Burgermeister's - Asheville, NC

Craving a good hunk of cow, I sought out the best burger in Asheville for lunch. Started in the 90's by three friends, it has won "best burger" in Western North Carolina for the past 4 years running. It's in a little mini-mall type place next to a laundromat and from the outside is rather unassuming. Inside finds a small bar and several tables and booths. Perfect. As a rule of thumb, anyplace that looks like a dive, but gets voted best "xxx item" for the past 4 years in a row is going to rock. After brief friendly banter with our waitress I narrow down my decision to the Burgermeister's Cowboy Burger. It was a TOUGH choice. The menu touts Elk burgers, locally raised Bison, locally raised grass fed beef, and a fully customizable grilled cheese sandwich menu. You can choose from 3 breads, 5 cheeses, and 28 other add-on's for your cheese toasty. So now here comes my Cowboy Burger and it looks amazing! It is covered in BBQ sauce, melted provolone cheese and piled with bacon and fried onion straws. The burger was a little more "done" than I like it, but most places now are really picky about cooking their beef. I typically like a burger medium rare, but it's hard to find places that will cook them less than medium even if you ask for rare. The bacon was just the way I liked it, very well done and crunchy. The onions were a fantastic addition and added both flavor and a nice texture to the sandwich. The BBQ sauce was sweet and tangy and I would compare it to a cross between Sweet Baby Ray's and Famous Dave's Sweet and Zesty. I really like sweet with my meat, and this was a direct hit. I chose fries for my one side and they were really good too. A little more "meaty" than a MCD fry, but not so thick that they weren't nice and crunchy. Dusted with some Kosher salt these baby's were the perfect addition to all that sweet sauce and smokey bacon. Even though it was cooked a tad bit more done than I prefer, Burgermeister's gets a full 10 props out of 10. Simply amazing.