CBC Information Radio Interview

Burger Club has hit the big time! Marcy Markusa from CBC joined us for a burger and an interview at Sonya’s.

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When Marcy first contacted me, Burger Club was in the midst of revisiting our Top 5 burgers and of course I thought she should come for Winnipeg’s Best Burger at Sonya’s!

Sonya’s is truly a mom-and-pop shop, so the first thing I did was check with Steve that they could handle 16 of us coming for a burger at once – and the additional promotion that would come from CBC. Steve was all for it! He even made sure I spelled their names correctly: Steve and Vera Vodrazka. I learned from Marcy’s interview that Steve is a spry 71 and they’ve owned the restaurant for 25 years. It’s amazing how many people drive right by this “undiscovered gem” without seeing the restaurant at the corner of Henderson Hwy and Hart Ave. Marcy even went into the kitchen and met the hard working Vera at the grill.

Steve asked that people order as they arrived so Vera could get started cooking and they’d bring out the food as it was ready. That’s what we did and it worked out well – we didn’t have to wait too long for our burgers. At Sonya’s the burgers are freshly made and served steaming hot but don’t be in too big a hurry because it’s only Vera at the grill!

When Marcy made her entrance she burst into the restaurant, microphone first, with a big “Hello Everyone! Where’s Burger Club?” We’d saved her a seat and she was full of energy and questions. It was mayhem! Steve was bringing out some of the first orders, others were ordering and Marcy was making radio! On a geeky note, Marcy’s sound rig consisted of an iPhone and a big CBC mike. How cool is that!

Marcy took the time to talk to everyone in Burger Club, Steve and Vera as well, and quite a few of us made it onto the air. We’d only just met, but it seemed to me that Marcy *really* enjoyed her burger: “Holy life changing. Lived near Henderson Highway many years. Never had a burger at Sonya's until now. Worth every drip of meat sweat. Good times. Thank you Winnipeg Burger Club!” Marcy is now one of us – you’re welcome at Burger Club any time!

Marcy said some kind words about the blog and here’s what happens when CBC comes to Burger Club.

Five Guys - Regent: 4/5

Bacon Burger
$5.79
Score: 4.0



Cheese Burger
$5.99
Score: 4.0

After a long wait, Five Guys has come to Winnipeg! Burger Club came out of retirement to see how the new kid in town compared to the best burgers in Winnipeg.

The restaurant only opened a week ago so we knew it was going to be busy. As I pulled into the parking lot shortly before 11:30 am there was a steady stream of hungry people heading into Five Guys. I was also pleased to see there was a nice patio loaded with tables and big red umbrellas.

It’s well signed, well organized, and once through the doors, you immediately find yourself in line to order. There’s only one line so there’s no jostling for position and you’re corralled by a wall of potatoes. I like the idea of food managing the patrons. I’m just glad that Five Guys chose potatoes and not cows to keep us in line.

The menu’s pretty straightforward. They serve burgers and fries. They also have hot dogs, for the kind of people that eat hot dogs, and a couple of veggie items if you’re a vegetarian but all your cool friends are meat eaters. The standard Five Guys burger is a double. If you just want a single you have to order a “Little” burger which feels like you’re ordering off the kiddie menu. The burger foundations are the various combinations of bacon and cheese. The “free” toppings are the things you normally get for free anyways, but you have the pleasure of specifying exactly what you want. If you can’t decide, asking for your burger “All the Way” gets you a good selection of the standard toppings and condiments.

Some of us thought the burger a little pricey, but in retrospective a single Fat Boy at Five Guys is $4.99 which isn’t out of line with Winnipeg prices. The bacon double cheeseburger is $8.59.

Ordering went quickly and they give you a number and your cup if you ordered a drink. An interesting thing about the drinks is you can have a small or a large but they both come with free refills. So why would you pay for a large? Well, the small cup is a paper, but the large is a nice big plastic “Slurpee” cup and many people opted for the plastic so they could have it in their car afterwards. This was my first clue that Five Guys really knows their clientele - and their business. Oh yeah – and they have Fresca! A strange thing about the number is that I’ve been to Five Guys twice – once in Brandon and now in Winnipeg. Both times I was number 41.

