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Review: Sassafras Bar

By Glen Macnow

Score: 7.25
Price: $13.95 for a "John Dillinger" burger with caramelized onions and gruyere cheese.
Location: 48 S. Second Street, Old City

Lots of burger choices here: Sirloin, lamb, bison, ostrich, veggie. For purposes of this contest, we stuck with sirloin for one and bison for the second. But we'll be back for the others. Correction: Make that all the others except veggie.

We were delighted to see that they know how to charbroil a burger at Sassafras. It had some good burn flavor on the outside, but was still juicy and pink on the inside. A hand-formed patty, lightly seasoned, topped with those sweet onions and bubbly gruyere cheese. One thing we've learned over the past 40 days is that gruyere is the most-underrated of cheeses. Perfect for a burger. Kicks American cheese's ass.

Here's what else we've learned: A genuinely well-prepared and seasoned burger doesn't require ketchup. And this one didn't. It takes a lot for me to put aside that Heinz jar, but at Sassafras, it stayed on the table. This is a solid Old City joint that's been around for a while. Keep feeding me that burger, the unusually tasty sweet potato fries and another Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, and I'll keep returning.

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