Max's Wine Dive

Week 10
Matchup Flattop Burger Shop VS Max's WIne Dive



Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  Wow, Max's Wine Dive, you just lost a burger battle by 20 freaking points.  Maybe that Texas monthly list went to your head or maybe people at Texas Monthly don't know what a good burger is.  Maybe both.  I have no idea but you got your ass handed to you in a bun.  Does that even work - what I just said?  I don't know.  Obviously, Max's was to some degree a victim of economics.  Most people don't mind paying a premium price for a premium product. But a premium price for a so-so product -no, they don't.  It's almost like your mind is going to adjust how it tastes the food knowing what the burger costs.  In this case, it cost $15.  I was also a little dismayed that I thought I was ordering a $6 beer on draft but it was just a $6 bottle of beer.  To the actual burger.

    We all ordered approximately the same burger with blue cheese and bacon.  They had other fancy varieties of cheese but I had a sudden moment of doubt whether it was "grue-yare" cheese or "grue-yay" cheese so I panicked and said just give me what he had.  We also all asked for medium rare since they asked how we wanted it cooked.  The burgers came out decidedly un-rare, honestly bordering on well done - at least in the realm of gourmet burgers - cooked until gray and chewy is basically well done even if not charred on the outside.  The bread had a good enough taste to it and the toppings seemed fresh enough, but all together it was just not working out.  Mainly because of the overcooked meat.  The blue cheese was actually adding a quite funky taste as well.  This was not typical crumbly blue cheese, but something with the consistency more like brie.  Any bite with this creamy paste was not a good bite.  The construction of this burger was all off also.  At one point I had three bites of just bread, tomato, and bacon, and I noted somewhat bemusedly that it was a pretty tasty sandwich when the hamburger patty and cheese wasn't involved.  The fries were good, bordering on great.  Hot and fresh with the right amount of salt and a bit of garlic in the mix.
    Service was good and friendly. Atmosphere is somewhat d-baggy like many downtown places.  I mean, we did go to a place called Max's Wine Dive so I guess I should have expected as much but the thought process was which place had the best shot at competing since Mike's Pub had closed down and we needed a replacement burger.  No place we went could probably compete with Flat Top head to head, but we could have at least saved some money at a cheaper place that would have been better.  I think lesson has finally been learned - expensive, gourmet style burgers are usually bad.  

Box Score:  

	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	7.5	7.25
Meat	6.5	6.5	6.5
Toppings	8.5	6.5	7
Construction	7	6	6
Overall	7.5	6	6.25
Total Burger	56.25	48.125	49.06
Sides	8.5	6.5	7
Atmosphere	7.5	8	6.5
Value	2.5	3	4
Non Burger	17.25	16	15.5
Totals	73.5	64.13	64.6
Combined		67