Paxton Grill

                Paxton’s Grill is named for the first settler in what is now Loveland, OH, Colonel Thomas Paxton. Paxton had served as a Lieutenant Colonel during the Revolutionary War and was even at Valley Forge with George Washington in the winter of 1777. He settled in what is now Loveland in 1795 and died there in 1813. In January 2000 a group of Lovelanders decided to purchase one of the oldest buildings in Loveland and open a family friendly restaurant. Located at 126 W. Loveland Ave. and on the web at www.paxtonsgrill.com, this cozy restaurant is located right on the Loveland Bike Trail in the old part of the city.

Josh

                Another time where school and studies have gotten in the way of Josh being able to keep up.

Mark

                Having gone to high school in Loveland I always enjoy going back and visiting. Taking two of my kids and my nephew to visit the Loveland Castle just gave us an excuse to stop in and enjoy lunch at Paxton’s Grill.

                While the menu is filled with delicious, affordable fare, Josh and I were there to add their burger to the burger blog. Using a third pound of fresh ground beef, a slice of American cheese along with fresh crispy lettuce and a savory slice of tomato, all resting on a soft bun, their classic cheeseburger is well worth the trip to Loveland.

                When it arrived the burger looked to be dwarfed by the overly large bun. I had a “where’s the beef” flashback. But that says more to the huge size of the bun than the size and quality of the burger. The burger tasted fresh and was very juicy; drip on the plate juicy. The garden was fresh and crisp and the tomato tasted like one I would picked from my garden sometime in August.

                Normally the burgers and sandwiches come with chips but I “upgraded” to the waffle fries. There’s something about waffle fries that just makes them taste better. While it was obvious that these had been frozen earlier in their life, they still tasted mighty good. And the portions, along with the plump burger, were such that I couldn’t finish them all.

                My nephew had a BBQ burger and three times said it was delicious. He also had to use his napkin which, for an 11-year-old boy, is pretty much unheard of. That in itself is a testament to the quality of the food at the Paxton Grill. It’s well worth the trip to Loveland to enjoy their food.

The Friendly Stop

                The Friendly Stop has been a favorite gathering spot in Glendale for years. Located at 685 Congress Rd., at the corner of Springfield Pike, the Friendly Stop is the epitome of a local pub. With the walls covered in old, unique and foreign license plates and the room filled with locals and regulars, this is the kind of place people enjoy stopping in and having a bite of some darn good pub grub.

Josh

                Well, with the end of school looming and then the SATs and ACTs on back to back Saturdays in a couple of weeks, Josh really hasn’t had time to keep up with his burger postings. That’s the shot of the burger he had. Maybe at some point he’ll be able to come back and post here; that is if he remembers enough about the restaurant.

Mark

                I started eating lunch at the Friendly Stop back when I was teaching classes at Southern Ohio College. It was nearby and funky and offered a filling meal at a great price. Little has changed with the restaurant though I haven’t been inside for lunch in about a decade.

                From their basic menu I chose Adam’s Double C.D. Deluxe which has two of their 1/3 pound freshly made all beef burger patties stacked high on a soft bun. I added American cheese and ran it through the part of the garden that included pickles, lettuce, tomato and mayo. I added my own mustard.

                Just as I remembered the burger came out dripping juices from the flat top grill and so tall I couldn’t wrap my whole mouth around it. For my first bite I settled for a nice, solitary hunk of meat. There was something about that first bite that disappointed me. My taste buds didn’t ring up the same rich beef flavor I remember having at the Friendly Stop years ago. Don’t get me wrong, the burger was good just not worthy of being touted as one of the best burgers in the city. It tasted fresh, it was properly cooked but it just didn’t have that full meaty, beefy flavor I was expecting.

                With the second bite I managed to squeeze the burger down enough to get the whole experience. This time with bun, lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickle and mustard adding an assist to the fresh cheese, the burger seemed to come alive. The juices were dripping just a bit with the bun soaking up most of them and the juice was where the flavor was. That’s what was missing in that first bite.

                I’m a firm believer that any meal that is properly thought out and prepared should be enjoyed as a whole and not judged on one bite or one piece. This more than held true for my burger at the Friendly Stop. That solitary bite of meat seemed lacking while that second (and third and each subsequent) bite combined all of the intended flavors into a delectable burger.

                The juices that contributed so much to the flavor of this burger dripped a little bit on the first couple of bites but were mostly soaked up by the bun. The bun became so saturated with them that by the time I got to the last few bites the bottom piece was little more than a thumb sized piece of bread that kept me from holding onto the meat patty. That’s how I like them.

                Knowing how huge my burger was going to be I settled for the plate of chips. They were fresh but pretty standard. I did nosh on a couple of Josh’s fries and they were thick crinkle cuts that were perfectly done; crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

                While this isn’t my favorite burger in town, you owe yourself a favor to stop in if you are anywhere near Glendale around lunch or dinner or if you’re just in the mood.

The Inside Out Burger

                We had picked up some fresh ground sirloin and actually had a break in the rain so I knew exactly what I wanted to do on the grill: my version of the Inside Out Burger.

                If you’re not familiar with the concept of an Inside Out Burger it’s actually pretty simple, you put some of the things that you would normally put on the outside of a burger, cheese, bacon, ham, etc… on the inside before you cook it.

