(YES I KNOW! IT’S BEEN TWO MONTHS! My personal procrastination has settled in during this cold January and up and down February which is why my posting has been non-existent for a bit. Sigh…some things never change. But here you go….)

New year, new you, resolutions, blah, blah, blah. Really, the only thing new is the calendar date. Just a simple look around will show you things are still the same, same, same so what change now I say! And resolutions? Why bother with something one made while either intoxicated or caught up in general rush of holiday endorphin exuberance. Let’s continue to eat what we eat because we all still need food that tastes good and makes up feel good. Why not indulge while we can for some mall moment of sweet or savory escape excess. In this moment for me it means some cheese, some bacon, some fried things and a burger to top it all off. Go big or eat salad right?!

That was rhetorical as the answer is always yes. It is what sent me into a deep online dive looking for burgers in Durham. Hmmm, sounds like the euphemistic title to a romance book? I mean aren’t we all looking for some well cooked meat. In this case I will settle for a burger—bah dum dum! Thank you I’ll be here all week! But with need for beef on my mind, turns out there are a quite a few burger spots in this town, though seems more than a handful also encompass some kind of brew pub. They are quite the mini Portland here. Eschewing those options, I narrowed things down to more local, less chain like spots and ended with Only Burger—-kind of seemed apropos for the food mood I was in.

Located in the Southwest part of Durham on the end of one of those random strip mall type places that seem to dot the landscape here. This one seems a step above the usual as it has what seems to be a well patronized US Post Office in part of it. It is a small spot with some pleasant and covered outdoor seating, something essential these days for restaurants to survive on more than just take-out. Walking in masked to place my order the inside reminds me of one of my SF faves Super Duper Burger which I am going to take as a good sign—that and the bustling clientele coming and going.

It is a compact menu of burgers, sides and drinks offering a small array choices that seem to fit a Southern burger joint. Dining solo I wanted to try and maximize my meal and went with some quintessential selections I felt befit where I was and what I was looking for.

Let’s face it, sides at burger joints are throwaways of variations of fried potatoes or onions as they want to upsell but not really take to much away from the burger stars of the menu. Plus I think we are just conditioned at this point to “do you want fries with that?” and it is just easier and cheaper for everyone. Thus coming across a menu which dares to venture outside the norm is always a nice surprise. Here, they had a couple things I decided to try as they looked both tasty and unhealthy! The double double of quick order food joints.

Here I present you with some bacon wrapped mac and cheese balls. It’s got bacon, it’s got cheese, they are deep fried, I mean seriously people what else do you need to eat these?! Oh yeah, taste. Though with all those things going for it, how can you go wrong? Well, seems with these you cannot. This is not your typical side as they are somewhat difficult to make considering the parts. Not like fries you can just pass through the fry cutters then into the deep fryer. These require assemblage! Time! Effort! Just ask DudeFoods, he’s been doing it for years and knows the deal.

These are just perfect two bites of all the grease and carbs you really crave when you want to go down the junk food hole. I mean bacon mac and cheese, really, how much more can I say about it. If you like any of those three things you are probably going to like these, unless you are into super crispy bacon then that is not what you will get with these as that would be hard to do since it would not be able to hold its shape or the filling so get over it. Just get it, just eat it.

Deep fried pickles, they are a thing here. Supposedly a Southern thing created somewhere in the backwoods of Arkansas back in the mid 60s. Which really makes them a relatively new Southern food thing in the annals of food. Sure, that is sixty years ago but folks here can’t seem to get over the fact they lost “the war” which was like centuries ago so, you know.

Honestly, growing up here I never had a fried pickle once. Never heard about them, never saw one, nothing. And I even went to the state fair, but I think weird fried foods weren’t so trendy in the 70s. I also can’t say it is an idea I’m enthused about either since I am not the biggest pickle fan. Then to take it, cover it in cornmeal and deep fry it? Eh. Yet, they were there and this seemed as a good a time as any to just bite the pickle and try it.

Props to them for using a thick cut piece of pickle so it can hold up to all the grease and breading with being soggy. The pickle and the breading both had a nice crunch when you bite into them. Pair it with a side of ranch for dipping and I can see why these seem to be a perfect bar snack. They are just tangy and salty enough to get you drink more. I see the appeal if you are a pickle fan or fried food fan and these are done quite well. I did prefer them with the ranch as opposed to as is. But, for me, they are not something I would normally be getting. I like pickles on stuff, just not so much by themselves. I’m guessing if this is your kick, these will tickle your tang.

Onion rings, I like them, always have. Thick cut with super crunchy coating is a sure yes. These hit both of those marks. So good on ya’ onion rings!

