Home > Columns > Best Veggie Burger Project > Veggie Burger Bliss at Dubuque

When I hear hype about a new restaurant via its veggie burger, I get excited. Such was the case this week when I found my way to Dubuque—as in, the name of the restaurant here in Brooklyn, not the town in Iowa.

Dubuque (which stands for “Down Under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway”) is unpretentious. The space is something of an upscale burger den, where diners have easy viewing of the kitchen and the tables and chairs are unadorned and unassuming.

The tiny menu features a scattering of starters, two salads, seven inventive burgers, and two sandwiches. Between my dining companion and myself, we sampled all the vegetarian options—all three of them. I could quibble over this—why does everything have to have bacon in it?—but I won’t. The point here is the veggie burger, which is great.

Billed as a Lentil & Barley burger, and a vegan one at that, it arrives deeply fried, a crisp, croquette of a veggie burger. French green lentils, the little beady ones, as well as tender barley give it a varied texture, but to my surprise they don’t form the basis of it. It’s more like the lentils and barley are folded into a mixture of pureed beans, such that the interior is quite soft, almost spreadable. More on that in a bit.

It comes dressed with “roasted vegetables”—per the menu but missing, I believe, from my plate—and a big squirt of harissa. On the side are some traditional fixins’—lettuce, tomato, a perfect pickle—and then a distinctive, delicious little shot of coleslaw.

Being heavily fried is the secret to a burger like this. I was asked once if eggs are necessary in bean burgers, and my response was that if you don’t put some kind of binder that holds things together and provides structure, it will resemble bean dip on a bun. But the Dubuque veggie burger skirts such a tragedy with that crust, which functions as something of an envelope. And while it’s a plump patty, it’s not excessively large. This means that it nestles comfortably in the bun and doesn’t slip out as you eat it.

This is a veggie burger that achieves veggie burger harmony. The flavors are present and accounted for, but nothing hogs the spotlight. The texture is varied and formidable. The bun and condiments do their jobs and don’t get in the way. And then to top it off, the treatment is unique—it’s well thought out and well executed.

But what really pulls it together is the harissa, that North African puree of peppers and spices. This harissa wasn’t terribly spicy, as some types can be, which is a good thing. It merely brings the flavors of the burger into focus, rather than washing them away.

Dubuque is exciting news for fans of veggie burgers. So many meat-centric restaurants phone in their veggie options, but Dubuque has embraced it. Let’s hope that more places follow suit.

Dubuque

548 Court St, Brooklyn 11231
(718) 596-3248

Price: $11.00
Vegan?: Yes
Flavor: 9 points (Robust and rounded)
Texture: 9 points (Crispy crust keeps things clean)
Presentation and fixings: 8 (Sparse, but the harissa is brilliant)

OVERALL: 9