Farm Burger

Farm Burger (Farm Burger) recently opened in Decatur in the old Voila/Viola Cafe spot next to Watershed. They have ties to Farm 255 near Athens and source most of their naturally-raised, antibiotic- and hormone-free stuff from their own farm or other local farms. All their burgers are made of grass-fed beef.

I've been there twice now, the first time on a Sunday evening after a trip to see goats and the second on Friday night around 8, 8.30. Both times the line was to the door. It takes some time to make it through the line. The line died down on the Friday around 9.30, if you are curious about that. Farm Burger also has counter service, if you manage to land a spot. It's instant service, like at Taqueria. If Josh and I ever go alone, I would probably try for the bar.

The first time I went, I got a #1, which comes with some stuff including a massive amount of their "fb sauce", which they described to us as "like thousand island dressing". It may be like thousand island dressing, but it's also pretty damn spicy and they put way too much on the burger. I was sad that this pretty much ruined my burger.

The second time I went, I got lettuce, tomato, caramelized onions, and Sweet Grass Dairy's asher blue. It was incredibly good. So a la carte is definitely the way to go.

From the myriad of sides, at this point, I've pretty much tried all the ones that I was vaguely interested in.

It's weird to get a salad at a burger place, but the green goddess dressing is good and it's mixed well into the salad. The pickles are spot on, and if you are eating with Lauren, you should take care to take some in the beginning before she eats them all herself. The chicken croquettes are like a chicken pot pie fried up into a ball, but they aren't something that I would get again. The chicken livers are overcooked in their batter, though the vinegary grainy mustard sauce is nice. I definitely wouldn't get those again. The fries and sweet potato fries are pretty good though I always forget they are there in favor of things like the pickles. The onion rings are tasty but you only get like six for a "basket" which, at $3.50, is a pretty lame offering in my mind.

I'm not that excited about the beers here, though they have awesome names like pork slap and moo stout. I'm more into the orange jarritos or the floats which some friends had and seemed tasty.

We tried the homemade hostess cupcakes and twinkies. Way too sweet, I thought. But of course, when you see them in there, you have to try it.

I'm kind of sad that a place that cares enough to use all grass-fed beef will not really consider cooking my burger in a format other than as it comes out. They say that is medium-ish but it always comes out medium-well to well. That makes me sad.

All in all, Farm Burger is definitely doing tasty and good things. I think I will stick to simpler things now I know what they are which works for someone like me who likes to get the same thing.