By just walking into Sir Pizza, the smells brought back great memories of my childhood. Their tagline, “Good to the Very Edge” refers to the pizza being cut into squares, while it still being a round pie. I know people who swear by this place and after looking at the menu….I thought “What to start with….how about the Sausage Garlic Bread?”

Sausage Garlic Bread

Great garlic bread topped with sausage crumbles and cheese, it was just plain addicting. I wish I had smuggled some out in my pant pockets for later. There’s a burger and a cheesesteak on the menu so ordering these were no brainers.

Cheesesteak with onions & peppers

Sir Pizza 1/3 pound cheeseburger

The cheesesteak was good (I should have asked for no peppers, not a fan of them) but the burger was better. The burger was nice & juicy and on a fresh baked roll, it hit the spot. I’d definitely comeback for one of these. And now that I think of it, the sausage crumbles on the burger might not be a bad idea. Getting to the pizza, like I said earlier, it was very reminiscent of what I loved about pizza as a kid,

Sir Pizza Cheese Pizza

Sir Pizza Pepperoni/Ground Beef Pizza

the thinner crust and the crispy mozzarella cheese on top. The pepperoni here is diced into little cubes which makes it pack more of a pepperoni flavor punch.The crazy thing is there’s also a Chocolate Pizza with semi-sweet chocolate chips. And you know what? It’s really tasty and a must try. Now getting back to that sausage topped burger…….

Sir Pizza
Facebook: Sir Pizza Coral Gables
Twitter: @SirPizza 
4231 South LeJeune Road, Coral Gables, FL
305-448-4040

I frequent Fatburger a whole bunch. Through trial and error I’ve figured out what the best things to have here are. There are 5 burgers sizes available from S (Baby Fat, 2.5 oz.) , M (Fatburger, 5.3 oz.), L (Kingburger, 8 oz.), XXL (Double King, 16 oz.) and XXXL (Triple King, 24 oz.). From L to XXL to XXXL it’s not a larger patty (each patty is 8 oz.)but double and then triple burgers. Stick with either the M or L and you’ll be fine.

L Burger with cheese, mayo & mustard

 There are toppings like bacon, chili or egg that can be added but I would just steer clear of them. Cheese is the only way to go and as far as condiments, mustard and mayonnaise. The meat is seasoned with a heavy hand on the pepper which I happen to like.

homemade Onion Rings

If the burgers aren’t enough you can get a meal with Onion Rings, Fat Fries (thicker dinner fries) or Skinny Fries (shoestring fast food type fries). 

Chili Cheese Fat Fries

Or you can be like me and order Chili Cheese Fat Fries. From time to time I might order a Chili Cheese Dog,

Chili Dog

 Turkey Burger or even the Spicy Chicken Sandwich but I always end up going back to the L Burger. The Shakes are great too but usually by the time I’m done eating I’m all out of space.

This Location is Now Closed
Fatburger
232 Miracle Mile
Coral Gables, FL 33134

My friend Juan and I had arrived so early to Tarpon Bend that they were still having some sort of meeting to prepare for opening.

Tarpon Bend – pre opening

While we’re looking over the menu we’re asked if we’ve ever been here before. We haven’t so our server told us he’d like to let us have a Mexican Shrimp Margarita (chilled gulf shrimp, spicy tomato tequila-chili sauce, black beans & avocado with tortilla chips) starter on the house.

Mexican Shrimp Margarita

 I was about to say, “No Thanks” when Juan beats me to the response and says “Thanks!”. I don’t really eat seafood so I don’t really anticipate having more than one taste of this.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

 I do decide to order their Creamy Mushroom Soup. It was a good decision because that soup was great. The Mexican Shrimp Margarita arrives while I’m slurping up my soup. I take a taste and it’s good but not my cup of tea. Juan puts it down though. I order the Blue Smoke Burger (because another friend of mine is always raving about it) and my friend has the Grilled Tuscan Calamari Steak (who does he think he is ordering that?). He loves lemon and it happens to have a lemon-basil butter sauce on it, I thought I was going to have to stop him from drinking the leftovers.

Grilled Tuscan Calamari Steak

 The burger tasted good and I loved the melted gorgonzola cheese on it. I was afraid they might go the blue cheese dressing route which would have been horrible. The fresh cut fries were delicious and reminded me of the fries Lila’s (now defunct Cuban restaurant chain) used to put on their steaks.

