Vivid imagery, whiskey, board games and battle axes are pawns in the burger battle taking place on Commercial Drive. This is ground zero in the Vancouver patty wars, where your slice of grilled pineapple is met by my barrage of smoked meatballs. [Image credit: iStock.com/Adam Petto]
Just because the name means fakery and subterfuge doesn’t mean you won’t get a great burger. There may only be one beef patty burger on the menu, but the five other burgers are just as exciting. Check out the tuna steak burger or the smoked turkey if beef isn’t your thing.
Tourists hear about Vera’s in the same way they hear about poutine and smoked meat sandwiches in Montreal: legends born from rumours. Vera's has been Vancouver’s unofficial burger capital since 1977 and to bite into one is to live the legend. Order like a local and have a Granville Island Beer with the grilled cheddar burger: a 4-oz cheeseburger surrounded by two grilled cheese sandwiches. The price includes a bottomless glass of pop if beer's not on your menu.
Fair warning: you might not get to the fine burgers on your first visit here. The board games, Dungeons & Dragons theme and fine ales would be distraction enough if they didn’t play classic science fiction, fantasy and horror movies on their big screen TV. Where are the sports, you say? Look at the battle axe on the wall and ask that question again. Then order The Storm Burger to get started.
You may have heard of quarter-pound burger patties, but have you heard of a half-pound steak burger? Now you have. Falconetti's also has a meatball burger that’s a hot mess of four homemade and smoked meatballs piled into a sauce-laden bun. The veggie burger comes with smoked tomato jam and if the jam alone doesn’t get your attention then you may have lost your sense of adventure. Give your taste buds a workout with the fiery Afterburner Burger.
At The Cannibal, three different cuts of BC certified organic beef go into each hand-ground patty. No antibiotics or hormones were fed to the lovely beasts that now feed you so don’t worry about ingesting unsavoury additives. There’s a combination of brisket, short rib and chuck in every 3-oz or 6-oz patty.
Aside from the impressive list of whiskies on offer, here you can also get your classic burger with deluxe ingredients or go for a slab of salmon with house-made tartar sauce between the tastiest of buns. Sub in the Forty Creek Whiskey barbecue sauce on the Stacked Texan and be sure to hydrate as soon as you arrive — salivating too much is no way to quench a thirst.