Hyped burger joint boasts some nifty milkshakes, but dry buns kill the mood
Re:grub arrived in Edmonton last summer with significant hype. In anticipation of the lineups, the Whyte Avenue burger spot was outfitted with live cameras outside and in, just like its popular sister location in Calgary, so would-be patrons could monitor the queue on the restaurant’s website.
The crowds came, and YEG Instagram was overrun with photos of monster milkshakes topped with doughnuts, candy floss and ice cream sandwiches.
Fast-forward eight months or so and the crowds seem to have dwindled. There was no need to check the queue cam before we arrived on a recent weeknight — there were only a handful of other people inside. Maybe weekends are busier.
As at most burger joints, you order and pay at the counter at Re:grub, take a seat and wait for your food. The decor is salvage-industrial — like a dorm room outfitted at a scrap yard. There’s graffiti on the walls, milk crates stacked as (uncomfortable) chairs, a wooden palette hanging from the ceiling and light fixtures that look like ventilation fans. Cross-sections of plastic tubing are formed into partitions and corrugated panels line the counter. A giant (motorized?) teddy bear sits in one corner, its arms jerking erratically every few minutes.
The menu is all about burgers and milkshakes, with the usual range of sides.
The milkshakes, as Instagram will attest, are definitely photoworthy. Most are variations on a vanilla shake, served in mason jars rimmed with colourful sprinkles and mile-high, ridiculous toppings like entire pieces of cheesecake and whole doughnuts. At $9 each, they’re pricey, but many are essentially a milkshake plus a dessert.
Without the crazy toppings, in plain vanilla, chocolate or strawberry, they go for a more reasonable $4. We tried the Howbow Dah?, topped with a dab of peanut butter, marshmallow, whipped cream, an Oreo cookie and an entire Oreo ice cream sandwich. Fun, to be sure, and pretty yummy.
The burgers were significantly less fun. We tried three of them — two beef and one bison — and while the patties were good (and ground in-house, according to a sign inside), they were all overshadowed by truly terrible brioche buns and uninspired toppings and condiments.
The buns (also homemade, according to the sign) were small, dry and virtually tasteless. Despite their puny size, none
of us could finish them. A good dousing of tasty condiments might have at least lent the bread some flavour, but alas, the condiments and toppings were sparse, and in some cases, as flavourless as the buns.
The Pickle Grad ($8), a fourounce patty with tomato, greens, deep-fried pickles and bacon ranch sauce, had only two tiny, limp spears of breaded pickle and a dab of bland sauce on it, along with a slice of tomato and a few small lettuce leaves.
The Vintage Deluxe ($9) had a tastier sauce, plus onion, lettuce and tomato, but suffered from the same nasty bun. The Bison Bison ($15) had little of the promised Asiago cheese, though it did have plenty of mushrooms and sautéed onions. Again, a good patty in a bad bun.
There were several other beef burgers on the menu, two veggie options and a turkey club, plus three variations of hotdogs.
For our sides, we went with the classics — Kennebec fries, which were fine, and some outrageously priced onion rings ($9), which were very good. Crispy and hot, they arrived drizzled with maple syrup, which I wasn’t a fan of, but my dining companions were.
Drinks include limited wine and beer, plus eight kinds of hot chocolate, which, like the milkshakes, come with crazy garnishes like lava cake and heart-shaped churros.
I remain perplexed by the name Re:grub, particularly by the random colon in the middle. I’m not sure if the re: is short for regarding or recycled, though neither makes much sense when paired with grub.
As for the food, when your menu is based on two staples — burgers and milkshakes — they had both better be great. While the milkshakes were fun and novel, Re:grub needs to up its burger game to compete in a market already crowded with great fast-casual burgers.
Plans are afoot to open a second location in Calgary and one in Saskatoon, according to the Re:grub website.