LEO/LHB: Great Bunz, loaded with splendid burgers

[Robin Garr]

LEO's Eats with Louisville HotBytes.com

So we're walking down Baxter just north of Highland Avenue, well into the city's club zone, and suddenly a new hanging sign catches my eye.

"BUNZ," it reads, like a hip-hop interpretation of a bread store specializing in ... naw, can't be. We swerved into the tiny quarters that had previously housed Omar's Gyros and found a spiffy new shop specializing in hamburgers - fat, dense and beefy burgers, mounted, of course, on exceptional buns. Er, bunz.

Located just across the street from Derby City Dogs and a block or so north from the new Highlands branch of Lonnie's Taste of Chicago, another hot-dog store, this recent arrival would seem to mark a new high-water mark for restaurant specialization in the neighborhood.

Bunz is no mere greasy spoon. It represents a collaboration between two well-regarded restaurateurs in Louisville's Iranian-American community: Celebrity chef Anoosh Shariat, who also recently re-opened Browning's in Slugger Field (LEO Weekly, May 20), and Aziz Ghazipour, co-owner of Café Glacé on Frankfort Avenue.

Bunz is about "fresh burgers and fries" made from quality ingredients, said Ghazipour, who presided over the front of the tiny house when we dropped in for lunch. The eponymous buns, he said, are made by Breadworks, and ground beef is provided by A. Thomas Foodservice, descendants of a longtime butcher shop in the city's old Haymarket district.

Read the complete report in LEO and on LouisvilleHotBytes.com.

Bunz
969 1/2 Baxter Ave.
632-1132
Robin Garr's rating: 83 points

I had quite the opposite experience when the wife and I visited with friends last week. Having heard about the details of the ownership of the place, we had high hopes for a really great upscale burger. What we got were stale buns, so-so fries and burgers that were poorly seasoned and mealy in texture. The rest of the experience was no better than the quality of the food.
We ordered three bottles of water to go with our meal. We got one bottle of cold water from the refrigerator in back and two bottles of room temp water (Apparently the full sized glass front beverage cooler at the counter is only for display.) But the staff did bring out a bowl of ice and some cups.
My friends had brought their daughter along, and asked if a smaller burger was offered for children,as all of Bunz' burgers are doubles. They were told a smaller burger was not available, but that they "could make a burger with just one patty and charge you for two." That's the owner's decision to make, of course, but it struck a rather odd note-it would seem as though a burger joint, even one attempting to be on the upscale end of things, would want to encourage families to patronize them, but perhaps not in this case.
It also seemed odd, that at $6 a pop, the burgers were not dressed behind the counter as they would be at say, Wendy's or Mickey D's. Instead, I was directed to a table at the side of the dining room which held squeeze bottles and packets of mustard, mayo, ketchup, bbq sauce and so on. I had just squeezed some mustard onto my burger and reached for the open bottle of Hellman's to add mayo when it occurred to me that an open bottle of mayonnaise is generally a thing best kept in the fridge. I asked the folks behind the counter how long it had been sitting out at room temperature and was told "not long-just a couple of days." I told them they maybe shouldn't leave an open bottle of mayonnaise sitting out, as the health inspectors tend to frown on such and was told it would be okay "because the packets are okay to leave out." After a bit more discussion, I think I may have finally been able to convince them to get get rid of the bottle of questionable condiment.
A further off note came when one of the counter workers decided to grab a quick smoke outside, roughly 5 feet from where we were eating our meal at one of the tables on the side walk outside the front door. I'm by no means an anti-smoking zealot, and realize that outside tables are one of the few places restaurant patrons can still enjoy a cigarette, but when a staff member lights up next to you while you are eating it just comes across as rather inhospitable, at least to me.
I'll chalk it up as one of life's little disappointments and stick with my old standbys, the Granville or Cumberland Brews, when I want a really good burger. But I certainly won't go back to Bunz.

[Robin Garr]

I had quite the opposite experience when the wife and I visited with friends last week.

I have an impression, without much solid basis, that Anoosh's participation is less "active" than Aziz's. Was either of them there during your visit? Just thinking out loud, I wonder if we're seeing the "fast food phenomenon" in which one's experience varies depending on who's in the building.

All I can say is to repeat that I'm not lying. The burgers and the bread were good, and the burger was dressed with lettuce and tomato (although you have to ask for that). The ONLY chime that didn't ring quite purely was the overcooking issue, but the burgers were plenty juicy even cooked all the way through.

