A relative new comer to the local burger scene, Sammy’s was opened in 2009 by Samuel Flores after the success of his first restaurant El Pueblo. The restaurant was designed around his love of sports and food. Set at the corner of Creek and Blue Ash Road (and on the web at www.sammysnow.com), it offers wide screen sports playing all around, a full bar with a wide selection of beers and a variety of gourmet burgers all nestled in a small yet comfortable setting.
Josh
High school can be such a pain in the butt sometimes. It can really make you have to re-think your priorities. While Josh is a junior in high school right now it has proven a little difficult to keep up with school work and the blogs. Due to various circumstances he wasn’t able to get around to writing up his review when we had visited Sammy’s. By the time he managed to squeeze it into his schedule he said that he couldn’t honestly remember anything about it and didn’t feel able to write up anything. The lack of the experience being memorable shouldn’t be taken as a bad omen since we’ve had a number of burgers since. But it does say a little something about the place.
Mark
I always enjoy trying out new and interesting burger combinations and Sammy’s offers several that look to be quite tasty. Of course for this blog we agreed to stick with the traditional and so I chose the Classic with cheddar cheese. What I got was 100% certified Angus beef cooked to my order, dripping with cheese, Sammy’s special sauce, lettuce, tomato and pickle stacked high on a honey-kaiser roll.
It arrived on the plate, plump and juicy. Considering that it is still early spring I wasn’t surprised to see that the tomato was not fully ripe red and was a little wimpy. Still, the anticipation of taking that first bite of a new burger is always exciting. This burger looked like it was going to be a huge delight.
For me, though, it wasn’t. Taking that first bite I was overwhelmed by the sauce. Not that I disliked it. No, the sauce was delicious. It added a sweet bit of tang to the burger. But it, and perhaps the cheddar cheese, was a bit too much for the burger. The flavor of the burger was lost behind the sauce. When I bite burger I want to taste burger. Oh I knew it was there, dripping what should have been delicious juices, soaking into the bun, causing it to slide around in my hand to the point where I couldn’t put it down for fear of it falling apart. That is how I like a burger.
I did set the burger down and took just a bite of the meat. Maybe there was still some sauce on it or the tastes were still strong in my mouth but the meat seemed to be rather bland with nothing that jumped out at me and screamed that it should be the center attraction rather than the other stuff. In my opinion, the sauces, the cheese, the lettuce, the tomato, the pickles and anything else that’s on there should complement the mean, not hide it.
Everything else about Sammy’s was wonderful; great service with a friendly, unrushed, neighborhood atmosphere. Our food came quickly and was served hot despite it being near the end of lunch hour. The fries were basic, tasting fresh and not smothered in anything but a little salt and their own flavor.
Gourmet burgers are designed to take the toppings and push the envelope. Because everything at Sammy’s is homemade, I’d like to go back and try some of their gourmet burgers where I don’t expect the meat patty to be the star of the show. But for the Classic, the star just didn’t shine.
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