Mugshots...Where the Bun's a Big Deal

This week, I ventured to Vestavia Hills, Alabama to meet a long-time friend for lunch.  He had heard of the Grub Hub (not surprisingly) and recently suggested I add one of his favorite eateries to my list of man-food establishments.  It's called Mugshots and that's where we went.  With eight locations across LA, MS and AL - these folks pride themselves in serving up great burgers.  I decided to put them to the test.

A little bit of pre-visit research on their website led me to the statement, "It is all about the bun."  This made me nervous, I have to admit.  After all, if the best thing a guy can come up with about his burger is "the bun" - there ought to be reason for concern.  Nevertheless, I pressed on.

The menu was filled with many of your standard items...appetizers, salads, sandwiches, desserts...and, of course...burgers.  I was there for the burger, so I didn't waste my decision-making energy on the other sections.  Our server came to take our drink orders fairly quickly and I will give Mugshots kudos for having Coke Zero as an option (more restaurants need to learn this lesson).  My glass was large, which I like, but I did have to ask for a refill on two different occasions.  For some of you, that's seems immaterial.  But for others, I know you can feel my angst.

Upon delivering my beverage, I said to the gal, "This is my first time here, what would you recommend?"  Her soft response went something like this, "Well.....the burgers are pretty good."  To be honest, I was hoping for a bit more confidence.  Something like, "the burgers here are PHENOMENAL...I mean, the other stuff is good, too...but if this is your first time, you gotta go with a burger!"  It was the lunch hour and she was busy, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

My obvious next question was, "which burger is your BEST burger?"  This is where I began to feel a little uneasy.  "One of our most popular burgers is this one (as she points to the menu)...it has peanut butter on it!"  Really?  Did she just say what I think she said?  I wondered if perhaps she was new, but upon further examination, I noticed that at Mughosts you can order up all sorts of goofy things on your burger...peanut butter, cheddar cheese sauce (never do this), thousand island dressing (isn't there a place that refers to this as "special" sauce?), grape jelly, sour cream and more. 

The burger I went with is called the "McDonald."  I'm thinking they need to come up with a better name for their signature burger, don't you?  The description was as follows - "By far the best burger on the menu...8 oz seasoned beef patty racked (whatever that means) with strips of hickory smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, creamy ranch, smoky BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato and red onion."  My two word evaluation:  tasty, satisfactory.  The meat was decent, but I'm doubtful that it was a fresh, hand-formed patty.  Back to the whole bun thing for just a moment...it was square and sweet...yes, you read that correctly, square and sweet.  Okay, I'll come clean...the bun actually wasn't too bad, but I did find myself leaving parts of it on my plate.

My buddy went with the "Pato" burger - a basic burger with a combination of swiss and cheddar cheese.  It looked good and I was glad to see he didn't go weird on me...and get the grape jelly.  The fry and onion ring combination is a good call...and there's actually a pretty decent dipping sauce that comes on the side. 

I'm not an anti-Mugshot-ite by any means.  I'll be back.  I'm certain my family would enjoy an outing, but with two members allergic to peanut butter, we'll certainly be careful in our burger selection!