Location: 75 Resolution Drive, Brampton
Website: https://web.aw.ca/en/home
A&W is a bit late on the smash burger trend, aren’t they? About a decade ago, it seemed like every other new restaurant specialized in that particular type of burger, but the fervor has calmed down quite a bit since then.
But hey, better late than never, I guess?
Here’s how A&W describes it: “A perfectly smashed grass-fed beef patty with melted cheddar cheese, tangy pickles, sliced onions and our secret sauce, on a toasted brioche-style bun.” You can get it as a single or double patty; I went with single, and skipped the onion.
It’s a perfectly decent burger.
The whole point of this style of burger is the dark brown crust on the patty, and as you can see from this photo, they did a moderately okay job of accomplishing this.
As you’d expect from a fast food joint, the patty is quite dry and bland. The slice of cheese and generous amount of sauce (which is aggressively zesty and a bit overwhelming) mostly compensates for this, but there’s basically zero juiciness or beefy flavour here.
The cheese is cheddar rather than the more traditional American — personally, I think that’s incorrect (American has the perfect level of gooiness for this style of cheeseburger), but I guess that’s a matter of opinion.
The sweet brioche bun mostly suits the burger fairly well, though it’s too substantial and throws off the beef-to-bun ratio. Again, if we’re talking about what’s traditional, I think the soft squishiness of a potato bun would work better.
I’m sure the substantial brioche here would be a better match for the double patty option, but then you’d be faced with twice the amount of dry, tasteless beef, so… I dunno what the solution is there.
(I’d say the solution is “go somewhere better,” though I guess that would be a bit harsh. The burger is not unpleasant.)
Michael Eats 