Anyways, to get back to my story of the relatives who were underwhelmed by other burger joints in Seattle that were publicized on the Food Network. Of course after trying Uneeda Burger, they admitted, “You were right, Seattle Unexplored, this is much better and one of thee best burgers we’ve ever had”. Uneeda Burger is the perfect place to bring any visitor who craves a burger. It’s low key enough to bring my parents who want simplicity, but has the superior ingredients for those snooty friends who have a more discerning palate. I’ve brought friends from France, my parents, my wife’s family from overseas, country bumpkin friends whose ideas of a good burger is Burger King, my snooty co-worker who dismissed Uneeda Burger prior to stepping foot in the place(“There’s no way this is as good as Palace Kitchen). Every single person is won over by the end of their meal.
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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There’s always been hype around Uneeda Burgers upgraded(“Fancy”) burger. Check out this excerpt from a food critic from The Stranger:
First of all, let me say that both burgers were excellent. Nothing wrong with relatively well-off suburban cows. Painted Hills, A+. HOWEVER. The Wagyu burger was a revelation. I mean literally like the book of Revelation, like eight flaming man-goats descended on fiery Segways and beat me in the face with their righteous swords of deliciousness….The Wagyu patty was soft without being insubstantial, drippier, darker, and beefier than its counterpart. The Wagyu burger made you forget that ketchup exists. Seriously, it was so good. If my mother were a cow, I would still eat this hamburger. If I were a hamburger, I would eat this hamburger. If I were this hamburger, I would eat myself.
Whoa. After reading this wouldn’t you be a tad bit curious to see if this burger was that good? So we had to do our own taste test.
As mentioned in our Uneeda Burger post, we have our favorite burgers, the Croque Madame Burger and the Crimini Mushroom Burger, so we’ve never had the “fancy” burger patty.
To really taste the patty, we just did the Classic Burger, which is as plain as you can get. It’s bun, patty, lettuce, tomato, pickle and sauce. We ordered one with the normal all-natural painted hills beef and then ordered the fancy patty made of gleason ranch 100% pasture-raised beef for an additional $2. Both were cooked to medium.
The Verdict: The regular classic is $5.00 and the “fancy” 100% pasture raised beef is an extra $2.00. In order to really compare, we had to test side by side, and there was a discernible difference with the pasture-raised beef. It is a bit more flavorful, but here’s the thing-the regular burger also has quality beef and it’s nearly as good. It was a fun experiment to do the taste test, but with the 40% markup on the pasture-raised beef, it’s not soooo much better in our opinion. Plus more importantly, we like the Uneeda burgers with the other quality ingredients like cheese, eggs, mushroom, ham,etc, so with the additional flavors and the regular burger already being of great quality, we don’t envision ordering the “fancy” burger going forward.
Update 9/22/19: Uneeda Burger just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
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Uneeda Burger – The Best Burger in Seattle
Recommended by: Nobody. We discovered Uneeda Burger on our own.
Description on the Uneeda Burger’s website: Uneeda Burger is a casual, roadside-style burger shack with seriously delicious burgers, sandwiches, sides and shakes created by Chef Scott Staples. A great selection of fine wine and craft-brewed beers complement the menu’s premium quality and locally sourced beef burgers, chicken and veggie options.
Neighborhood/Type: Fremont
Address: 4302 Fremont Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: #8 Crimini Mushrooms Burger – porcini & black truffle salt, shallots, gruyere cheese. Croque Madame -black forest ham, gruyere, dijon-mayo & truffled shoestring potatoes with sunny-side egg.
Comments: Update 9/22/19: Uneeda Burger just made Seattle Met’s 100 Best Restaurant
From our very first visit to Uneeda Burger, it’s always been our favorite burger joint in the city. Red Mill Burger has been here longer and gets most of the national pub outside of Seattle. They’ve been featured on many shows, including Man vs Food. Lunchbox Laboratory has also gained some national exposure with their Burger of the Gods being named #1 Burger in all the US on the Food Network.
I’ll never forget the moment that my wife’s family visiting from outside the country were watching Food Network during the episode and my wife and I were gobsmacked when the #1 Burger in the US was from Lunchbox Lab. Of course her family insisted on visiting Lunchbox Lab and also had Red Mill Burger on their Seattle To Do List. After visiting both, they were a little underwhelmed. Perhaps, unfairly, the publicity and build up played a role in their feelings. It’s not that the burgers were bad, but not mind-blowing. Once their feelings of being underwhelmed were known, we suggested our favorite, Uneeda Burger. They were skeptical. How could this place be better than Lunchbox Lab and Red Mill Burgers when those two places were publicized on the Food Network?
Uneeda Burger is housed within an old automotive/boat repair garage, which explains why it looks like a garage with huge garage doors, concrete floor and bare bones walls. The name of the former garage was Uneeda Auto & Boat Rebuild, hence the name Uneeda Burger. The actual signage from Uneeda Auto & Boat Rebuild was actually incorporated into the counter at which you order your food.
Keeping the original garage feel gives it a laid back atmosphere. The outside patio are simple wooden picnic tables, the inside have simple tables made from 2 X 4s and the chair are of simple metal. You line up and order at the counter, then find a table after ordering and then they’ll bring your burgers out to you. One note is that all burgers are cooked to medium, but the cashier always asks how you want it cooked. This laid back atmosphere definitely invites a family-friendly atmosphere. I guess you can say this of most burger joints, but one Seattle food critic once said something to the effect that the parents who let their kids run rampant at Uneeda Burger, “don’t need a burger, uneeda babysitter”.
I enjoy Uneeda Burger so much that during my last birthday, my wife asked where I wanted to celebrate? It wasn’t Revel, Junebaby, Adana or Sushi Kashiba. It was Uneeda Burger. I don’t know, I’m just simple that way.
We’ve tried most of the burgers here, but we’ve settled on our favorites, so we always order the same burgers over and over again- The Crimini Mushroom Burger and the Madame Burger. This is why you see only two pictures of burgers. It’s all we ever get.
I’m a huge fan of the French breakfast staple, the Croque Madame and of egg yolk in general. Add a hamburger patty to this breakfast staple and you’ve got me hooked. Everything about it is perfect. The egg yolk and burger of course, but also the gruyere cheese, black forest ham, truffled shoe string potatoes and the switching of a burger bun to buttered toast.
The Crimini Burger is my wife’s favorite. She’s a huge fan of mushroom burgers in general, but she loves the truffle flavor added to it and of course the gruyere cheese tops it off.
We also sometimes get a side order of fries, chile cheese fries or poutine. These sides are nothing to write home about, but what are burgers without fries? So they’ll do.
Poutine – fries topped with beef gravy & cheese sauce (3.75/5)
I would say the ingredients they use are not innovative or trend setting, but definitely quality ingredients from the burger patty to the cheese, ham and sauce. This plus the preparation is what sets it apart from other burger joints. You can increase the quality of your patty for $2 or $3 more. I actually have never done this, but some local Food Critics swear buy it. Maybe I should try a regular burger and an “upgraded” burger as an experiment to see if it’s really worth it.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.50
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.75
Overall: 4.70
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: The order taker at Uneeda Burger, Mark, suggested a place down the street called, Roxy’s Diner for good pastrami sandwiches.
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