It was mayhem so there was no way 19 of us, ranging from 2 weeks old to happily retired, were going to sit together. There were open tables scattered throughout the restaurant and we all managed to get seated though. The tables were comfortable, if a little cozy, and the restaurant was brightly lit with Five Guys slogans plastering the walls. One of the fun things about Five Guys are the big bins of free peanuts so you can crack peanut shells and suck back your bottomless drink while waiting for your burger to be cooked to your specifications.

Adding to the pandemonium was the very noisy open kitchen. It was packed with food prep people all focused on their tasks and yelling instructions back and forth. The front line staff looked you in the eye and seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. Perhaps it was all the excitement of the opening. It didn’t seem an unreasonably long wait for the burgers, and they mostly came carefully assembled. I’ve been to more than one “burger chain” restaurant where my burger came in box with the top half of the bun hanging out and the tomato missing the burger completely (I’m looking at you Burger King). I doubt many of the restaurants we've been to could handle these kinds of volumes!

They don’t ask you if your burger is for “inside” or “to go”. All the burgers are handed to you wrapped in perforated tin foil and in a large paper sack. The fries are delicious and the serving huge. Don’t be fooled by the small looking cup for the “regular” sized fries. They place your burger and fries in the bottom of the bag then dump in a pile more fries - enough to bury your burger.

Two people in our group had a topping mix up. When they went back to the counter to get them fixed they were told they could keep the old burgers and fresh ones were made up right away. The usual modus operandi of closed kitchen restaurants we’ve been to is to take the erroneous burger back to the kitchen, remove the offending pickle and scrape off the mustard, and bring the same burger back out. Not at Five Guys.

The burger patties were hand formed and made from fresh beef. This was evident by the ragged edges, but also by the variation in patty size. The beef patty was quite tender and juicy and, well, beefy tasting. It was unseasoned – not even salted. Some thought it bland. At Fives Guys the flavour comes from the toppings. The bacon was crispy and the cheese plentiful, but processed. I liked the amount of saucy toppings on mine – there was enough to keep it moist and tasty, but not so much to make it an overly messy burger. That may have just been mine though. Russ took one bite out of his burger and his cheese layer shot out the other side and landed on his the paper bag covering the table. One of the topping options was fried onions and they were delicious. There was some variability in quantity and one hungry diner only got 2 stingy jalapeños on his burger. The grilled mushrooms are from a can. Grilling them improves the flavor, but unless you’re a canned mushroom fan, you might find only disappointment in the shrooms.

The buns were warmed, but depending where yours came from in the stack warming on the grill, they were either seared a bit, or essentially steamed. Some of the buns were a bit soggy and that was exacerbated by being wrapped in foil. The sesame seed bun did its job well; it was squishy and held together to the end, but most of our group though the bun the weak link in the burger assembly.

Overall, it was a tasty burger and most of our group quite enjoyed it. Brett commented “All in all very tasty with grilled onions & mushrooms.” Nelson wrote “Tasty and made to order.” Stan admitted “The burger was kind of sloppy but I'm starting to enjoy that.” If you’re comparing Five Guys to other burger chains, I think it ranks well. If you’re looking for a gourmet burger and some ambience this may not be the place for you. Burger Club rated Five Guys about middle of the pack in our “Counter Service” category.

The quote of the day came from Nelson who couldn’t finish his burger because he "only had Four Guys in me today." Oh MY!

Sis & Me: 3.6/5

Bacon Burger
$4.46
Score: 3.3

ChiliBurger
$4.46
Score: 3.9

Cheese Burger
$3.79
Score: 3.7

Burger Club hit the street for our 52nd and last week of our year long quest. I was waiting for a warm sunny day and it finally happened – right before and after lunch. During lunch it clouded over and a strong north wind blew in making it very cold, and tricky to keep your burger out of your neighbor’s lap. “Expect one hand on your burger and the other on a napkin” advised Stephanie.

