Burger Tasting On Location in Tupelo, MS

Sometimes for funsies we eat burgers in other places than Oxford, Mississippi. Thanks to Susan Wang for this detailed burger adventure to Tupelo, MS for the Uptown Burger.

Location: Fairpark Grill on 2/16/2015

What google told me about this restaurant: It's "an upscale-casual tavern serving American eats in a modern space with dark woods, big bar and patio." 

Ummm... Tavern? Dark Woods? Big Bar? All I can think of is the movie Cabin in the Woods by Joss Whedon. I want to feel a little bit terrified, but it's most likely this rustic, neighborhood-atmospheric kind of bar. Minus Sigourney Weaver. PAUSE. What is upscale-casual? How do you dress for that? Are jeans too casual? Is a cocktail dress too much? WHO WEARS A COCKTAIL DRESS TO A TAVERN? So many questions...

17 Reviews on google scored this location: 4.2 / 5 stars. I mean, the beer is cold, right? I'd go there. Let's get to the burger.

Style: 4
The burger looks appetizing, and the bacon presentation is very appealing. Susan was excited to take a bite!

Taste: 3.7
The burger was cooked medium-well, when she asked for medium (there was no pink). Though the amount of beef was appreciated, as were the thick cut slices of bacon. Susan rearranged her toppings (lettuce, onions, bacon, mushroom, cheese, patty, and tomatoes) on her burger to prevent ingredient slippage. The coarsely-chopped onions were a tasting surprise, but the mushrooms might as well have not been present. 

Content: 3.6
Brioche-style bun was crumbly, disappointing, but the slightly toasted helped. The bacon was, by far, the most celebrated ingredient on this burger. Susan had Mozzarella cheese, but she feels that they probably have a wider selection in cheese toppers than that. The ratio of bun to meat is a little off kilter for Susan's liking, but the use of FRESH ingredients was ON POINT. *High five* for freshness. 

Satisfaction: 4
It's a "very juicy, enjoyable burger, mostly due to the bacon, but I probably won't be ordering it again because their Caribbean Rib-eye is just so delicious," words from Susan Wang.

Price: 4
$8.99 with fries. Their "shoestring" fries were similar to the McDonald's french fry persuasion. She washed it down with an Abita Andygator from the tap! (A solid beverage choice.)

OVERALL CUMULATIVE SCORE: 3.9 / 5 

Lastly, a special shout-out to the Panko-Crusted Fried Cheese. Special shout-out indeed.


Have you ever eaten at Fairpark Grill? Where do YOU think the best burger is in Tupelo, MS?

Burger Revival

It’s been 3 years since our last Burger Blog entry. WE KNOW YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEATS. The truth is that traveling, babies, and new jobs are life game changers.

Thank you to those that have asked about the Burger Blog—we appreciate your diligence. One thing has always remained: our appetites for scrumptious burgers. And so we’re back!

Our first stop back on Burger Boulevard is Lamar Lounge. If you've never been to Lamar Lounge, these are reasons enough to go: 1) the bar is a restored 14-seat 1800’s Brunswick bar which was once owned by legendary actor Eddie Fisher, and 2) all profits from Lamar Lounge are donated to Mississippi not-for-profit organizations.

That being said—Lamar Lounge does a decent burger.

The burger is appetizing to look at, (shout out to the French fries for being delicious). What’s nice is the waiter/waitress will ask how you want your burger cooked—to which most of us responded with medium, while one lived on the wild side and went medium rare. We all got medium or medium well done burgers. It’s not a steak, so we will let this one go, but I've never had a burger here that was perfectly cooked the way I wanted it. Such is life.

Cheese does not come with the burger; you have to ask for it. They have your standard choices of cheddar, Swiss, and American. Then it gets crazy – they offer PIMENTO CHEESE for a cheese on a burger. Ummm, how cool is that? Respect, Lamar Lounge.

It was mentioned that it would be nice to have had a fully constructed burger. Our toppings (mayo, mustard, ketchup.. etc.) were not already built together. The condiments were placed on the side and we had to put it together ourselves.

The absolute biggest disappointment of all was the price of the burger. $12. Pick your jaw up off the ground. Okay, it’s a really tasty burger, and the fries are worth the trip alone, but that’s the SAME PRICE as a burger you would get at Snackbar, a way more upscale restaurant. And the Snackbar burger includes the frites covered in parmesan magic with some kind of heavenly mayo concoction. To be fair, they may have just recently raised their price $2; which could be related to the increase in beef pricing, yadda yadda. You get it.

Sidenote: The Lamar Lounge burger also has an Econo Burger available on their menu. This is a smaller portion size and can hold the same ingredients. A perk for those trying to eat less, or eat on a budget.

Bottom-line, good burger, we all agreed we would eat it again. We gave it a cumulative score of 14.5 out of 25.

Curious on how we score a burger? Brief breakdown on judging: burgers are judged on a scale of 1-5; 1 being the lowest, five the highest. Five categories: Style, Taste, Content, Satisfaction, and Price – max points a burger could receive are 25.

A special thank you to our guest judges Susan and Will for joining us in our Burger Revival. 

Tell us your thoughts! What do you think of the Lamar Lounge burger?

LB's Meat Market

The Judging Team (Beth, Greg, and myself), Guest Judge Melanie Addington, and Mystery Guest Judge decided to hit up LB's Meat Market, located on University Avenue across from Kroger, for the third installment of burger judging. Seeing as they only serve lunch, that's what we had.  LB's only does take-away, meaning no seating, so Greg and I went to pick up lunch for everyone. We ordered five filet burgers, as opposed to the house burger. I know this slightly goes against our "only get the basic burger" rule, but who can resist a burger made of FILET MIGNON? I certainly couldn't. We ordered and were told it would be about ten minutes. Ten turned into about thirty. I got restless and cranky, mostly because I was hungry, but I couldn't get too angry. The thirty minutes included freshly grinding up a steak to make my burger. We got our burgers, grabbed some chips and sweet tea, and we were off.

Menu at LB's

We took our food to a secret, undisclosed location for eating, judging, and general merriment. Upon first unwrapping our burgers, we all noticed how appetizing they looked. They were very homestyle, very beefy, and the cheese could only be described as gorgeous. They had a good variety of condiments, and all were fresh. I bit into my burger and thought it was really good, yet oddly peppery. Everyone agreed. At first it was an interesting taste, but as I finished my burger, it became a bit distracting and overwhelming. Other than that, I thought it was a great burger. Greg and Beth felt theirs were a bit dry, but mine wasn't.

My burger from LBs Meat Market

Overall, we really liked this burger. We gave it a cumulative score of 19.5 out of 25. It looked appetizing, tasted good, had a good variety of condiments, and only cost $4 plus $0.50 for cheese (which was freshly sliced, local red hoop cheddar). Here is a breakdown of the average scores:

Style: 3.7/5
Taste: 3.9/53
Content: 3.4/5
Satisfaction: 3.9/5
Price: 4.9/5

All in all, a good burger. Try it for yourself and let us know if you like it!

Nota bene: LB's does not serve burgers everyday. You can check their Facebook page to see the daily specials.

-Jillian Pecoraro