Last Friday, Omar and I snuck out for a quick dinner, with a craving for a good burger and a new destination in mind, The Old Detroit Burger Bar, which took over the old Mr. B’s on Rochester Road in Troy. The website touts itself as “the best burger in town”. With a claim like that, we had to try it.
The walls of this restaurant are decorated with old pictures of iconic Detroit landmarks which tell a story of Detroit’s history along with widescreen TV’s and subtle lighting.
The menu incorporates many Michigan based companies, Vodka distilled from Ferndale, Beer from Kalamazoo and Birmingham, Faygo, Towne Club, wines from Traverse City, Better Made potato chips, Dearborn Brand and Wigley’s Meats.
The burgers come in baskets, branded with the company logo, juicy and delicious with a side of fries, waffle fries, onion rings or tater tots.
It was Wigley’s corned beef that first grabbed Omar’s attention. Omar ordered the “Ambassador” Burger. 1/2 lb perfectly cooked beef topped with Wigley’s corned beef, swiss cheese and Thousand Island Dressing. The burger was juicy, although Omar said could use a bit more seasoning.
I stuck with the standard Old Detroit Classic, a 1/2 lb Angus burger to which I added bacon and cheddar cheese. My burger was amaze-balls. Juicy, flavorful and huge!! I could only manage to eat half of the monster!!
Both Omar and I agreed that the sides were good, not great. I ordered the tater tots, because, really when do I ever eat tots? I expected them for some reason to be extraordinary. They were just tater tots. Nothing more, nothing less. Omar’s waffle fries were the same. Just your run of the mill waffle fries.
They had a decent selection of Michigan Beers. I ordered my usual Vanilla Java Porter. Cold and frosty as usual.
If you are feeling adventurous, try the I-75 burger. A 2 lb $25 burger topped with grilled onions and jalapenos. Finish the burger and you get your picture taken and placed on the “wall of fame”. As Omar and I didn’t want our picture to appear in the news with caption “gluttonous couple eats themselves to death” we did not order it.
We were sat quickly, our waitress was attentive and our beer and food came out very quick. Overall, a great experience and we will go back!! Forks up to this one!!
