Ox Burger Seattle

Apr 15

Apr 15 Ox Burger.....A Big Burger Gets Its Own Place

A.W.

Burgers are a menu mainstay as pretty much every restaurant you go to. From high end fancy spots to your funky neighborhood diner, you are gonna find one because they are always popular and a fall back choice for the one person in your dining out group who can never find anything else on offer they want to eat. (yeah, you know who you are!) I say that knowing full well that I am sometimes that person. Because of my ever changing food mood, I don’t always have an idea of what I feel like eating and if nothing else on the menu is saying “eat me” I know I can usually fall back on the burger as a decent choice that, usually, won’t disappoint.

A number of places put burgers on the menu and actually give them some thought so they meld style wise with the rest of what the place offers. And as can be the case, the burger somehow takes off in popularity and before you know it, the thing is their most popular menu item above and beyond some of the other carefully crafted dishes the chef has created. It becomes so well liked in fact, owners of some establishments decide it needs to be spun off into its own little restaurant and surrounded with other burger options to compliment it. Sounds rare, but over the years I have seen it happen from SF to NC. Now I can add Seattle to that list as local spot Taurus Ox has spun off into the side project Ox Burger.

Being new here I will admit upfront I have not eaten at Taurus Ox yet, but after deep diving into their menu and perusing write ups and reviews, seems one of their most popular dishes is the Lao Burger—”double beef and pork “smash patties”, cured pork belly, provolone, jaew tomato, taro stem, pickled red onion, jaew bong mayo and cilantro on a toasted pub bun.” Something that will set you back $15—without sides! I think we all know how I feel about that. Still, I am in the cheap ass minority and the burger is a thing people like enough to now be the anchor of its only little space on Madison. I will also admit upfront I am not going to review/try their most famous one because, beyond price, I’m not sure I can add much more to the dialogue around something many others already enjoy. I am more interested in how they are fleshing out the menu as it where for those of us not wanting to fully embrace the meat sweats. (BTW—a smash patty is usually formed balls of ground beef that are then pressed or smashed with a burger press into a thin patty as soon as they hit the grill.)

The spot had been open for a couple weeks before I called up Mr. P and said let’s hit the place as I was hoping they had all the kinks worked out by then. On a rainy (ha!ha!) Friday night we sauntered into the small triangle shaped space which was mostly full but we were able to belly up to the counter easily. In addition to the in-house, seemed they were also doing a brisk take away business (because people like new things and burgers!) which was a minor strain at the time as they seemed a little short staff—part of the challenges of restaurants and one I actually just look past having been there, done that, understand it.

Seems covid has really ushered out the days of hand held menus. It’s all QR codes and what not, which I kind of get, but am still not the biggest fan. I miss the tactile feel of perusing said menu without having to squint at the small phone screen. I know, it is a personal thing, but sometimes I like to take in the whole menu at once to see all my options instead of scrolling back and forth and up and down—ugh. Still, after too much thought at a burger joint I made my choice.

The Sour Boy—”single beef and pork smash patty, bacon, fried egg, American cheese, tomato, pickled jalapeno, garlic aioli and ketchup on grilled sourdough.” The patty is a mix of pork and beef which keeps if fatty and juicy—in a good way. They did a great job of grilling to keep it juicy and still have some crisp edges. The bacon pieces were thick and slightly crispy with lovely smoky flavor. You might think that is a lot of pork since there is already some in the burger but that would be you, not me, I’m here for it. The egg was done sort of medium over easy so you get a little yolk richness without it completely sogging up everything. It is all offset by some pickle tang, the spicy bite of the jalapeno and those chunky tomato slices.

The only thing I didn’t quite get was the garlic aioli. I mean, it was there, but more like a light smear which got lost with all the other things going on here. The one I got also seemed to be missing the ketchup which not the biggest deal since I had some there for the fries and this isn’t a dry burger by any standards so you don’t really miss it except as a flavor profile. The sourdough bun thing was okay but with all the liquid going on here it doesn’t necessarily hold its own while eating the whole thing and I can’t say it really added anything to the overall taste of the burger, seems more a thing to call it a Sour Boy—sour bread, sour pickles, sour jalapenos. For the most, despite some missing things, I enjoyed it. At $12 a pop (still no sides!) I’m always iffy considering it isn’t the biggest of burgers. The price was thing only because of something I’ll bring up further down.

