Bill and Richard’s Burger Adventure – Bocado vs General Muir

It’s no secret to Atlanta Unilocalers that Bocado has one of the best burgers in the city… or do they?
THE SCENE — Burger Challenge PYE
Not too long ago, the chef who created the famed Double Stack Burger decided to leave Bocado to start a new restaurant in the Emory area called The General Muir. I recently attended a UYE Brunch there with several other Unilocalers. While most everyone else ordered lunch items, I decided to go for the breakfast menu and suffered a severe case of O.R.W.A.A.U.Y.E (order regret while attending a unofficial Unilocal event). The burgers look absolutely divine when they arrived to our table and immediately my countenance fell. So sad with grief over my breakfast choice, one of my Unilocal friends offered a ration of their burger. At that time it was my belief that the Bocado Burger was still the better of the two… but that was then and this is now.
You see, sometimes a bite or two just doesn’t give you all the flavor, which was the case on that day. So I asked my buddy William G to come along with me as I attempted to eat at both of these Atlanta gems on the same day for the best comparison. Here’s my humble opinion:
BOCADO
This was my first visit to Bocado since Chef Todd packed his bags and moved to The General Muir. We were the first customers through the doors @ 11:30am and decided to save stomach space and split all the burgers in half today during the food war taste-​off. Our order arrived quickly along with garlic fries, ketchup, pickles and dill dip. Unfortunately, this burger was not the same Bocado burger I held in such high regard. THAT burger was elevated to royalty in my mind as one of the best in the city. THIS burger was still a fine burger, but IF I was simply comparing this burger to the last Bocado burger I had, it would be no comparison.
— — — -
THE GENERAL MUIR
After about a 6.8 mile drive we arrived for round two of our burger challenge. Here we ordered a burger of the same name and also a round of POUTINE, which are Canadian style french fries smothered with gravy and cheese curds. Overall it was a good dish, but I doubt I would order the poutine again. They offer it with chunks of pastrami, so maybe that would have been the way to go.
The burger, on the other hand, was fantastic. If you are a burger lover, I would be surprised if this doesn’t rank in your top favorites… especially when compared to other burgers in metro Atlanta. Tender, juicy, well seasoned beef on a delicious toasted onion roll. By all standards, this is how a burger should taste.
— — — -
THE VORTEX
The final stop on our burger adventure today was the Vortex on Mooreland Ave. Since we had already been fully satisfied with the GM Stack Burger, we decided to go with our servers recommendation for their «best burger»… the Flat Elvis. This is a ½ pound beef patty slathered with peanut butter and topped with bacon and fried bananas. Sound disgusting? It was!!!
I’m not a fan of frou-​frou gimmicky burgers. I knew this before trying it, but I have really been trying to expand my steadfast food borders. I didn’t find the burger to be very well seasoned and the bananas were cut a little over an inch thick (too large). This made it very difficult to hold the burger without crushing your bun to do so. The peanut butter was warm from the burger causing it to ooze out all over our plate (and clothes). I didn’t even remotely find this burger appealing. Our server was great and the décor was grungy cool, but that’s about as much of a compliment as I can give today experience here.
— — — - — - — - -
THE DETAILS
GM Poutine (3.5 stars) — $ 6
GM Burger (4.75 stars) — $ 8.75
Bocado Burger (3.75 stars) — $ 8.75
Bocado Garlic Fries (3.75 stars) — $ 2.50
Vortex Flat Elvis burger w/​tater tots (2.5 stars) — $ 10.50
Drinks — Water
NOTE: The complimentary water at Bocado was excellent. Served super cold without ice and no tap water taste. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was bottled.
TOTAL — $ 39.55
— — — - — - — - -
THE VERDICT
The General Muir Stack Burger was the hands down winner in today’s challenge followed by a «thumbs-​up» for the Bocado Double Stack and a «thumbs down» for the Vortex Flat Elvis. I’ll bet if they cut the bananas thinner, used less peanut butter and topped it with a caramelized onions and jelly mixture for a little sweetness, this might be a winner.
Unilocal100[55]