Blue Smoke Burger

 It was a great burger and I look forward to trying their Tarpon Burger next time although that Pulled Pork Sandwich also sounds pretty good.

Tarpon Bend Food & Tackle
65 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, FL
305-444-3210

A few years ago I celebrated my birthday at Fritz & Franz Bierhaus. It’s an Austrian-Bavarian themed restaurant & bar. I had chosen this location because of the atmosphere not because the food (the movie Beerfest is never too far from my mind). The one thing I remember about that night was that most of the food we attempted to order was not available. I was hoping that history would not repeat itself. There was a Beer Tweetup (which is a Twitter meetup involving beer and while we’re on the subject, you can follow me at http://twitter.com/BurgerBeast ) at Fritz & Franz. Chad from Brickell Life was helping to sponsor the event. We had been wanting to get together and just talk burgers. We seized this opportunity to do just that. Over a lengthy and probably well near 2 hour burger discussion Chad ordered some variety sausage plate which name escapes me at the moment. I asked him how it was and his reply was essentially that they’re sausage. I’m sure he’ll comment on it. What I took that to mean was, there was no big culinary stretch here. My burger was topped with jalapenos and BBQ sauce. The burger itself was nothing special, just your average affair. The BBQ sauce on the other hand was really good but that alone could not get the burger to new heights. Plus I asked for a Cheeseburger and I received no cheese. I left the pretzel for last, not because it was amazing. It wasn’t. I was your, I’m in the mall let me get a pretzel (and maybe even those are better) type. Now, the stone ground mustard in a little pot on the table that I used for dipping the pretzel is stupendous. Honestly, if Chad wasn’t sitting there with me I would have devised a plan to take that mustard with me. So if you’re coming to Fritz & Franz Bierhaus, have a beer and enjoy the atmosphere. Burgers are better served elsewhere.

Fritz & Franz Burger : 2 1/2 out of 5

Fritz & Franz Bierhaus
60 Merrick Way, Coral Gables, FL
305-774-1883

I had no idea Bijans Burger Joint was opening in Coral Gables until I read it on food for thought a few days ago. I gathered a few dudes up and we decided to check it out. I like the layout of Bijans Burger Joint and the bar is very cool with its stone look. The bar also has 2 giant chalk boards with the menus written on them in colored chalk. There are some life size cut outs of sports stars associated with South Florida above the food prep area and on the east side of Bijans Burger Joint there are superhero pictures (very nice might I say). The one thing Andy realized was the logo they are using all over their windows (a back to back letter B) is very similar to Burger and Beer Joint‘s logo. The other similarity I found between both places was the suggestion that the burgers be ordered Medium Rare. The difference between both places is that Burger and Beer Joint was well prepared for their opening whereas Bijans needs work . Bijans Burger Joint has a lot of people walking around looking lost. I almost felt as if I was watching a live action pinball game. We decide to get some “Snacks” and order the Mini Corn Dogs, Potato Skins & Buffalo Wings with Hot sauce. The Mini Corn Dogs were not mini at all but just 2 regular sized corn dogs. They tasted fine except for one thing, a recurring them you will find in this review. It was cold inside, not room temperature but actually cold. The next two items were served up hot, quite a contrast to the previous snack. The potato skins were your average p skins and we found the wings to be quite good. It seemed as if they added some pepper to the buffalo sauce to make it hotter, mission accomplished. The wings were not breaded or of the crispy variety but somewhere in between. While we’re finishing up our snacks we’re asked if we want our burgers. This in turn is kind of funny, because when we placed our snack and burger order, they were about 15 minutes apart so to prevent having everything served at once. It took over 45 minutes to get the corn dogs to give you an idea. I forgot to mention that all toppings and sides are a la carte. The burgers arrive and Jarce asked for his Classic Burger with mushrooms, American cheese and bacon(which he did not get) . Andy asked for his Classic Burger (with cheddar cheese and bacon) well done which came Medium. I ordered my Classic Burger with bacon, cheddar cheese and a fried egg. I receive a bacon and egg less burger. I’m told there are no fried eggs available so I must settle for just bacon. Worst of all, everything was room temperature as if it had been sitting under their heat lamps waiting for us. Even our side order of fries was cold. It’s a shame because the burger was actually pretty good considering it was served room temperature.

Bijans Burger Joint is Now Closed
235 Galiano Street, Coral Gables, FL
305-460-5695