The Cherry Cricket Burger - 19/30

So, the scoring begins. Back in the UK, when a bar describes itself as 'American Style', The Cherry Cricket is what they have in mind. Almost Cheers-esque in it's good time crowd, decor and simple pleasures. As recommended by Man vs Food, I went for the standard 1/2lb burger and partnered it with Frings (Fries + Onion rings) for just under $12.

Definite step up in quality of burger from GBK, great chargrilled crust, nicely pink in the middle, really well seasoned and above all beefy. It comes deconstructed with the salad to one side, thoughtfully leaving you free to accessorise your condiments of choice (Heinz Ketchup, French's mustard) before rebuilding. Although not billed as a BBQ burger, the Cricket's house BBQ sauce comes on the side as standard and really kicked things up a tangy notch.

Salad was basic and knew its place. Fries were hot, crisy with a cajun style coating but were slightly lacking on the potatoey factor. Onion rings were slightly over battered, but not bad. My first reaction to the all important bun question was, too thin, too soft, this is all going to fall apart, however as the meal progressed, against all odds it held well and again (like the salad) didn't overwhelm the main event. For my taste, I'd have liked some toasty cripsness coming through, but it's a minor point.

Overall, great value, and presentation entirely in keeping with the bar-menu vibe. So to the scores. Remember, 0 is for not present, 1 is merely functional, 2 is adequate, 3 is good, 4 is really good and 5 is OMG-can't-talk-eating.

KBI-1 : Quality of Burger	4 / 5
(Beefiness, quality of cooking, not getting lost in the extras)
KBI-2 : Distinguishing Features	3 / 5
(i.e. The 'headline' variation e.g. Bacon, Chilli, BBQ)
KBI-3 : Ability of Bun to Maintain Order	3 / 5
(size, freshness, flavour, keeping it all together)
KBI-4 : Condiment Enhancement	3 / 5
(variety, suitability of extras)
KBI-5 : Fries Counterpoint	3 / 5
(portion size, crispness, potato-ey ness)
KBI-6 : Other Supporting Actors	3 / 5
(quality of side orders)
Total Score	19/30

Great result first out of the blocks for The Cherry Cricket.

Calibration complete, baseline determined!