Goodfriend. 2.0

Burger Babes visited Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House in July (I realized today that I never published this post).  Even though we had been before, it is guaranteed to be in everyone's top 10 and with new people in the group, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit.

While we waited for the whole group to show up, we ordered a couple of appetizers, fried pickles and some crazy good fries.  A huge platter of waffle fries covered in bacon, chives, and blue cheese, and of course, ranch for dipping.  These were ridiculous! You really don't even need to order anything else.

As always the service was good and our burgers came exceptionally fast.  A couple of people ordered the 'Shroom Burger and gave it two thumbs up.  The mushrooms were perfectly sautéed, which let's face it, isn't always easy.  

The cheeseburger with bacon also got an excellent review.  Those pickles!  So crunchy!

I had the Morning Glory, a delicious cheeseburger topped with bacon and a fried egg. Goodfriend will always ask you how you want your burger cooked (thank you for that).  To me, their medium is perfect; pink throughout, but not overly pink. The ingredients are always fresh and top quality. And as someone who always struggles to cook the perfect fried egg, I'm amazed how time after time they get it just right. Just a little bit runny . . . you know, just enough to have that great yolk covering you burger, but not out of control messy.  If you had to pick one "bad" thing about the Goodfriend burger, some might say it's the bun.  Totally a personal preference, but how much bread is too much bread when it comes to your hamburger bun?

Goodfriend also has a pretty extensive beer collection, so if that's your thing, you should definitely check it out.  It's a great place to spend the afternoon, hanging out with friends, eating amazing food and having a drink or two.  Of course, if you go early enough in the day, you can pick up tomorrow's breakfast at Hypnotic Donuts beforehand.

LA Burger

In November, the Burger Babes tried out LA Burger on North MacArthur in Irving.  LA Burger is the brainchild of two Korean brothers originally from Los Angeles; their goal is to combine Korean flavor with American classics.  Located in a strip mall in North Irving, it's a small BYOB storefront.  

After placing our orders at the counter, we settled in to wait for our burgers.  It was about a 15 minute wait, but you could tell the burgers were freshly made.  I ordered the Cali Sunshine: crisp bacon, a homemade spread, an egg made over easy, and cheddar cheese.  I would really liked to have ordered the LA Burger which comes complete with kimchi, but I wasn't nearly brave enough to try something that spicy.  

Cali Sunshine with sweet potato fries

Amanda's burger came first.  She did get the LA Burger with kimchi and she gave it two thumbs up.  Tina and I both ordered the Cali Sunshine and it was scrumptious.  Everyone's biggest complaint was the bread.  It tasted great and brought everything together nicely, but it was just too much.  In fact, Amanda and Tina ate their burgers sans bread top.  I was able to muster my way through it, though.  And while I do love a toasted bun, the center part of the top did get a bit too crispy for me. The flavors of the patty, bacon, cheese and  homemade spread did come together quite nicely.  I always think an egg on a burger is dicey.  It's incredibly yummy!  But, if the yolk is too runny, you've got a complete mess.  And if it's cooked too hard, then there's not any of the runny yumminess.  Unfortunately, my yolk was a bit too hard.  While it still gave the burger great flavor, it didn't really have the runniness I was hoping for.  Overall, we do give the burgers at LA Burgers a hearty endorsement.

LA Burger with onion rings

The sides on the other hand, were decent, but nothing to write home about. We ordered the onion rings, french fries, and sweet potato fries. Surprisingly enough, none of them had much flavor to them.  I was expecting them to have a little more pizzazz considering LA Burger's story.  And it's not that they were bad, they just weren't anything out of the ordinary.  

Prices are good, sides are decent, and the burgers are full of flavor.  If you live or work in the Irving area, then you should definitely check it out.

Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House

Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House is another one of Dallas's most recent burger joints to open up this past year and it definitely ranks up at the top.  Open for business since October of 2011, it is a casual, neighborhood bar in East Dallas.

The patio was already full when we arrived save for one table located right in front of the TV showing the Ranger game.  And the weather was spectacular so we were already off to a perfect start.  And because it is a beer garden, there's no rush to order your meal.  We were actually able to wait for everyone to show up before we ordered.  That doesn't always happen. 

