Juicy Lucy Taste Test

So here in the cities there are 3 places that are known for their 'Juicy Lucys'. For those of you who don't know, a juicy lucy is a burger with cheese inside of it. So they take a patty, split it in two, press them out, put a mound of cheese on one, then cover it with the other half, seal, and grill. The classic juicy lucy has American cheese, but some restaurants have variations, like bleu cheese, pepperjack, etc. It's also important to note that there are variations of the name as well. My friend Sam and I decided to do a taste test from the 3 different locations, and here are the results.

Location #1:

The Nook
Hamline Ave, St. Paul

Burger: Juicy Nookie with American cheese

With all of these burgers, the key is the wait time. If you bite in the moment it hits your table, the molten lava cheese will scald the inside of your mouth like a motherlicker and you won't be able to enjoy it after that. So, as hard as it is, you must wait at least 5 minutes before digging in. My first bite of this burger was juicy and full of gooey cheesy goodness. The flavor of the patty itself was great, seasoned just enough and not too much to take away from the whole experience. The cheese was melted completely through and had the perfect consistency, not too runny or thick. Every bite I took had cheese in it, but it was not overwhelming in the least. Overall, the burger was fantastic in every way and I can't say a single bad thing about it. I have wanted to go back and get another in the worst way ever since.

Fries: Fresh-cut fries, seasoned with garlic cracked-pepper and served with chipotle ranch dipping sauce. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't care a lot about fries. Generally, if the option is there, I would take mashed potatoes over fries any day. But these fries were really good. The garlic cracked pepper seasoning was not too strong and the chipotle ranch added just the right amount of flavor to compliment. Crispy, not too thick, not too thin.

Drinkage: Sam and I like to share pitchers of beer and our go-to is Blue Moon. They had this, so we did too.

Atmosphere: Dive bar, very small but comfy. Our server was fairly nice and reasonably fast. The place was as clean as a dive bar can be.

Benjamins: The burger comes with the fries - $7.95. Don't know how much the pitcher cost.

Location #2:

5-8 Club

Cedar Ave, Minneapolis

Burger: Juicy Lucy with American cheese

First bite of the burger, no cheese. Second bite, no cheese. Dry patty, not much flavor. I think in the whole burger I maybe got two bites with cheese. It all had squirted out somewhere before it got to our table, apparently, because there was minimal cheese on my plate too. Absolutely nothing special about this burger. Didn't finish it. And my friend Sam didn't finish it either, which is unheard of in her world of burger-eating.

Fries: Well, no fries. They didn't come with the burger, so Sam and I decided to get an order of nachos as an app. Beef nachos with all the fixin's. They were ok, beef was a little greasy and you could taste it. Sam liked them better than I did. I wasn't too impressed.

Booze: I believe Sam and I shared a pitcher of New Castle. Can't go wrong with that either.

Atmosphere: Dive bar, but a little bigger than the Nook. Our server was super friendly and very attentive. She was better quality than the food, which is not necessarily something you want in a restaurant. Clean. Overall I liked the atmosphere of this place.

Moolah: Nachos: $7.50 Burger: $4.95 Pitcher of New Castle: $10.25

Location #3:

Matt's Bar

Cedar Ave, Minneapolis

Burger: Jucy (that's how they spell it) Lucy with American cheese

Hit the cheese on the first bite. Good flavor, but runnier cheese than the Nook which I didn't prefer. Cheese throughout the whole burger. Got raw onions on this one (not sure what I got on the others cuz it was too long ago). They were like little McDonald's onions and there were a ton of 'em. The flavor of the onions was a little too strong, and not a real natural onion taste. I had to scrape about 1/2 of them off. But the burger was juicy and very good. Ate the whole thing.

Fries: The burger didn't come with fries, but Sam and I ordered a regular side of them. They were shoestring fries. Good crisp, not too thin. Very good flavor. However, I am not a ketchup dipper with my fries. So we asked for a side of ranch - NO RANCH! That's a huge deal for me. What restaurant doesn't have ranch? I don't care how small it is. So I had to resort to dipping in ketchup. For a regular size order, it was a little on the small side. We polished off the whole basket, which is really saying something, as I've mentioned previously, I'm not a huge fry fan.

Drank: Pitcher of Blue Moon. With tiny little glasses.

Atmosphere: Dive bar, very small. Not too clean. Kinda noisy, with some turd burglars being loud at the bar. And the women's bathroom had two toilets in it, not stalls, just toilets. I guess they support double peeing (not the kind you're thinking of, you dirty bird). It took a long time for our server to get to our table after I got there to get me a glass so I could share in the pitcher. If there is anything a server needs to be prompt about, it's getting me my damn glass so I can get my drink on! She was more or less friendly, kinda slow.

Ca$h: Fries: $3.95 Burger: $4.95 Pitcher: No idea.

Soooo, as you probably were able to tell from my reviews, the winner is:

The Nook!!!

For the value, the fries, but most importantly....for the burger! I highly suggest you visit this place if you live here, or even if you don't!

The End :)