No, just a guy working the grill and a young lady working the register. An older gentleman who may or may not have been Aziz came in as we were leaving. Were either present when you ate there? The burgers just did not taste good to any of us. No beefy flavor, weird texture and a kind of unpleasant coating in the mouth after eating it. Maybe they were having a really off day.

I must say that I was not impressed in the least with this place. I work just down the street and had been looking forward to the opening so I went within the first week. Aziz was working the register and was very pleasant as was his staff. Although a little clumsy, I didn't hold that against them as I was after a good new place serving an old standby. However, the burger was quite the disappointment. I think $7.00 or so for a basic cheesburger (normal accoutremonts are no extra charge) was a real let down. I found it thin and without much umph. The bread was ok. The fries were the only star of the show. Great fries. I didn't post about it early on because I wanted to give them another shot. Since its now been reviewed well, I'll give it another chance but it will need to have improved a long way to earn my buck. I think my cheeseburger, fries, and a bottled soda (no fountain) was nearly $12.00. If I'm going to spend that kind of money for a burger, I'll walk a little further down the street to Jack Fry's, or quite frankly be happier spending less for a qtr. pounder at that little Scottish place on down Bardstown Road.

[Robin Garr]

I found it thin and without much umph.

I am beginning to think the problem here may be consistency. We had two big patties on each burger. Must have been a half-pound each. Hmmm.

The patties we had were 3:1's at the largest. Maybe even 4:1's, although the size of the sandwich was not an issue. There was plenty to eat-we just didn't want to.

When I ate at Bunz, the patties were definitely frozen -- I heard them clank as they hit the grill. No seasoning to speak of. A pretty good bun and good produce didn't really redeem the terrible meat; the fries were the best thing about the meal. At the price I paid for a burger, fries and a drink, I could have gotten a better hand-pattied burger actually grilled to medium rare at several places within walking distance -- and for overcooked frozen-patty burgers, Lonnie's just has it all over them. A bitter dissapointment.

(The burger at Lonnie's is just everything I don't like all rolled into one burger -- frozen, overcooked patties, overseasoned, and I mean, it even has relish -- but I just can't stop ordering it.)

Another thing I found odd there: paying $2 for a soft drink and getting a 16-ounce bottle.

Whatever alternate-universe Bunz you ate at, Robin, I want to go there.

as i was reading this i had a thought......

when robin was served did they know it was robin?

again........just a thought......

[Robin Garr]

Annemarie's article is GREAT, Becky! That guy does just about everything I do.

I don't think the owner recognized us exactly, except as sometimes customers at Cafe Glacé. But there's really not all that much he could have done to change things. Send over to Jack Fry's for burger meat? I think we would have noticed the delay.

One promise. I'll go back. Maybe twice. And will watch for inconsistencies.

But even if it's only his name attached without much personal involvement, I'd be surprised if Anoosh would want to be linked with a mess like some of you guys are reporting. Believe me, I'm not doubting you. I'm just trying to figure what's going on here.

Note also that I did rate it 83, which falls into three-star territory, but at the low end. I thought that was fair for what it is.

(Also, for what it's worth, my wife, who tends to be more critical than me and is very independent-minded, agrees with my review and rating. Just one more data point.)

as i was reading this i had a thought......

when robin was served did they know it was robin?

again........just a thought......

[Robin Garr]

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2006/10/how_a_restaurant_critic_avoids.html.

As I told Becky, Annemarie, that's a GREAT article. I agree with just about everything that guy says, and do most of the same things he does, and that's based on, um, 25 years of reviewing restaurants in Louisville minus only the four years we spend in NYC in the '90s.

As a separate answer, I think it's fair to say that most of the sharper cookies in the local restaurant business know very well who I am; they easily spotted Reigler, and I think Marty is so well-known that he (like me) no longer claims to review "anonymously" in the sense of not being recognized. But the short answer is that it's not hard to keep a low profile - "The Gobbler" has listed a lot of tricks I use in his article, and there are plenty more that I should probably keep quiet about. And, as he says at the end, the bottom line is that if you're spotted after you're already in the restaurant, about all they can do is suck up badly - which has a very negative effect on me. There's not much else they can do to suddenly become great if they're actually lousy. Extra care with plating? Oversize portions? Maybe. But one thing I always do is keep checking what the people at the tables around me are getting.