The Garage Bar and Grill

The Garage Burger Bar and Grill : 106th Street and 103rd Ave, sandwiched between The Metro and Boots Bar and Lounge

It is a beautiful Saturday and Edmonton is alive and out in full force. The Farmer's Market in Old Strathcona was the perfect beginning to a full day of putzing around town during the first truly summer-like weekend of the year. We arrived early, bought colorful vegetables and said hello to some old friends as we drank tea and sampled everything in sight. Who needs breakfast when you can have free salsa, pasta, jams, taco chips, dips, and green onion cake at 8 am?

We made out way back to our place and parked the car around 1 as we pitched ideas for our first restaurant stop to start the 3 Block Challenge. We noticed the Garage Burger Bar and Grill on our way down 106th street, stationed beside the Metro and familiar as a place we often passed by on our way to the downtown Farmer's Market last summer. Perfect. 1/2 a block away and open, ideal for our hurting feet and even more hurting stomachs.

The Garage has been open for 8 years. It is literally an old garage converted into a small and very modest restaurant. The booths and tables are clean, but there is really not much else to the place. The walls are painted red and there are a few daily specials signs on the walls, but no art otherwise. We were greeted and seated quickly and found our place along the wall in the front of the restaurant, amongst a couple other occupied tables of families and hung over young people.

We started with a couple Diet Cokes that were quickly delivered to us in their original cans, sans straws. The menu was extensive, featuring a variety of pub style appetizers, sanwiches, and burgers. Heath decided on a Garage Burger which was a beef patty with ham and cheese and all the veggie fixings. I decided on a Buffalo Burger which was on special, which was a buffalo patty with all the veggie fixings and a generous portion of fries. We also ordered some sweet potato fries to start.

The sweet potato fries came quickly and right out of the frier. They were warm and crispy, yet moist and sweet on the inside. We poured some extra salt on to even out the sweetness of the potatoes, and I also added some vinegar to my portion. Our burgers quickly followed. They were huge. The buffalo was nicely cooked, still slightly pink in the middle and deliciously accented with everything I would put on a burger at home: onions, lettuce, a fat slice of tomato, melted cheese and relish. Heath's burger reminded him of a "rink burger", which is a classic burger at all hockey rinks in Lloydminster and the surrounding area. We both finished our burgers quickly, perhaps a little too quickly, and attempted to finish off the fries without much luck. We thanked our server for letting us take pictures in the restaurant and paid our bill, totaling $31.00 with tip.

Atmosphere: 3/10 (unfortunatly, the floor was as dirty as a true garage)

Service: 7/10 (Very friendly staff!)

Food: 6.5/10 (The burgers are not home made, but still tasty, and the Sweet Potato fries are great! They just need a dip to accompany them.)

Recommended for: a lazy Saturday afternoon when all you want/need is a good hang over cure.