Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Bagel & Burger Pit Stops

I had to be up north in the Treasure Coast today for work and made a couple of pit stops along the way... On the way up, I stopped at the new The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. located on Military Trail in Delray Beach. In a nutshell, they claim to have found a way to turn Delray's finest into Brooklyn's tap. A nice marketing gimmick that should sell a lot of bagels in that area. I kept it real simple and went with a plain bagel with no butter or cream cheese to go. (a fresh warm bagel tastes great in the car. I normally get a baker's dozen at Sage and 11.5 make it home) I'm a big ET fan but I wanted to taste/test this thing with minimal distraction.

Okay, upon initial review I was a little concerned. First, the bagel was fresh but not warm like they are normally served at Sage (Hallandale) on a busy Sunday morning. Not a huge issue though. Second, it looked like one of those puffy steroid things offerdahl/einstein's calls bagels. (it should be noted that the outside did have a nice crispy crust appearance) That said, the bagel was better than I anticipated. It was crispy on the outside with a nice chewy dough on the inside. The taste of the dough was slightly off.

It was a good NY style bagel but not great and certainly not as good as Sage. I'm sure you will see franchises pop up all over SFla. in the near future based on the people behind this operation. (subway)

14451 South Military Trail, Delray Beach FL 33484 (map)
561-455-7491

Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. on Urbanspoon

Brooklyn Water Bagels




On the way back home, my pit stop was at Charm City Burger Company located on E. Hillsboro Blvd. in Deerfield Beach. I've read some great things about this spot so I went in with high expectations. It's a very casual almost divey spot with counter service. They specialize in burgers but also have some interesting stuffed rolls (soft shell crab, shrimp po-boy and jerked mahi) and blue bell shakes. They have five different burger options and the emperor (kobe beef patty melt with aged gruyere, truffled mushrooms and served in brioche for $10.95 oh and with seared foie for $24.95) was really calling my name but I didn't want to interfere too much with the actual burger on my initial visit and kept it simple. Thus, I went with a "good ole" burger which is a 1/3 pound steak blend cooked medium well and served with l/t/o/pickles and charm sauce. (no truffles and foie???) I also ordered a side of tater tots. Not sure how anyone passes on tater tots when they're on a menu. The taters scored highly on the tots scale. The burger was good but I was underwhelmed. It failed to deliver the knockout punch I crave in a great burger. I'm not exactly sure what was missing though. (grease/juice maybe) I would certainly go back if I was in the area but I would not make a special trip for it nor does it crack my top five. However, I'm craving that Emperor about now. Has anyone tried it?

1136 E. Hillsboro Blvd.
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
(954) 531-0300


Charm City Burger Company on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

The Burger Beast said...

The Emperor is next on my list.

Anonymous said...

I've been a few times anc Mike's burgers are the best in the tri-county area. The charm city sauce is fantastic! I would bath in it if appropriate.

The Chowfather said...

I'll have to give them another shot.