Ford’s Garage | Brandon
In my infinite hunt for the best local burger, Ford’s Garage has earned a chance at the title and had been on my short list. As we would be just up the road grocery shopping, now was the time to judge their offerings.
On our way to Aldi, we decided to try Ford’s Garage for burgers. Yes, Ford’s Garage has more on the menu than burgers, but for this local chain I only had interest in their hamburgers. Why? A look at the menu found it to be pretty uninspired; they do essentially what every other American bar-and-grub chain is doing, so…meh. And that “chain” part turns me off but they do get good reviews for their burgers.
Ford’s Garage
11105 Causeway Boulevard
Brandon, FL 33511
Phone: (813) 661-3673
Hours:
Monday to Thursday – 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Friday & Saturday – 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Sunday – 10:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
First Impressions
The hostesses were quick and friendly, escorting us directly to a table. The first thing that struck me was the overwhelming amount of information presented as we sat. In addition to the basic menu, we were presented with a drinks menu, a limited specials menu, a happy hour menu and a dessert menu, all plunked down as we sat. I don’t do well with too much information or options at once with little time to parse it.
It was happy hour (when isn’t it here?) but there was a ton of selections to choose from. If you’re a one drink kink, then you’re golden. But if you like to experiment or mix things up, then it could take hours to choose. And if you’re indecisive like me—forget it.
We settled for water for now, and our waitress left us to peruse the library with a final note that generic margaritas, sangria, and some beers are $4 during happy hour. My liver lit up at margarita as Christa’s did at sangria.
Our Order
We eased our task by losing every menu but the main one and sorting through the various burger options. I like to go basic when trying a new place, so I was immediately drawn to the American Standard: “Black Angus with American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, and Dill Pickle Planks on a Brioche Bun.”
I asked for medium temp with the included french fries and a side of coleslaw. The slaw description impressed me by emphasizing celery seed, a concept foreign to most restaurants we’ve encountered in Florida. So we slaw snobs were keen to see how it fared.
Christa ordered the Estate Burger: “Black Angus with Smoked Gouda Cheese, Sweet Red Onion Marmalade, Arugula, Tomato, Fried Onion Straws, and White Truffle Bacon Aioli on a Brioche Bun,” cooked medium well with the fries and slaw as well.
The Drinks
Then we ordered those drinks—the margarita for me and the sangria for Christa. They arrived shortly, mine in a pint glass rimmed in salt and Christa’s in a goblet.
Side Rant
I’m not one of those people who complains about watered down drinks—bars, especially well-managed chains, do not water down drinks; it makes no practical business sense to do so.
First of all, liquor is extremely cheap and the standard markup is golden. There is absolutely no incentive for a legit place to cheat the customer. That being said, well-managed places do not give booze away, either. Getting your customers legally wasted inside of two drinks is a liability and therefore not good for business.
Legit business makes measured pours and every drink is the same. This results in many drinks tasting to some as if there is no alcohol at all. This is a sign of a good drinks maker, not a cheapskate. If you’ve got a hookup with a local bartender who makes strong drinks or if you make your own drinks with a boost, it’s not the fault of a proper operation that your palate has been wrecked.
That’s a long rant to say that Ford’s Garage makes a nice rail margarita. The salt is salty, the mixer is tasty and while the tequila flavor is present, the taste of alcohol is unnoticeable. I had a bad experience with tequila in my early twenties and have a particular nose for the stuff. It took all I had to not slurp the whole thing down in one go but I did well and paced it out.
The Food
It seemed to take a bit longer than it should have for the burgers to arrive, but we occupied ourselves with our phones. The Ford’s Garage theme (guess what it is) and decor offer only so much to while away the time. A birthday party was being kicked off across the dining room to the tune of a horn blast and simulated exhaust cloud from the tailpipe of a Model A truck suspended over the bar.
Hey, Good Looking
The burgers arrived and I must say they looked amazing. I’ll give credit to Ford’s for good presentation. I wonder if they brand each bun during cooking or if they come from the baker branded; it’s a nice touch. The food had better be good and spot on though if you’re branding buns to order.
