Sinful Burger (Bellevue)

Date: April 28, 2013, Sunday                   www.sinfulburger.com
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Weather: Sunny warm, breezy, 75 degrees
Patronage: Restaurant was not too busy
Lighting: Dive bar/Sports Bar feel
Attendees:  Myself and Jenn
Total Bill (excluding gratuity): $35.00 ($17.50/person)

I want to start on a different note for this one, that doesn't affect my impression of the venue.  We were going to actually go to a different place today (Stella's), but found out that they were closed on Sunday.  Same with Dinker's.  For those two being legendary burger haven's to be closed on Sunday seemed odd, but then again God even rested on the seventh day.

So we were searching the web for another great place.  We came upon a place that was voted in the winners circle best in Omaha 2013.  In this day and age a website is the key to success.  Their website is horrible.  It does not navigate in a coherent pattern and the information is accurate, but you have to dig to find anything.  In fact we couldn't find their hours so we had to call to make sure that they were open, which they were and so we'll start from there.

You couldn't have a better Sunday with the weather.  It has been the first weekend that cooperated with everything and it seems that the entire city was enjoying a weekend spent outdoors.  When we arrived we were welcomed in by a couple of workers and informed that we can sit wherever we wanted, so we chose the bar.

We were immediately asked for our beverage of choice.  I went with Coke, and Jenn chose the PBR drink special.  Our server then made a comment about how the Detroit Red Wings backed into the playoffs for 22 straight years, upon seeing Jenn's Wings hat.  I enjoyed the fact that he knew what was going on in a sport that I love especially involving my team.  Not that this is a hidden fact with hockey, but in this town if it's not Huskers or Bluejays it's rare.  He also made the comment that basketball fan is barely human, made me like him more.

So on to the menu.  I will be the first to admit that normally I do not like themed anything.  I think it feels fake, hokey, and bordering on ridiculous.  So their play is on the 7 deadly sins for burgers and they appear to be aptly named, but more on that later.  An appetizer did catch both of our eyes so we just had to order.  It was a Reuben Roll.  If you imagine a Reuben sandwich mating with an egg roll you would have it.  It was surprisingly fantastic.  It was a nice re-imagining of a Nebraska classic, completed with a home-made thousand island dressing that is made fresh daily.  The dressing is worth is by itself.  It was lighter on the relish and had a nice horseradish tang to it and it completed the Reuben to perfection.

Now the meat of the review and yes pun intended.  The play on the seven deadly sins was sort of refreshing and you could see the thought that was put into each one.  Jenn went with Pride a large burger with mushrooms and swiss and she requested mid-rare temp.  She did substitute her condiment from spicy mustard to a garlic mayo as well as added some grilled onions and a side of sweet potato fries.  I went with Sloth, a monstrous burger, three 1/4 pound patties, American, cheddar, and pepper jack cheese, thousand island dressing (read above, worth a gallon of it) and bacon (as if that wasn't enough).  I chose mine carnivore style, nothing from the garden, and regular fries.  I opted out of naming my temperature just to see what the restaurant felt was a good temp to serve.  I am assuming a risk because I have been served my fair share of well done burgers and they are just lifeless, tasteless, and boring.

The food was served as we were finishing our appetizer, which again is about all you can ask for.  It tells me a few things about the kitchen and staff.  They were watching us and not hovering and that they didn't fire our food immediately as we ordered our app at the same time of our burger.  Our food wasn't left on the hot plate to die while we were eating our appetizer and we weren't served both at the same exact time defeating the purpose of the appetizer. 

Jenn's hamburger looked amazing and was cooked perfectly to mid-rare.  The salt shakers are full of seasoned salt, which of course is all the king of the salts.  Not knowing the temperature of my burger beforehand was a little stressing, but I am pleased to announce that it was a nice incredibly flavorful medium.  It was not lifeless, it had the great char that comes with a medium burger.  Every tier had it's own molten cheese and the profiles from each is apparent.  The jack cheese adds a nice spice level as does the home-made thousand island dressing.  The burger is huge at just over 3/4 of a pound (reminder that this is not the Gluttony burger, and more on that later).  The fries are what you wanted.  Shoestring style slightly overdone, like the kind you find in a typical dive bar and a great compliment to the burger itself.

Now this restaurant does have the ever popular food challenge, much like you would see in Man vs. Food.  Called the Goliath and this thing will kill a lesser individual.  The burger is 4 pounds plus eat a pound of fries in an hour.  If you fail your picture goes on a wall of failure holding what you didn't finish, plus the $25.00 bill for the burger.  If you finish your burger is free and you get a shirt.  If you beat the current time of 6 minutes 43 seconds you get $100 bucks cash.  Not bad for just 6 minutes of work.

The Gluttony burger is a beast by itself and I only mention it in passing because of what exactly it is.  It is two half pound patties with cheese in the center of the patty.  Topped with bacon of course someone has to keep the cardiologists employed in this town.  Now the real kicker is there is no bun with this devilish concoction.  In it's place are two grilled cheese sandwiches.  It looked really good, but I prefer to stay on this side of the ground for a while longer.

All in all it was a nice play on the sins.  It wasn't over dramatized and they let the food do the talking.  You have lots of choices, but if you are a vegetarian this is not the place for you.  You can also get any food item "evil" which looks like incredibly sweet hot sauce.  I love the dive feel to this place and they had T.V.'s with sports on all over.  A really friendly staff that was attentive, but not overly so. 

The food was amazing, and yes I am a sinner.  I plan on sinning more for what it's worth

Jenn's Pride Burger

 

 

Here is my Sloth Burger

 

 

 My Reuben Roll cut open and the delicious dressing:

 

 

Jenn's Reuben Roll