Chucking Myself with a Burger Lunch

Wanting to just spend a day during my Christmas break at my sister's apartment relaxing and memorizing my lines for upcoming shows, I opted for a lunch within a reasonable walking distance.  My sister suggested Holy Chuck Burgers as one of the possible locations.  At first I wasn't too thrilled about having to walk uphill both ways, but I was willing to grin and bear it as the fare wasn't worth a one-subway-station ride.  After lunch, though, I was very thankful I chose to walk!

Holy Chuck wasn't like any other burger joint I've visited in the past.  Yes, meat was prevalent in most burger joints, but this place seemed to, dare I say it, worship meat to a higher level.  Most of the burgers offered had at least two types of meat included, including "The Holy Duck", which had a beef patty, double-smoked bacon and pan-seared foie gras, and there was one burger that was completely made of bacon, including the patties ("You Fat Pig").  If burgers weren't enough or weren't up your alley, a wide variety of chips and fries were also available, not to mention the milkshakes.

"The Mad Cow" with sweet potato chips

A closer look at "The Mad Cow": single cheeseburger patty, panko-crusted deep-fried portobello mushroom cap stuffed with feta and cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, and lemon-herb aioli.

At first I had trouble deciding what to have for lunch, but after spending a couple of minutes staring at the large decal menu on one of the walls, I went with "The Mad Cow", which was an amalgam of the "Jr. Cheeseburger" and "Animal Feed", which included a panko-crusted deep-fried portobello mushroom cap stuffed with feta and cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, and lemon-herb aioli.  I couldn't rationalize myself to try any of the all-meat burgers, let alone "The Holy Duck", but I had no regret after taking my first bite into this burger.  Some jaw-stretching was required at first, but I enjoyed the crunchiness of the portobello mushroom and the flavour of the aioli countering the "classic" contents of what would otherwise be a cheeseburger.  I also ordered some sweet potato chips on the side to go with my burger.  Where some sweet potato fries I've had in some places ended up being inconsistent, with some crispy and some soggy within the same serving, the sweet potato chips here were consistently crispy and was a nice departure from fries or onion rings I've had with burgers in the past.

Bacon, sea salt and fudge milkshake

Of course, there were also those milkshakes that were beckoning me to try them, even though I was already ordering a big enough lunch.  However, the idea of having bacon in a milkshake was too much for my curiosity, so I decided to try the fascinating and innovative bacon, sea salt and fudge shake.  Yes, I've seen examples of bacon being used in desserts, and I've sampled desserts and ice cream dishes that are salty, including some chocolate and sea salt gelato, but bacon in a milkshake?  Surprisingly, the milkshake actually tasted quite alright.  The bits of bacon added to the flavour of the shake, not to mention the occasional crispiness.  The only downside to the shake, and to the whole meal for that matter, was that it was on the heavy side.  I definitely needed to walk off my lunch on my home!

This burger joint is worth a detour to sample its creativity and downright worship of all things meat.  If your appetite will only allow you to have a burger and a drink lighter than a milkshake, or if you're at risk of napping at work after lunch if you eat more, I'm sure the folks at Holy Chuck would understand.


Name: Holy Chuck Burgers
Address: 1450 Yonge St., Toronto, ON
Cuisine: Canadian, Burgers
Price Range: $10-$30
Accessible: No