| Casino | Jan | 12 | VS | Jackalope | Jan | 19 | ||
| Andre | Brian | Zach | Andre | Brian | Zach | |||
| Bread | 8 | 8 | 6 | Bread | 7.5 | 8 | 7 | |
| Meat | 8.5 | 9 | 6.5 | Meat | 7.5 | 6 | 8 | |
| Toppings | 7.5 | 7.5 | 6 | Toppings | 7.5 | 6 | 8 | |
| Construction | 8 | 8 | 6.5 | Construction | 7 | 6.5 | 7.5 | |
| Overall | 8.5 | 8 | 6 | Overall | 7.5 | 6.5 | 8 | |
| Total Burger | 61.25 | 60.63 | 46.25 | Total Burger | 55.63 | 49.38 | 58.13 | |
| Sides | 7 | 7.5 | 6 | Sides | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | |
| Atmosphere | 7.5 | 7 | 7 | Atmosphere | 8.5 | 8.5 | 6.5 | |
| Value | 8.5 | 9 | 7 | Value | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | |
| Non Burger | 18.75 | 19 | 16.5 | Non Burger | 19.5 | 18.75 | 16 | |
| Totals | 80.00 | 79.63 | 62.75 | Totals | 75.13 | 68.13 | 74.13 | |
| Combined | 74 | Combined | 72 | |||||
Casino El Camino
Brian:
Brian:
We entered Casino el Camino and it was a narrow dimly lit bar with a few seats downstairs and more upstairs along with pool tables. The bartender was friendly as he took my drink order. You order at the cook counter window so I ended up getting the Amarillo Burger on a last minute whim. The Amarillo Burger has jack cheese, serranos and cilantro mayonnaise. I didn't tell them to cook it a specific way so I assume I got the default Casino burger temp method. The burger was ready in about 15 minutes, long enough to enjoy a tasty Ranger IPA from the bottle. A nice waitress in a The Walking Dead shirt came around to check on our drink situation. Picked up the burger from the same window where I ordered it. They cut it in two for you which I like. It was a big burger on a glistening looking bun. It came with one piece of cheese and all the toppings I listed above and no more. No lettuce and tomato on this one. First couple of bites are yummy with bread and meat and the mayo which is good. Then I got a pepper. Damn that was HOT! Wooo! Now it's on. The flavor of the meat won out though. Mine was cooked medium rare closer to medium but still juicy enough. The bread was soft and good and the meat was outstanding, good on the last bite and it took me a while to eat the whole thing because it is larger than your average burger that is a single, close to three-quarters of a pound I think. I wish it had more cheese. The size definitely played into the value.rating, good bang for the buck. The fries were crisply and salty and made for good eating, but were overfried slightly and not super-potatoe-y inside. The atmosphere was chill and the staff friendly enough. I don't like the uncomfortable stool seating. I would definitely put this in my burger rotation and go back, it was a good burger.
Zach:
I had pretty high hopes for Casino, it has traditionally been one of my favorite burgers in Austin. We hadn't gone here though recently just because it usually takes so long and it is on 6th Street. There had been some rumors though that they were faster now and there was less attitude, but also that the burgers were not as good as they used to be. I had the bacon cheeseburger. For whatever reason, the bun on my burger was practically burnt. Well, it was burnt, I mean it was black on top. It wasn't so black I couldn't eat it, but it was pretty odd they would send it out like this when I was with two people and I would know that wasn't right. Sloppy. It didn't really taste burnt, but overall I did not enjoy the burger that much. Basically could not taste any sides (especially lacking cheese flavor). One side of the bun seemed super thick and then at the other end it was super thin. The meat is good but I think this goes to show that a good burger is a good balance of components that come together in the right way and they really blew it out my burger. Fries were a little weird, overcooked but still decent. Nothing special for sure. Atmosphere is about what is always has been, they do seem slightly friendlier now. The juke box also seems to play about half and half old country with punk. Seems like it used to be about 90% punk or metal, 10% other stuff. Don't really care either way, but just noticed things have changed in the few years since I was there. Overall, I didn't score this burger very highly as you can see but I know Casino still makes a good burger based on the rest of the team's scores.
