I'm always excited when my friends get a chance to check out great eats from the road and agree to share with folks here. Today Church of Burger alumni Iron Stef checks in from Baltimore, Maryland with this review of Kooper's Tavern:
I drove from St. Louis to Baltimore this weekend for my cousin's wedding. 800+ miles in my little car with my mother. Needless to say, after the drive and the chaos of meeting up with other arriving family, I was ready for some quality alone time that involved cold beer.
I was missing this month's Church of Burger because of this trip, so I threw it out on Twitter that perhaps a solo Baltimore burger dinner was in order. Our fearless leader strongly suggested Kooper's Tavern. I was pleased to see it was right next door to, and had the same owners as Slainte Pub. I had stopped into Slainte on a whim when I was in Baltimore in March, and was pleased by the atmosphere, service and food (see my post about that trip on Food Blog Mafia. Awesome lamb burger.) Kooper's and Slainte are located in Fell's Pointe, a brick-street, waterfront shopping and dining district. Cute.
I was glad it was a casual pub, as I had not yet been able to check in to my hotel, so I was still wearing my "driving pants," and had car nap hair. When I walked in the place was going CRAZY. 2 dudes had just been "Iced" by their friends, and the pub crawl group they were with were loudly encouraging them to chug the sugary malt beverages. I squeezed into a spot at the bar between some middle-aged stock brokers and a young couple. After I ordered I realized it was free taco buffet day. Dang! But, I was on a mission. Luckily for this weary traveler, the pub crawlers moved on, and the pub became a more chill hangout for me to enjoy with my burger and a brew (good beer selection there, too, BTW. Not a ton on draught, but lots of different craft bottles.)
I ordered the "Elvis Got the Blues" burger, which has blue cheese and bacon on it. It came out with battered fries (who doesn't like those?), a giant pickle spear and the standard tomato and lettuce toppings. The patty, covered with a sprinkling of blue cheese crumbles and to big slices of bacon, was cooked perfectly medium-rare, as I had requested. It had some good char on the outside. The flavor was good, though I could have used more salt. Bites that had bacon and blue cheese in them made up for the salt, however. Overall it tasted like good beefy meat, was juicy but not greasy, and the corn-meal-dusted kaiser roll held up well and was a good fit. I really liked the flavor combo of the beef, blue cheese and bacon. Classic. Is this the best burger in B-more? I can't say, but it was pretty darn good.
