Lili's Bistro Top 10 Ranker

Visited: Saturday March 27, 2010

1310 W Magnolia Ave

Fort Worth. TX 76104

817.877.0700

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We love stories of places like Lili's (short for Liliana, the place's 6 years old namesake.) Vance Martin has done a terrific job bringing gourmet flair to the cheeseburger.

This place, located on Magnolia Ave next to the Fairmount neighborhood, is probably our favorite for atmosphere. It is an old building with exposed brick and vaulted ceiling. Down side is that it is tiny and you will most likely have to wait. The upside is that the wait is worth it.

If you are a cheeseburger "purest," this place may not be for you. It is a bistro and has that feel and the food (as you can see) is served with a chef's flair. The burgers are flavored well and cooked medium (the way it should be.) You get your choice of sourdough or jalapeno bread for the bun. The fries are waffle-style and we even tried them with some Gorgonzola cheese sprinkled across the top for added flavor. (add $1.50)

The burger is served on a real plate (not a basket) and is a 1/2 lb portion. Service was okay, but not at the same level as the food. Diet Coke is in a can. (Big pet peeve of mine since the flavor is not the same as fountain and they charge you more for it.)

Lili's is the first place where Burger Saturday found itself squarely in the face of the debate of - do we need "categories" of burgers to judge? In other words, the grease-juiced burger of Pop's or Kincaid's is very different than the gourmet style of burger we had here. Perhaps as this journey continues, we will have to break the Top 10 Rank into 2 parts - pure and gourmet. But for now, we will keep moving forward. After all, its not like we are as different as McDonald's in comparison.

Stats:

Locations: 1

Date Est: 2007

SCORE:

Burger: 4 pickles

Sides: 4 pickles

Menu: 4 pickles

Atmosphere: 5 pickle

Service: 3 pickle

Price: $9 cheeseburger

Jake's

Visited: Saturday March 6, 2010



6333 Camp Bowie Blvd
Fort Worth. TX 76116
817.737.5253
Hours: Mon - Thurs 11am - 10pm

Fri - Sat 11am - 11pm
Sun - 11am - 10pm

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This place is from Dallas, but we will not hold that against them. Part Hooters, part sports bar, the burgers are definitely worth checking out. We have scouted and eaten at both Fort Worth locations, but this review is about the West side one. The inside is cool since it was actually built by Tim Love as Deuce, his second concept in Fort Worth, that served as the victory party place for his win on Iron Chef, but soon after closed its doors. the remodel Jake's put into the space makes it electic, but not in the good "been here for many years" way. Its more of a tried to fit our burger joint into this fine dining place. Imagine having your III Forks salad from Silver Fox inside McDonalds.

Its a mixture of sports bar and fine dining with a fireplace and water feature on a an enclosed outdoor patio. There is even a cool band stage at the back for a fun evening of music with your burger. And LOTS of TVs for great viewing. they definately did this right.

The sign on the outside says award-winning burgers and there are plenty of Dallas awards for thier meatery. However, we will start by saying this is not a Top 10 ranker for us. Remember, we do the basic cheeseburger for an burgers to burgers comparison and in this arena - Jake's falls short. They do, however, have an exetnsive bruger menu and even a fun "burger of the month" program with specialties like the Fritos Chili Pie burger. (very Texas state Fair of them.) So, we woudl give them props for this and one day when we right the best specialty burger blog, we expect these guys to be up there. But that is someday.

Using fresh ground beef, this place is part of the "stackables" family of burger attempts. The patties are 1/4lb each and like most thin patties, the juice factor is not great. The #3 Cheeseburger is 2 patties, double American cheese and is garnished with onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle and mustard. Served in a basket with tissue paper, the burger itself comes blanketed in a foil wrapper.

The temperature was good, bu the flavor of the meat on its own - our true test of award winning - leaves much to be desired. Like many places, they seem to rely on their toppings for thier story more than their beef.

The bun here is unique. It is toasted and has more seeds than stars. It makes for a unique flavor. The fries are machine sliced, skin on potatoes. The poriton is solid, but in the 6 times we have been there, most times the temperature of the fries is less than desriable.

All in all, this is a solid place, but the burger falls just short of being award-winning in our book. But do try the fried pickles while you are there. They are a good. Stats:


Locations: 6


Date Est: 1985




SCORE: (1 - 7)

Burger: 4 pickles

Sides: 4 pickles

Menu: 5 pickles

Atmosphere: 4 pickle

Service: 4 pickle

Price: $9 cheeseburger (with fries)