Delux: A Burger Experience

Burgers. The All-American Meal.

After reading an article in the local newspaper, we decided to begin sampling the "best burgers" in Phoenix. Now this is all subjective of course, but that is what makes it an intriguing journey. On a recent weekend we caught a movie and intent on beginning work on the list of restaurants, made the sojourn to delux, located at 32nd Street and Camelback Road to try a burger that I had been hearing about for several years, the delux Burger. The menu touts it as a blend of premium, all-natural ground beef, topped with arugula, a caramelized onion and applewood bacon mixture and maytag and gruyere cheeses on a demi-baguette.


First off I ordered the house sweet potato fries with ketchup and house aioli. They had a nice crunch and a light salting that complemented the potato’s natural sweetness perfectly. Then it was time to order the burger. Now, full disclosure, I am a medium, medium-well guy when it comes to burgers, but the menu said best served medium-rare, so I decided to go for it and ordered the delux, medium-rare.


My first impressions upon the food arriving was that the burger was more of a loaf shape rather than the traditional circular burger. Next, to me, the arugula overwhelmed the burger, which in my book is never a good thing. I like a burger in which the meat is the attraction. These features lent the burger more the features of a hoagie than a burger. Thoughts on the first bite: the meat was very mushy, a byproduct of ordering medium-rare, I suppose. The onion and bacon mixture came through with every bite and had a great sweetness from the onion that mingled with the slight bite of the arugula, which even though I thought there was too much green, led to a very pleasant taste. The description says that the burger is topped with gruyere and maytag, but I never noticed it. Perhaps it was the other flavors overwhelming the cheese, or maybe the restaurant just skimps, but the flavor just didn't come through. Another shortfall was that we were there on a slow lazy Saturday afternoon and several times we were left with empty drink glasses as we tried to enjoy our meal.

Overall the burger had a great flavor, the ingredients mixed extremely well, but that is to be expected from a boutique restaurant. To me, the experience was slightly disappointing, especially after all of the rave reviews I had heard. I would be willing to give delux another try, and order the burger slightly more well done, but I am wary of the level of service.

In the end I would give delux a 3.75 out 5 with the caveat that the rating could rise upon a second visit.