Make it a Habit . . . Burger.

A couple of weeks ago facebook exploded with posts like "Finally, a Habit Burger in Salt Lake!" or "Habit Burger! Om nom nom." or "I love Habit Burger so much I wanna move to Colorado City and make it my second wife!" Stuff like that. I happened to be the one guy on facebook who hadn't ever heard of the place so I followed the crowd as I always do and decided to try them next.
To start, future patrons should be aware that there is a lot of construction going on in front of the restaurant where they are digging up the street nearby. After ordering and while we waited for our number to be called my wife decided she wanted to sit at a table on the outside patio because the weather was perfect. But as we sat I kept catching a whiff of something gross. I asked her if she smelled it and she sniffed at the air a few times and said she thought maybe she did but wasn't sure so at my request she was gracious enough to let us move inside. I thought it smelled like the Great Salt Lake, because if you're familiar with the infamous lake you know that it has a certain. . . aroma, it wasn't strong but it was there. However, no one else seemed to mind it. I have been told that I have a sensitive nose, so maybe it I was the only one that noticed. Later, when we left we decided it was most likely the sewer pipes that they were digging up in the street rather than the lake because the lake is not nearby and I've never caught a whiff of it while in the city in the past. Now, that sounds worse than it actually was and this shouldn't be a deterrent to any of you. I don't blame them for the construction but I would tell people to go get a delicious burger at Habit and eat it inside. Until the construction is finished that is, unless you don't seem to notice the smell which you probably won't.

Also, how bad is it that we confuse sewage smell for what our famous lake smells like? My wife and I went to an amazing concert at Saltair which is on the shore of the Great Salt Lake last summer and it reeked so bad that it was all anyone was talking about, but after 10 minutes it didn't bother us or anyone else anymore. I don't know what that says about us, but . . . I wonder why business is faltering at the concert venue located next to that lake who's smell is often mistaken for literal ass. We may never know. . .
Ok back on subject, so Habit Burger focuses on charred meat and quality ingredients including caramelized onions which were delicious. I ordered the double charburger with cheese combo which came with fries and a drink, all for the great price of about $8. I like the price a lot. My wife betrayed us all and ordered from the sandwich menu, she ordered the tri-tip sandwich with avocado. But I couldn't stay mad at her after I tasted it, it was delicious. In fact, I enjoyed it more than I did my burger.

Don't get me wrong, the burger was good, very good; but the tri-tip sandwich was better. I forgot to order my burger without pickles and had to pick them off by hand. They were big thick slices from huge monster pickles, exactly the kind that should stay away from my burger.
Also, they advertise their toasted buns on the menu and I'm beginning to find a linkage between the quality of burger places and the effort they put into promoting the fact that their buns are toasted. My theory is that the more promotion on their buns' "toastiness" the more likely their food is underwhelming. If you have to advertise the fact that you toast your buns you may be compensating for something. Imagine if Denny's advertised that they served their bread toasted. Yeah, not really an attraction. But this is just a hypothesis at this point and I have yet to test it on every restaurant. (Continue to read my future posts as I try to prove my theory.)
There was something that I absolutely loved about Habit Burger. The fries. They were delicious! They reminded me of McDonald's fries but even better. Now, I know comparing any restaurant to a fast food restaurant is not usually a good thing but in this case it is a big compliment. I don't care how much of a purist you are, you love McDonald's fries. You just do. If you ask any honest person what the best thing about McDonald's is they will say "their breakfast sandwiches" and then if you ask what the second best thing is they will say "the fries!" That probably means that Habit's fries are delivered frozen and are not freshly cut at the restaurant, which is a bit disappointing. But, that aside, the fries were simply amazing, delicious, better than McDonalds and the crispiest I've ever tasted. I LOVED THE FRIES! (also, did you hear McDonalds is serving breakfast starting at midnight now? It's about time! Now if only they served it all day long I might actually eat there every once in a while.)
To put it delicately Habit Burger was very good but it didn't own up to the hubbub that I have heard about it, at least as far as tastiness goes, except of course for the fries. Did I mention the fries were amazing? And its toasted-bun-promoting is a bit on the heavy side, so take that for what its worth. But, (and there is a big big BUT) as far as this blog is concerned, they are the best burger for your buck. A very good burger, not a great burger like you'll get at Scaddy's and Five Guys, but Habit Burger won't set you back $7 a burger unless you order fries and a drink. So for that, I approve and so should you.