My hometown has a brew pub called Two Rivers Brewing. They consistently win local competitions for best burgers in the area; and for good reason. Since opening their doors, there’s been a Peanut Butter Bacon Burger on their menu, and it is probably the food I miss most since moving away.
The first time I ever tried it, I took a bite, with only slight hesitation. This burger was adventurous; and while I might now consider myself to be an adventurous eater, I wasn’t always. A half pound of local, grass-fed beef cooked perfectly rare on a soft, doughy bun wasn’t anything to jangle my nerves. But it was swaddled in an ooey-gooey blanket of cheddar cheese, melty peanut butter, tangy pickled red onions, and a deliciously caramelized chili sauce. The peanut butter is the part that puts most people off. Before this, I’d never had peanut butter on a burger. I can understand why some might ‘yuck’ this combo immediately, but after one bite, I was hooked.
To really drive the point home that it’s the most exquisite heart-attack-on-a-bun you’ve ever had the privilege of being served, they top this burger off with several strips of smoky, peppery, crispy, thick-cut, melt-in-your-mouth, you-can-die-happy-now, house cured bacon. You might think that the peanut butter would glue your mouth shut and make consuming this mammoth burger a little tricky, but the burger pattie is so delectably juicy that the typical peanut-butter-mouth-stick isn’t even a concern. I have pressured friends, strangers, and both of my parents into trying this burger. It’s worth it. It’s that good.
As if the burger isn’t perfect enough by itself, they add on the side the most gorgeous, golden, duck fat fried Belgian frites I’ve ever seen. The pungent, salty flavor of the pecorino accompanies each bite of soft, but oh-so-crisp, potato in delightful harmony. They belong together. This truth is only heightened when the fries are dipped in a little pewter cup of god-only-knows-what. Some kind of aioli or dijonaise? Whatever it is, it’s heaven. I miss this meal.
It seems that putting peanut butter on a burger is no longer as ‘weird’ as it was once considered to be. There are actually several places where I can get a peanut butter burger in my new location. Bravas, a food truck that frequents my neighborhood and will soon have a new brick-and-mortar in the ’07, offers a smash burger topped with peanut butter, bacon, and jalapenos. I learned about this burger before moving and immediately felt more at home in my new neighborhood knowing that some variety of peanut butter burger would still be just a short walk away whenever a craving should happen to strike. It’s amazing, I love it, and I can’t get enough of it. Sadly, if I’m being really honest with myself, it’s just not the exact sense memory that I yearn for when I want the peanut butter burger of my dreams. Please don’t get me wrong: it’s delicious. It tastes absolutely scrumptious. Smash burgers hold a special place in my heart; but my particular peanut butter burger obsession requires a burger with a certain amount of heft, and that’s not what smash burgers bring to the table. So, the Bravas peanut butter burger has become its own special thing to me; but it doesn’t necessarily make me feel less homesick, as I’d hoped it would. It simply makes me happy to be able to eat a seriously scrummy peanut butter smash burger while supporting a business in my neighborhood.
There’s another restaurant not too far from me called Oak and Alley with a slightly bougier peanut butter burger; and it brings the heft. This one boasts a fernet and plum reduction, bacon, and arugula. It’s kind of fancy, for a burger, and I love that for it. But, again, while this is another absolutely succulent burger, it’s not my peanut butter burger from my hometown.
I’ve not yet been able to make my way to Indianapolis, but I’ve heard whispers of a peanut butter burger there that will either delight me or kill me with a single bite. Between the Bun offers up a PB&J Burger; but in this case, the “J” doesn’t stand for jelly. While the menu doesn’t explain what the “J” does stand for, I’ve got to assume it’s either for “jalapenos” or “Jack,” as in Pepper Jack cheese: because this burger has both in abundance. I’ve seen photos and it looks like an absolute mammoth of a burger, topped with peanut butter, Pepper Jack cheese, smoked bacon, jalapenos, and a drizzling of maple syrup. I don’t know when I’ll be able to make the drive out to try it, but whenever that is, you can be certain I’ll report back on my findings; if I survive the decadent experience.
I know that peanut butter on a burger might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but seriously: don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Humans love mixing the spicy with the sweet almost as much as we love mixing the sweet with the salty. A truly good peanut butter burger manages to mix all of our favorite combos in the best, most intoxicating, and delightful of ways. So, while the peanut butter bacon burger from Two Rivers Brewing will always hold a special place in my heart (and be one of the first things on my list of things to eat any time I go back home for a visit), I love that I’ve got two fantastic peanut butter burger options available at my fingertips in my new home. Bravas and Oak and Alley both offer excellent options for when I’ve got a peanut butter burger itch that must be scratched. And, until the day that the future becomes the present, I’ll look forward to trying Between The Bun’s version of a peanut butter burger.
Plonk & Pleasure 
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