the real deal

If you're ever in Brighton, MA try the beer steamed burgers at the Sunset Grill on Brighton Ave. You can get them about 20 different ways. I like the Texan with smoked ham, mozzaralla and BBQ sauce and the Vive Le France with portabello mushroom and boursin cheese. Plus they always have the SOX on the TV!
Bartley's Burger Cottage is okay. Its in Harvard Square. I've had their burgers a couple of times, but their standard way to cook them is to char them almost black on the outside and have them medium-mediun rare on the inside. Not really my style, but many of my Harvard friends swear by them.
I prefer to make mine at home by mixing the beef with HP Sauce, then stuffing the meat with roasted garlic paste and extra sharp cheddar cheese and putting it between two grilled slices of white pullman bread!! Oh the gluttony!

I shall check with my Princeton friends whether thay will still speak to me if I try Bartleys.

quote:

Originally posted by billyboy

If you're ever in Brighton, MA try the beer steamed burgers at the Sunset Grill on Brighton Ave. You can get them about 20 different ways. I like the Texan with smoked ham, mozzaralla and BBQ sauce

See, I've lived within a couple blocks of the Sunset Grill (which, technically, is in Allston, not Brighton) for years, and you just summarized exactly why I've never eaten there. Speaking as a Texan, I dare you to find that unappetizing combination of elements on any hamburger in the state.

Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and a good slathering of yellow mustard on a toasted sesame-seed bun: THAT'S a burger that won't get you laughed out of Texas.

Me, I just pass the Sunset Grill by and head out to Wild Willy's in Watertown Square. Although I hear the burgers at Common Ground on Harvard Ave (about a half-block from the Sunset Grill) are adequate.

Bartleys: eh. An okay burger, but nothing special; it's just that since it's surprisingly hard to find a decent burger in Boston, people tend to overrate it. Given a choice in the neighborhood, I'm way more likely to grab one of the grease bombs at Charlie's Kitchen: better jukebox, and I disagree less strenuously with the owners' political views.