A Burger A Week – Mouthole BBQ
What happens when your “restaurant” is on wheels?…
When I started making the list of which burger places I would visit on this Sarasota burger expedition, I went into it with an open mind. What I mean by that is, I wasn’t going just to include the expected. I wanted to show off a little bit of the unexpected too.
What fun is it if the only places you visit are the same ones everyone else is visiting (and writing about)? Don’t get me wrong. We are going to include some of the burger standards. What would a comprehensive burger rundown of Sarasota be like without a trip to The Hob Nob or Patrick’s? I don’t think I could handle the emails! 😆
Stop #10 is one of those unexpected places I was talking about. As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure that Mouthole BBQ actually qualifies as a “place.” Its place is really wherever they set up shop for the day. And on most Tuesday evenings, that “place” is Calusa Brewing! 🍺
OH, just FYI, this also happens to be Burger Ride-Along number two! Our burger-tasting guest of honor on this day is Bianca Colangelo. Bianca wears two hats. Not only is she a talented local artist (here’s a LINK to her work), but she is also a seasoned and professional mixologist.
Bianca knows her burgers AND her beer, having passed level one of the Cicerone Certification Program. So it seems Calusa Brewing would be the perfect place to have her onboard for the burger/beer combo.
Since Mouthole isn’t your typical brick-and-mortar operation, it was going to be interesting to see how their burger stacks up against the places that don’t have to drive their kitchen around town. Traveling to your customers instead of them traveling to you adds another complication to an already complicated restaurant game.
Serving food out of a large van also means relying on someone else’s “dining room.” In this case, that means here at the brewery. It all seems to work out just fine at Calusa. You can eat inside or at picnic tables outside under a tent. Both options are “community table” situations, so you’ll get to make some new friends. 🙋
Tuesdays from 5-8pm is “Burger and Pint Night” at the brewery. Calusa is in charge of the brews, and Mouthole provides the eats. We’re here for The Deal Smashole Burger.
Let’s talk about our Mouthole BBQ burger experience…
RESTAURANT: MOUTHOLE BBQ (FOOD TRUCK)
DATE OF VISIT: SEPTEMBER 22, 2022
STOP #: 10 OF 52
BURGER TASTED: THE DEAL SMASHOLE BURGER
📒 OUR TASTING NOTES
🍔 This burger is served as listed on the menu: Fresh ground beef patty with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickles, and mayo. Served on a brioche bun with fries ($13 includes a pint of Calusa Brewing beer).
First off, the burger ordering process is super slick. Walk up to the window, order your burger, and pay. They give you a tiny round pager so you can feel free to roam and drink beer while your burger is smashed and cooked. Yes, it’s just that easy!
The burger itself was fantastic. Bianca really summed it up nicely, “It’s a damn good burger!” I could not have said it better myself. It IS a damn good burger (there, I said it)!
I loved that the toppings (aside from the cheese) were on the bottom. That means when you bite into it, you get all of the flavors and all of the textures in one delicious mouthful. 📝 So this may be a touch burger geeky, but if the “toppings” are on the bottom, they are also in the same place in your mouth where your taste buds are located, YOUR TONGUE. Not the roof of your mouth. For your consideration…
A nice buttery brioche bun made an excellent carrier for this burger.
Since it’s smashed (or griddled), you don’t get to ask for it cooked to your desired temp. It’s just cooked. It came out nice and juicy and loaded with meaty flavor. Bianca thought it was a “classic burger; it’s just good. None of that fancy BS.”
Now for the fries. Again, home run. Really crispy and salted perfectly. It was obvious for how busy they were on a “non-season” Tuesday night that their burger reputation had definitely preceded them. People were lining up for this burger and pint special.
This is a great bang for the burger buck. For $13, you get a burger and a Calusa beer. Their craft brews here generally run $5 or $6. You can do the math. 💸
Of course, we had a couple of tasty Calusa beers to wash this all down.
I don’t want to pick favorites. That’s really not the point of this whole exercise. And we’re only just shy of 20% through our list. But The Deal Smashole Burger is one to sit up and take notice of. ✅
Let’s check out how all of this looked when we ordered it…
BURGER TAKEAWAYS: Super casual burger experience • Perfectly cooked griddled-style burger • Easy ordering and pickup • Delicious fries • A great burger value • Burger + Beer = Happy!
👀 SNEAK PEEK: Up next, we’re going “fast casual.” Can an up-and-coming national burger chain measure up to the local favorites? We’re going to find out! 🍔
We want to hear about your Sarasota burger experience. So much so, in fact, that we’ve started up a special Facebook Group just for this A Burger A Week series. So, feel free to share your Sarasota burger experiences, photos, and anything else burger related you’d like others to know about.
JOIN SARASOTA’S BEST BURGERS FACEBOOK GROUP HERE!
✅ Did you miss a week? No worries. Here’s a link to our A BURGER A WEEK SERIES ARCHIVE! 🍔
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