Hi there, burger loving friends! I apologize for the gap in posting but September has been a super-busy month between Labor Day, weddings, a vacation (to New Orleans! I’ll be sharing some of the delicious food I ate there in an upcoming post) and of course – the historic visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia! And keeping with the (holy) spirit of the weekend, I checked out the burger at Pub on Passyunk East, better known as the P.O.P.E. of South Philadelphia.
They were having a big party all week long leading up to the event with special themed beers like Philadelphia Brewing’s Holy Wooder & Manayunk Brewing’s Papal Ale, which I both tried. The burger itself is an 8 oz. patty, topped with cheddar cheese, a fried green tomato, grilled red onion and basil mayo on a buttery brioche bun.
The burger came out perfectly medium as requested and was flavorful and juicy. The cheddar cheese was gooey and the grilled onions were delicious (even if there were a few too many of them). The fried green tomato was tasty, but eventually popped out of it’s breading. However, the tomato remained crisp & not hot or soggy like fried tomatoes can sometimes be. The breading that was left behind also remained crispy, giving a little crunch to the burger. The flavor of the basil mayo was nice and I alternated between dipping my fries and my burger into it. The burger-to-bun ratio was proportional as well, although the patty did shift a bit throughout my meal so I had to eat my way around it a bit. Despite having been to POPE on several occasions, this was my first time sitting down to a meal here and I really enjoyed it. They also have lots of vegan options as well for your non-meat eating friends. I bet the real Pope would have blessed this burger – it was fit to be canonized!
Burger rating: “A”
