Four mile Mike and the Lamb Sliders – Only Burger Durham

A friend of mine from the gym, Mike, has a hard and fast rule: he will not travel more than four miles for a meal, regardless of how good it might be.

Now, of course regular visitors to this space know I will travel an hour and a half in each direction for a really good burger; that ninety minutes of travel, even for a sloppy example of cholesterol laden paleo-burger is in no way too over the top. That supporting such retro haunts is one of the things true gourmands should indulge. He, of course, thinks my sojourns are silly (not that he would ever say that to my face) and would never embark on such a lark. And besides, it would violate his four mile rule.

In theory, he makes sense. These Calvinist times have chastened most. Traveling hours for even the best of hamburgers may come off as decadent, no matter how delicious. It makes sense to obtain some of the joys of life closer to home. As my father once opined, "one should take pleasure from one's own backyard, however humble".

The wages of such a temperate existence could very well be a life a rutted routine. Traveling well trodden trails to the same joints over and over again can become maddeningly mundane. Banality and boredom, walking hand in hand, cancel any culinary adventures. Perhaps, I should just stay home and cook spa cuisine, basking in the reflected genius of my own photogenic foodie creations.

Nah. Can't do it. There's too much good food just down the road.

And just down the road in Durham is something that has to be tasted to be believed: the lamb slider with tzatziki sauce and feta cheese at Only Burger. Brian and his staff have been the recipients of much attention before and not just from me. Her Imperial Majesty and I were big fans when he was just a food truck with an avid following. Apparently, the avid following has grown and he's added a brick and mortar location to augment his mobile empire.

Non-four mile Mike the Expediter, making sure everything
comes out right.

We popped in one recent Saturday and found the joint packed with a line out the door. We sidled up the counter (sort of like a bar) and watched his crack staff work their magic. Fries were done the right way, cooked twice in true Belgium tradition. The onion rings are enormous. And the lamb sliders?  They are, in a word, awesome. 

What always worked in a gyro, works even better in burger form. The balance of the tzatziki sauce with pungent feta against the lamb is incredible. They were also serving a Reuben burger with corned beef, slaw, pickle and Russian dressing which was good. The addition of the pickle, which is not traditionally on a Reuben sandwich, was a nice touch and added a bit of acid to balance the flavor.

But the lamb, oh the lamb. So good, so perfect, we're going back again this week. It's that good.

It is 21.86 miles from our gym to Only Burger in Durham. And while I know Mike won't venture out beyond his self-imposed four mile limit, I hope he does. Because it's that good.

Only Burger

Hope Valley Square 3710 Shannon Road,

Suite 118

Durham, NC

TEL 919-937-9377


Cuisine: Beautiful burgers

Rating: *****

Prices: $

Atmosphere: Crowded with local foodies who know

Noise level: Quick service crowded

Open: MON. - SAT. 11:00AM-9PM; SUN. 11AM-8PM

Reservations: Are you crazy?

Other: Cash, Visa and MC only – no AmEx.

We rank restaurants in five categories: Extraordinary***** Excellent**** Above average*** Average** Fair*


 

Road Food – Only Burger

Soft unobtrusive music from the overhead speakers. Candles on every table. Waitrons cruising about, dressed in black and white, moving gracefully in their choreographed randomness. The perfectly coiffed hostess showing you and your guest to a table, six inches away from two other tables in the center of the dining room. All the other patrons dressed to eleven. The chinking of glasses and tinkling of silverware right out of a Barry Levinson movie. Polite, politically correct banter floats through the dining room like audio oatmeal. You are seated in the very center of the trendiest restaurant in your 'burb and it took weeks to get a reservation.

In these situations, I usually last about five minutes before informing my server that I simply must adjourn to the bar. I can't take it. It's too much.

In fact, that's why I usually eat at the bar. Fabricated environments bother me to no end. So, eating at the bar equals zero pretension in my book. So when I go to when I go to The Angus Barn in Raleigh, I sit and the bar in The Wild Turkey Lounge with my beloved wife and split a hamburger (medium rare) and a nosh on the warm spinach salad. And it's great. Same is true of Lantern in Chapel Hill. We sit at the bar and order the special, whatever it is. And whatever the special is, it is always brilliant. Heck, I did a $150 lunch at the Gramercy Tavern in New York City for my wife's 40th at the bar.

I detest pretension. I do. When I walk into a restaurant, I can sense the vibe immediately. If a restaurateur wants to sell me on how cool I am for being in his or her joint and how cool it is that I can rub elbows with his or her clientele, I generally head for the door. 

I'm sorry. I don't require self-esteem therapy to be served on the side with my meal. The ambiance thing only goes so far before it negatively impacts the culinary experience.

That's why I'm a sucker for road food. Anybody selling his or her wares out of the side of a truck isn't trying to fool you with soft music and candles on every table. This is the kind of food eaten standing up on the sidewalk or in the front seat of your car. And if the person running the truck has the onions to sell his wares without all the trickery baked into the restaurant business, his food must be pretty damn good. Food without pretension works for me.

And the best in The Triangle for my money is Only Burger. Everything made fresh to order, with toppings that run the gamut from the standard to the over the top. Parked in front of the Durham Farmer's Market one Saturday, Her Imperial Majesty, Her Imperial Majesty Junior and I feasted on burgers for breakfast. Junior had hers with ketchup. Mine was done up Carolina style, with chili, mustard, onions and slaw. My beloved went all out, doing a proper breakfast burger, decked out with a fried green tomato, pimento cheese, and an over easy egg. It sounded ridiculous. It tasted ridiculously good. So good in fact, I went back for my own.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely, if, of course, you can track it down. It is a truck after all and trucks have wheels, so it moves around. The best way to do that is to follow them on twitter. And be prepared for lines ten deep that last for hours. It's that good. 

They have announced that they're opening a brick and mortar location. I just hope it doesn't come with soft music and candles on every table.