Quest for the Best Burger in Minnesota: Adrian's Bar & Grill

This quest is starting to pick up steam. We are already in week four of the journey. A few important topics were discussed tonight at Adrian's Bar & Grill in South Minneapolis. It has become clear that it is not fair to compare a hamburger/cheeseburger up against a Juicy Lucy. Juicy Lucys are just way to good. There for we have split our quest into three different categories. First is the aforementioned hamburger/cheeseburger category, second is the Juicy Lucy category and third is a specialty category for burgers that are a little different like the "Goober Burger" at My Sister's place in Grand Marais. The Goober Burger consists of a hamburger with mayonnaise and peanut butter on top. Also evident is that we don't have a rating system fully in place yet for the burgers which is nearly complete and will be posted soon. Anyways like I said this week we went to Adrian's for another Juicy Lucy. Our third in a row. I was joined by Eric Prose, Nate & Brooke Pischke, Brian & Kelly Wallenfelt, Chelsea Jordan and Katherine Dunbar. And once again this week Chelsea took the

photo of the group. Sorry honey! We arrived at about 6pm and for the first time in four weeks we found ourselves with no wait. I was not sure if this was a good sign or a bad omen. Adrian's is a dive bar with a sort of out of date feel to it. Its a very narrow restaurant with a nice bar on the left when you walk in that looks like it is the original. They had several beers on tap including Delirium Tremens which is a Belgian pale ale. Brian also brought to my attention that Delirium Tremens is a medical condition for people suffering from severe alcohol withdrawal. Symptoms include shaking and trembling in case you are looking to self diagnose yourself. This is the beer I decided to go with. It was very good. It must be a pretty rare beer or extremely overpriced. When we got the bill everybody else's beer tab was around $3.50 and mine was $7 for a pint.

We ordered a few sides to share such as onion rings, fries, cheese curds and buffalo chicken tenders. All were good but nothing to write home about. Like I said before I once again choose a Juicy Lucy ($7.25). Adrian's version of the Juicy Lucy had a small twist. It not only had American cheese stuffed in between two giant patties of beef, but it also had cheese on top of the patties. Several of us got the Juicy Lucy. I think Kelly got a Cheeseburger ($5.00) and a few others got the Lurtsie bu

rger ($6.00) which has bacon and cheese on it. I am not sure if they liked theirs or not but mine was pretty spectacular. Each burger came with chips and pickles. Pictured above is Adrian's Juicy Lucy.

It took around 20 minutes for the burgers to be delivered to our table which is pretty good considering there was 8 of us. The bun was your every day run of the mill bun that you would get at your local grocery store. Not from the bakery but from the bread isle. The burger itself was huge. The patty was about 1 1/2 inches tall. Biting into it was exactly what I expected from a Juicy. Warm melted American cheese gushed out of the burger. I was pleasantly surprised and glad to know there is a place that you can walk right in with little to no wait and grab a great burger. They also have take out burgers which would be awesome if you lived in the neighborhood. One of my knocks against Adrian's is their choice in ketchup. Maybe I am biased and really like Heinz but they served Red Gold ketchup which I had never heard of. Heinz mustard but no Heinz Ketchup?

Whats the deal with that? After the burgers the 8 of stayed around for a while and watched the Olympics. It was nice to not feel rushed for once after finishing our food. There was nobody waiting for a table so we did not feel any urgency to leave.

I really liked the burgers at Adrian's Bar & Grill and would definitely recommend them. So far I am giving them a 2nd place nod behind The Nook and in front of The Blue Door Pub. The atmosphere itself was a little dull. Nothing to special about the place itself. They do have several arcade games in the back for kids it makes for a nice family place and a great place to quickly grab a great burger.

Next week the plan is to go to take the Great Earth Brewery Tour at 4pm and then go to a burger joint in the area if we can find one on our list.

ADRIAN'S BAR & GRILL
4812 CHICAGO AVE S
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55417
Phone: 612-824-4011
Email: None Available
Website: http://adrianstavern.com/

Juicy Lucy Rating: 1-5

Atmosphere (2)