Recently, as we were writing an article on burgers for Discover Baltimore, we felt the need to do just a tad more research. Also, we needed photos. We had been to Abbey Burger Bistro in the past on an epic day of eating. At that time, we were doing research for our first book,
Food Lovers' Guide to Baltimore, and did a tour of Grilled Cheese & Co., Thai Arroy, Abbey, and Midnite Confection's (apostrophe theirs) Cupcakes all on the same evening. By the time we got to Abbey, we were stuffed with cheese and tofu and weren't able to enjoy our burgers as much as we could have. Still, we came away with good feelings about the place and vowed to return.
We arrived early on this occasion and were able to snag a table near the front door, which offered us a bit of light for photography. We eschewed the meats of the month (nothing against wild boar, but camel sounded a bit too strange) and the build-your-own-burger option and ordered straight off the menu.
We chose the fried pickles as our starter. Such things can be really hit or miss. We've had really bad ones and really mediocre ones, and were still looking for really good ones. And we found them at Abbey. The sour pickle slices were in a light crunchy batter that the menu billed as tempura but we thought was more similar to fish-n-chips-style beer batter. They were so tasty, they didn't really need the lightly spicy mayo-based dipping sauce (but we used it anyway).
As for the burgers, Mr Minx went for the Baltimore burger, topped with crab dip, applewood bacon, and cheddar. He enjoyed it, but my palate doesn't care for seafood + bacon (shrimp, scallops, and clams being exceptions). The bacon makes the seafood taste fishy to me. He also ordered a side of fries, which were perfect - very brown, crisp, and fresh-tasting.
The same cannot be said for my side of chips (the default), which were the unfortunate victims of humidity. Most of them were melded together into one damp mega-chip, and the loose ones tasted stale. But my burger, a mostly traditional "paddy" melt, was nice. The burger was cooked to medium, as requested, and there was plenty of cheese and sauteed onions. I did, however, miss the Thousand Island dressing.
Abbey offers myriad meats, toppings, and breads, so one can have kangaroo on an English muffin with brie, grilled pineapple, and salsa, or lamb, sprouts, white truffle oil, and relish on a pretzel roll. Or even a tasty combination of toppings. We'll give that a try next time, and I'm definitely ordering fries with my elk, nacho cheese, fried egg, and buffalo sauce on a pita.
Posted on Minxeats.com.
