Place: Zombie Burger + Drink Lab
Lunch: Planet Terror, chili, Coke
A recent addition to the East Village area, Zombie Burger is a zombie-themed sit-down burger and beer joint. The name alone garnered much buzz on Facebook and in the local media before it even opened. Buzz is one thing, food is another. Would Zombie Burger...uh...live up to its name?
Co-worker Amy...the only person in town who ever wants to have lunch with me except the mother of my dead wife (who, as far as I know, is NOT a zombie)...ventured on down to see how the place shapes up.
First off, everybody who works here appears to be of the living. Second, the building really doesn't have much of a zombie theme. It's pretty modern with modern colors, lots of windows, and steel and wood accenting. The theme is pretty well limited to the wall art, which includes a zombie mural.
The menu is the key. The menu has an assortment of burgers with zombie themes, a couple which use trademarked names that I'm sure will eventually get them a few 'cease and desist' letters from lawyers. There's 18 burgers with zombie theme-names, and a boring 'hamburger' and 'cheeseburger'. Each come in single, double, or triple patty varieties with prices ranging from $3.49 to $10.99. Sides, which include fries, chili, salads, and mac and cheese, are additional. They have a crapload of beers, which are completely lost on me. They also have shakes and hot dogs, but not a hot dog flavored shake. That would be gross. Why would you even think of such a thing?
The appetizer menu included onion rings, so we ordered some.
"We don't have onion rings as an appetizer."
Huh?
"We don't have onion rings as an appetizer."
But it's on the menu right there. With dipping sauce, even.
"We had to make an adjustment because they clogged up the fryer."
Um, okay.
So they didn't get to sell us an appetizer, the list which included fried brussel sprouts, fried cheese curds, fried buffalo bacon, fried pickle chips, and Zombie Nachos. There was also goat cheese, which obviously means the owners thought they were opening a restaurant in Austin, Texas.
I had a Planet Terror burger, which included barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, caramelized onion, and "fried ranch". I also had a cup of chili. The barbecue sauce was really sweet. The "fried ranch" turned out to be what looked like deep fried cheese curds, but with ranch in them instead. When you bite into one, it pops and ranch drizzles down the burger. Much like if a zombie eyeball popped, right?
GENIUS!
The chili was decent. It had black beans. Just saying.
Amy tried the Trailer Trash Zombie burger, which included cheese, fried pickle slices, chicken fried bacon, cheese curds, and ranch mayo. Amy's side of choice was fries with a side of ranch. She took a bite, thought about it, and said "You know what? It works." I tried a bite of it and decided that their breading tastes fishy. Then I decided it was their oil when I had a fry.
Anyway, we decided it was well worth trying, and even worth revisiting, even if the zombie theme is lost once you no longer have a menu in your hands. A genuinely nice place with decent prices and unusual burgers.
