Hamburger Mary's

How cool is this, St Louis has a queer franchise in Midtown.  Hamburger Mary's  (http://hamburgermarys.com/stlouis/)  is in fact a few short blocks from the very Catholic St Louis University.  I had the day off so I decided to take my wife on an adventure there for lunch.  After some traffic issues and a broken meter that stole two quarters we found ourselves seated and ready for some gay burgers.  We were a little scattered when we sat down so it took us a few minutes to realize we had the task of deciding what we wanted for lunch.

The menu was a little daunting, there were several yummilicious things on the menu from burgers to lobster mac and cheese.  I almost got the three grilled cheesy sandwich, but decided on the Barbra-Q Bacon Cheeseburger since we were at a famous burger joint.  My lovely wife chose the Meaty Mushroom and since we both love spinach artichoke dip we also got an order of spinny dipper.

Once we settled in and started looking around we were astounded by the over the top decor of chandlers, pink columns, and red velvet curtains.  We both thought it was fun, but the ambient lighting was not the best for knitting.  I gave up pretty quickly, but the spinny dipper showed up and my tummy was ready for some substance.  We plowed into the ooey, gooey goodness that is there spinach artichoke dip. This appetizer is our go to starter because we both like it so much, we have tried the dish at chains and original restaurants across the country.  So it is with much experience that I say this, BEST SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP EVER!  Our only complaint was there were so many artichoke pieces in it that it broke the chips. What a problem to have.  It was so delicious I wanted to lick the platter clean.

Okay, I want to be honest, my favorite burger in St Louis is O'Connell's
(http://www.saucemagazine.com/oconnells/)  Hamburger Mary's did not change that, but I will say my half pound Angus beef burger was pretty tasty.  The sauce and onion rings on the burger combined together to make my tummy very happy.  Neither of us were happy with the lettuce/relish bed under the burger.  I did ask for no pickles, but I guess the relish is not considered a pickle derivative, so we had to  scraped off the the offense vegetation and it was fine.  Next time no pickle, lettuce, or relish please.

I could not finish the enormous burger so I have half for later.  Overall, I loved Hamburger Mary's, the atmosphere was so much fun, the staff very friendly, the burger worth the $9.45 price tag, and where else do you get your bill in a stiletto?