It’s just too bad that Van Zandt Restaurant and Tavern is on the other side of the city from where we live. With no real direct way to get there (there’s no direct way to get anywhere from Anderson Township except maybe Newtown) it means that when we set off to check it out for the blog we had a pretty healthy drive ahead of us. But we were multi-tasking, checking out a car show for that blog (http://turnerbudds-carblog.blogspot.com/) so we weren’t dreading the drive.
The restaurant which opened in 2009 is located at 1818 W. Galbraith Rd. in North College Hill (and on the web at http://www.vanzandttavern.com/). Don’t think it’s too far off the beaten track because it is just a short drive off of Ronald Regan Highway. And well worth the drive.
The Burgers
Last year Van Zandt’s burger was ranked number five on the Cincinnati Magazine list of top burgers in the city. This year they were voted number one. That had just come out shortly before we made our way there and obviously they were quite proud of this ranking.
The burgers are made with ground sirloin which is ground fresh daily at a butcher just down the street from the restaurant. They are offered up in two sizes, the regular eight ounce option and, for the hungry or adventurous, a full 16 ounce one pound monster. Once you chose your size, then you add toppings a la carte. With each option ranging in cost from fifty cents to a dollar, this can easily escalate the cost of your sandwich. The buns come are near perfect and should be since they are baked daily on site.
Josh chose The Pounder, the 16 ounce option and added American cheese, lettuce and tomato. Mark showed just what a wimp he really is by ordering the eight ounce VZ Classic Burger. He topped his off with Provolone, lettuce and tomato.
Cooked to order, the burgers came out quickly and were juicy and delicious. While we both agreed that this was a burger worth checking out and will add it near the top of our burger list, it probably isn’t the best. But it’s really damn close. This burger is so close that we both agreed that we would have to make another trip back when a couple of our all-time favorites are fresher on our palette.
About the only disappointment was the fact that the French fries didn’t live up to the quality of the burger. They were good, perfectly cooked but seem to be fairly typical food service quality fries. Most people don’t choose a restaurant for the quality of the fries rather than the quality of the burger, so don’t let that impede you from heading over the North College Hill to enjoy one of the tastiest burgers in the Tri-State area.
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