1876 W. Michigan AvenueThere was a while there that I was spending quite a bit of time in Battle Creek. That eventually faded away and now it seems like I’m rarely in Battle Creek.
There are a lot of restaurants that have popped up recently that I still really want to get to. I’ve just kind of been keeping a mental list of the places I want to go hoping I would be in the right place so I didn’t have to go way out of the way.
My colleague and I were in Springfield last week on an assignment. We had some time to kill and we were pretty close to a burger joint I’ve been dying to get to. I clocked out on my lunch break and drove a few miles north to check this one off my list.
Battle Creek Burger, sometimes stylized as BC Burger, is on West Michigan Avenue and Lamora Avenue in the Urbandale Neighborhood on the west side of Battle Creek. For many, many years, this spot was a Speedy Chick but they closed a few years back. Holy Smoke BBQ moved in, but…well, you can search Facebook to find out what happened there. Battle Creek Burger moved in to the space earlier this fall.
Not much has changed from this spot from when it was the BBQ joint. It’s not a very big shop. There is only room for a couple of tables. They walls are the same but they did swap out for new tables and chairs and new flooring to give the space it’s own feel.
The menu is written on dry erase boards on the wall. There’s one that just lists all of their items and another which does the same but also goes in to a little bit more detail about what is on each burger.
Ordering is done at a window in to the kitchen. There was quite a line when I walked in the door so it took a few minutes to get to the front and put my order in. I picked the Rodeo Burger and an order of Garlic Parm Fries. The cost was right around $15 before tip.
It took a little over 10 minutes for my name to be called. I grabbed the bag and headed back to the car to eat.
I started with the Garlic Parm Fries since fries need to be eaten warm. These are the kind of fries that would have been delicious on their own but where even better garlic parmalized. The fries are fresh cut and come out kind of soggy but somehow still crispy The garlic sauce is garlic butter mixture and all if it is topped with thick shreds of Parmesan cheese.
The Rodeo Burger is topped with pepperjack cheese, BBQ sauce, bacon, lettuce, tomato and a fried onion ring. Actually, the onion ring wasn’t on the menu so that was kind of a surprise. The burger is wrapped tightly in foil and that foil steams everything together. The burger looked a mess but it was really tasty. I tried five or six different angles to take a picture and it never turned out looking good but that’s not important. It tasted amazing. The burger was tender and just fell apart with each bite. There was a lot of BBQ sauce which made for a messy meal. That could be dialed back just a bit, but it’s a tasty sweet BBQ that just dominates the flavor.
I love burger joint and I love fast casual burger joints like Battle Creek Burger. There are a lot of times I want a burger but don’t want fast food but also don’t want to order for a sit down place. BC Burger is like a local, tasty version of Five Guys…and it’s much cheaper.