Rodeo Burgers

After picking up my boyfriend CJ from work yesterday afternoon, we decided to go on a food adventure to a place we've never tried before. I excitedly told him about one of Edmonton's newest restaurants - MEAT - that had their grand opening night the day before. However, after doing my research (that is, checking the restaurant's website, Instagram, and Twitter pages) I found out that they would only be open for dinner for the next couple of weeks! They did tweet that they would eventually open up for lunch, so I'm looking forward to that. 

With option one no longer available to us (since we didn't want to wait around for dinner), we decided to try out Rodeo Burgers (www.rodeoburgers.com). Rodeo Burgers is a fast casual restaurant (in between fast food and fine dining) located at the University of Alberta North Campus. It is just south of the Timms Centre, and is situated between Burrito Libre and Sherlock Holmes Pub. I love that this place is easily accessible. 

CJ and I usually try out new food places during the time of day when people aren't typically out eating. So we weren't surprised that we, along with just a few other people, were the only customers at that time. There was plenty of tables and seats for us to choose from, which I liked. 

We weren't really sure what to order, so we asked one of the staff for their recommendation. She recommended the "Western Burger", so we each got one along with a drink and fries with Rodeo Seasoning. We spent around $25 (including tax) for our meals.

Our Western Burger combo.

I started with the fries first, and they were great. It wasn't greasy at all and the seasoning wasn't overwhelming either. I loved that they weren't cut too large - I prefer my fries to have a thinner cut. 

Afterwards it was time to start on my burger. The Western Burger is one of their Signature Burgers, which contains a single AAA Alberta Angus beef patty. There was also lettuce, guacamole, sautéed mushrooms, green chillies, bacon, caramelized onions, and two sauces: their Rodeo Sauce and Southwest Sauce. I also requested to add a slice of cheddar cheese. 

The Western Burger.

The first bite was a surprise to me. I failed to realize that there were green chillies in the burger! I wasn't a fan of the extra heat the chillies provided, so I just removed them off the burger. I really enjoyed the sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions which I found made the burger well balanced. The overall taste of the burger was nothing too extraordinary though. I think I would have liked this burger more without the green chillies. Oh well, my mistake for not noticing them on the menu to begin with. 

I asked CJ how he found his burger and he described it as "different". He admitted that the green chillies threw him off as well. But then again, he's not too picky about his food so he ate the entire thing, green chillies and all. 

Overall, this place is a good choice if you're looking for a more casual place to eat. It's also an option if you're craving a burger packed with great quality toppings. I don't tend to pick burgers as my first choice to satisfy my hunger though. However, I know how much CJ loves to eat meat, especially when it's in the form of a good old fashioned burger. We'll probably end up taking another trip here in the future, but we would definitely order something else.