As for their fries, they were decent. Cooked to order and appropriately salted enough. Though they will run $4 a bag. The pic shows 3 servings and each bag doesn’t hold that many. We ended up with 3 because Mr. P hit the wrong button on his phone. Sorry, forgot to mention, you have to place your whole order on your phone not with a person. Another no cash joint, something I feel kind of mutes your clientele but that is a discussion for a different forum. So fries, eh, they was all right.

My next time around with the place I decided to go the take out route. Now I could look at the menu on my computer and take it all in at once. It is how I cam across the option they had to build your own burger which seemed a nice idea to tailor something to the food mood I was in. Again, after too much consideration I decided to build my own where you start with the basic Ox burger—single smash patty with American, diced pickle, grilled onions, ketchup and mustard on a toasted sesame seed bun (though for some reason I got a pub bun) for $5.50. I then added bacon $2 and an egg $2 bringing my total to $9.50. Hmm, so outside of the jalapeno, sliced tomato, aioli and bread choice it is the same burger and I’m not really missing those things taste wise.. Do those few things add up to another $2.50? Again, a discussion could be had about it but, whatever, I’ll take a price break wherever I can get it these days.

After a few bites I have to say, it was a damn fine burger at that price and something I would definitely go back for. The pub bun (made with Spent Grain flour, a byproduct of beer brewing BTW) holds up better than the sourdough did and just seems to feel right with the juicy two meat patty they are smashing. But since I got that instead of the sesame seed, I’ll have to see how that plays out next time. Plus, as before, it was all cooked quite well so I kudos for their consistency on different occasions. And seriously, how can you go wrong with bacon, eggs, cheese and meat! That is facetious because you can’t and I am not open to argument on this!

We know I do so love me some fried chicken and especially on a sandwich. Surprisingly, Ox has got a couple offerings for those not in a beef/pork state of mind and since I can’t resist them I had to try one. I decided to go some old school classic with The Clucker—”a fried chicken thigh, shredded iceberg lettuce, dill pickle and mayo on a toasted pub bun.” Looked good with plenty o’ mayo for sure. The chicken was mostly crispy and while the thigh wasn’t dry or anything it was on the smaller side and toward the end I ended up with more bun and lettuce than chicken. I also didn’t seem to taste much of any spice or flavoring in the coating, it was all kind of basic and, even though I probably shouldn’t, but definitely will, when compared to Bok-A-Bok, it kind of pales next to it. I mean, it is fine, if a bit basic, but it doesn’t really stand out in the pantheon of fried chicken sandwiches I have had over the years. It run you $11 (still no sides!!) and if you get the tiny fries that is $15 when for the same price at Bok you get a great sandwich and a boatload of tots. Just saying.

And now for something completely different…beyond the standard burger and fries. Sambal agave mustard sautéed green beans sprinkled with sesame seeds and fried garlic, served with a dollop of tofu-tahini sauce and a side of pickled turmeric cauliflower for $8. It sounded interesting and I don’t know what I was expecting and what I got was a real surprise in the fact I enjoyed this immensely. The sauce is somewhere is sweet hot in all the right ways. The green beans are crunchy and seeds at just a touch of nutty smoky flavor like the tahini sauce. Something about this all just works so right together. I think the sauce alone I could just slather on anything. The pickled cauliflower was also a tasty delight and just the right texture of soft and crunchy without being too sour. Bonus it was a large serving you can easily share and get more than one meal out of. A standout side that went well to offset all the richness of the loaded burger. Plus the green beans are a lot better for you than the fries since you are already going all in on the meat. Trade offs people!

What can I say, for the most part, I liked Ox Burger and will definitely go back. Knowing I can build my own and get those green beans—totally worth it. The other stuff, I’ll leave that to other folks. It is one of the better burgers I have had in town and you can’t go wrong with a juicy mix of beef and pork. It is good enough I don’t even mind the cost. Plus, looks like they are doing happy hour pricing Tuesday through Saturday 3-6pm where you can get a burger and fries for $7 plus a few other things worth trying. This ain’t no Dick’s, which is a good thing. You don’t need to be drunk to enjoy these. I hope they do well, it is nice to have a tasty burger joint just a short walk from ones abode. Next time I might even level up and try the Lao Burger that spawned the whole enterprise. I mean, who am I to ignore a favorite of the masses—if I can just get past the $15 price—ugh, that will be my biggest challenge. That is how us cheap bastards roll.