Big Fat Retard wrote:Jucy Lucys are fuckin' awesome!That brought back some memories When I used to live in South Minneapolis, I went to Matt's all the time for Jucy Lucys. They go great with a cold bottle of High Life.
I sometimes make my own Jucy Lucys with weed in the cheese.
I agree. Juicy Lucy's do rule and I actually was up in the Twin Cities last weekend and went a mini-Jucy Lucy tour (which is why I am now craving another and wondered if there was any place in Des Moines to get one, other than making one at home?)
Anyway, here are my photos of the tour and my ranking:
Friday evening:
Matt's Bar (unfortunately we forgot the camera at the hotel and didn't get pictures of this epic lucy, but I did get some photos off their website).
Matt's is regarded by many locals to be the best place in the Twin Cities to get a Jucy Lucy. They are not the "originator" of the burger, but most will tell you they have perfected it. They have many "Best of" Awards that tell the same story.
This place is tiny. I mean like a total of 10 booths and that's it. We went on Friday evening about 7p..m. and didn't get seated until a little before 9p.m., that's how popular this place is. Good thing the place is also a bar (though more known for their burgers), so at least I could get a beer while we waited (Grain Belt of course). Here is a picture of the outside.
The menu here is pretty much burgers and if you order anything but a Jucy, you get looked at funny.
There are cool, vintage adversitments all over the place describing the awesome Jucy the place has.
And like I said, they also have awards on the walls, so you know they are good.
This was my first burger of the weekend, so I was really, really stoked to finally try it and see if the claim was as good as everyone said. This burger was big, greasy and full of awesome, melty American cheese. The burger meat itself was excellent. Perfectly done and fucking moist as shit, with a nice "crispy" coating on the outside. The cheese was a little more "runny" than the others I tried this weekend and it sort of melded together with the meat. It was a lot different than the other two, but I think that was what sets it apart from the pack. The fries here was pretty boss as well. Overall, I give this burger a 9/10.
Saturday Night:
The Nook
Not as talked about as Matt's or The 5-8 Club (Sunday's visit), but this place was super popular as well. We went here Saturday. Another "bar" that is more a restaurant than anything else. Also, like Matt's it is very small with very limited seating. We got there around 6p.m. and got seated around 6:45p.m., so the wait wasn't as bad.
The menu here is a lot more diverse, but of course I ordered their Jucy Lucy. They also have a TON of other burgers on their menu (most of which are very unique and sounded awesome). I ordered my Jucy here with grilled onions (which was a great choice). When it arrived, I almost jizzed my pants.
There was so much goddamn cheese dripping off the burger. It was awesome. The grilled onions were perfect and I added the side of pickles on top the burger. I then took my first bite. Instantly a huge stream of oozing, hot cheese shot out of the middle of the burger. There was so much cheese, it actually shot up my arm, across the table, on to the seat next to my buddy and down on the the floor. I laughed my ass off and continued.
The cheese here was different than the rest of the places. It was more like velveeta or something, but that was definitely a good thing. It was just fucking amazing. The burger was also a perfect medium and the meat had good flavor.
I should have ordered another one, because this was one of the best burgers I have ever had in my life.
Overall, I give this burger a 10/10. Nothing wrong with it at all. Perfectly grilled bun, tons of cheese, grilled onions, pickles. and a great meat. Just epic. The fries were "fresh cut" and excellent as well. Crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.
Sunday afternoon:
The 5-8 Club
This was our final stop on the Jucy Lucy tour. We went here for lunch before heading home on Sunday. They opened at 11a.m. and we got there shortly after. No wait, as we were some of the first people there. This place is an actual restaurant they claim to be the originator of the Jucy Lucy. So this is where it all began....over 80 years ago.
Again, a more diverse menu here. They had a few different burger choices here as well, but not nearly as many as The Nook. I of course opted for the Jucy Lucy. Since I enjoyed the grilled onions so much on my burger the night before, I ordered them again on this burger. The onions here were more stringy and a little "over done" and mushy. Still added a nice bit of extra to the burger though. Again, added the pickles that came on the side.
This burger had a nice amount of cheese in it. I liked the consistency of the cheese in this one the best, but he flavor was a little more "bland." Don't get me wrong, it was still great, but not as "cheesy" as the others.
Where this burger shined was in the quality of the meat itself. Fucking excellent. They must have really well seasoned grills too, as this had an awesome "crispy" coating on the outside. The meat so really tender and moist (and not just form the cheese inside).
Overall, I rank this burger a 9/10. The cheese was a little lacking in this one, so that what was holding it back. Also, this place had the worst fries of the 3 places (which is hard to do, as they all had really, really good fries).
After eating at these 3 places and trying all 3 places Jucy Lucy's, my final personal award for best Jucy Lucy goes to The Nook. If there was ever a perfect burger in the world, this is it. God bless this fine city. God bless cheeseburgers. God Bless the Jucy Lucy!!!