                A lot of establishments have been utilizing this concept of fixing up a burger for a long time but perhaps the most famous are the two bars in Minneapolis Minnesota who each have their signature numbers. The Juicy Lucy or Jucy Lucy depending on which bar you’re in – the 5-8 Club or Matt’s – is made by putting the cheese inside the raw meat before cooking so that when the burger is done, you have blazing hot cheese on the outside.

                When I make my Inside Out Burgers I will put all sorts of different things inside. But on this day I opted for ham and cheese.

                In making my Inside Out I make two smaller, separate patties rather than one larger one. So for example if I were going to be making half-pound burgers I would form out two quarter pound patties. On top of one of the patties I put my slice of fresh Boarshead ham (the best lunch meats in the business in my opinion) and pieces of American cheese. Then I place the other patty on top and seal the edges. It makes the burger look a little odd with a bump in the middle but yes it is tasty.

                One thing to keep in mind when you’re fixing an Inside Out Burger on the grill (the only way to cook them and it should be over charcoal or wood because, as I’ve said before, your food should give you gas, not be cooked with it) is that you are going to have to have a little extra cooking time because of what is in the middle.

                I cooked our burgers over a combination of charcoal and hickory wood chunks.

                You can put just about anything that you would normally put on the outside of a burger on the inside of your Inside Out Burger. I don’t really recommend putting the garden inside because those are things that you normally don’t cook. But any topping that requires a little heat to make good will work perfectly. Also, I don’t really recommend putting in raw meat that normally takes longer to cook than your burger. So I don’t recommend raw bacon. Cook it up a little first.

                Experiment and find the combinations you like best. It’s a great way to fix up and burger with a great tasty surprise in the middle. Enjoy.

Bard's Burgers

                Back in 2007 Bard’s Burgers moved into what had been the Latonia Restaurant, a small little hole in the wall at 3620 Decoursey Ave., also known as State Route 16. Taking an almost a’ la carte style in their burger menu, Bard’s lets you order, and pay for, just what you want.  With a whimsical attitude and a taste for the large, Bard’s has gained a reputation as being a good place to get great food for little money. Currently they don’t have a presence on the web other than the many review sites where people have shared their opinions.

Josh

            Bards is a small town dive located in the middle of a small town in Northern Kentucky. It has a very unassuming sign right out front and a small store front that is easy to walk by without even noticing it. The service was provided by one guy working the small restaurant. The menu was as simple as it can get and the food was extremely well done. 

           The atmosphere of the joint was as simple as its menu, only one room with an open kitchen that lets the customer watch as their food is prepared. Once the food arrived, one thing really struck me, the burgers were huge, about a third of a pound of beef, with a great crisp garden, and perfectly seasoned too. The fries were just what you would expect, a good side dish for a great burger. Added with a friendly atmosphere, low prices, and a great meal with lots of food, combine that with their insane challenges, the Bardzilla and Porkzilla, and you’ve got a great restaurant worthy of being recommended.

Mark

Anyplace with a slogan that states, “You can’t beat our meat” had better be cooking with tongue firmly in cheek, that is unless the cheek is filled up with a bite of a thick, juicy burger. Feeling a bit hungry I ordered up a double then added cheese for forty-five cents and the deluxe toppings of lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle for a quarter. I opted out of the onion though.  Other options include bacon for $1.50, special sauce for twenty cents or the super toppings which has all of the deluxe goodies but also adds banana peppers, jalapeno and relish for a quarter.

This a la carte type ordering of extras may rub some people the wrong way, thinking that they’re having to pay for items that normally come “standard” on a burger. That’s one way of looking at it. But a regular, which is a thick juicy one third pound patty, costs a whopping $3.50. My double, before the extras, was all of $4.50 and I added seventy cents bringing the cost up to $5.20.

It was noon when we came in and though the place is cozy with a couple of tables in the middle and booths along two walls, we got quick service. Our server immediately brought out our drinks and a pile of napkins for which we were ultimately very grateful.

Above the volume on the lone television could be heard a delightful sizzle coming from the kitchen. If we were sitting on the other side or the place or at one of the tables we probably could have seen through the window leading back and watched out large, plump 100% beef patties being cooked on the grill. The sound and the smell was enough to build the anticipation.

The food arrived quickly and the two half pound patties were stacked on a soft bun and dripping with flavor. It was so large that I could barely fit it in my mouth. When I managed to squeeze it down enough to bite I was delighted at how the flavors struck. With a nice ripe tomato on top along with the ketchup, mustard and mayo, I could discern each individual element. Then the two massive patties and cheese with crisp lettuce and fresh dill pickle on the bottom. All of the flavors quickly melded into just what a burger is supposed to taste like.

The bun was pretty basic and really didn’t add anything to each bite. It didn’t detract, either. Basically its role was to hold everything in place which it was barely able to do. All of the juices soaking in along with the other condiments had the bun shrinking to the point where I was afraid to lay the burger down. Not that I have a problem with that. That’s why I have two hands. By the end there was only a tiny thumb sized piece of bun left on the bottom but that was enough for me to finish off this gem.

Along with the burger I ordered up a side of fries. They are fresh cut in the back and deep fried perfectly. For a large cut potato with skin they were not heavy at all. The outside wasn’t overly crisp but not at all soft while the insides were light and airy. This is a very good way to make a French fry.

If you’re adventurous you might want to try to tackle the Bardzilla. The challenge is a monster burger made up of 10 regular half-pound patties and topped with cheese. In addition you get two pounds of fries. If you can clean your plate within an hour you get a t-shirt. My suggestion is, if you do this and win, order the shirt a size too big. You’ll need it after this meal.