There are probably about 10 different types of burgers to choose from and all of them sounded so wonderful.  There are definitely some I plan on trying in the future.  All of their burgers are made with natural grass-fed beef and most everything is made in house which you can tell as soon as you take a bite.  I ended up going with The Coop, with the fried egg cooked just a touch hard and the patty with a touch of pink.  It was absolutely delicious:  Burgers at Goodfriend are the kind you'll want to cut in half to be to handle properly, but even then I still made a mess.  Just a sign of a good burger filled with tasty, fresh condiments.  I'm not a big fan of tomatoes, but just look at how red and fresh those slices are!  So yummy!  I'm about ready to get in the car and head back to East Dallas as I write this.

Other burgers you might consider trying are the Loretta (their version of a blue cheese burger), the Pepper Bomb (made with habaneros, serranos & jalapenos - yikes!), or the Latin Lover (chorizo burger).  If you want a burger without beef, you're in luck!  You can try a turkey burger, a lamb burger, and even a black bean burger.


I don't remember the name of this one, but it has some kind onion compote - heard it was awesome!



You can't ever go wrong with a good old-fashioned cheeseburger.

We had three sides to select from and you can't go wrong with any of them.  You can choose from waffle fries (good) or sweet potato waffle fries (better).  And if you can't decide, don't worry, they'll let you order a basket with both.  Not a potato lover?  You absolutely won't miss with the fried battered green beans.  Yes, I said fried batter green beans served with a tangy ranch-like dip.  Up until this point, Smashburger had my heart when it cam to friend green beans, but the beans at Goodfriend are way better by far.

You might still be unsure of my opinion of the burgers at Goodfriend.  I know I haven't been very complimentary.  A definite two thumbs up!  It has everything - great food on a patio with a friendly, laid-back atmosphere.  Be warned though, the kitchen doesn't open until 5, so no burgers until dinnertime.

Until next time!



Liberty Burger

Ever since Liberty Burger opened last November, it has enjoyed high accolades.  It's located at the corner of Forest and Inwood and tonight, just like every night since opening, it's had a steady stream of people coming in for fabulous burgers.  I"ve not met one person who didn't have great things to say about this burger which is made from tenderloin, chuck, and brisket.  Unless, of course, you order the bison burger, and that apparently, is just as fabulous.



Big O Rings



When you enter Liberty Burger, you are automaticaly in line to place your order. And I think there's always a line.  Because the line is long, someone is there to take your drink order, which arrives lickety split.  That is a great little piece of customer service.  Liberty Burger has a wide variety of specialty burgers, and some of them are pretty unique; the Amore includes cantaloupe.  I just had to get the Nooner.  It's been awhile since I've had a burger with a fried egg, and it was just calling my name.  The buns are homemade, and it's built with American cheese, Applewood-smoked bacon, ham, hash browns, and ketchup.  I'm not really a hash browns kind of girl, so I went without them.  But after I saw someone else's Nooner, I kind of wish I had kept them on.  They looked pretty tasy and crunchy, not soggy like I think hash browns usually are.  Despite the full restaurant, it didn't take very long to get our orders.

Let's start with the sides this time.  The sweet potato fries and skinny fries are good, although I think the sweet potato fries could have used a little something.  I would say their star side is definitely the Big O Rings.  Great flavor, the perfect amount of crisp, and fabulous onions cooked to perfection.



As you can see, a Liberty Burger is a sight to behold.  The homeade buns are in perfect proportion to all of the yummy goodness and the meat is fulll of flavor, although it was cooked all the way through and I prefer my burgers with a touch of pink.  And at this point, I'm really struggling with the rest of my review.  When I placed my order, I debated omitting the ketchup.  While I am a fan of ketchup, I don't always need it on my burger, especially if there's going to be fried egg goodness.  Well, I should have gone with my gut.  Not only did the burger not need the ketchup, there was too much ketchup on the burger and that just overpowered any yumminess.  And I feel the same way about the ham as well.  Love it on my pizza, but I don't really need it on my burger.  I would have been happy with just the bacon.  Of course, I can't help but think that maybe the hash browns would have been a good balance for the ham.



Baby Bella Burger with Skinny Fries



Everyone else absolutely loved their burger whereas I liked mine.  But I also know that I didn't have the right combination of condiments.  I definitely want to go back and give Liberty Burger a second chance.  Next time I might just try a the standard Liberty Burger with no frills.  Although the Baby Bella looked pretty awesome.  Then again, so did the Wild West.  Or maybe the Libertine...