Z-Burger

Every day as B takes the Metro to work, he reads the Cliff Notes version of the Washington Post, also known as the Express (which is available for free at Metro stations and other locations around the city). Since I walk to work and miss the Express, he'll bring home interesting articles for me to read. It's no coincidence that most of them are food related. This week B brought me an article about Z-Burger. It's a local burger chain that the article reviewed favorably, but I was sold after reading "over 75 varieties of milkshakes."

While on our way home from running errands in Friendship Heights, we passed Z-Burger and decided to pop in for a late lunch. Z-Burger has the typical fast food restaurant bright colors, but stands apart from most thanks to large glass-enclosed seating areas that make you feel like you're dining outside on a patio.

As we stood studying the menu board, an employee hurried over to us to hand us paper menus and answer any questions we had (the top notch service may have been because B was taking pictures, but they seemed pretty friendly and helpful to everybody). When I went to pick up our order, two employees rushed to help me and made sure I had Z Sauce for dipping and plenty of napkins. It was such good service that it was almost overwhelming.

Like at Five Guys, you can customize your burger with a variety of free toppings. They have some interesting offerings such as crushed red peppers, honey mustard, and Z Sauce (their house-made thousand island dressing). There are also a few premium toppings which will set you back an additional 75 cents (sweet peppers, guacamole, and onion rings). B ordered a double bacon cheesburger with lettuce, fried onions, mushrooms, ketchup, and Z Sauce. On the employee's recommendation we split a S'mores shake (vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate syrup). The shake had excellent flavor and chunks of marshmallow but the texture was off. We think it was probably the graham crackers that made it taste a little gritty and sort of runny.

We split an order of Frings (1/2 fries and 1/2 onion rings). The fries were thick cut and pretty good but the onion rings completely stole the show. The batter tasted almost tempura-like and B said he'd come back just for the onion rings. For my burger, I had a single hamburger with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and Z Sauce. I thought it tasted just like the burger I get at Five Guys, which is a very good thing. The bun was a bit too doughy for B's taste but he liked the flavor and the overall experience.

As we ate, an employee (probably the manager) checked in on us and gave us two "free milkshake" tokens. I'm going to have to hit the gym more often because I'm already planning my next Z Burger trip so I can make my way through the milkshake menu (peanut butter cup shake anyone?). Overall I liked Z Burger and will stop by when I'm in the neighborhood but I'm not sure we'll make the trek out to Tenleytown just for the burgers.

Second Thoughts from B

Great service, amazing onion rings, 75 different milkshakes! After all that, so what if my buns are a little doughy... that just sounds wrong. Let's move on.

The point is that there were lots of pluses and no significant minuses to our first Z-Burger experience, making it a solid choice whenever you're in the area. But when you've got a craving for burgers, I couldn't be more enthusiastic about Ray's Hell Burger. Need a great milkshake? I'm leaning towards Good Stuff Eatery, but this is mostly based on the smooth consistency and creaminess. Flavor is a toss-up and the nod goes to Good Stuff only because of the texture. However, I'm looking forward to a second visit to Z-Burger to see if the graham cracker was the culprit. If so, I'm reserving the right to change my mind.