On Tuesday I headed down to Baltimore for LISA ‘09. The first night I was there I caught up with a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen in person for over 3 years as well as a few others that I now consider friends. We ended up at a little Italian place, the prices were a little steep but the food was good. This article isn’t about the Italian place I will write about that one soon though. Because the price was so high the first night in town made Wednesday nights meal had to be under $50.00 and wow did we find the best hole in the wall burger place. I have found that these little whole in the walls always seem the right choice..so as they say you can never tell a book by it’s cover.
We found Elevation Burger at Harbor East, 1006 Aliceanna Street, Baltimore, MD. They are a chain but there food was out of this world. What caught my attention right off was that they clamed that the fries were cooked in 100% Olive Oil. I had just had a discussion that afternoon with Jesse Trucks about how he couldn’t eat at the other burger place because they cook there fries in Peanut Oil, so I knew I was coming back again before I left with Jesse. They also claim that there ingredients are fresh, sustainable, and local when practical, Nothing on there menu contains trans-fat, and that each restaurant grinds its beef on premises to ensure freshness and quality.
The menu was small but it was hit. They featured 3 meat burgers and 3 veggie burgers and one called the “Half The Guilt Burger” 1 beef patty and 1 veggie patty. They also had a salad and a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu. The burger that caught my attention was “The Elevation Burger”, double meet, and double cheese (real cheddar). all there meet is 100% USDA-CERTIFIED organic, grass-fed, free-range beef. You get to pick the toppings you want so I picked lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and raw onions. I also got a side of fries with my burger.
My name was called and I was handed a 9×3 cake pan with my fries in what I call the little fries boat and the burger wrapped in wax paper and in a little wax bag. I took the burger out of it’s little bag and took that first bite and knew we had made the right decision for dinner. The meat was juicy and flavorful and the toppings were crisp and fresh and added to the flavor of the burger.
The fries were typical shoe string fries and they were crispy and light and flavorful. I had never had fries that were cooked in olive oil and I have had tons of fries in my life. When cooking fries in olive oil it gives the fries a golden brown color, and the taste is unbelievable, I will be changing the way I make fries from now on…they were out of this world.
So Elevation Burger was the right choice for a low cost, taste satisfying, good time meal for a group of conference goers on a budget. For the burger, fries and a Stewarts Root beer + tax the total cost came out to $12.00 for lunch.
Now if they would just open a location here in Lawrence Township.