Riverside Grill - January 20, 2010

Today's quest took us to downtown Dallas to Riverside Grill off Continental and Riverside. Riverside Grill is a breakfast and lunch restaurant that serves typical diner food like eggs and hashbrowns, hamburgers, hot dogs, patty melts and a blue plate special that was chicken and dumplings today. When you walk in you notice the slushie machines to the left, the kitchen in the back and a counter to order; however, the servers will ask you to-go or eat in and the counter is only for to-go orders. Grab a table and a server will promptly come take your order. There are two seperate dining areas - one inside the restaurant and what appears to be an add-on that has garage doors covering the windows which were open to allow smoking. We sat in the outside area which was pleasant due to the warmer weather around Dallas. There are several combinations of burgers to order including a mushroom burger, a chili burger and singles and doubles but I ordered the Bacon Double Cheeseburger with mayo and onions with a side of tator tots instead of the fries. About five minutes later the following burger was brought to the table:





The bun was toasted on the grill and mayo was spread on the lower bun which was topped by three thick slices on bacon, two thin patties, American cheese and two thin slices of whole white onion. The top sesame seed bun appeared to be have been pressed on the grill during toasting. I took my first bit and the smoky flavor of the bacon, the well seasoned patties and the fresh onion gave me a pleasant surprise. While the patties were too thin to cook anything but well done, they had a great flavor and all of the ingredients came together to provide a great burger experience. The bun was thick enough to hold all of the ingredients but the bread flavor didn't overwhelm the rest of the burger. I would have liked another slice or two of cheese which added to the burger but wasn't in the forefront of flavors like other burgers. The tator tots were cooked extra crispy and gave a nice crunch between bites of the burger.


Overall I thought that Riverside Grill entered a worthy competitor into our quest to find a great burger especially in the thin style patty area. The burgers were well seasoned, bacon was crispy and flavorful and the bun added to the overall package. I would have liked for the onion to be grilled and more cheese or maybe cheddar cheese but definately check out the burger that Riverside Grill serves.


Ratings (1-25):


Bun - 21, well toasted sesame seed bun


Meat - 20, well seasoned, thin-style patty, great bacon


Appearance - 19, fresh ingredients, well put together burger


Taste - 20, great taste, crispy bun, crispy smoky bacon


Overall - 80