With the week being over, Burger Week has now come to an end, but don’t be sad just yet! You can still take a look at the last 8 burgers I tried, and see what I thought of the (mostly) delicious creations!

Also, stay tuned for my Burger Week Wrap-Up, where I’ll give my Top 3 burgers of the week, as well as some other ones worth mentioning!

Old Triangle

Burger: Slow-roasted pulled pork burger with chunky apple and onion chutney and jalapeno mayo on a locally made bun

Price: $15 with $5 going to Feed Nova Scotia

When it comes to shredded meat on a bun, I want to see a good pile of the meat in there. Thankfully, The Old Triangle did just that with this burger. The generous pile of pork was juicy and flavourful, and it sat on a soft, yet sturdy, bun. The jalapeno mayo gave a nice touch of heat, which was great because it didn’t overpower anything. My favourite part of this burger was the apple and onion chutney. It gave an awesome sweetness to the burger, and it was almost as if they put a slice of apple pie on top of the pork. I really like the use of apples on burgers, and I hope that it’s a trend that I see more of. Great job on this burger!

The Local

Burger: The Uptown Chuck – Ground beef and house-made bacon patty with caramelized onions and blue cheese aioli on Stone Hearth bakery bun

Price: $12 with $1 going to Feed Nova Scotia

I had no clue what to expect from this burger, as I had heard very little about The Local before Burger Week started up. I’m so happy I didn’t pass this one over, because they created a really great burger!

The pretzel bun was easily the best bun I had this week, as it had a great taste and texture. If you want to win me over with a burger, a pretzel bun is usually a very good start. The beef and bacon patty worked really well, and it was insanely juicy. The caramelized onions were perfect, and I loved the creaminess of the blue cheese aioli. I really have to give it up to The Local for this burger because it was a damn good time.

Johnny K’s

Burger: Donair Burger – Thinly sliced Prince Edward Island beef shaved from our handmade donair, topped with freshly chopped tomatoes, onions and sweet donair sauce

Price: $6

This burger is similar to the one offered by Mezza, in that if you’ve had the donair at Johnny K’s, you’ve basically already had this burger. The bun is the difference here and it wasn’t completely able to hold its own against the messy traditional donair toppings. There was so much of the delicious donair sauce that the bun got soggy very quickly. I love donair meat as much as the next person, and there was a huge pile of it on this burger, but it was on the line of being too much (I know, blasphemy!). My personal feelings were that they could have lessened the amount of meat so that things were a bit more even, and in turn this would have been a perfectly balanced donair burger.

Lion’s Head Tavern

Burger: Reuben Burger – Their house beef burger, topped with Montreal smoked meat, Swiss cheese, pickles, sauerkraut and sweet and spicy mustard

Price: $6

Lion’s Head wasn’t originally on my list of places I was going to visit, but luckily I decided to squeeze a couple more in, and the Reuben Burger was one of them.

My only complaint with this one was that my patty was more done than I usually like it. Other than that, everything else was pretty positive. The numerous pickles were well received, and the lightly toasted bun was the perfect size. I really liked the smoked meat, and with the sauerkraut and sweet and spicy mustard, this burger really lived up to its name.

The Wooden Monkey

Burger: Mexican Blackbean Burger – With rice and organic roasted corn, crusted in organic blue corn chips on a house-made bolillo bun (traditional Mexican bread) with chunky guac, chipotle salsa and nutritional yeast cheese sauce

Price: $6

This was another last minute addition on Day 6 of Burger Week. I was informed that they were out of the bolillo buns, and instead it was served on a pita. I didn’t mind the substitution, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bummed that I didn’t get to try the bolillo bun.

This burger looked smaller in size, so I didn’t think that it would be very filling. However, this was not the case, and this burger was bigger than it looked. The rice and corn patty wasn’t dry, and there was a great mix of flavours within it. The guac, and especially the chipotle salsa, was really tasty, and I would have loved a side of both to dip the burger in. I also would have loved more of the nutritional yeast sauce because there wasn’t very much on mine, and I couldn’t overly taste it. Overall, not a bad choice for a meatless option!

Canvas Resto Lounge

Burger: Canvas Cheese Burger – Ground local brisket on a toasted bun, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, house-made pickles and chef’s burger sauce

Price: $6

This burger was the last stop on a night of burger-ing, and it was a nice way to cap of the day. The patty, while being on the smaller size, was juicy and was cooked almost perfectly. The house-made pickles were a nice touch, and they had a great, crunchy texture. I really enjoyed the bun as it had just the right amount of toughness to it, which surprisingly is a good thing in this case. The star of the show had to be the chef’s burger sauce. I’m unsure what exactly it was made of, but it reminded me almost of a dressing, and it gave the burger a really great pop of flavour. I believe a double version of this burger is on the regular menu, so if you missed this one during Burger Week, you can still give it a try.

The Auction House

Burger: El Pastor Burger – One hundred percent all-pork burger topped with Swiss cheese, grilled pineapple, cured onions and house-made black bean spread

Price: $6

I’ll admit upfront that I am not a fan of pineapple. I don’t want it anywhere near my pizza, and I’m apprehensive when it shows up on a burger. I knew going in that this burger contained the yellow fruit, but I’m not one to say no to a new burger.

I was glad to find out that the taste of the pineapple didn’t stand out above everything else. Obviously I could still taste it, but it was subtle enough that I didn’t mind it being included. The pork was seasoned deliciously, and I really loved the fact that it was smothered in Swiss cheese. I didn’t get much flavour from the cured onions, and I wasn’t completely sold on the black bean spread mostly due to its thick, pasty texture. This wasn’t a bad burger, but it didn’t really have any memorable qualities.

Clay West

Burger: The Cuban – A half-pound hand-pressed burger topped with Swiss cheese, smoked ham, 12-hour slow-braised pork shoulder, sliced pickle and mustard-mayo on a 24 Carrot Bakery kaiser

Price: $6

This picture does not do the size of this burger justice. It definitely had the largest burger circumference of this year’s Burger Week (at least out of the 35 I tried), and I was really glad that I didn’t get a side with this one.

While the burger’s size was impressive, it did make for a lot of extra bun that eventually just ended up discarded on my plate. The pork shoulder wasn’t bad, but it was a bit dry, and the beef patty felt like it was really overworked and was somewhat gristly.

I did really like the “Cuban” elements of this burger. The piece of smoked ham was tasty, and I was happy to see a big piece of Swiss draped over the patty. My favourite part was the mustard-mayo, both for the taste and just the generous amount that they gave me on the burger (I like it saucy). While I did have some complaints about this one, it did have some redeeming qualities as well.