Burger Crew meeting called to order on February 26, 2022.
Members in attendance: Angela, DK, Innie, Trevor, and Wayne, with special guest Marissa.
I. Ordering
Crack doesn’t have a very extensive menu, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it also means that almost everybody ordered the same thing, which was the Bacon Jam burger. The only deviants were DK, who ordered The Dirty, and Marissa, who ordered the Ortega Burger. Most of us also added a side of fries.
II. The Burgers
The seasoning on the patties was very inconsistent. Trevor thought that his patty was very bland, and DK thought that some bites were OK while others were way too salty. The owner had told us that he had just hired a new cook, and it sounded like he was still learning how to cook, so that may have been a big reason for the inconsistency. Most of us had also ordered our burgers medium rare (except Angela), but they all came out pretty much well-done. The meat had strange chewy bits that indicated that some cheaper cuts were probably used for the beef grind. The buns were what everyone described as “classic” burger buns, not too gooey and not too dry. The bacon jam was sweet and had a little bit of heat on it, and everybody enjoyed it that had the Bacon Jam burger. Innie noted that it was unusual for a burger to have plain mayonnaise as a condiment; usually it’s mixed with something else to become a “burger sauce” of some kind or an aioli. It wasn’t necessarily bad, just unusual. DK thought that his Dirty burger was overly saucy in a messy way. Marissa and DK both thought that the Ortega burger was incredibly bland despite all of the components. The chilis and salsa tasted canned, and all of the flavors ended up cancelling each other out.
III. The Sides
For $4, the portion of fries was disappointing. DK said that they reminded him of little seasoned potato wedges in terms of taste and texture. Trevor saw that they were air frying them, which explained the lack of crispiness. They reminded us of fries that you get from the freezer section of a supermarket, and not in a good way.
IV. Miscellaneous
The owner was a character, to say the least. He was very judgemental about any changes that we wanted to make while ordering. The changes were things like side of pickles or for a burger to be cut in half, so not anything out of ordinary, but they were all met with snide comments. He made his political leanings very apparent when speaking with us, and when he brought out the burgers, he was strangely misogynistic, assuming that the women all wanted their burgers to be cut in half. Angela described him as home cook burger enthusiast, someone who enjoys making burgers but might not necessarily have the experience or quality of ingredients to be running a restaurant. He had a hard time keeping everyone’s orders straight, including different levels of doneness and who had their burger cut in half. The food took forever to come out, so the owner brought out different samples of white bean chicken chili and macaroni salad to try to hold us over.
V. Value
The Crew was largely in agreement regarding the value of the burgers we had. Everyone said they would pay between $7.50 and $8.50, perhaps the narrowest range we’ve ever had for value.
VI. The Verdict
The ratings came out to 2.3, 2.7, 3.1, 3.1, and 3.2, so clearly nobody was impressed with what we had. Crack has overwhelmingly positive reviews on Yelp, and we hypothesized that maybe it’s because it’s in a golf course, and everybody expects mediocre food at a golf course, so when the food is slightly above average, it’s met with tons of praise.
Our next meeting will be at Nilly’s Neighborhood Burger Shop in Artesia.