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Vera’s Burger Shack
Multiple locations around Vancouver
See homepage for details

Hours vary by location

A Tale of Two Burgers

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In an attempt to establish inter-rater reliability, this week’s edition of Eatvancouver features two points of view. Expect a third next week when columnist Lorna Yee chimes in.
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It was the best of times..

By Jason
Eat Vancouver Editor
Sunday, April 16th, 2006

UBC location: 1/2 (of four stars)
Other locations: * and 1/2 (of four stars)

When I moved to Vancouver a few years ago, Vera’s was one of the first restaurants I visited. I was pleased to find out that what my friends were telling me was true: Vera’s Burger Shack made a name for itself serving well-designed burgers, with fresh meat and toppings and hadn’t deviated from that in twenty-odd years of service. My romance with the burger shack continued, marked by casual encounters whenever I found myself in the vicinity of a Vera’s, usually the Denman or Davie locations. I appreciate a place that takes burgers seriously, uses ultra-fresh ingredients and greets me with a smile – heck, what’s not to like about that? Walk into most Vera’s locations and you can expect a pretty simple atmosphere: wooden tables with napkin dispensers, a couple of bottles of vinegar and a bottle of ketchup, maybe a few signs on the wall explaining the place, and no absence of that smiling, young ginger with a cow-print chef’s hat. The burger, again at most locations, is quite good. To break it down, you’ve got your beef patty, seasoned ever so slightly to bring out the flavor of the meat. There is a kaiser bun that just the right size as to not hide the underlying filling, but big enough to aptly house the burger and allow for hands on eating. The toppings are many to choose from, and always fresh. I don’t like to overshadow the meat so I usually order my vera burger with lettuce, tomato, chopped onion, hot peppers, pickles (sliced nice and long), hot sauce and vera’s sauce. Oh, their poutine is top-notch as well.

So given my love affair with Vera’s, imagine my delight when I learned that Vera’s was opening a location right on the UBC campus, just a short jaunt from my office – the perfect distance away for a little afternoon delight. I’m sad to say, however, after about ten visits over the past three months or so, the UBC Vera’s does not live up to the Vera’s name. And because a chain should strive for consistence excellence across locations, I’m afraid one day soon there will be little name for it to live up to.

The problem with the UBC Vera’s is lack of attention to detail. Nearly every time I visit this location the tables are dirty, and the napkin dispensers are covered by a sheen of grease. Still, I could look past these little details if I at least received a decent burger. Unfortunately, this has not yet happened. The good bun is still there, the toppings are still fresh, but the burgers, sadly, are horribly overcooked. Ground beef, no matter how fresh it is, tastes like cardboard when it is cooked several stops past well done and that’s what Vera’s is doing nowadays.

Take my last trip for example. To demonstrate the problem to my dining companion, I unwrapped my burger, turned it vertical to the basket and squeezed – hard – the result was four drops of liquid from the burger. And here’s the kicker: they were from the tomato. The problem is so bad that it’s not uncommon to reach the center of the burger and still find no moisture. On the plus-side, there is little chance of ruining that favorite shirt, but this pro is overshadowed by a major con: a dry burger doesn’t taste good. At five-something a burger, what you are getting from the UBC location is no better than a fast food burger and not worth the price. It was this observation that led me to give Dan Fishman the go-ahead to take a shot at Vera’s in his last review, and I am sticking to that assertion.

Long story short, I recommend the burgers at most Vera’s location, but I think the restaurant is in danger of becoming a case study in overexpansion as they seem to have lost track on quality control across locations. Until then, Vera’s is on my warning list. The writing on the wall says you can’t beat Vera’s meat. Maybe so, but you certainly can overcook the hell out of it.

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It was the blurst of times…

By Dan Fishman
Eat Vancouver Columnisst
Sunday, April 16th, 2006

* (of four stars)

Author’s Note: In last week’s review of Moderne Burger, I made the comment that Vera’s Burger Shack is “overpriced and mediocre.” Due to the firestorm of controversy that this remark has set-off (or at least the fact that it offended Vera’s co-owner Gerald Tritt—let’s face it, it’s quite possible he’s the only person who read that review), it became clear to me that the only fair thing to do was to put forth some explanation for my comment in the form of a full length review of Vera’s. For obvious reasons, this plan met with some skepticism from both the Chairman and Mr. Tritt, both of whom questioned my ability to provide an unbiased report given the circumstances. I fully understand their concern, however, one of my favorite slogans is “Fair and Balanced,” and I can assure you that I will do my very best to write the review I would have written if last week’s controversy had never occurred. That being said, this review will be partly based upon 6 previous Vera’s experiences (1 at UBC, 3 at Kitsalano, and 2 at the Davie St. location), but will focus primarily upon my recent visit to the UBC location with the Chairman.

