Boon Burger - Tasty Vegetarian

Embracing the new chic trend towards vegetarian and vegan food, Boon Burger shot up in popularity in the Winnipeg food scene as the de facto restaurant for realized vegetarian (and vegan) cuisine. Promising tasty burgers that would not make one miss their carnivorous side, it quickly became a local staple for both those choosing a non-meat lifestyle as well as for hipsters looking for a new trend to partake in. Nevertheless, at the insistence of a fellow colleague, I made the trek to Boon Burger Cafe just to see what the fuss was about.

Boon Burger has two locations, one downtown (their original flagship) and this particular location on Sherbrook Street. For a new trendy restaurant I was rather disappointed at the drab exteriors featuring dark dense green on black with no sign of color in site. Nevertheless, the interiors are better with a brilliant chalkboard detailing the current specials and an open rustic feel to the seating and dining areas. Staff are appropriately helpful but thankfully unobstrusive.

As a burger bar, the menu emphasizes the different burger options available to diners. Boon Burger offers four types of patties: a mushroom based patty with a bevy of herbs (Boon), a chickpea based curry patty (Buddha), tofu and lemon based (White), and a black bean based (Black Bean). With these patties, the chefs made a host of creative burgers some with an extraordinarily complex number of ingredients. Alongside the burgers are a mix of salads, pizzas and sides including their version of poutine made with vegan gravy.

I went with the Boon's Super Platter, as it allows for a bevy of options to try.

It comes with a soup (Lentil Curry) which had a nice combination of smooth lentil texture with the spiciness of curry. It also comes with a side of their "famous" Sesame Potato Fries which ended up being just ordinary french fries topped with sesame seeds. The salad was a scrumptious Kale/Arugula salad that combined tart slightly bitter kale with crunchy arugula and sweet smooth beets. My burger was the Buddha Burger featuring their chickpea based buddha patty and finished with a sweet peach-red pepper chutney and topped with a bevy of vegetables. I was impressed by the meaty-ness of the patty and felt it was an appropriate alternative to the usual beef burger. While it did not have the same protein punch, the subtle flavour of the burger allowed for a better interplay between the delicious chutney and other vegetable toppings.

Overall Boon Burger Cafe delivered on their goal of creating tasty meat alternatives. I was impressed by the bevy of flavours imparted in their burgers and felt the lack of meat actually made the burgers more balanced and allowed for each ingredient to shine. Definitely something worthwhile for those choosing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

Burger Week = Nuburger

Burger week, from what I've been told, is a phenomenon here in Winnipeg. Taking place during the first week of September, most of the local restaurants would offer up a creation for the masses to taste and vote upon. This year I was on a particularly heavy rotation and was concerned I might not be able to make any spots for burger week. Thankfully, one of the residency committees I am a part of needed to hold a meeting. Not wanting to miss any opportunity to eat, we decided to meet (and eat) at Nuburger.

Nuburger is a popular gourmet burger joint in Osborne Village. Part of their appeal is the eclectic menu of various burger choices. Part of the reason we chose them is they are the reigning champions of burger week 2013.

The burgers are all showcased on their fun and chic menu board. Going along with the eclectic theme, after placing our orders we were promptly given a plastic figurine (ours was a My Little Pony) which was used by the staff to determine where the food should go.

One of the more difficult choices in life comes down to picking between potato or sweet potato fries. Thankfully Nuburger gives you the option to have a tasting of both. Along with them are two (of six) tasty sauces. We went with the ultimate chili aioli and the honey dill. Special mention to the honey dill as it was sinfully good.

Their burger week 2014 entry was named the Summer Breeze. A thick patty with tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, and boursin cheese finished with a pesto aioli and a pineapple salsa.

I am sucker for this sandwich. What blew me away is how well the many ingredients worked with one another. The star of the dish, however, was the pineapple and avocado salsa. Creamy, sweet and tart; this is definitely something I will attempt to replicate at home. Delicious!