4 out of 5
The first night we went it was between midnight and 1:00 am. The restaurant was relatively full but we had no wait, being seated promptly to be served by an enthusiastic gentleman who later vanished for vast portions of the dinner. We have been on this burger crave/craze/binge for some time now (see the burger section for more on that) and finally made it to this, one of various trendy “gourmet” type burger places. Right away I should mention the parking… AWESOME! That is important since Brickell can be a crowded part of town with the nightlife and the armies of women. There is a parking garage a 30 second walk from B and B Joint on the same block and on both Saturday night at pretty prime hours of nightlife we found parking in the garage with ease, four bucks each time which is only about a dollar more than we would pay at the street metered parking anyway to eat dinner.
On our first experience we started with the crispy dill pickles and my partner had a martini. Speaking only for the pickles they were great, in a sort of tempura type batter with a very delicious ranch dip in an almost seemingly endless portion served in a small bucket. I then had the Buck Nekid, which was a 10 oz. bunless beef burger with the standard garnishes plus a tarragon remoulade which was quite nice. The burger was very good, although I ate it with knife and fork rather than the suggested “lettuce wrap” as the type of lettuce presented did not make this a manageable feat for me. It was a great crisp hunk of lettuce I would enjoy in a variety of ways but lettuce “wraps” should be separate leaves that are soft enough to, well, “wrap”. Regardless I ate it like an iceberg wedge salad, which should give you a better idea of what I mean regarding the physical structure of this thing and it was great with the other burger garnishes. There was also a pickle spear, which I cannot say enough how much I love these things and appreciate when any diner or sandwich/burger serving place has them on the plate. I think it’s classic and delicious and, for the price, really shouldn’t be left off such plates. B and B Joint’s pickle spears on both occasions were delicious, weather pickled in house or not. The burger itself was a very good, large beef patty that was juicy despite being overcooked. They say they do it medium rare unless otherwise indicated and I ordered it specifically medium rare however mine came more medium and just starting to lean towards medium rare in some parts, probably due to cooking its giganticness. That was disappointing because I’m a stickler for that plus how they advertise it but it was still a very good juicy burger. Rather than their “skinny” fries as on most other burgers it came with mushroom fries, which were slices of Portobello mushroom deep fried in a WAY TOO THICK tempura batter that I ended up peeling off each until eventually giving up on them. Thinking ahead that his may happen and also out of a combination of pure gluttony along with my most recent obsessions with truffles, I ordered the duck fat fries and added the truffle oil. I cannot say much about the duck fat as this was my first time with such fries and I couldn’t tell a difference however they were perfectly cook large potato wedge style fries. Although I also know little about truffles except that I apparently really like them, aside from questioning the authenticity due to the mere one dollar cost of about half an ounce of “truffle oil”, it was delicious on these fries.
My wife on the other hand had the Mustang Sally which came with the same type of beef burger (along with the same type of medium rare request but overcooking regardless), brie cheese (which she complained was not that noticeable although I find this to be a common problem with this cheese unless by itself or with bread or fruit), red onion marmalade, and a brioche bun and skinny fries. She ordered it without prosciutto as I reminded her that she does not like that in other things, preferring it by itself or with bread or fruit, ironic considering the brie cheese issue. Overall however she enjoyed the burger and “skinny” fries very much and said she would love to go back, which we did just a week later (see below) Our service was varied as our server often disappeared as I sit, empty glass of water in hand, wondering where our slow to come out food was. When we asked the nice young lady that did refill my water where our crispy pickles were she instantaneously came back with them with a “they just came out” for damage control. We did however observe that it was about 1 am and we did get everything we needed ultimately and for these reasons the service was in the end decent for the time. Music was awful though, with an alternative version of Welcome to the Jungle clearly not by the original GnR followed only two songs later by the classic original version, unfortunately in between was the eternally long Kiss disco song that even Kiss fans with their questionable taste in music dislike.
The second time we returned to B and B Joint at about 9:30 pm, again great parking but, this time, a 30 to 45 minute wait to be seated as per the lovely and very polite hostesses. It was very crowded being a Saturday night so this was expected. We then sauntered over to the bar, which too was full but we quickly found a spot and each had a drink, vodka martini and vodka tonic. Despite the number of people the bartender served us promptly and politely without any unreasonable delay and the drinks were good. As we are crowd averse we took the drinks to the courtyard of the Mary Brickell Village where we fortunately had an awesome comfortable climate, perhaps the thunderstorm earlier was so intense it really cooled down the summer heat rather than just making it muggy and grotesque. We conversed and people watched though it was relatively calm and empty out there. A hostess came to us about 20 or 25 minutes later, sooner than expected, and we were seated to soon meet our server who was excellent from start to finish and in every detail. I cannot say enough how important this is, especially on a crowded night. He was just awesome and I wish I had his name so I could change my name to his and strive to be as hardworking and charming as he was – or maybe not so much and just rather tell a manager so this dude can move up in the business and make lots of money.
