4.1.12 St. Arnold's vs The Underground

 St. Arnold's Mussel Bar vs The Underground

St. Arnold's
Nice outdoor patio, just off Connecticut Ave. This is really more of a mussels place (we went with the mussels in a beer sauce with carmelized shallot, garlic and thyme in duck fat). Not really a good idea if you're planning on eating two burgers in one night.


But this is about the burger, right? There's just one, so makes the choice easy. It's the St. Arnold's stuffed burger, with your choice of cheese (we went with gruyere), bacon AND prosciutto, mushrooms, roasted red peppers and onion. Most of the goodness here comes from presentation and concept... It lacked in the taste department. A.H. was neutral to the bun. The flavor was dominated by the peppers and prosciutto, without really any contribution from the beef. Over-done. But it made for a nice picture... And did I mention that the mussels were out of this world??

D.D. and M.T.- Taste 2.2, Presentation 0.8, Doneness 0.7, Condiments 0.9, Service 0.9, Bun 0.8 [Total Score 6.2]
A.H.- Taste 2.0, Presentation 0.7, Doneness 0.3, Condiments 0.5, Service 0.5, Bun 0.5 [Total Score 4.5]
T.K.- Taste 1.0, Presentation 0.7, Doneness 0.1, Condiments 0.5, Service 0.9, Bun 0.4 [Total Score 3.6]
Overall Weighted Score: 4.3

The Underground
Then after you've had a few and you're sufficiently dehydrated from excessive amounts of sodium, you can walk right downstairs to their lower-level bar area, which carries the same menu, in addition to this ridiculous "everything is deep-fried" downstairs menu. I mean everything. We may have indulged in a burger sandwiched between two slices of cheddar, wrapped in bacon, and deep fried... with a side of bacon-wrapped, deep-fried BLT hot dog with a fried egg on top. A little bit of an unfair face-off between these two places, since you can't really compare with anything that's deep fried... if only for the novelty. Additionally, it was the same burger, just dressed differently (aka, a bit tasteless). The friendly bartender won the service points right off the bat, treating us to a couple rounds of shots of his own creation. (Of note, D.D. STRONGLY disagreed with the outcome of this match-up, but was over-ruled).

D.D. and M.T.- Taste 2.0, Presentation 0.6, Doneness 0.6, Condiments 0.6, Service 1.0, Bun 0.7 [Total Score 5.5]
A.H.- Taste 2.8, Presentation 0.4, Doneness 0.4, Condiments 0.1, Service 1.0, Bun 0.8 [Total Score 5.1]
T.K.- Taste 3.0, Presentation 0.8, Doneness 0.1, Condiments 0.2, Service 1.0, Bun 1.0 [Total Score 6.1]
Overall Weighted Score: 5.86

Overall, the Underground beat St. Arnold's (5.86 to 4.3), as we knew it would. Neither are really a burger place, but we'll see how the UG does in the second round.