The Search for the Best...Cheeseburger (pt. 4 )

Today's lesson? Perception and Reality. Perception is highly biased. Reality? Not so much.

Seattlest brings this little lesson up, for today we address two highly renown Seattle burger establishments and place them against each other. The contestents? Dick's and Daly's Drive-ins. Each establishment has their own little cult following, who will tell you in no uncertain terms that their cheeseburgers are the best in town.

Seattlest's reaction to these establishments? Meh. We've had better. Let the arrows from angry cult members be slung where they may. Our job here is to find the best cheeseburger, not find the best cheap cheeseburger, or the best cheeseburger found in a place that makes decent milkshakes.

See who goes to the next round below the jump.

Bun: Both places served their cheeseburgers on toasted white hamburger buns. Both buns were equally fresh. The problem? Did we mention that the buns were white? We did. White bread buns flavor are unobtrusive by design. This means any that the taste of the buns was not noticable at all. Which is neither good nor bad. That puts our score for the buns smack in the middle (2.5), but we'll add to the score for toasting the darn things.

Dick's - 6/ Daly's - 6

Burgers: Dick's promotes the fact that their burgers are made with 100% beef, which strikes us as amusing. Their burger was fried to a crisp, leaving it dry. It wasn't without pleasant taste however, which struck us as odd.

Daly's burgers are flame broiled and moist (a plus), but the texture of the beef was grainy, indicating a lower grade meat (a minus). So who has the better burger? We'll take flamebroiled and moist over fried and dried any day. But only barely.

Dick's - 5/ Daly's - 5.5

Burger/Bun Ratio: Dick's was a little more bun than burger, Daly's was perfect.

Dick's - 8/ Daly's - 10

Cheese: Dick's obviously chooses a lower quality cheese that melts well but provides little in the way of taste. Seattlest likes our cheese gooey, but we also like it tasty.

Daly's cheese is also hard to taste with the pickle brine overwhelming the taste. Once the taste of the pickle goes away, then the taste of the cheese comes through.

Dick's - 5/ Daly's - 5

Misc.: Here we wish to bring up the pickle issue. Now Seattles doesn't mind pickles, as long as there is a balance of taste. If the pickle tends to overwhelm (as in the case of Daly's), then we would like the option to remove the pickle. Dick's doesn't give you that option, as the pickle seemed to be chopped and minced and mixed into the mayo. We could have removed the pickle, but we would have needed tweezers and twenty minutes to kill. However, the taste of the pickle on the Dick's burger balanced nicely with the rest of the burger, so we didn't have to result to such measures.

The rest of the condiments? We should note that the moistness of Dick's cheeseburger came not from the meat, but from the mayo, catsup and mustard. Tsk, tsk. Daly's was a little more restrained with their condiments.

Dick's - 6/ Daly's - 6

The totals? Dick's ends up with a 6 point average, while Daly's squeaks out a win with a 6.5. What does this mean? Both burgers are only a little above average.

The perception of some people regarding both of these places is that each places sells an exceptional burger. The reality? They're both pretty plain and average.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Kate in Food on June 8, 2005 12:35 PM

Comments [rss]

rob

hands down.....no argument about it....the best burger in the world, let alone, seattle, is at the Latona Pub

serial catowner

It's a brave new world. In ye olde days, if you wanted quality you found a drive-in where the carhops came to the car. Hamburgers came on a plate, milkshakes were in metal cannisters that you poured into a glass.

If you wanted mindless chow you went to Dicks. Hamburgers and shakes were a quarter apiece, fries 11 cents (you always waited for fries because they made them and served them fresh). The cheese in the cheeseburger is a seasoning, not a food.

Daly's was like an urban drive-in, but, frankly, they effed their delivery and recipes back in the late 70s. Sic transit gloria.

I think, really, they're both good at the kind of food we should eventually outgrow.

adrianne

strangely enough, the best cheeseburger i've ever had is at a small family-owned place in dowtown everett, of all places.

Chris Comte

Although it's a little late, The Union Square Grill downtown used to have a Kobe Burger Happy Hour Special (alas, now no longer available, except on the full-price menu), where for $7 you got about a half pound of succulent Kobe-style beef with the trimmings (no cheese though).

For a basic cheeseburger, however, I'll stick with either Kidd Valley or Bling's down in Madison Valley - a bit on the pricier side, but definitely miles above Dicks or Dalys -- unless it's 1:45 a.m. and I'm drunk, in which case Dicks wins by a mile.

dawn

If you want to go fancy, I think the best burger if money is no object is served at the Palace Kitchen. They bring it out on a froo-froo tiered serving platter (which, frankly, I think is a bit much) but boy-oh-boy is it tasty. It might compare well with Two Bells, which is in the same neighborhood.

Jason

I left the Puget Sound area a year and a half ago and the two things I miss most (food-wise)? Dick's and Ivar's. The local "Best Fish and Chips in town's" fish is served to you as square patties like they came out of a box from the grocery store. That's just not right. What do I expect from a land-locked state like Arizona though...

Kate

Tis true, I ate the Deluxe. I order the burger that is similar to others in our search.

But I will have to go there drunk at some point. I do hear it fills the stomach nicely.

Matt Westervelt

You did not get a Dick's Cheeseburger. You got a Dick's Deluxe.

There is no onion/pickle/mayo on a cheeseburger.

My guess is that you also ate there sober. Shame on you.