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Health & Fitness

Burger Wars: McBride's

The controversial next stop in my quest for best burger in Plainfield.

I'll be running a periodic series in a quest for the in Plainfield. I'm using a completely arbitrary system of my own devices. In the end, I'll crown the non-people's choice champion for Best Burger in Plainfield. Today's burger: McBride's.

"My only regret is that I never got to see Plainfield's most glorious of all eateries, the place that would be so that they should rename the town McBridesville."

-Dick Rock, former Emperor of Plainfield [citation needed]

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I couldn't waste another post. I had to do it. I had to eat at . The ever-controversial town watering hole offered up it's fair share of angry comments during the voting process for the Readers' Choice for Best Burger in Plainfield.

Some people, who seem to think their opinion matters, didn't want McBride's on the list because of a border dispute. Is it Joliet? Is it Plainfield? Is it Gary, IN? These are the things that, I assume, people argue about when they have run out of interesting ways to live their lives.

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Of course, this isn't the people's vote. This is my vote. McBride's is in. McBride's is so in, we should pysically detach the entire bar from the shopping complex they are in, put it on a float, and roll the bar through downtown Plainfield as the grand marshal of the homecoming parade.

I want McBrides to have their named etched into the moon as the number one bar in Plainfield. I will stop at nothing to have the mayor of Plainfield (Mayor McCheese?) give the entire town the day off and call it "McBride's Day: A Celebration of All Things McBride's in Plainfield."

Oh, and they have food, too. Let's get to the review.

The Place: McBride's Plainfield Pub & Grille

The Burger: Southwest Burger

Meat: I love good sear marks on a burger. Clean lines show that the cook was definitely paying attention to the burger while they were cooking it. This burger had it. The menu doesn't mention where the meat from the burger is from, but I won't kill them for it because it was still good.

I order all of my burgers medium well. I do this because I like to enjoy every aspect of the burger and if you go medium on a burger, or undercook it a bit, those juices are more likely to leak down into the bun and make the bun soggy. The burger came in a bit under medium well. More on this in a second.

Meat Score: 7

Bun: The bun ended up soggy around half way through eating the burger. Same style roll as , but it didn't hold up as well. By the end, it was almost a chore to hold the bottom of the bun together to take a bite out of it. The bun wasn't crusty, though. It obviously hadn't been sitting around forever waiting to be eaten.

I gotta knock down the bun score, but I won't kill the bun score.

Bun Score: 4

Toppings: The true sign of a good sauce is when you instinctively start licking your lips after every bite just to make sure you get every bit of the sauce. The spicy chipotle sauce on this burger is phenomenal. It was sweet, spicy, and completely elevated the taste of the burger. Then, on the bottom of the burger was bleu cheese dressing that took the heat off the initial bite of the original sauce.

The bleu cheese probably contributed a bit to the bottom of the bun going soggy, but there is definitely a tradeoff there. Also, there is bacon on the burger. Nothing bad has ever happened when bacon has been involved.

Toppings Score: 8

This burger comes in at a final score of 19. It's tied for first, along with HopScotch & Vine.

The Ed Arter Bang For Your Buck Scale

Named after the Patch commenter who came up with the idea, this will give you guys a better idea how how far your money will go for your burger.

The burger comes in at $8, at the low end of the cost scale for Plainfield burgers. It comes with fries, mashed potatoes, veggies or coleslaw. That's all well and good, but for an extra dollar, you know what you get???

WAFFLES FRIES!!! GUYS!!! WAFFLE FRIES!!!

I admit that I get unnecessarily excited by being able to get waffle fries. I'll gladly pay an extra dollar for waffle fries. You can also get onion rings or curly fries for an extra buck. I cannot complain with those choices. Actually, if I got this burger again, I'd get onion rings, and put one or two on top of the burger. I'll give it a 7/10 on the bang for your buck scale no matter how you get your fries (or vegetables, but why would you do that when you order a burger? It's like ordering a Big Mac, fries, then thinking you can offset everything by getting a diet Coke).

Now, more importantly, where can I find an old timey skywriter to write "McBride's is the Heart and Soul of Plainfield" across the sky on a warm autumn day?

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