Top 10 Burgers in Denver: Deluxe Burger’s “Denver Burger”
Deluxe Burger’s “Denver Burger”
Location: E Colfax
Price: $7.5
The Skinny: The story goes that one hot summer night, Deluxe, a successful and well respected restaurant, had a few too many drinks at the bar, and armed with lines from VH1’s “The Pick Up Artist”, started throwing his game out there. The bait lured barfly Mod Livin, a stylish, modern furniture joint, single for 9 years and hanging out on the streets of Colfax. Sparks fly, birds chirp, and Deluxe moves in months later.
Feb 26th,, 2010 – the birth of this union: “Deluxe Burger” – dubbed by the owners as “Love in a Bun”. ½ rock solid food, ½ hip, mid-century design. The result is an excellent, sweet, spicy and messy affair… much like love itself. (And yes, that’s Shakespeare rolling over in his grave.)
On this occasion I got the “Denver Burger” – a spice and flavor guarantee with melted cheddar, sautéed chilies, onions, pico, and smoked jalapeño aioli. That’s right, jalepeno and chilis – pico and onion. Redundant? Perhaps. Especially with the pico. You already get onions and tomato in the burger – having pico there gave only slightly more acid, but not much more flavor. It also made the burger a bit of a mess, with the pico soaking into the bun. Even with a sloppy bun, it was still terrific – the subtle heat from the spicy, mouthwatering aioli mixing well with the sweet onions and house-ground beef patty.
And that’s the other thing to mention about Deluxe Burger – everything, yes everything is homemade – from the fries down to the condiments and pickles. An impressive feat, for sure, but on this visit it was the fries and condiments that were the most out of sync. Chef-owner Dylan Moore is too good to let that go on, and I’d expect this to get smoothed out over the next few months as they find their stride. Overall, a very strong burger.
AGREE OR DISAGREE?
April 3rd, 2010 at 9:51 pm
The young man taking orders at the register was chewing on a toothpick and turning it end over end with his teeth while taking our order. He was also taking it in and out of his mouth with his fingers and then handling food and drink orders. Food was very disappointing. The slice of tomato on my burger was going bad, the sliver of red onion was bitter, the meat was burned on the surface, the cheese was melted into oblivion, the bun was dried and burned on the edges and greasy in the middle, the can of Coke was barely cold. The fries were soft and the homemade catsup tasted like Hunt’s tomato sauce.
May 18th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Barbara – I have to say, your comments are not all that uncommon. I’m surprised at how uneven the reviews are. It seems like there is a level of consistency that is completely absent. I was there when Dylan Moore was cooking, so it was pretty good. I wonder if, when he leaves to cook at Deluxe, the quality goes with him…