Lil Woody’s

Lil Woody’s

Recommended by: In our Uneeda Burger post, we mentioned that we’ve been to a lot of burger places, but not Lil Woody’s.  No less than 2 of our friends and 3 readers said we must try Lil’ Woody’s. So off we went.

Description on the Lil Woody’s website: We love our community and are committed to working with local purveyors: our burgers are made from Painted Hills grass-fed beef, our hand-cut fries come from Washington potatoes, our buns are handcrafted from Tacoma, and our shakes are made with Full Tilt ice cream. We support our communities and we encourage you to support yours.

Neighborhood/Type:  Capitol Hill

Address: 1211 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101

What we ate/drank:   The Kamonegi Burger, The Sarap Sandwich, Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich , The New Mexican

Comments: We’re not ready to deem Lil’ Woody’s having the best burgers in Seattle, but they definitely have the most inventive and most-anticipated burger collaborations in Seattle.  It took us a while to finally get to Lil’ Woody’s. They’ve been around since 2011 and have locations in Ballard, Capitol Hill, South Lake Union and White Center. Open hours vary for each location, so double check before going. For example the Capitol Hill locations stays open until 3:00am on Friday and Saturday. Holla to all you Capitol Hill clubbers!

They’ve become such a Seattle institution, that you can even get their burgers while taking in a Mariner Game at T-Mobile Park.

Order at the counter, pay, grab a seat and wait for your number to be called. Simple. The Capitol Hill location is a pretty low key place with some sitting next to the kitchen and more seating in an upstairs area.

Lil’ Woody’s has their main menu burgers that are always offered, but where Lil’ Woody’s stands out is their always changing special burger of the week.  As we write this in August of 2019, check out these special burgers that are collaborations:

• Your Last Meal Burger(Lil Woody’s in-house pickled figs, crispy Prosciutto, arugula, cornichons, mozzarella stuffed Painted Hills grass-fed beef, roasted shallot mayo.). A collab with the @beardfoundation nominated @yourlastmealpodcast! and inspired by the last meal of past #yourlastmealpodcast guest, actor and cookbook author, Tiffani Thiessen (Saved By The Bell, Beverly Hills 90210).

• Game Guru Burger(Habanero mayo, crispy fried onions, Tillamook smoked cheddar, Hills bacon, double 1/4lb. Painted Hills grass-fed beef, Mama Lils peppers spicy sweet pickles).  This was during the Pax West Gaming Convention and a collab with a celebrity in the gaming community, The Game Guru.

• Taylor Shellfish Burger(Taylor Shellfish oyster dip, Tims Cascade potato chips, Tillamook smoked cheddar, and Painted Hills grass-fed beef. A collab with Taylor Shellfish which is located right around the corner from Lil’ Woody’s in Capitol Hll.

• Lil Gordo Burger (red braised pork belly with green sauce aioli, onions, cilantro, and pickled jalapeños) A collab with Phorale, an Asian/Tex Mex restaurant in Seattle.

And for the last 5 years they’ve had a Burger Month(Feb), where each week has a special burger designed by top chefs around Seattle. If you end up getting each burger during the month, you get a free gift. This year it was a denim lunch bag. We made it to two of the weeks, but you can see here how inventive these burgers are and interesting because most of these chefs would never have a burger on their menu at their own restaurants.

As you know we’re huge fans of Kamonegi and their chef., Matsuko Soma, created The Kamonegi Burger-Seared duck/chicken patty, duck egg, arugula, Yuzu kewpie mayo, charcoal bun.

<<<My picture of the Kamonegi Burger and a much nicer picture from Lil Woody’s

I love the unusual ingredients but it was missing some flavor. Perhaps a little more yuzu mayo was needed.  It’s difficult to say who’s at fault. Since the chef created it, maybe the fault lies there? Or perhaps the chef’s vision was not met due to the execution of the burger?  I never had a charcoal bun before, so we were a bit surprised when we got the burger on a totally black bun. I love me some egg yoke, but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between a duck eff and a normal chicken egg through the other flavor profiles.

The other burger we had was from Melissa Miranda, who at the time worked at Bar del Corso, but is opening her own much-anticipated restaurant called, Musang. Her burger was called, The SARAP Sandwich. Sarap in Filipino means delicious. The burger consisted of roasted pulled pork adobo, chicharrónes, radishes, fried garlic, patis salsa verde, Hawaiian bun.

      <<<My picture of the Sarap Sandwich and a much nicer picture from Lil Woody’s

I’m more of a savory guy when it comes to burgers and adobo is typically on the sweet side and this was no different. The bun was also sweet with the patis salsa verde adding a bit of savory.  The radishes and chicharrones added a bit of crunchiness to the sandwich, which we both enjoyed.

Here is another Burger of the Week. It was really spicy, but loved the sweetness of the pickles and onions in combination with the savory cheddar.

    <<<Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich – Chipotle mayo, spicy sweet pickles and onions, smoked cheddar.

This is a burger off their normal menu, The New Mexican with Hatch green chiles.

<<<New Mexican – 1/3 lb Painted Hills grass-fed beef burger, slow-roasted Hatch green chiles, house-made queso sauce

Summary: When compared to some of the other burger joints in Seattle like Uneeda Burger, Rain City, Giddy Up, etc, their burgers are on the small size for around the same price.  This could probably be attributed to the variety of ingredients due to their many different offerings and everchanging Burger of the Week.  When you get inventive and push the envelope with collaborations, there’s bound to be hits and misses, but we appreciate the effort and the diverse and fresh variety it brings. One thing is for sure, we know if we want something different we can count on Lil’ Woodys’

Ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.00

Service: 4.00

Food/Drinks: 4.50

Bang for the Buck: 4.00

Overall: 4.25

Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.

• • Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
  • Most locals know about it
  • Locals “in the know” know about it
  • Only those who live close by know about it.
  • You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!

Servers recommendations to visit in the future:  While eating our Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwiches, my co-worker mentioned Bok A Bok Fried Chicken. And said they don’t have burgers, but have the best chicken sandwiches. We have to check it out.

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