So a lot of you seem to really like Bru burger and a friend
of mine reminded me of it the other day when I was trying to find a quick place
to eat lunch after a meeting downtown.
Honestly, I have heard some mixed things from other people though, so I
was a little wary. Having not been in
the place at all yet, the first thing I noticed was how confusing it was to
find the front door (is it just me?). I
first went in where the old Elements door was (which was never ideal either),
then went to the patio area which is under the giant “Bru Burger” sign and
would appear to be the front door—I went in there to find that in fact there is
an even further door that is the appropriate door and I could tell by the
servers sort of shaking their head at me that this annoys them when people come
in the wrong way. Oh well. So I went in and surprised the hostesses by
coming up behind them. I got seated and
looked over the menu while my teeth chattered in the intense cold. I know I say this all the time, but why why
why do restaurants in Indy keep the thermostats so low? It makes me crazy.
So anyway I figured I ought to go with a burger in a burger
joint right? So I ordered the Bru burger ($11) which sounded interesting—a beef
burger with Taleggio cheese, bacon, tomato jam, braised onion and mayo
(normally comes with lettuce but I asked for it without). I also appreciated that they asked me how I
wanted it cooked (medium rare). I also
got a side of onion rings ($3). The
burger looked pretty when it was served with a couple of pickles on top—but when
I cut it in half to make it easier to eat I quickly saw that it wasn’t medium
rare—it was sort of uniformly gray honestly.
And while my normal toppings on a burger are more minimal, I went with
this because it seemed like it was sort of their specialty—and it was too much
stuff for me. As soon as it was served
the very thin bottom bun was already soaked through with the juice from the
tomatoes and onions. The bacon was
fairly plentiful but was completely soft as well and didn’t have a lot of
flavor. I am not sure really how to
describe the whole thing other than to say it was just was a little mushy and
didn’t have a lot of the distinctive flavor I was expecting from the
ingredients. I wanted crispy, salty
bacon and stinky Taleggio and neither of them were particularly distinctive. The flavor of the tomato jam and the onions
wasn’t bad, but I have a feeling they may have been a leading contributor to the
sogginess problem.
There was redemption with the onion rings though—they were
really good. They were large and tempura
beer battered and nice and crisp and hot.
You could taste the beer in the batter and that is my favorite way to
taste beer—in beer batter. They were
also served with house made ketchup that was good with them—a little thicker
than your average ketchup and not so sugary tasting. It went well with the rings.
So, after I ate here, I asked around on twitter about what people like
at Bru (after several of you had recommended it again) and I found it
interesting that more than half of the people were recommending the non-beef
burgers (veggie, tuna, turkey). So maybe
their strength lies in other kinds of burgers, or maybe it was just an off day,
but I don’t think I would be rushing back for another beef burger. To be fair, they are thick burgers, which
generally aren’t my favorite anyway, but I can appreciate a good one when I
have one. So tell me if you haven’t
already, what do you think of this place and what do you like there? I always
give a place another chance (well, almost always). And those onion rings were
pretty tasty. On the other hand, a bill
for nearly $18 for a burger, rings and a soda is a little steep for lunch when
the burger didn’t knock me out. So let
me know what you think.
Bru Burger
Bar
410 Massachusetts
Avenue
Indy 46202
317/635-4278
