Burger Jones: Striving For Mediocrity
My favorite things about Burger Jones, as I published in my review, were the various Liberty Custard shakes, like the salted caramel milkshake, a scrumptious concoction. I am not the only person who thought so: The last time I was on Kare-11, the morning anchor, Belinda Jensen, was in such absolute agreement with my review (burgers blah, shakes amazing) that we ended up rhapsodizing about those Burger Jones/Liberty Custard shakes for a good 20 seconds. They were great! Yes, were. I was particularly disturbed to pick up the following comment off my review, from the owners of Liberty Custard:
“Thank you for the nice things you said about the shakes at Burger Jones made with our frozen custard. Burger Jones was our first wholesale account and we were exited about expanding our business and customer base. They had approached us in April and told us that they were looking for a local supplier of ice cream and thought that our product made the best shakes. They also told us that they had no problem with our price quote.
Fast forward to this morning. We received a call from the manager of Burger Jones telling us that they found an out-of-state supplier of ‘bulk frozen custard’ at a lower cost and would no longer be purchasing our product. He also said that the new product is ‘not nearly as good’ as our product, that the decision was cost driven, and that his ‘hands were tied.’….”
I called up Burger Jones to see if this could possibly be true – was Burger Jones really 86’ing the one thing on their menu they had aced? (86, in the verb form, by the way, is how restaurant people refer to taking something off a menu.) I spoke to the general manager at Burger Jones, who confirmed that in fact Liberty Custard has indeed been 86’d, but beyond that, “I’d rather not get into it.”
Well, I never.
I never saw a restaurant so dedicated to seizing defeat from the jaws of victory.
On the up side… Eh. I was going to put something here about how people with blenders could get some take-out Liberty Custard, a jar of dulce de leche caramel and sea salt and make their own at home while saving money, but that’s not really much of an upside, is it? I guess on the up side, you can go to Liberty Custard. I went there a few weeks ago with my little ones and had a turtle sundae (wonderful), played real pinball, plugged the antique ride-in car with quarters and snapped about 100 out-of-focus pictures on my phone because I forgot to bring a real camera and it was a fiesta of adorable. If I hadn’t already eaten dinner, I’d have gotten a pulled pork sandwich made from meat that Liberty Custard brings in from the local cult barbecue spot across the street, Scott Ja-Mama’s.
Would have been a lot better than a meal at some restaurants I can think of.
Liberty Frozen Custard
libertyfrozencustard.com
5401 Nicollet Ave., Mpls.
612-823-8700
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 in Permalink
Comments may be edited for length, clarity, or appropriateness.
Reader Comments:
I love Liberty Frozen Custard, and just had that same fiesta of adorable with my kids (incidentally, I want one of those real pinball machines for my home).
I can't believe Burger Jones would get rid of the one thing they've been universally praised for. Insane. If they can get away with charging $8-$10 for burgers with no fries, they can probably charge an extra quarter for their shakes to make up for whatever they're saving by going with out of state custard.
I can't comment on the shakes, but I had dinner at Burger Jones last Saturday night (a bit hesitantly I must say) & I thought it was great! We started with cheese curds that were delicious, lightly battered pillows of cheese. My dinner date liked the smoked ketchup very much, I prefered dipping them in the house made ranch dressing. We each had a wedge salad that was fine, quite large actually, we could have split it in hind sight & then split the green chili burger. The burger was cooked just over medium, juicy & full of flavor. There was plenty of fresh cilantro, I loved it, I didn't need to add a thing for my taste. We also got a side of sweet potato fries with chipotle aioli dipping sauce - simply delicious - sweet & salty all at the same time. Our server had some attitude, but with a smile, she was trying to play with us. It did take a little time to get what we needed at times, but all in all the service was just fine. We at at the counter across from the bar which was very roomy & I would recommend scouting instead of getting on the wait list. Our bill was $60 with a couple of beers each, which I thought was pretty reasonable - we were stuffed when we left. I enjoyed my visit very much, much more than I was expecting to.
Is it possible that there is a custard outside our local area that could be better than Liberty? GASP! What?! But local is always better! Always Always Always. They also carry wine, from GASP … California! SHAME, they name is BJ. Have they not sampled our empirically superior Frontenac vintages? Even though this was the first shot at outside distribution for Liberty, I’m sure (being local) that their service and bulk product was beyond reproach. Plus they are a FOD (friend of Dara) which automatically vaunts them to divine status, a veritable gift from on-high. Kudos for Liberty for taking lost business and sour grapes public, shame on BJ managers for not airing the trash and keeping the food floggers fed.
