Fries | Mega

Much more than ok. Exceptional, in fact. One of the best I’ve had. Ever.

After scheduling a trip to visit friends in Pampa, TX, I immediately started planning the route, and more importantly, where we would eat along the way. Knowing we’d be hitting Oklahoma City around lunch time, I quickly honed in on Nic’s Grill.

Guy Fieri introduced me to this dive on a past episode of DDD. A man. A grill. And thick, juicy burgers.

Nic runs the show, with one server taking drink orders. And it’s a good thing too, because saying space is at a premium is an understatement. There is seating at the counter and couple two-top tables. We showed up at 10:50am, snagged the last tables and ordered. By 11, it was standing room only with people waiting outside.

The menu is simple: burgers, fresh curly fries, and a daily special. If you’re hungry, don’t worry that burgers only come in one size. That size is approximately the same as your head.

The simplicity doesn’t stop there. A loaded burger has American cheese, ketchup, mustard, mayo, loads of grilled onion, lettuce and tomato. The classic American cheeseburger. If any of that isn’t to your liking, don’t worry because Nic asks each patron what they want on their burger prior to dressing it. A great personal touch. Oh yeah, and you can (and should) add bacon.

The curly fries are also perfectly crispy, and way more fun than a plain old straight cut. Good call Nic.

If you live in OKC and haven’t been to Nic’s, change that. If you’re driving through OKC, take the time for a tasty burger. Just get there early. You can thank me later.

During a recent trip to KC for meeting w/ the extremely talented folks at Hufft Projects and Baldwin Denim, I took the opportunity to hit up one of my favorite burger spots: Blanc Burgers + Bottles.

For me, there are two types of burger joints, of which I love both: 1) Greasy (in a good way), traditional dive 2) Fine dining between a bun. Blanc is the latter.

All the following culinary buzzwords apply: locally sourced, organic, grass fed, house made. All these ingredients come together in an inspired menu of appetizers (standout: Shatto cheese curds), salads and of course burgers.

A variety of gourmet bottled beverages are also available. Do yourself a favor and enjoy your favorite burger with a locally made Soda Vie next time.

This visit we went with some old favorites and found some new ones.

Started off with the Gouda Cheese Fries. Perfectly thin, crispy fries topped with a velvety gouda cheese sauce and awesomely crisp, thick bacon. These were out of this world and devoured within minutes of them hitting the table. Quite possibly the best plate of cheese fries I’ve ever had.

For my burger, I went back to my old standby (and best burger on the menu) – The Inside Out. This masterpiece comes packed with creamy, tangy blue cheese inside the burger, then is topped with crisp bacon, lettuce, a battered onion ring and scratch made ketchup. All served up on a buttery grilled brioche bun that is sturdy enough to hold up to the substantial burger. The meat was perfectly cooked to my desired medium, extremely juicy and well seasoned. Most importantly, melted cheese oozed out with every bite. You have to try this burger.

Classic – Aged white cheddar, lettuce, tomatoe, house made pickles, ketchup and mustard.

For sides, we had my wife @iAmNotAFoodie’s favorite: Truffle Fries. Still love the mini shopping cart.

Soda Vie. Flavors like Thai Basil, Mojito, etc. All very natural (yes those herbs were in the bottle), all very tasty. Not too sweet. And the coolest bottling ever for a soda.

BLT salad w/ black mustard seed ranch

This was another stellar meal @blancburgers. Chef Josh Eans and his team have put together an amazing upscale burger concept. Now they just need to bring one to 417-land.