Beef to Settle
Boston's Weekly Dig
New-school burger joints fight the battle of the bulge
3.5 OUT OF 5 SPORKS
THE DEAL: Catching Copley?s after-work crowd and Harvard?s waify student body, B.Good?s platform is a celebration of the goodness of the burger, fries and shake and a dismissal of the lousy conventions of fast food?including its creepy corporate demeanor. Choice steak burgers are ground and grilled on the premises; fries are hand-cut and not fried, but oven-crisped; milkshakes are made with nonfat frozen yogurt and skim milk, while fruit shakes employ fresh fruit, juice and nonfat yogurt.
THE JOINT: A wide dining room with small tables surrounding communal seating options in the center. Big windows with plenty of counter space (good for newspapers). Constantly full at lunchtime, though never lacking for seats. Reliably long line bumps right along. Funny little posters extolling the purity of the place are a little overkill, but are a good for a chuckle.
THE FOOD: While not as overtly customizable, the menu offers enough variations and surprises to keep things fresh for multiple visits. The West Side ($5.75) piles Haas avocado, cilantro, chipotle salsa and tomatoes on a juicy, grilled patty of seriously tasty beef. The caramelized onion and house-made steak sauce that slather the B.Good ($5.95) are the perfect team, and even play well with the tart garlicky greens and earthy saut?ed mushrooms. All buns are soft, fluffy toasted whole-wheat dealies?good and filling, and not at all crumbly. Fries, though baked, are fantastic: perfectly crisp and very low in fat without tasting like it. Milkshakes may disappoint enthusiasts; they?re not quite sturdy or thick enough, and possessed of slightly tamed flavors across the board (though the chocolate was pleasing in a moussey way). The undeniable upside, however, is that you don?t hate life an hour later.
THE SPEED: 11 minutes.
THE AFTERMATH: A happy, satisfied borderline food-coma followed by absolutely no adverse side effects or extended loginess. Mission statement accomplished.
THE VERDICT: With the combination of wonderfully concocted flavors, sneakily packaged health-consciousness, a friendly family-run feel and a gentle comedown, B.Good?s about as good as ?good burgers? get.
