STKDBRGR
I like STKDBRGR. A lot. A no frills, heart on your sleeve kind of place with the food to match. On entering you are greeted with heavy metal playing like Metallica or Megadeth showing a clear fandom in the kitchen evinced by the posters celebrating them decorating the wall. It’s what the crew want to listen to and that’s ok because this is their place, you are only visiting. And what a visit I had.
Other than the posters and music, STKDBRGR evokes even more underground energy with street art leading you upstairs, and nostalgic memorabilia scattered here and there. The whole look and feel of their website and place calls for some sort of clothing so their clientele can start to represent what they stand for. I, for one, would buy something in a heartbeat, to show my support.
Starting as an idea in 2015, a pop-up in 2018 and finally a venue in 2021, STKDBRGR has had a solid growth trajectory. As to who is behind it, that’s not quite clear, but they refer to themselves on their website as the STKDPACK, as they should.
Like I said the food does what it says on the tin. They are taking the old faithfuls which are relatively simple, but of which executed terribly can lead to terrible results. In this case, STKDBRGR execute wonderfully. On my visit I had the hot (seemingly Buffalo) wings and a double Classic STK burger. We can start with where I started and that is the wings.
The wings came deep fried, hot (as in temperature) and pleasant to the eye. They did not hold back on use of sauce which is a good thing, as many places lack the sauce. And the sauce was sticky, not running and lost to the basket, but instead holding strong to the wing therefore providing maximum flavour. Served with a blue cheese dip that was more sweet than “smelly socks”, it provided the right resistance to the heat and acidity to counterbalance. Certain they used Franks and butter (standard go-to for Buffalo sauce making), but I could be wrong, and maybe some sort of emulsifier giving a nice sheen to the wings as can be seen above. A strong wing if I have ever had one.
The burger, oh the burger. I am tempted to just point you to the picture above as testimony enough. Look at how the cheese oozes, how the smashed burger has the dark charred bits explosive in flavour, with the right fat ratio to make the inside gloriously juicy but not so much so that you ended up with a soggy bun and a falling apart mess of a burger. It remained intact throughout though I will admit it did not last long as I wolfed it down. The pickles were cut thick (not to everyone’s liking, but definitely to mine) with diced onion, ketchup and mustard providing right amounts acidity. STKDBRGR do not want to overcomplicate the already complicated burger scene. This want to make burgers how they like them. This is evident in their Classic through and through. And as I said before I like it.
Was the trip to Bangor worth it? Yes. Will I be going to Bangor again soon for STKDBRGR? Yes, most definitely. Grab a STKDBRGR and enjoy the heavy metal, that is my advice to you.
