Beautifully seasoned creation with myriad fixings
Mark Laba
Province
Miriam and Trevor Jackson show off the Grilled Splitz Burger. Photograph by : Jon Murray, The Province
In the 14 years I’ve lived in B.C., I’ve only been skiing twice. I enjoy it immensely, although my brother-in-law refers to me as “a yard sale” when we hit the slopes. I wasn’t familiar with this term but soon learned its meaning as I picked up strewn rental equipment from my magnificent wipe-outs. There has been a few times also where I have crawled down a run on my hands and knees whimpering while snowboarders jump over me. It’s not a pretty sight. So I may not be good at skiing but when I’m up Whistler way and I finally finish the day without breaking a limb, tearing cartilage or impaling myself on a ski pole, I retire to the one thing I am good at. Eating. And by eating I mean hamburgers, my second-favourite food next to ketchup. And when you’re talking hamburgers, there’s only one place to go in the suck-up-your-credit-limit Village and that’s Splitz Grill. I may be a yard sale on the slope, but at this place I’m the Steve Podborksi of meat patties gracefully taking each turn in the downhill of my digestive tract.
A veritable institution up at Whistler, a place I only get to once every five years because just breathing the rarified air up there costs money, I was elated when I heard there is now a Vancouver location. In fact, owners and burger masters Trevor and Miriam Jackson have sold their Whistler shop to friends, packed up their spatulas and moved to the big city.
Peaches and I stepped into the brand-spanking-new venue with its oversized wooden booths, overhead dressed-up industrial piping and semi-stylish utilitarian contouring and Peaches was instantly buoyed up by the Rob Feenie look-a-like manning the grill.
“Maybe that is Feenie and he’s working here after being pushed out of his own restaurant.”
“Can’t be. There’s no goose-liver burger topping.”
That’s about the only topping missing from this eclectic mix of 20-something toppings and sauces. Order at the counter, take a tray and make your way down to the grilling and assemblage area where you can pimp your patty any way you like it. Toppings include babaganoush, hummus, salsa, tzatziki, the famous Splitz sauce and then you can further attire your burger with sauerkraut, alfalfa sprouts, kosher dills, banana peppers and even cucumber. Just a sampling from the dizzy array of stuff.
As for the burger itself, it’s a beautifully seasoned creation on a crispy bun lightly kissed with grill-marks. Meat meets its maker and I can only believe this cow died happy knowing how tenderly it would be formed into a sartorial patty of edible pleasure. It’s a messy affair, as was Peaches’ chicken burger and her only complaint that, among all the toppings, there was no guacamole. Burgers run from $5.70-$7.50, or combo meals that include excellent hand-cut fries and a drink are priced from $7.50-$11.95 if you opt out for the teriyaki salmon filet.
So definitely check out the other beasts of burger burden including an Italian sausage construction and a great grilled lamb composition or, if animal flesh isn’t your thing, some folks swear by the spicy lentil burger. Throw in an ice-cream float or milkshake and the slopes are yours to conquer, even it is just the slope of your stomach while you’re lying on the sofa digesting.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The marriage of meat and Main Street.
RATINGS: Food: A-; Service: B+; Atmosphere: B
© The Vancouver Province 2008