The burger itself sat separated from the bottom bun by a massive round of leaf lettuce. A glaze of golden cheese sealed the surface of the rough-edged round of meat conforming to every nook and cranny. On top of the cheese perched a thick slice of ripe tomato and an equally thick slice of red onion. With two “planks” of dill pickle.
Christa’s look equally attractive but with smoked gouda, sweet red onion marmalade, arugula, fried onion straws, and white truffle bacon aioli. Now, that sounds like more flavors than a human tongue can manage at once but there it sat. The tiny bites my wife takes will only be able to contain two or three components at a time, anyway.
In these days of food designers, digital cameras, Photoshop, and less than perfection as the aims of many chain restaurant line cooks, it’s refreshing to encounter a situation where the actual food served looks identical to if not better than the picture. All expectations based on the menu pictures were surpassed. Chain or not, the cooks deserve praise for plating a beautiful pair of burgers.
The Burgers
I trimmed back the greenery by peeling away the bulk of the massive lettuce leaves and removing half of the thick slice of onion. I broke off with little effort a piece of meat and popped it in my mouth. It was impossible to get a piece without cheese for an unadulterated taste, but it was close enough to get a sense of the quality, flavor, tenderness, browning, and seasoning of the burger. It was juicy, as I said, very tender, had a very mild beef flavor, a good browning but without a crispy crust, and it needed salt.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good burger, but required a deeper flavor of beef, a harder sear for a crispier crust, and more salt to make it a great burger. We each gave ours a twist from the sea salt grinder.
I cut it in two for easier eating, but mainly to check the cooked temperature. It was medium, just as I had ordered. Christa cut into hers and it was also a nice medium, but not the medium-well she had ordered. It was not a problem as it didn’t run with red juices, it only had a pinker meat.
This is important to note. The patties were tender and juicy but didn’t run free with juices, especially not juices that turned the buns pink. I chalk this up to a good rest period. Which, though not as effective with ground beef as it is with whole cuts does result in a better burger.
Whether this rest was intentional or accidental is unknown, but considering our fries were barely fried, it may have been from sitting in the pass waiting on a basket to cook.
I unhinged my jaw and went in for a bite. The brioche bun had a shiny crust, like onion skin, crisped like phyllo from either awaiting the patty under heat lamps or from radiant heat when toasted. It gave way easily and my top teeth cut through the cold onion, pickle, and tomato passing into the hot patty of beef as my bottom teeth burst through the lettuce.
Ketchup and mustard were available on the table, but I never thought to put them on. The burger was juicy and the melted cheese was all the sauce it needed. And I like ketchup and mustard.
The coleslaw was okay. It had celery seed, but it was just meh. Not enough sweet and tang. It looked pretty, like an FTD arrangement.
The Fries
The fries were cut large and fried an anemic beige. They glistened with residual oil and a slight visible outer crust to them. I pulled a hot one from the mini fryer basket to taste. It was soft and needed salt.
Curmudgeon here: Unless the potatoes were actually fried in those mini baskets, I don’t see the point in using them other than as a gimmick. Just dump them on my plate. If they’re delicious, they won’t last long enough to steam themselves soggy, which these already were because they weren’t left in the fryer long enough.
Again, a dish is only as good as the food. Ford’s Garage could have delivered those fries in a Fabergé egg, but if they’re soft and pale, you can keep ‘em. I’ll take that egg, though. Pro tip—thin fries cook faster, crisp sooner and stay crisper longer. And salt them fries.
First Thoughts
In its most basic form (think: arches) the cheeseburger is a singular and simple creation. A cooked patty of ground beef, melted cheese, onions and pickles, ketchup and mustard on a white bun. There’s nothing else like it and it tastes delicious. There’s absolutely no need for lettuce, tomato, or any other superfluous accouterments.
