DERICIOUS

Bobby Flay’s Burger Palace, Philly’s new burger king?

What do we have here? It’s a Bobby Flay restaurant.

It’s been almost a week since Bobby Flay opened his 5th “fast casual burger concept.” I have no idea what that means but Bobby’s Burger Palace just opened this past Tuesday. Ever since I started reading Philly food blogs over a year ago, burger joints seem to have become a dime a dozen.

BUT. Regardless of how many there are, no two are ever the same. So how does Bobby’s burger palace compare to some of the hometown faves such as PYT or 500 degrees? Is Bobby Flay Philly’s burger king? Let’s find out!

First, we all know who Bobby Flay is - iron chef and celebrity chef. So there was no way I was gonna even try to go there on opening day (April 6th). I knew there was gonna be hordes of vicious carnivores clamoring down at the Palace gates.

So when did I go? Two days after it opened hoping the hype would simmer down a little bit (stupid me). Nope, we got there at 7pm and the line was outside, good thing we were only a few people away from the front door. We waited about 30 minutes from the moment we got there to the ordering counter. Not a bad wait.

The interior decor feels a little retro but modern. I like the colors, which I assume are inspired by burgers (browns/earth colors, green, red). The logo itself is a burger if you look again. I think it’s a nice place, can’t complain.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the burgers do not come with any sides. No fries, onion rings or even chips. Come on Bobby!! Where’s my fries man!?

So that means you need to order a side separately. Good thing is that the sides are good. The onion rings aren’t great. The fries on the other hand are the opposite. They’re crispy and it’ll be hard to not try to order more.

Miami burger. For some reason, the burger was compressed when I got it. Not sure if it’s intentionally like that. Everyone else’s burger at the table was just stacked like I thought mines would be like.

As far as the burger goes, it was cooked medium rare just how I like. The toppings and flavor was okay. I thought the hearty sesame bun was a little too much. Felt like there was more bread than anything else during each bite. Overall, nothing out of the ordinary, I’ve had better but I’ll go again and try something else. This might have been totally different if Bobby Flay cooked it himself.

Beer battered onion rings, a disappointment. If you want good onion rings, try PYT or Red Robin.

French fries - this is good. It’s better than the fries at PYT, but doesn’t come close to McDonald’s (the best!) or even the ones at 500 degrees. Love the dipping sauce, which tastes kinda like spicy mayo that you can get when you eat sushi.

The brown sauce next to the fries is barbeque sauce Bobby’s Special sauce. The green substance is jalapeno sauce. And the red sauce is (wait for it) - ketchup.

She had the griddled cheese, which shockingly is toasted white bread and melted cheddar cheese, but it also had a slice or two of tomato and a pickle for your pleasure.

I expected a little more from Bobby. Maybe I expected too much? Anyway, I’ll take any burger at PYT over Bobby’s Miami burger any day but you should know that Iron Chef Jose Garces’ Whiskey King burger is the burger king, followed by the 500 burger at 500 degrees.

Bobby Flay’s burger palace may not have the top spot in my  gastronomical heart, but he’s definitely built his palace in one of the best places imagineable in the city - in the heart of university city.

Drexel, UPenn, and USP kids - eat your heart out. If not, Bobby flay will.