In preparation for this review I visited Vera’s website, and discovered that it consistently wins “Best Burger in Vancouver” in various reader polls, a fact that is reiterated on signs at the restaurant. Given this, I thought there was a definite possibility that I might be eating not only my words, but a healthy serving of humble pie. Unfortunately, all that I ended up eating was an average burger. Now don’t get me wrong. Vera’s definitely does not make a bad burger. But they certainly don’t make a great one. And at over $8 for a cheeseburger and small soda, what you wind up with, in my opinion, is an overpriced, mediocre hamburger.

The first thing that you will notice when you get to Vera’s is that there is a lot of choice on the menu, including sandwiches and hot dogs, and a vast array of hamburger choices. This can be a little overwhelming, especially if a line is forming behind you, but if that happens, you can always focus on the basic Vera Burger and the large list of optional toppings, many of which are available at no charge. Despite what some in psychology claim, it is my opinion that more choice is always better. Score one for Vera’s. At first, I thought the best comparison would be to order the exact burger that I had at Moderne Burger, but then I decided that since Vera’s has a wider selection, they should be rewarded for that and I should order whatever looked good. Therefore, I went with the Vera Burger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, hot peppers, ketchup, Vera’s sauce, cheddar cheese ($1.09 extra) and roasted garlic ($0.54 extra) and a small soda, which came to $8.78. The Chairman omitted the costly extras keeping his total to $7.04… still seems a bit steep, and cheese, to me, is a virtual necessity.

The patty was definitely cooked too long for my liking; there was no juice left whatsoever. The bun was nothing special, just a regular Kaiser. The toppings were actually pretty good, especially the pickles, although the lettuce was a little sketchy (a bit withered). As for the roasted garlic, I thought it was disgusting and picked it off, but maybe I just don’t like roasted garlic—I didn’t like it in a calzone a while back either. All in all, there’s nothing really that wrong with the Vera Burger, at least not beyond what I have come to expect from Vancouver hamburgers. But there sure isn’t anything special about it either. To me it tastes like a hundred other burgers I have had. In fact, it tastes exactly like the burgers at a place that folks from Ontario might be familiar with: Lick’s. The difference is that Lick’s ALWAYS has 2 for 1 coupons available (and they don’t overcook the burgers); if Vera’s made their burgers available at 2 for 1, then I think it would serve a valuable purpose, namely providing a decent hamburger at a reasonable price. Providing a decent hamburger at an unreasonable price is, in my opinion, no service at all. If you are like me, and healthy eating is somewhat important to you, a burger represents a significant departure from that diet, and therefore you expect it to be worth it. Likewise, when you spend $8 at a counter service restaurant, especially at the university village, you are paying more than you could be paying elsewhere. Once again, I think that entitles you to expect something better than average.

One thing that really, really irritates me is when people throw around the word “great.” Vera’s certainly has the attitude of a place that is able to deliver a great burger, but they simply don’t do it. “Great” is a strong word, and it bothers me when it is used with abandon to describe things that are simply good, or even average. A great burger should make you happy when you eat it. It should make you sad to finish it, sorry that it is over so soon. It should make you wonder if you could maybe eat one more. When I eat a Bacon n’ Cheese Ciabatta, I think about it for weeks; I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it (well, that could be indigestion… it is after all over 1100 calories). For me, eating a great burger is more than a meal; it’s an experience. I was thinking about Moderne Burger for days, and I am looking forward to the next time I go there. When I finish a Vera Burger, I feel nothing. From the dry burger to the bland décor; from the disinterested attitude of the staff to the messy tables, nothing about Vera’s makes the experience particularly enjoyable. At the end of the day, all that I had was a $9 hole in my pocket and a desire to eat something that actually tastes great (a role filled surprisingly adequately by a Nanaimo bar). If you love Vera’s, that’s cool; maybe there is something about it that appeals to people that I am missing. And I can even see why it wins all those reader’s polls: with 5 locations, Vera’s is clearly able to serve far more people than any single restaurant, and people can’t vote for a place they have never tried. For me, Moderne Burger makes a better, juicier hamburger, and serves it up in a more enjoyable environment. Therefore, if you have never tried it, I recommend it. And that’s all I was trying to say in my other review. As for Vera’s, if you’ve never been, I wouldn’t go out of your way. If you have tried it, and think I am wrong, please let me know, I would love to hear your thoughts [editorial note: if you wish to contact Mr. Fishman directly, send an e-mail to me and I will forward it to him. You could always also leave a comment here.].

Dan Fishman is a Master’s student at the University of British Columbia studying Psychology.