We try so hard to try and do something new all the time. Not every day, because every day is brushing your teeth and driving to work, etc. But we plan, in advance, something special that we will do different this time. Usually afterwards we feel like idiots and say, “I can’t believe I did that, I’m never drinking again.” But we do.
That’s kind of how I thought I would feel after going to the White Dog Black Cat Café. But I was wrong. What the hell is this place? It looks like some cardboard and plywood fly by night coffee shop that will be closed in a week. Step inside and you’re still left a little wondering. There is a full bar with stools and everything. Then, it really does turn into a coffee shop with couches and everything. Turn the corner and you’re in a nice restaurant. I’m not sure what they are going for, but it was a nice place overall.
The dining area was very dark but nice. They had all sorts of paintings on walls with price tags on them. It was kind of one of those places. It’s just amazing though, that places like this exist, places we never heard of and would never dare step foot in. I’m glad I did.
Tom suggested the place. I don’t know why. He must have heard some crazy rumor about good burgers made from dogs and cats maybe. Either way, we are fortunate we went. Their 100% beef patties were nothing short of delicious.
The entire panel made it out! And we were joined by guest celebrities Liz and Mandi. Mandi had the audacity to ask if she ordered the veggie burger if it would count for the burger test (I’m shaking my head right now). Either way, we had seven people scoring the burgers!
I told you the burgers were good. We had mostly eights and nines across the board for flavor. Sarah, Nick and Mandi gave eights. Tom and I gave nines, probably because it was his joint and I was overwhelmed by the experience. Karen and Liz pulled sevens. Maybe Karen had a bad burger, and Liz isn’t one of the professionals so maybe she was just giving tough love. I ordered some crazy thing with a slab of cream cheese on it and it was delicious!
Scores for flavor would have been higher except most people thought their burgers were over done on the outside. It kills me because I think this is something they do on purpose and I wish it didn’t affect the score. I did notice the outside of the burger being a little crisper than usual. I thought it gave it a char-grilled type flavor and assumed that is what they were going for.
There is so much to say about this place. Condiment availability was good across the board. Except for Sarah because she did not get a pickle. And I can’t blame her. That might have pissed me off too. Ditto for ease of consumption. The burger was put together well. It wasn’t sloppy, didn’t slide around and did the damn job it was meant for.
The bun was rated the highest of anything. Eights and nines for everyone. And they were nothing out of the ordinary. They were burger buns, but they were real good. This was a bun place for sure. Right along with a hearty atmosphere score too.
I’m a little surprised that the overall scores were not spectacular across the board. Four sevens and three eights. I think we did a disservice to this place, it probably should have been Four eights and three nines.
Some people were put off by the waitress. Nick and I gave her a hard time and she told us to hurry with our orders because she had other customers to wait on. I wasn’t offended but I guess most of the group was. She did make a strong come back though and kept our drinks full. Even Janie gave her a four!
The only other note is that they had a litter box in the restroom and Karen used it. They keep the litter fresh and everything. I think it’s a clumping formula.
As I randomly roll off the scores we give, I forget that the readers don’t know the scoring system. I will make a separate post about it some day. But basically, taste, bun and overall are out of 10 points. Everything else is out of five points. This place should put up a battle with Titletown in the end. But I fear that the lower overall scores will hurt its chances.
In the end we found that ‘new’, that ‘different’ thing we were looking for. In the morning we awoke and smiled thinking, “Did that really happen? Because I’m really glad that it did.” If only we had more mornings like that.
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