Day 24: Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Review

So we're on vacation. Although we've planned our travelling to accommodate our special dietary needs by bringing along a variety of fruit, vegetables, dried fruit and nuts, there are times when we need to sit down, eat a more substantial meal before venturing off on the road again. Yesterday we took an opportunity to test the veggie/vegan options of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, a chain with 450 restaurants across the U.S., Alberta and British Columbia.

After sitting down and asking our server if they had vegan offerings, several staff members enthusiastically took the time to answer our questions:

Q: Do you have any vegetarian options?

A: Yes, we have two types of veggie burgers, one of which is vegan. The first one is the vegan Boca Burger; the second one is the original Gardenburger, which is NOT vegan. Also, any sandwich can be made into a veggie version simply by requesting the meat patty to be replaced by a vegan or non-vegan veggie 'burger' patty.

Q: Are the vegetarian 'burgers' cooked on the same surface as the regular meat burgers?

A: Well, we'll put in an Allergy alert to make sure that there is no possible cross-contamination (if there is a different policy at other locations, we're not sure; please feel free to ask your server for some clarification on this issue.)

Left: Red Robin's Original Gardenburger (not vegan); Right: Red Robin's Vegan Burger. The price of each, including french fries was $7.99 (U.S. dollar); one of our orders was $0.79 extra because we ordered sweet potato fries.

Above: The vegan Boca Burger is quite thick, has a homogeneous appearance without discernible bits or flecks of vegetables.

Boca Burgers' Original Vegan burger

Ingredients: WATER, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WHEAT GLUTEN, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF METHYLCELLULOSE, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, DRIED ONIONS, YEAST EXTRACT, SESAME OIL, HYDROLYZED WHEAT PROTEIN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR (NON-MEAT), DISODIUM GUANYLATE, DISODIUM INOSINATE. CONTAINS: SOY, WHEAT, SESAME.Source: Click here

Above: The Original Gardenburger is a bit thinner than the vegan Boca Burger. From the side, it has an appearance that might remind us of a traditional meat burger. The small flecks of cheese throughout the patty are visible even from this vantage point.

Gardenburger® The Original

Ingredients: VEGETABLES (BUTTON MUSHROOMS, ONIONS, CRIMINI MUSHROOMS, PORTABELLA MUSHROOMS), COOKED BROWN RICE (BROWN RICE, WATER), ROLLED OATS, MOZZARELLA CHEESE (PASTEURIZED PART-SKIM MILK, CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), WATER, BULGUR WITH WATER FOR HYDRATION, PARSLEY, CHEDDAR CHEESE (PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, ENZYMES, CULTURES, ANNATTO FOR COLOR), CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF YEAST EXTRACT, NATURAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED VEGETABLE GUM, SALT, MUSHROOM EXTRACT, GARLIC POWDER, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, SPICES, CITRIC ACID, MALTED BARLEY, NATURAL BUTTER FLAVOR, WHEY, DEHYDRATED ONION, ANNATTO FOR COLOR, DEHYDRATED MUSHROOMS, GUAR GUM, NATURAL SMOKE FLAVOR, TURMERIC FOR COLOR, SOY LECITHIN.

Above: The vegan Boca Burger with the bottom of the bun removed. Although we requested no dressing on our 'burgers', we had to scrape a mayonnaise-based dressing before eating our sandwiches. 

Above: The Original Gardenburger has a very pleasant appearance (largely due to the presence of a variety of mushroom pieces and the nicely caramelized cheese particles on the surface). Please note that when we ordered the two 'burgers', we were not aware that cheese was part of this sandwich. It wasn't until after the server brought our food that the cheese was clearly apparent.

Above: A cross section of Red Robin's vegan Boca Burger. Notice the nicely textured inside, which isn't apparent from the outside. The majority of the patty is made of soy protein, wheat protein (gluten) and dried onions. Comments included "Nice, non-offensive texture and flavour", "pretty substantial sandwich", "no lingering strange aftertaste", "I really liked the mild, but lovely flavour of this burger. I will definitely order this one again, only without the mayo dressing next time!"

Above: A cross section of Red Robin's Original Gardenburger. On close inspection, one can detect the pieces of mushrooms (crimini, button and portabella), cooked brown rice, oats, bulgur wheat and parsley. One can also tell the presence of some cheese as well.  Overall, the comments about this product included "nice texture", "great flavour", "no lingering aftertaste that's common in other veggie-based burgers", "mild, pleasant flavour", "I'd clearly order this again."

Above: A piece of Red Robin's vegan Boca Burger at the top portion of this photo (please note the homogeneous texture) and two small pieces of the Original Gardenburger below; in the bottom pieces that we separated before eating, the rice and mushroom pieces are easily noticed.

Above: Left side: Original Gardenburger' grilling causes the cheese to develop a bit of a burnt 'skin'. Right side: Vegan Boca Burger on right has a bit of a pretty homogenous appearance, although some particles are easily noticeable, even on the surface.

In conclusion, we thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. The staff were very helpful in identifying our veggie/vegan options. It was quite apparent that many servers had never before been asked by their guests (customers) about non-meat options; upon our asking, however, the Red Robin staff helped us have a pleasant, tasty meal that fit our requirements almost perfectly; for example, we will, in the future ask for no mayo-based dressing to be put on our meatless burgers; in addition, we will likely order the vegan (Original Boca Burger) due to the presence of cheese on the Gardenburger. 

Now, here's the ultimate test about what we thought of our experience today: Would we order these items on non-fasting days? Absolutely!

St. John Chrysostom (on fasting)

 
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Fasting is a medicine. But medicine, as beneficial as it is, becomes useless because of the inexperience of the user. He has to know the appropriate time that the medicine should be taken and the right amount of medicine and the condition of the body which is to take it, the weather conditions and the season of the year and the appropriate diet of the sick and many other things. If any of these things are overlooked, the medicine will do more harm than good. So, if one who is going to heal the body needs so much accuracy, when we care for the soul and are concerned about healing it from bad thoughts, it is necessary to examine and observe everything with every possible detail. 
(Source of quote: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles4/ChrysostomFasting.php)