A Traveling Bull

ROAD TRIP to Crafty Burg’R n’ Tap

I drove 854 miles round trip to discover a great little joint in Denver, NC.

OK, it also just so happens to also be the home of my childhood friend and her family – double trouble.

Just off the shores of Lake Norman near Charlotte, NC you can find this adroit little burger and craft beer focused restaurant (and there are already three locations, so you know it’s good!)

Turn Ons	Turn Offs
Food was outstanding	Bar bench is short
THE Ohio State University on the TV	Beef to topping ratio is off
Service with TLC	Tiny, pregnant bartender changed the keg herself

As I walked through the threshold, I noticed it was a simple, intimate location with a patio about the same size as the restaurant itself. Although the patio had no view to speak of (the parking lot for the most part) I can visualize day drinking on it when you want to meet someone for happy hour and you don’t own a boat (#lakelife after all.)

The bar was good sized, light and airy and with a couple TVs. Noteworthy was the friendly couple sitting at the bar enjoying their salads – they saw me searching the screens and made a point to let the bartender and myself know that they weren’t watching anything and I could switch to whatever I wanted. I thought that was just very nice of them. Good people. There was a couple that came in at 7:30 PM looking for the OSU game as well. Unofficial OSU bar? And, if I were to own a burger bar, this is probably very similar to how I would envision mine looking.

The bartender was our server (and I think likely the manager as well) and she was very attentive, providing answers to all our questions quickly and adeptly. She was also very sweet. I will note that in my ‘turn offs’ I mented she changed a keg by herself. I was hoping another team member might have helped given she looked about 7 months pregnant and she probably shouldn’t be lifting heavy things like that. But, she might also be like me – stubborn 🙂

OK, the FOOD. I feel like I’m cheating a little on Red Robin (don’t judge until you’ve tried their Bonsai Burger people..) but oh my, YUMM! I ordered up the avocado bites upon recommendation of my friend. They were barely breaded, with a little of their fried chicken spices I believe, and it added just the right amount of salt and spices. They were good as an appetizer and then spread on a breakfast sandwich the next morning.  I might try that at home, seriously. For my beef course I ordered a burger, of course. I noticed they had the Aloha which is very similar to the OG GOAT (yes, the Bonzai.) I had to compare! The teriyaki was sweet, the pineapple grilled to perfection (sweet, not too soft,) the provolone was acceptable and the bun was able to hold all the juiciness (it’s hard to find a good bun.) I think I still prefer the sharpness of cheddar over this combination, but the sandwich was still very good. I devoured it (almost whole, LOL.) I would add more beef to the burger patties to achieve the best burger to topping ratio – you can see in the photo it was a bit scarce. All in all, I will 100% go back – with or without my friend (though I’m convinced she feels the same, that fried chicken was really, really good as well.)

I enjoyed both cock (in this case, chicken) and bull (beef burger) at the Crafty Burg’R.

#craftyburgr #ilikebigbuns #cocknbullcbus

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