Anyway, this time we ordered the Pig in a Bucket, delicious pork belly bacon with Vermont maple syrup. It was very good except that, and I don’t know about you, I cannot eat a small bucket of bacon. Further I think my wife was expecting the “pork belly” like at some of these other restaurants (i.e. Michael’s Genuine, which has an amazing pork belly appetizer we both really enjoyed once as well as a great burger as per myself, my family, and BurgerBeast.com) rather than bacon. So I splurged and quickly ordered some of the beer battered onions with jalapeno-cheddar sauce which were great and exactly what you would want from that description. My wife then had the Freebird, an 8 oz. turkey burger with Swiss, Portobello, onion bun, and skinny fries. Again it was a great burger as per her and as per a few bites I got at the end. Very juicy, I think a key there is being kept at 8 rather than the larger 10 oz. I would definitely get that in th future since I, like so many, try to moderate beef eating despite this twice in about a week “binge.” I on the other hand custom made my burger, one of the very nice options I like about this place and menu. I was inspired by my truffle obsession and a run-in with some old friends as I was being seated to get the Stairway to Heaven except I thought the 3 oz. of foie gras and $39 price tag would be in excess of both my gastrointestinal and financial pockets, respectively. I then took a gander at the Appetite for Destruction (perhaps every time someone orders this they play Welcome to the Jungle as observed repeated on the first night described further above) but I thought the Portobello would be too much, as would be the strong flavor of bleu cheese when trying to enjoy “Wagyu” beef, even if 1 lb. of it as advertised. You should however check out the descriptions of those two burgers online or in person.
So I chose to make my own featuring a ½ lb. of “Wagyu” beef, onion roll, four cheese sauce, and black truffle demi-glace with a side of the home-style baked potato salad, which I also poured some of the truffle “demi” on in accord with my obsession. Regarding the questionable use of the term “Wagyu”, which is why I keep using the quotation marks, you should read the very enlightening Miami New Times article titled “Bogus Beef” regarding this discrepancy/deception and, in my opinion, use of smoke and mirrors in restaurants in Miami. Now I am not an expert so, assuming it is Wagyu as indicated on the menu, purely from a bite for your buck point of view it was not worth the mere but extra three dollars for the half pound patty as compared with the regular B and B joint beef burger option, which as far as I could tell had no different or lesser taste or texture. Good burger – don’t get me wrong – but based on that comparison as well as awareness that 12 oz. of even American, not to mention Japanese, (B and B Joint does not specify) Wagyu would probably cost a bit more. Anyway, it was good but part of my shtick is no smoke and mirrors right? So save your three bucks, go with their regular beef, and get an ice cream later. Also similar to our beef burger experiences, unfortunately, the burger was again over cooked. Menu says medium rare and this time I insisted this to our waiter, explaining that last time it was somewhat overcooked, and it actually came even more cooked at a definitive medium well with as little medium as possible to not be a straight up well done burger. My cheese sauce was whatever but the truffle demi satisfied my basic unrefined need for this delicacy I’m also sure I’ve not had in its most authentic form to this day. Again, I LOVE the pickle spear thing which I treat as a side dish but the home-style baked potato salad? WHAT A SIDE DISH! It was, aside from the truffle demi I added, a loaded backed potato in potato salad form with all the fixin’s like bacon, cheese and/or sour cream, etc. in a shareable size portion. It was just awesome and arguably the best thing we ate due to its pure anti-any kind of diet or health concern texture, flavor, and decadence. Did I mention how awesome our server was? This second time eating there definitely stepped everything up.
Since the two first two experiences described in great length above, I have been back to B and B over half a dozen more time. In fact, it should be greatly noted that EVERY time I go, I want to go back soon – and usually do. Then months go by that I do not eat here just because it is not particularly close to me. Conversely, I routinely mention to my wife that “I wish she had a burger and beer joint close to us.” We’ve managed to figure out how to eat there in a quasi-healthy manner by building our own meals or making adjustments. When you do substitute things they can add up as, for example, picking a different side they charge you three dollars at least depending on what you are trading for and when you build your own burgers the sides are 6 bucks each, BUT they are usually large shareable sides. I usually stick to the Thunder Road (basically the bacon cheese burger with a side of bbq sauce) or the Freebird (turkey burger with grilled mushrooms and onions, cheese, on an onion roll). I often switch my regular “skinny” fries for the zucchini fries because they are, in my humble opinion, the best “fries” option there. I now have to make a disclosure for this to be a place of honest review. I do not like sweet potato… I arguably HATE sweet potato, though this is a strong word considering the changes that are happening to me. I NEVER order sweet potato fries and 99% of the time that I try other people’s sweet potato fries I am extremely happy I did not order them and remember why I do not like them. The other 1 %? B and B Joint. I HAVE to admit that EVERY time I try others’ sweet potato fries – which are extremely popular at this place and seem to almost always end up on our table – I actually reach back and take more, especially when they don’t finish their sides and I’m even just mildly hungry still.
I still find the Wagyu description questionable and usually go for the regular beef but I do wonder sometimes when they describe their specials for the day, which often include the wagyu and range close to $20 but sound very very very tempting sometimes. Other than that I often do the turkey burger is solid without ever being too dry and now realized they have chicken burgers. Their sauces are very good and the ones I do not like are just those I would not like anywhere to be honest. More often than not I am seated right away and, other than the at times slow lunch service during weekdays (yes I like this place enough to occasionally take my rare lunch out of the office here), the service is pretty good consistently. You occasionally get someone who is less attentive than one would desire or, in a recent experience, an inexperienced server asked how I would like your turkey burger cooked and when I questioned this and educated her, she smugly insisted that this place is “different” and can do that. I know for a fact that is not true and I trust that if some customer would be so dense as to be like, “yeah, let me get the turkey burger medium rare”, the cooks would not make that mistake as it is pretty factory machine like if you look towards the kitchen. I’ve also been to the accompanying sports bar for a drink and this is a nice way to wait for a table if you come when it is very busy, or even to hang out at if it is busy and you want to just have drinks for a while and be courteous to allow others there to eat right away have their table. I still do not feel this place has much smoke and mirrors other than some burgers I would never try anyway.
Burger and Beer Joint
(305) 523-2244
Mary Brickell Village
900 S Miami Ave. Suite 130
Miami, FL 33130
www.bnbjoint.com
No Smoke n' Mirrors Food 