Well, I see this thread is getting hijacked by employees and allies -- much like the thread for the above review got hijacked by 5 Guys people. That's fine. Price of doing business on the internet and all. However, the above comment contains a significant lie, so I'll correct:
I'm no "friend" of Liberty Custard. I don't know the owners, I don't know any employees, I don't socialize with anyone involved with the business, I don't know what the owners even look like, and I've never had a conversation with them that wasn't related to an upcoming article. I have written glowingly about them in the past; That's becase they run a wonderful custard-shop. I've also, in some 14 years of writing about restaurants, written glowingly about a number of restaurants, none of which were my "friends". For instance, I have written very positive reviews of Chino Latino and Salut -- but not because I was a 'friend' of Parasole. It was because when they opened I thought they were very good restaurants. I think Burger Jones is not.
You don't care what I think? That's fine, it's a free country and I encourage lively dissent. But guess what? Here's some bad news: I reached this conclusion by going to the restaurant and paying money to eat there, and then comparing it with my long experience with other local restaurants. And not any other way.
Finally, in case anyone cares, I've also written repeatedly on the local versus imported wine phenomena and come down strongly on the side of imported.
Try again, Eugene.
I've had meals at Burger Jones a few evenings, and I completely agree with you, Dara. The burgers were merely OK, the fries good but prone to sogginess... but the shakes -- OH the shakes! Those calorie-laden treats were rich and creamy, and totally worth all the money I happily forked over to try them. When I saw that the frozen custard place was local, I was delighted. I had never been to Liberty Frozen Custard prior to my Burger Jones experience (blasphemy, I know). But now I've been over a handful of times, and they're so tasty!
Recently I invited my dad to Burger Jones for dinner. We wanted to check out the new spot.
The ambiance was pleasing; loved the layout. The burgers were average, but the sweet potato fries were enjoyable. But at the end of the meal we both agreed the shakes were to die for. Simply the best!
TO: Liberty Custard
RE: Your Joint
Just so you know, we ate at Burger Jones in its first month and were impressed by only one thing- the shakes. When I read Dara Moskowitz's blog about Parasole giving you the shaft on the wholesale custard, I was amused that I agreed with DM and annoyed with BJ.
My wife and I decided to bring the kids over to your shop just as Dara suggested. It was awesome. The custard was thick and creamy, the coffee was dark and rich- not like that crap Bonnie buys when she goes shopping, the atmosphere was hip and fun, and the kids had a blast on the games (except the pinball machine- it tilts with a wiggle then drains the rest of your game, what's up with that?). We even took a tip from your table tents and checked out the cool little toy store next door.
What I'm saying is: you run a great place, your product is super, and you should call up Burger Jones and Parasole and tell 'em to "sit on it." Who needs them, right?
Thanks for the great time. And thanks for the candy cigarettes, I've been looking for a good source. We'll be back.
Buy 10 different custards. Mix them with 10 different ingredients. Taste them.
It doesnt make a FLIPPEN DIFFERENCE! QQ MORE.
Find something more interesting to blog about Dara. Please, if you are so qualified to make these comments, spend you time on something more meaningful. Unless of course Liberty Frozen Custard is paying you? You just lost all credibility. How can I ever trust you again?
If this post doesn't interest you, you're probably reading the wrong blog.
Intentional mediocrity is fine, assuming that you and your audience have a shared understanding that mediocre is all they're going to get.
If Liberty makes a better product, great. If Parasole chooses the inferior one initially, fine. To switch midstream, particularly after making Liberty a distinguishing part of their experience is not smart. Before they expunged Liberty from their menu, they were touting what they've just abandoned:
The Shakes: “We use Liberty Frozen Custard, made a mile away over on Nicollet Avenue. Rich and creamy, it’s a superior foundation for both our soda fountain-style shakes and our adult Hard Shakes.”
It's not about the custard - it's about violating the shared understanding. It's about expectations, food memories, demonstration of potential. And then not.
I eat. I taste. I try not to overthink things. If want a shared understanding I will get married. Give me the better tasting custard.