Sweet potato fries, nothing unusual there…unless…these were crinkle cuts. I know these are around but I had not seen them being served at a burger joint. Or not one I’d been to. I like crinkle cuts, I think it may be a childhood thing but fries are not something one talks about in therapy so who knows. They are nice fries but I really just got them because crinkle cut! And there seemed to be a lot of them even in the small size. Good on ya’ sweet potato crinkle cut fries!

Yes, this place is called Only Burger, but there are variations on that theme like their sliders. This ain’t no greasy White Castle frozen tiny square patty. They have turkey, lamb, beyond meat and brisket options. Coincidentally, these are they options you can get on their full size burgers. Nice of them to offer such options. But it is a burger place and I’m sticking with the beef theme so a beef brisket slider seemed the way to go.

It is a small (palm of your hand) and extremely messy pile of braised beef brisket, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and Siracha mayo on a toasted and buttered! brioche type bun. Menu says it is two ounces of meat but guessing it is a little more and messy. Definitely more than two bites and difficult to keep all those wet items together as you bite into it. A knife and fork would work well as did I mention these are messy? Tasty and messy. I do have this way of picking some messy sandwiches. (See my past posts) It was a handful. Good enough but since I was all in the mood for a burger, I think my mind and taste buds were set for burger time and the slider will need a revisit at another time.

Have I mentioned I’m in the South? That’s a joke, because of course I have. Sarcasm is hard to write. I mention it (again) as it was a way to figure out which of the burgers I was going to get since they have some options. I figured, let’s get what has some of the trappings of Southern cuisine culture. Like my first choice the FGT Burger. That stands for fried green tomato which also comes with pimento cheese, a fried egg and for some laughs I had them add grilled onions, which are some of their free toppings.

Now fried green tomatoes are seemingly a Southern thing but, much like those fried pickles, it was never on my radar growing up here. I don’t even remember my grandmother making or eating it and she true country from chicken feet to pickled okra but never green tomato. And like many a folk, I really didn’t hear about it till Fannie Flagg wrote a book about it. Much like the pickle, it does rely on having a thick cut piece to withstand both the coating and the grease which they have accomplished here. Still, with all else going on here I can’t say it added much or made me a fan. I’m just not down with the fried green tomato. What adds here is what most tomatoes do, a bit of an acidic note to help offset some of the richness of the rest of this burger. Not to mention some fried crunch amidst all the soft.

The pimento cheese, the egg, the onions, the toasted buttered bun—this is one messy burger and by all accounts a pretty darn tasty one too. I will say my addition of onions adds hints of sweetness but really makes it more messy. On its own this thing works, though in hindsight I might have opted for some lettuce and regular pickle to freshen it up a tad as there is much in the way of cheesy greasy going on. Not in a bad way but just something to break up the heaviness, which in essence is really a hallmark of Southern food, deep fried, meaty, cheesy, bready and generally not good for you on a daily caloric intake. For a splurge on a burger though, it definitely is a great way to satisfy some cravings. Which leads me to…..

…..the oh so aptly named Carolina burger. Here we have a burger topped with beef chili (more meat!), cole slaw, red onions, mustard and American cheese. (Normally this comes on their regular brioche type bun but I decided to be different and go with a multi-grain bun—but it is still toasted and buttered—props). While this looks like another messy burger, oddly, when I took my first bite, it held together quite well, must have been all that gooey cheese. And strangely enough this really tasted, to me, like I was eating a hot dog turned into a burger. At first disconcerting but ultimately quite enjoyable as I chomped my way through.

The Carolina is seemingly based on how we do hot dogs here—with mustard, onion, slaw and chili, the cheese is really an addition but making me think it could work. The chili is no bean (the best kind I don’t care what you think) and the cole slaw is the typical Southern style with vinegar, a tad sweet and not overwhelmed with what is probably Duke’s Mayo. The whole concoction initially sounded like an aberration but weirdly, it all worked and I’d rank this as one of my all time fave burgers I have had over the years. If you are looking to get your beefy cheesy fill this is a must.

While I had beef ones when I went, all their burgers are 1/3 pound and you can also be turkey, lamb or a chicken breast so it might be interesting to play around with these options and see how the meats work with the toppings on hand. You can also make these same change outs for their sliders with the addition of the brisket. It is one way to keep people coming back to try new things. More props!

What else can I say, Only Burger has it going on. The prices are decent, the burgers are tasty and the sides interesting enough to get me back when I need a burger fix. And if I wanted a burger but was trying to maintain some type of healthy, keto, Atkins kind of thing I can always get it as a lettuce wrap, just don’t hassle me about why I’m getting bacon wrapped mac and cheese too. Sometimes you want what you want when you want it and this is what I want.