Hits and misses with The Bistro’s burger

The sound of ABBA’s classic song “Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again” coaxed out of the speakers at The Bistro in Carcorss, as a burger was dropped down in front of me. Yes readers, here we go again, it was the beginning of another Yukon Burger Review.

After a 10km run through Montana Mountain, and a 16km run and hike on the Sam McGee Trail the day before, I was ready to stop moving and start eating. It was my first time at The Bistro, the local Carcross institution that opens for the summer. As the kids say, the vibe was immaculate — sunny, beer flowing, people happy, you could easily spend an afternoon there. 

The ABBA song is about an on-again, off-again relationship with a man who repeatedly cheats. While burgers have never been unfaithful, there’s certainly an on-again, off-again relationship with burgers in the Yukon. Few have ascended to true burger heights. Would this one be any different?

I ordered the classic burger. The first good sign was the bun, an almost brioche version that was soft and fresh, studded with sesame seeds. It came with cheese, two thin meat slices, lettuce, tomato, red onion and a small dollop of what I think was mayo. 

On the positive side, it looked extremely fresh, with cheese meeting in between the meat, creating that stringy effect. It’s as close to a smash burger as I’ve come across, with two thin patties with a hint of char. While the cheese was delightful and the meat hot and juicy (yes!), the taste just wasn’t there, needing more salt to bring out the flavour (no!). 

Another unfortunate issue was the thick red onion, almost overpowering the meat. Best to cook up the onions or slice them thinner. There was also a lack of sauce on the burger, which is usually fine if the meat has lots of flavour.

We don’t review the fries, but they were undercooked and not salted enough. Someone, please, point me in the direction of good fries! Maybe the correct order was the poutine, which, judging by the food orders at the table next to me, looked outstanding.

This was a tough one to rate. I’m going to give them a 7.8. It certainly seems high for what you just read, but the meat seemed to have a higher quality than what many other places are serving.

Here’s the updated burger rankings!