Jackalope
Brian:
The Jackalope is another place to get a burger in Austin on 6th Street that is in a popular bar. The Jackalope is slightly less divy in appearance than Casino, but not by much. We entered and found a seat in a dark corner, but it turns out that dark corner was a stage and Blues Hammer was playing that night, so we had to move into the more populous seating area across from the main bar. I didn't pay too much attention to the music that was playing but they were showing some ill movies on the TV above the bar, including "Brotherhood of the Wolf", which now I want to see again. Our waitress showed up and she was friendly and very cute. I knew this week I wanted a burger with blue cheese and wing sauce and that's what I ordered. The only selection for sides is waffle fries, so I got some of those as well. We enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere as we waited for our burgers. The burgers showed up in a basket with the tomatos, pickles and alla that on the side and a whole mess of waffle fries. They give you an unwieldy slice of lettuce but I wrangled it onto the burger all by myself. I assembled my burger and dove in.The bread was soft and had a good texture I noticed. I also noticed that the meat was not very flavorful. The whole package of the burger was underwhelming to me the more I ate. The blue cheese and sauce were not giving me the zing I hoped for: I could barely taste them. It was a nice big burger, and it wasn't bad but it lacked that next step of flavor I hoped for, and was paling in comparison to my Casino burger from last week. The waffle fries were crispy....perhaps too much so because they also lacked the potato flavor, but they had a good texture and weren't bad. All in all I think Jackalope has a ways to go to unseat Casino. I'd return here for a beer and a burger though because it is a cool place to hang out and the food was reasonably priced for good portion sizes. Alas the Jackalope does not have what it takes to be a true burger champion right now and they did not advance past the matchup with Casino el Camino.
Zach:
Backing up to mention that we did not plan Casino vs Jackalope it was randomly drawn. This was a great battle since in my opinion, Jackalope basically took Casino's atmosphere and food and replicated it. It was a smart idea since Casino has great burgers but they are typically slow to come out and service could be surly. It's a place you can't often consider going just because these factors. Jackalope makes similar food but they do it with better service and are faster about it. Like Casino they also have a dark atmosphere, typically play punk music, and show weird random movies.
Because Casino messed up my burger to some degree, it was a foregone conclusion my Jackalope burger was going to be better. It was, and I do still hold Jackalope in my personal top five burger spots albeit probably in the 5th spot. The black and bleu burger with buffalo sauce is very tasty. This one was not quite as good as some I had had in the past. Also the fries which are usually great were not as good. Like they were not fresh out of the fryer (or oven as the case may be). While I usually like the atmosphere here this time it was freezing cold and the service was not quite as good as the last time out.
Jackalope
Brian:
The Jackalope is another place to get a burger in Austin on 6th Street that is in a popular bar. The Jackalope is slightly less divy in appearance than Casino, but not by much. We entered and found a seat in a dark corner, but it turns out that dark corner was a stage and Blues Hammer was playing that night, so we had to move into the more populous seating area across from the main bar. I didn't pay too much attention to the music that was playing but they were showing some ill movies on the TV above the bar, including "Brotherhood of the Wolf", which now I want to see again. Our waitress showed up and she was friendly and very cute. I knew this week I wanted a burger with blue cheese and wing sauce and that's what I ordered. The only selection for sides is waffle fries, so I got some of those as well. We enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere as we waited for our burgers. The burgers showed up in a basket with the tomatos, pickles and alla that on the side and a whole mess of waffle fries. They give you an unwieldy slice of lettuce but I wrangled it onto the burger all by myself. I assembled my burger and dove in.The bread was soft and had a good texture I noticed. I also noticed that the meat was not very flavorful. The whole package of the burger was underwhelming to me the more I ate. The blue cheese and sauce were not giving me the zing I hoped for: I could barely taste them. It was a nice big burger, and it wasn't bad but it lacked that next step of flavor I hoped for, and was paling in comparison to my Casino burger from last week. The waffle fries were crispy....perhaps too much so because they also lacked the potato flavor, but they had a good texture and weren't bad. All in all I think Jackalope has a ways to go to unseat Casino. I'd return here for a beer and a burger though because it is a cool place to hang out and the food was reasonably priced for good portion sizes. Alas the Jackalope does not have what it takes to be a true burger champion right now and they did not advance past the matchup with Casino el Camino.
Zach:
Backing up to mention that we did not plan Casino vs Jackalope it was randomly drawn. This was a great battle since in my opinion, Jackalope basically took Casino's atmosphere and food and replicated it. It was a smart idea since Casino has great burgers but they are typically slow to come out and service could be surly. It's a place you can't often consider going just because these factors. Jackalope makes similar food but they do it with better service and are faster about it. Like Casino they also have a dark atmosphere, typically play punk music, and show weird random movies.
Because Casino messed up my burger to some degree, it was a foregone conclusion my Jackalope burger was going to be better. It was, and I do still hold Jackalope in my personal top five burger spots albeit probably in the 5th spot. The black and bleu burger with buffalo sauce is very tasty. This one was not quite as good as some I had had in the past. Also the fries which are usually great were not as good. Like they were not fresh out of the fryer (or oven as the case may be). While I usually like the atmosphere here this time it was freezing cold and the service was not quite as good as the last time out.
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