It finally happened: I found a “non fast food” burger that’s as bad as a fast food burger.
Z-Burger was one of the places I’ve avoided, simply because there can only be so many calories in a day, and because everyone I know who has tried it said it was awful. Well, they were right.
Z-Burger’s menu cleverly says the food is “made fresh daily,” and that their “potatoes are fresh cut … always fresh, never frozen.” But they never come out and say what they do with their ground beef.
A plain old single Hamburger ($3.39) was ordered with nothing on it since I wanted to see no masquera. I paid, walked back and watched the grill cook pull a paper-topped burger out of a drawer, and throw it down onto the grill. The sound it made was not a “plop,” but more of a “clang.”
The burger was small and thin to begin with, but once it had fried for awhile, the cook proceeded to take his spatula and mash it down as flat as he could, so that 1) it would cook faster and 2) any remaining juices would flow out of the patty. I was not asked about doneness, but there was no doubting that this was going to come out very quickly, and also be cooked to well-done.
He slapped it on a bun, put it into a bag, and handed it to me. Sure enough, it was as anticipated: a fast-food quality burger despite being cooked to order. Substantially worse then Five Guys or Elevation Burger; worse even than Burger King – it was a piece of tough, thin leather on a bun. For $3.39? Really?