Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Miss Browns: 4.5/5

Aussie Burger: 4.5
$14 (platter)

Mushroom Bacon Cheese Burger: 4.8
$13 (platter)

Jalapeño Cheese Burger: 3.9
$13 (platter)

Miss B's Trio of Brisket Sliders: 4.5
$10 (platter)

What happens when you combine restaurant experience, fine arts, world travels and a smoker? You make Burger Club's Top 5! Miss Browns, the little hot pressed bruncherie, opened at 288 William Ave near the Red River College campus just over two years ago. It’s a popular spot and Burger Club needed to schedule lunch between studying students and a large catering order.

Miss browns is bright and cheery with a big communal table, line of two-seaters and a window counter to accommodate any social situation. It’s an open kitchen and co-owner Jenny assembled and plated the stacks while husband Steve worked the smoker and sliced brisket for the sliders. There was steady takeout action over the lunch hour and enthusiastic servers Taylor and Laura took great care of our group.

Did I mention the smoker? After cooking on the tiny flat-top, the beef patties are finished in a glorious oak smoker adding a dimension of flavour that made my taste buds sit up and take notice. Practically every Burger Club review had the words “Great smoky flavour!” Miss Browns keeps it simple, adding fennel, a bit of chili flake and salt and pepper to the ground round. The local, free range beef is processed in Carman and sourced through The Carvers Knife, so if you like, you could probably go meet your meat beforehand.

The sandwiches are beautiful and you can see Steve’s BFA education in the presentation. I got a chuckle, because although the two different aioli sauces framing the burger are made in house, the open faced sandwich must’ve needed some red and yellow because there’s a squeeze of Mustard and Ketchup completing the colour palette. Jenny commented “We love our burgers and sandwiches juicy and saucy - it can get quite messy.” She added “Steve is the mastermind behind the menu. He has a keen eye and a great talent for presentation. Miss Browns was designed and built by him.

Steve’s an Aussie, so of course there’s a burger of the same name, complete with pickled beets and a fried egg on top. The week Burger Club dined the Mushroom Bacon Cheese Burger replaced the Jalapeño Cheese Burger, but the Aussie still anchored the BURGERS section of the changing menu. Jenny wrote: “Our inspiration for Miss Browns is derived from Australian cuisine using fresh high quality products to create delicious flavours done simply. Aussies know how to do brunch and we wanted to share that with our Winnipeg customers.

The buns are baked at Gunns, glazed and grilled at Miss Browns. “The bun is the champion here” wrote Scott. “I doubt even Tupperware could do a better job containing a huge patty, beets, onion, pickles, lettuce, four sauces, cheese and a fried egg. The bun stayed together and my fingers dry through the whole process.” Russ echoed “They managed to put every condiment I could think of on one burger while still holding together.” Alfalfa sprouts were a seasonal bonus.

The brisket spends 12 hours in the smoker and it's heavenly. Stan scribed “I love brisket and it was very good. The other appealing thing was that each slider was unique, so got a variety of flavours – BBQ, Hot and Herb. All were very good.” Louella added “Sliders were great. Beef brisket was very tender.



All the burgers come with “a side of house made, crispy, warm potato chips, which I thoroughly enjoyed” wrote Dani. Tom added “The soup was incredible.

Miss Browns came to our attention during #LeBurgerWeek 2016. Jenny described the experience as crazy – they have a tiny grill and there was a line out the door for six hours!

Miss Browns Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato