Edmonton’s best burger, at least according to me, has not been an easy thing to find. Luckily Avenue Magazine recently voted on it’s Top 3 burgers in Edmonton, so this week I’m putting their second place finisher, Kelly’s Pub, up against another downtown area pub, On The Rocks. For the record, their top pick was The Burg, which I reviewed here. I was a bit stunned when I saw their list, as that was the first time I’d heard anyone name The Burg as their favourite in Edmonton. It wouldn’t make my top 5 of what I’ve reviewed thus far in the odyssey, so I was pretty anxious to see if their #2 pick aligned any closer with my own findings.

Kelly’s Pub- 10156 104 st Edmonton

It was a real surprise to see Kelly’s Pub on Avenue’s best burger list, as I’d never heard word one about the food there; good or bad. That made me kind of excited to try it, hoping it would be a pleasant discovery, kind of like finding a twenty in your couch cushions. With winter taking it’s last icy kick at us for the year (hopefully) this last weekend, and so many events going on around town, the 104st area was pretty quiet on Saturday afternoon, making it a perfect time to drop into Kelly’s to check out the Bacon Cheddar Burger.

• Meat- The first thing that struck me when the burger was slid in front of me was the colour. The patty had a strange pale grey colour that immediately turned me off. I’ve never seen a burger patty look like this before, and it’s boiled meat appearance had me pretty concerned. I considered pushing it away and cutting my losses without even trying it, but I figured I’d soldier on in the name of research. The first bite of the meat tasted, thankfully, much better that it looked. It had a lot of seasoning mixed in which made the meat, itself, difficult to taste and the texture was kind of meatloaf-y. I don’t necessarily dislike the meatloaf texture- I mean c’mon, who doesn’t like meatloaf or meatball sandwiches right?- but I do prefer a looser texture for my burgers. If you like a healthy amount of seasonings mixed in, you’d probably like this patty. I did get some gristle near the end of the burger though, which is always a bit of a downer.
• Bun- Some more oddness with the bun. The top was more like a crouton than a hamburger bun, like it sat in the oven or under the heat lamp much too long and got very dried out. How dry? If I was breathing while biting, the accompanying bread-dust being blown around would cloud the room. That was a bit annoying, but still much better than if it had been stale. The inside of the bun was grilled nicely.
• Toppings- There was a ton of iceberg lettuce atop this burger, which while nice and crispy, makes the whole business really slippery. I usually end up having to pull it all off just so I have a chance of keeping the burger together. The tomatoes were nice and ripe, so those were good. By my count there were 4 slices of bacon on the top but, strangely, 3 were stacked on top of one other and stuck together. So really what I got was 1 hugely thick piece of bacon and 1 normal sized one. No big deal, but kind of funny. There was a good amount of white cheddar, which made me happy. The star of the entire burger for me though was the garlic mayo. It had a bit of kick, and really pulled everything together.

Kelly’s Pub Bacon Cheddar Burger

Not your typical burger colour

My first bite was kind of eye opening, in a good way. I thought the flavour was quite delicious but, by the end, Robyn and I had both realized that the bites we liked best were the ones that had lots of the garlic mayo.  I hate to pin the success or failure of an entire burger on the mayo, but in this case it actually made a huge difference. I wouldn’t call it the #2 burger in all of Edmonton, by any stretch, but I found it a pretty serviceable pub burger, despite the odd colour.

Side Note- We got fries with the burger, and they were served in a wire basket with the burger on top. The fries that weren’t under the burger were nice and crispy, but the ones under the burger were less so. I’d quickly take the burger out of the basket next time to help preserve some french fry crispiness.

Cost- $15, served with fries

On The Rocks- 11740 Jasper ave. Edmonton

We stopped in at On The Rocks in November or December last year and had a pretty decent burger, so I was really looking forward to coming back to document it. I figured I’d get the same burger that I enjoyed so much back then… the Fully Loaded Burger. It’s got applewood smoked bacon, cheddar, romaine, tomato, onion, and jalapeno ranch sauce, topped with a dill pickle spear.

• Meat- Well this is where I shatter the myth of the polite Canadian. To be blunt, this patty was a joke. For starters, if this isn’t a pre-fabricated, frozen, bought-in patty then they’ve done a masterful job of re-creating that flavour and texture in-house. That is to say the flavour and texture were terrible. To top it all off, it was burned black. Robyn thought the frozen patty at The Hat was the worst we’ve tried, but I think I’d give this one the nod. Enough said.
• Bun- Standard white bun, grilled. It was ok, but you’re going to need a heck of a lot more than an ok bun to save a patty this bad.
• Toppings- The bacon was totally coated in grease, like the scraps left in the bottom of the bacon tray at a buffet. Pretty unappealing. The romaine lettuce for me is a better choice than iceberg, and was nice and crunchy. The tomatoes were very ripe, and probably the best part of the whole burger. The jalapeno ranch was spread over the top and the bottom halves of the bun, and was pretty tasty. There was a pretty fair portion of cheddar, but it was kind of pushed much more to one side than the other which left some parts of the patty without cheese. There was also 2 ridiculously thick slices of red onion which, if left on the burger, would have been the only thing you could possibly taste. Does anyone like that quantity of raw onion?

On The Rocks Fully Loaded Burger

To the garbage with you!

I think for the remainder of this odyssey I’m going to have to start asking if the patty if a frozen, pre-made one before I order. I’m pretty much done paying for burgers that are so bad that I leave them half uneaten. This one was particularly disappointing, as the burger I had here before was fresh made and really good.

Side note- We upgraded to the poutine at a cost of $3.00. It tasted like frozen fries with packaged gravy and minimal cheese curds. The portion was pretty small too, and probably not worth the up-charge.

Cost- $14.00 with fries. $3.00 extra for poutine.

Being that the On The Rocks burger was burned and nasty, Kelly’s Pub was a pretty easy pick as this week’s winner.