Bobby's Burger Palace, Princeton, NJ

Over the summer, our local mall, The Princeton MarketFair, shut down their food court to bring in more sit-down eateries, and we were a little wary of what would come.  That changed when we found out one of the new places would be Bobby Flay's Burger Palace.

There are only 11 of these currently, all in the Mid-Atlantic region. Ours opened in late August, and we've already gone there 3 times.  It's a good mid-price, slower-than-fast-food, faster-than-sit-down kind of place. The decor is tongue-in-cheek retro-chic with long serpentine bar seating and communal tables with faux wood finish.

The menu is pretty simple - 10 varieties of burger topping combos which you can get on Angus beef, ground turkey, or chicken breast;  two types of grilled cheese;  a regular salad, a chopped salad, or a salad with any of the burger varieties on top; fries, sweet potato fries, or onion rings; and 13 flavors of milkshake (include 3 spiked shakes). 

Redneckhunter was happy to see a Black and White milkshake actually listed on the menu.  A lot of times he has to explain to people what goes into black and white -- vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup or hot fudge.  He had to admit that Bobby made a good one.  One of these times I'm going to have order their dark chocolate shake.

So in our various visits, we've tried a few different things.  Well, I have, at least.  Redneckhunter has stuck with the LA Burger -- avocado relish, watercress, cheddar cheese, and tomato.

I've tried that one, as well as the Napa Valley with fresh goat cheese, watercress, and Meyer lemon honey mustard, and the Dallas as a turkey burger, which was spice crusted, with coleslaw, Monterey Jack, BBQ sauce and pickles. 

The beef burgers have always come out a perfect medium rare, the meat flavorful, the buns soft and fresh.  All in all, a mighty tasty burger.

I liked my turkey burger - I think the spicier Dallas was a good combo for it -- though I still don't think it beats my favorite turkey burger, which is from Big Nick's Burger Joint on the Upper West Side. 

The only two things that have just been so-so are the sweet potato fries (we haven't tried the regular fries or onion rings yet) , and Bobby's sauces (a selection of which are left on the table -- jalapeno, chipotle ketchup, a signature burger sauce -- and a honey mustard horseradish for the fries).  Nothing really was better than just plain old ketchup.