Lil Woody’s A Cult Following
Recently, I had a close friend tell me about a local burger joint that supposedly made one of the best burgers he has ever had. Now, I worked in fine dining. So I am not a great burger expert. I have seen some pretty over the top burgers. This includes burgers with black truffle on top, Wagyu burgers with lobes of Foie Gras on top and so on.
With all these fancy burgers, you would assume plain burgers would be boring to me. Yet, it is quite the opposite. I tend to prefer a good greasy American burger. I don’t need thirty ingredients, or even fancy, ground up Wagyu beef (Which I find defeats the point anyway). Nope, I am all for the 80/20 100% beef 4oz burger.
Now, Lil Woody’s does all types of burgers. Occasionally, they do renditions of fast food classics, including the Big Mac. My friend informed me that the best burger he had was called “Figs and Pig”. This is composed of a 1/3 lb patty, figs, blue cheese and bacon.
I was a little concerned. For a burger, that was a lot going on, and a lot of heavy hitters(flavor wise). But I could not judge a restaurant by its menu, nope, I had to visit.
So, on a chilly Saturday afternoon I drove my car to the other side of the world. Otherwise known as Ballard. For those of you who aren’t native to Seattle. Ballard really is in another world. If you recall from the Lion King when Simba is looking over the plains and his Dad tells him not to go to the dark region that is kind of a long fall into a weird valley. That is Ballard.
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| What is up Ballard? |
Once you are there, Ballard is great! Filled with lots of good places to eat and lots of hipsters. I think it is where all the hipsters migrated when the brogrammers moved into Capitol Hill and SLU.
The actual building where Lil Woody’s is, seems like the entrance to a typical Jonny Rockets, or classic burger joint. Inside, you are instantly welcome by a giant “Whats Up Ballard” tile message. Not much can really be said about the furniture or ambiance besides that (what did you expect, linen and a butler?).
Being a purist, I had to order a Lil Woody. What more do you need than Patty, Cheese, Pickles, maybe ketchup, lettuce, tomato, and bun. However, my friend did tell me that the “Pigs and Fig” was a good burger. So I gave in. I ordered that as well….
It didn’t stop there, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Milkshakes made with real Tillamook Ice Cream, but it wasn’t just that. They had a flavor that looked like a middle schoolers text autocorrect. Ube, did they mean to spell Uber???
Nope, they meant to spell the word Ube, or a Filipino sweet potato. Well, how could I say no? So I finished my order and sat down.
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| Lil Woody |
While I waited, I eyed the silly Sasquatch, who I can only assume was Woody himself. The guy seems to like burgers.
This place felt good. Like, I was actually going to enjoy the burger I was going to eat and feel full at the end. Unlike Feed Co Burgers, which offer a small patty at an even steeper price. This place seemed to scream, real deal, with nothing to prove.
My burgers and shake came, and I struggled what to go with first.
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| Lil Woody’s Burger |
So I went with the small burger first. There was nothing to fancy here. It was solid, and felt heavy in the hand. If Dick’s were to make there own patty and triple the size. This was it. Nothing special, but a classic. If you just want a burger, this is your choice
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| Ube Milk Shake |
Next, I took a break and went to sip on the shake. Wow, it did not taste like what I expected. I expected something like Thanksgiving yams, or roasted sweet potatoes. Instead, it tasted like birthday cake. It was actually quite addictive. Something along the lines of freshly made French butter cream and house made white cake.
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| Not a lot to look at |
Finally, the final burger. The one I really had my doubts about. A Figs and Pig Burger. So many things going on in one morsel. It wasn’t really much to take a picture of. It was brown, black, some shady blue bits and a tannish bun. Presentation clearly was not the goal in this Burger(Although, you shouldn’t spend too much time plating a burger). In one bite, I could tell..
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| Figs and Pig Burger |
It was good! I was concerned about having so many things on one plate. Yet, the bacon, burger, blue cheese and fig were amazing. The acidic mostarda type connotation of figs and balsamic, with blue cheese was great. Then add in the salty, fatty bacon and medium rare burger. I wanted another one…maybe sometime soon.
They made one happy customer and I didn’t even have fries! Next time I go, I will have to try there “Crack”. This is a basket of fries served with a little bit of Milkshake. Sounds like heaven.
Thanks for reading! I always like it when I get recommendations. Please let me know if you have any places, or maybe have questions about where to take your significant other for a date, where to take a boss to impress them or just where to get good cheap eats.
Tags: Where is the best Burger, Where is Ballard, Lil Woody’s, Milkshakes, Classic Burgers, Top Burger Places, Seattle, Greasy Burger
