Mini-Me

The Rouge Burger is as much an iconic entity among burger geeks in this city as soft pretzels and water ice. From the couple who own and operate Rouge, now comes a shoe-box size store front that sells a smaller burgers, fries, and shakes fast food style, except you can specify the temperature and the toppings for the burger. It has been hyped that the new burger place, 500 Degrees, would use the same mix of meat for the burger and the buns would be sourced from the same baker, Wild Flour Bakery.

A huge menu board above the counter greeted us when we walked thorough the front door. We both ordered the Classic (sans buns for the Tourist Tree), a black and white shake, and one order of spicy fries from the casher. The place wasn’t busy, so our number was called in a few minutes for pick up at the counter.

 
 
 
 
 
 

We were handed a big paper bag with everything wrapped in butcher’s paper inside. The burger came in at 5.5oz of meat with a generous piece of Bibb lecture, 2 slices of tomato and our choices of topping. Thin slices of pickles and a pink’ish seasoned mayo “special sauce” were packed separately in small clear plastic containers in the bag as well.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The choices for toppings are bacon, mushrooms, jalapenos, and grilled onions. I asked for all plus cheddar cheese. We were impressed that the restaurant did not skimp on the toppings and put a nice amount on the burger. My first bite was very satisfying. The meat was nicely packed, had a good thickness, moist, and quite tasty, despite being overcooked to medium-well instead of the medium-rare that I had requested. I had some trouble tasting the cheddar in the burger. I knew it was in there somewhere; maybe there just was not enough in the burger to balance with the meat. Since Tourist Tree had requested no bun for her burger; hers was wrapped neatly in paper as well, except after a while, the paper was coming apart from the juice and the grease soaking through it. She thought it would be good if the restaurant could provide a plate for non-bun burgers; while I was thinking that she just wasn’t eating fast enough. Speaking of grease, the skinny and almost useless napkins from the dispenser were totally inadequate. At the end of our meal, there were so many napkins on our counter that somebody would have thought that we were doing paper maché.
 

We chose the spicy fries instead of the plain or truffle fries. The fries were very good; crispy, firm, just the right size, and none got soggy throughout our meal, although we would like the spiciness being on the more spicy side.


The black and white shake was made fresh with Bassetts ice cream per order. I thoroughly enjoyed mine with the excellent thick consistency and the perfect mix of vanilla and chocolate. I did had some trouble sucking it through the thinner soda straw which was the only type of straw available and I couldn’t find a spoon for scooping.

At $4.75, the basic burger (just beef) is a relatively inexpensive burger for the quality of the meat and the roll. It’s much better than eating frozen meat from a chain restaurant especially considering this restaurant will be opening late to accommodate the bar crowd from the many bars in the area.


One couldn’t help but to compare the real deal Rouge Burger with the “mini-me” from 500 Degrees. The Classic with cheese and onion comes in at $5.75 while the Rouge Burger is at $16.00. However, the Classic only weights in at 5.5oz of meat vs the 12oz at Rouge; and that’s before the $2.50 that you would have to pay extra for fries at 500. Nevertheless, one of the most qualitative factors not measured in dollar or weight is the quality of preparation in making the two different burgers. At Rouge, it is grilled then baked to the desired temperature while at 500, it is just grilled, fast food style, then wrapped in paper, and eaten fast food style. Both the Tourist Tree’s and my burger were overcooked while I have not had a bad burger at Rouge yet.

Some may argue that the 500 is a far better burger regardless of any of the aforementioned factors just for the mere fact that one do not have to endure the self-sanctimonious Rittenhouse Square crowd and all the wanna-be’s drama. That’s for each to determine what’s more important.