules: Big Kahuna Burger. That's that Hawaiian burger joint. I hear they got some tasty burgers. I ain't never had one myself. How are they? 
Brett: They're good. 
Jules: Mind if I try one of yours? This is yours here, right? 
[Picks up burger and takes a bite] 
Jules: Mmm-mmmm. That is a tasty burger. Vincent, ever have a Big Kahuna Burger? 
[Vincent shakes his head] 
Jules: Wanna bite? They're real tasty. 
Vincent: Ain't hungry. 
Jules: Well, if you like burgers give 'em a try sometime. I can't usually get 'em myself because my girlfriend's a vegitarian which pretty much makes me a vegitarian. But I do love the taste of a good burger. Mm-mm-mm. You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France? 
Brett: No. 
Jules: Tell 'em, Vincent. 
Vincent: A Royale with cheese. 
Jules: A Royale with cheese! You know why they call it that? 
Brett: Because of the metric system? 
Jules: Check out the big brain on Brett! You're a smart motherfucker. That's right. The metric system. What's in this? 
Brett: Sprite. 
Jules: Sprite, good. You mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down? 
Brett: Go right ahead. 
Jules: Ah, hit the spot. 

The Rookwood

Burger #19: Rookwood – Barnsdale Burger   12 to 14$

Rookwood.  Not my picture.

Sitting down and writing a review seems to be the hardest thing for me when there is awesome weather out like today.  I just got in from walking around Newport on the levee and caught some awesome funk music from Leroy Ellington and the E Funk band.  There were two singers, one guy and one lady, and I will say that the female vocals were just amazing!  You should check them out sometime if you are into great music outdoors during the summer.  Also, if you weren't in Newport this weekend, you missed the seafood festival.  It isn't my favorite thing to have 50 kinds of fried seafood since it isn't likely to be anything but frozen so I didn't grab any food, but I do like walking through the crowd people watching and the watching a good band.  I think people watching has got to be one of my favorite things ever!  Does that make me a creeper?  Don't judge me!  You are probably reading this while having "reality" tv on in the background.  People watching is reality in it's best. 


This week we will be talking about the Rookwood's burger in Mt Adams.  My burger was the 19th I've had this year and "the list" has it as number 15 and I made it out there on Tuesday, June 21, 2011.  I don't know if you've been there but it's a gigantic place up on the hill that is actually an old, historic pottery company. 

The outdoor area is huge.  Not my picture.

The "world-renown" Rookwood Pottery Co. was a manufacturing facility for ceramics that started in the 1870's and closed in 1967.  There is ample outdoor seating, as well as some unique seats inside the actual kiln that used to fire the ceramics.  It kind of makes me feel like I'm in a horror movie when I think of being in a kiln, but they really are nice, secluded areas for a date.  The ceiling has an industrial feel to it with big vents running up the walls and along the ceiling.  This is an upscale place that is still within a reasonable price range. They use local foods on the menu that changes often. 

Very cool industrial look.  Not my picture.

This was supposed to be a friend's going away celebration at the same time as a burger.  She is a doctor and got a job in Chicago where she is from.  I was told there would be several coworkers there and I asked if they were all doctors.  She said they are all doctors and nurses and not trying to make waves, I told my friend I would lie and tell them I was a doctor too, and see how long I could go with that.  So when I got there, I arrived with another friend, a girl also, and it turns out there was a table of no less than 12 FEMALE only coworkers quite a bit older than me.  :-/  So as I sit down someone mentions, "oh, is this the burger guy", like my life story had already been told.  The entire conversation stops and I have 12 female doctors all looking at ME for entertaining stories.  Well, I knocked the conversation out of the ballpark and normal conversation continued.  Into the meal, I was asked what I did for a living, so I mentioned my initial plan to pretend to be a doctor and how awkward it was for me to be at a table full of female doctors.  After that, I guess they liked me, because this is where my name for my blog came from.  I was told that I could just go by "Burger Doctor" since I am so studied on the subject and I'll be needing a real doctor soon enough once my heart fails from cholesterol!  Hahaha, I couldn't help but laugh it up with that and now I have my official title. 

As I look at the Rookwood's menu I notice that this is not your average offerings.  I kind of want to go back just to try one of the appetizers.  There is a chicken fried bacon with jalapeno honey for 6$ that sounds like it's right up my alley!  Also, I am interested in the sweet breads and waffles with honeycomb butter and pickled blueberry syrup.  I'm not sure what to expect with pickled blueberries because my mind was blown by pickled tomatoes texture.  Another app is the hanky panky which is goetta, beef, jalapeno cheese sauce, giardiniera, and jewish rye.  I know cincy loves it's goetta and this combo sounds scrumptious. One sandwich that sounds deliciously, deadly is the pork belly with smoked bacon, fontina, watercress, pickled red onions, mayo and fried egg.  Yup, heart attack is on the way!  This is the second place that I have found in Cincinnati that has house-made andouille, along with Virgil's, but they use it in a unique way, a creole paella with blue prawns, sausage and tomato broth. 

Tasty burger and fries.  Not my picture.

There is one other burger that I would like to try, the Rook Melt – burger, house mustard, caramelized onions, purple cabbage, swiss, fry sauce, caraway rye.  I don't even know what fry sauce is, but I'm sure it's amazing.  This is one of the better burgers I've had during this quest.  I had the Barnsdale burger which was topped with carmelized onions, fontina cheese, pickles and thyme aioli.  It's by no means the best but I'd go back for it definitely.  The thyme aioli is not as strong flavored as I'd like, but the delectable seasoning in the burger more than made up for it.  My burger came cooked medium well, not really pink in the middle like it should and it wasn't greasy.  The bun was fresh and soft.  I paid 2$ more to get my side upgrade from regular fries to grippo's fries...yes you heard me, mother!@#$%^* grippo's fries!!!  You know that smile you get on  your face when you see a bag of these chips right?  Well they take Grippo's bbq potato chips, grind them up into a powder and cover their fries with it and holy s#@$ was it amazing!  I'd go back just for these fries.  It's like crack I'm serious.  This is the first time I have ever heard of  something so ingenious. 

After dinner my friend forced me to eat dessert, which I normally don't do.  But never try to put your hand between a girl and some chocolate. We had a hot brownie, with caramel, salt, cream, berry jam, and fried bananas and wow was it one of the best desserts I've had!  Fried bananas are one of my favorite things after that night.  The other ladies had some of Jeni's Splendid ice cream, which they have a wall of flavors writen in chalk on a wall. 

I have been to the Rookwood before and I'll definitely go again.  I'd recommend getting their burger and their grippo's fries, as well as some dessert if you have room.  This is high up on the list of burgers for me.