Those extras can certainly make a great burger better, but they’re not necessary for a great burger and they’re certainly not going to make a bad burger great. You’ve got to nail the basics or everything else is just lipstick on an Angus. For that reason, I deem the burgers at Ford’s Garage to be good, not exceptional, because the patty is just good, not exceptional. If this was Black Angus, they wasted their food cost; this tasted little different than a standard beef burger I had just last week. That’s not a bad thing, but is it good enough to return for seconds?
The Value
The Food
Our meals, two burgers each with fries, two sides of coleslaw, and two happy hour cocktails brought our bill with tax to $38.89. Our standard practice of a 20% tip on the round up to the nearest dollar brings the total to $46.89. We could have saved some dough by sticking with waters for $30.34 cents plus a $6 tip, but that’s still almost $40 for two burgers, fries, and slaw.
They were tasty above-average burgers, but there has to be a source for tasty above-average burgers for less. Remember when burgers were cheap food? They still are at the Scottish Place and Burger Statist, but there you definitely get what you pay for.
Atmosphere
The burgers were good, but the gimmick here is the motif. You get to eat and drink in a garage full of Ford merch and car parts. Ford’s Garage is an official licensee of the Ford motor company; a deal that allows them to buttress their business with 115 years worth of brand recognition. This results in all sorts of kitsch on walls and logoed merchandise.
This, of course, should have no bearing on the quality and taste of the products, namely food, and service, but it is obviously of some benefit to their business as a draw to Ford nuts (I’m curious if GM or Mopar fans refuse to eat here. Oh, god. Is there going to be a Chrysler’s Service Station?). Food prices are determined by the market. If the buyers in the market decide they are cool with $12 burgers, then that’s what we’re getting. So, all this licensed kitsch and merch isn’t driving up the price, but it isn’t a benefit to everyone, either.
The Competition
Sure, I can get a decent burger and crispy fries for a few bucks at other chains or independent shacks and drive-ins. But those will be thin 2- to 4-ounce patties of beef on enriched white buns.
Want six ounces of quality beef cooked to temp on a toasted brioche bun with fresh vegetables, unprocessed cheese, and bacon? You’re going to pay for that. How much? How much do the market buyers say? To parse that you’ve got to define quality. Is the quality of Ford’s the same as Chicago’s Best, Five Guys, Steak n’ Shake, Square One, Wayback, Jimmy Hula’s, Danny’s All American Diner, Keith’s Oaks, and Campbell’s Dairyland? How do you really know without getting intimate with the operators?
Opinions
So, I put it to you: Is nearly thirty dollars too much for two burgers, fries, and coleslaw? The answer is a matter of subjectivity, place, and time. Suffice it to say, at the time our reaction was that it was too much. The better question is whether two burgers, fries, and coleslaw are worth the margin over all other similar burgers.
The best you can do is taste each one and rate according to your experience. Then you can compare what you physically get with each one. How much beef per patty, how much lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, what size bun, how much condiment. Do fries come with or are they extra? Are drinks extra or can they be worked into a combo offer? Was today a good day, or did somebody kick your dog? You start to realize that the only way to do this properly is with a spreadsheet and a slide rule. But what fun is that? Come on, man. I just want a burger, not math homework.
This is why I just have to go with my gut impressions and without too much analysis. Ford’s Garage makes a picture perfect and good tasting burger. However, it’s not the best burger in town and I don’t think we found value in Ford’s Garage over other nearby competitors. Well, not enough to justify a return and the expense of the pricier burgers, even though on the margin we’re probably only paying five dollars more for the experience at Ford’s.
And In the End
That’s what this comes down to. All else being equal, would we pay an additional five bucks just for the experience of eating at Ford’s Garage? I don’t know. Where’s my dog?
I don’t want to nickel and dime burgers. Values change and vary; if you want an adult beverage with your meal and like eating in a simulated service bay, you may disagree with me. Enough differing opinions fuel the existence of eleven branches and counting. Ford’s Garage makes a tasty burger, but all things considered, I think we’re likely to pass on a return trip. We simply find better value elsewhere.
Thanks for reading!