One of Burger Club’s readers suggested the Sis & Me burger truck. Some of you may know Sis & Me from their restaurant, The Moonlight Inn, at Victoria Beach. I had a test burger a few weeks ago and decided it was worthy of a visit. On a sunny warm lunch hour Broadway is crowded with long lines at all the street vendors. It didn’t occur to me to let Sis & Me know we were coming en masse, but I should have. We arrived at 11:30 to beat the rush and caught Sis with her burgers half thawed. Only four of us got bacon on our burgers before it ran out, and after ten orders they were out of beef patties. They had more frozen, but no way to defrost them except on the grill which meant a long wait. A Burger Club first timer, Claire, even rated the server “Cute boy working! And fast service, but they can't get any service credit because they ran out of burgers!”

Scott observed “As in communist Russia, the first of the comrades in line get the freshest portions. The first rations to expire were bacon. Then they ran out of burgers. Much further down the line it may have come down to squirting condiments in each other’s mouths.”

For those of us that were lucky enough to get one, it was a pretty good burger. The first thing to catch your eye though, was the unusual visual texture of the patty. Dani observed “obviously the meat wasn’t worked much as you can still see the tracks of the meat grinder.” It was a coarse ground, thick and tasty beef patty. Mine was cooked a little to dryness today – my test burger was juicier. The cheese was a slice of processed, and if you wanted more, there was squeeze-cheese on the condiment counter. Bonus points right there! The fried onions were delicious and the bacon was leathery good. The bun had sear marks on top, but was still cold. That might have been the freezing wind though, that was sucking the heat out of everything. Stephanie had the chili burger and commented: “Messy, but what do you expect from a chili burger? Not too spicy, but had a nice zing.”

For some, this was a guilty burger and discussions of ethics arose. Mike, who took the last bacon cheese burger, is now known as the "Hamburgler." The first few got bacon and beef, sometimes double, while the last in line got an empty plate. Is it better to ration the available food, or make the burgers as they were intended but leave some diners hungry? A couple of restaurants we’ve been to, like the Jolly Friar Café obviously spread out what ingredients they had.

Five people headed off down the street to find a burger from another cart. They ended up at Mikky’s, another fairly well known cart on Broadway, but the official Burger Club rating system requires a minimum of six reviews before producing a rating. Unofficial results had Sis & me well out front of Mikky’s though.

April burgered at Mikky’s, but had the Sis & Me Poutine. “It was good. Came back to get it because they have cheese curds.”

Yellow Dog: 3.1/5

Bacon Burger
Platter: $10.00
Score: 3.1


Cheese Burger
Platter: $10.00
Score: 3.3


The Yellow Dog has several good menu items, but look elsewhere for a burger.

I made a last minute reservation as our original plan was rained out. They set us up in the bar at tall tables, but when our group grew, they moved us to the restaurant proper where we were comfortably seated. We waited a while for our burgers to come out, but then they all came at once. Les liked the décor; “Nice funky place.”

The ingredients were sparse - burger patty included. The patty might have been tasty enough, but there wasn't enough to tell. The bacon was extra crispy and only one stubby slice. A little reminiscent of Johnny G’s. The cheese was real marble-cheddar. The Romaine lettuce was a little wilted and I could hardly find the caramelized onions. Cary commented “Only one strip of bacon and not much flavour.” Dani took matters into her own hands; “I didn't seem to have much taste from the burger. I put my French onion dip on my burger. It's a little better. I have to say the best part of lunch was the chips & the best part of the burger was the bun.”

Burgers tasted better before I started really paying attention to what I was eating. Esther noted “I have been in Burger Club too long. I am having trouble enjoying burgers now. I am no longer eating with the mouth part of my head. Unfortunately this burger would not avoid my wrath if I was eating with the mouth part of my head. I had to lower my rating on the price ‘cause my burger patty thickness rival Gondola's thin crust pizza. How chintzy!”

The Kaiser might have been a nice change except it was cold. I had a hard time cutting it because the dough was so elastic. It dwarfed the tiny burger patty. Stan summarized “Whole wheat Kaiser bun was very nice. Lightly toasting it would have improved it. Meat patty was homemade and very good. But it was too small for the bun. Tomatoes were nice and ripe.”

The house salad was quite nice and would have been even better with fresh Romaine.

The birthday girl got some bling and a sparkly candle from Cary. “It's my birthday! Hooray! Cary brought me birthday candles for my burger and a birthday glo-Mohawk! Nice!”