Townsman, 1991-07, Page 7A historic burger
at the Albion Hotel
As anyone who has enjoyed a romantic candlelight
dinner for two will tell you, the atmosphere of the
restaurant is many times as important as the
appearance and taste of the food itself. Some
restaurants have been known to spend a king's
ransom buying fixtures and decorations just to create
the right ambience.
Such is the case with the Albion Hotel in Bayfield,
a century -old two-storey building on the Main street
of the Lake Huron village that has been lovingly
restored to its former grandeur. Owner Kim
Muszynski has established a formal dining room on
one side and a genteel English pub on the other side
of the main floor. In the summer, he opens an
outdoor patio on the veranda which runs the full
length of the hotel.
Like the setting, the hamburger was an inspiration
as well, putting it as far away from the frozen patties
of the fast food outlets, as the Albion is from the
drive-through at McDonald's. Nominated by Paul
Mulligan, the inch -thick, six -ounce burger is
handmade in the Albion kitchen from fresh ground
beef, grilled to juicy perfection and bedded down on
a huge, fresh Kaiser bun.
Topped with fresh lettuce, onions and the standard
condiments, and available with a number of optional
toppings from Swiss to Jalapeno peppers at 50 cents
each, the "Infamous" burger is then nestled in a
plateful of homemade fries cut from whole potatoes.
At a reasonable $4.95, it's a full meal that leaves
little room for one of the Albion's decadent desserts.
The only fault with the burger (albeit a very minor
one), was the tomato slice which had the wooden
taste of a California import. Once the locally grown
ones ripen later in the summer, that minor problem
too will disappear.—JF
Hamburgers like
Kelly -Joe's aren't easy
to find these days
"A 10 -plus, mouthwatering, char -broiled
burger that a person would drive miles for!" is the
way Cathy McLelland of RR4, Kincardine
described the hamburgers at Kelly -Joe's Family
Restaurant, RR 1, Durham.
Kelly -Joe's received more than one
nomination in our hunt for the perfect burger so we
decided to check it out. Our first hint that we were
on to something was the number of cars in the
parking lot. The eatery was packed, but service was
very good despite the crowd.
Mrs. Joan M. Jacobs of Stratford
recommended the bacon/cheeseburger. "My
husband and I stop in every Friday night on our way
to our cabin and always end up getting their
bacon/cheeseburger. It's so big and so delicious that
we only have room to split onion rings or fries."
She didn't exaggerate. No frozen patties here
either. The fresh ground bccf burger is broiled to
perfection, tender inside and just slightly crispy
outside, is about 3/4" in thickness and five inches in
diameter. Served on a fresh, lightly toasted kaiser
bun it's a mouth-watering meal in itself.
Visually, the Kelly -Joe's burger is appealing.
The bacon/cheeseburger has all the extras with the
exception of pickles which is quite possibly a
feature of one of their other tempting burgers.
There is a number of burgers to try at Kelly -
Joe's ranging in price from $2.25 for a regular
hamburger to $3.85 for a super burger with cheese.
Hamburgers like this are not easy to find
nowadays and the delicious flavour of this one puts
it near the top of the list. The only possible
improvement in my opinion is to use real cheddar as
opposed to processed cheese.—BG
TOWNSMAN/JULY-AUGUST1991 5