Restaurants
Bug Chubby Burger
Bug Chubby Burger, with its bright green facade and giant logo in the window, is nestled between Bungalow and Good Egg in Kensington Market. Also in the window are two signs for the $5 - yes, $5 - special which includes a classic burger with fries and pop.
The burger joint has only been open for a few weeks, but seems to already be a go to place to grab a quick bite to eat without feeling any fast food remorse afterward. We arrive for a late dinner Friday night and the place is pretty quiet. But as we eat several people wander in and grab the $5 special to go.
We survey our options - Crafted Larges, Crafted Signatures, and Crafted Classics. I order the Canadian Burger ($7) and my friend has the Mexican burger ($7). We also share an order of fries ($3). When our food is ready, one of the guys behind the counter brings it to our table which is a nice touch.
The Canadian Burger is topped with a sizable piece of peameal bacon, cheddar, onion, lettuce, tomato, and a healthy smear of garlic mayonnaise. The bun is a Kaiser with sesame seeds. I take my first bite and am overwhelmed by the mayonnaise's garlic-y flavour. I get used to it soon enough and begin to notice the moistness of the whole burger. The patty is lean but not dry. The cheddar is perfectly melted on top of the patty. Big Chubby Burger says they use only AAA Canadian beef to make their hand-formed patties.
My dining partner is also digging her Mexican burger (top photo) which is essentially the same as mine except the mayonnaise is a spicy chipotle and it comes with sautéed onions instead of raw ones. She does point out that there aren't enough distinctly Mexican flavours or ingredients to warrant it being called a Mexican burger. There's no guacamole. No salsa. No mole. Nothing really Mexican except the chipotle.
In addition to the burgers listed, there are a number of extras ($1 each) that can be added to any burger order. Adding fries and a pop to any burger is an additional $2.
By the end of our meal we are pretty stuffed, having also been slowly eating away at our order of fries. They are hand-cut, shoestring fries, lightly salted and perfectly crispy with the skins on.
Now that both fast food chains as well as Toronto's burgeoning gourmet burger restaurants are paying more attention to decor than in the past, Bug Chubby Burger's interior looks unfinished in comparison. But it's the food that's worth coming here for - and getting burgers to go seems like the most popular option.
Bug Chubby Burger offers good quality food for a fair price. They keep it simple and deliver where it counts with a quality beef patty and fresh ingredients.
Bug Chubby Burger is open from 11am to 10pm daily. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible, but the washrooms are down a flight of stairs.
Photos by Elizabeth Vu
Note: Big Chubby Burger is the new name for what was once called Craft Fat Burger so the name in the review has been updated accordingly.
Discussion
40 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
Nice of them to rip-off both Craft Burger and Fat Burger.
-----
I read somewhere else where the owner was defending his name with some bullshyt about doing lots of research into what would be a good name.
Should've called it Kensington Burger or Kensington Burger Heaven or Market Burger or Kensiburger or something.
Courts in Ontario found that "Budwieser, the king of beers" infringed on the "Kingsbeer" trademark that was owned (by the time it actually got to court) by Molsons.
Rigghhhhhht. Surrrrrrrre they did.
That's why KING OF BEERS is plastered on every piece of shYt Bud P.O.P. and bar banner.
The only infringement hot water Bud ever got into was against some Czech beer named Budvar or something, when they tried to run global Bud spots in the country. But that had nothing to do with the King of Beers tagline.
If you're energetic you can find the court transcript for the case: Anheuser-Busch, Inc. v. Carling O’Keefe Breweries of Canada Ltd. (1986), 10 C.P.R. (3d) 433 (FCA), varying 68 C.P.R. (2d) 1 (FCTD)
This was around the same time where the market was transitioning from stubbies to long neck bottles. There was a period of a few years when the Labatt's produced Budweiser sold in Canada did not have "the king of beers" on it's label. Then when Molson's bought Carling some some reason the deal did not include the former Dow's Brewries trademarks so the Kingsbeer trademark was abandoned and Labatt's went back to splashing "the king of beers" all over the package of that rice based swill.
And actually the Czech beer thing was also about the King of Beers thing because their tag line was "the beer of kings".
I don't just make this stuff up you know.
http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/vwTrdmrk.do;jsessionid=0001wJyqCyj_SCOckSeOyd2YmhA:3UAPV7CT3?lang=eng&status=OK&fileNumber=1409413&extension=0&startingDocumentIndexOnPage=1
Burger was more well done than i would have liked, still moist enough to pass, the toppings and bun were fresh and wonderful.
This guy has absolutely NO creativity whatsoever - ANOTHER burger place in Toronto... AND to not even think of a new name? Terrible and Pathetic. I'm actually embarrased for him. I hope "CraftFat" gets what they deserve.
Craft Burger has done a great job over the years and puts out a great product... This really is a shame.
In my world, offering enough food to stuff a large stomach for five bucks is creative enough.
For a combo at Craft Burger, I can grab two at Craft Fat. I'm okay with that and I prefer their burgers.
I had the regular burger w/fries & a drink combo, and for $5, I can't complain, but it was nothing compared to the friend that ordered the Craft Fat ... SOOOO DELICOUS!!!!
I had the regular burger/fries/drink combo, and for $5, I can't complain, however the friend that ordered the craft fat, is was absolutly delicious!!!
Now I can think, "Oh, I don't need to go there again"
This place has the strangest ambiance with the sloppy paint job, the boombox in the front, photographs of burgers that were obviously found on google image search, and the weird cut out letters spelling 'Cucina' On the counter.
I got the 5$ combo. The burger was oddly spiced, but my fries were pretty good and the portion had a nice layout and good portion. However, it did take 10 minutes for my order to be ready and there was no line in front of me (actually the guy was also arguing with a coworker when I got in there). So far this has been my second 'craft' burger in the city and I have been pretty disappointed by both. I'll have to try craft or acme.
STAY AWAY !!!!!!
I see all these comments talking about dry-burgers and want to cry. Next time you see someone complain about their burger being undercooked, punch 'em in the gunt.
When you walk into a burger joint, you're not going to die if it's not McDonald's brown. I wonder if the same rules apply to $30 steaks for these people...
Ugh. RIP Craft Fat. (or) Just ask them to undercook it a bit. Seems simple!
This place is clearly better then Craft Burger's dry patty and poor customer service. Yes, they do have nice trendy well interior designed locations but their burger is no competition.