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by Xani

After a few days of hard work and good eats in Olympia, WA, it was time to head back to the Seattle-Tacoma airport and begin the long journey home. But first, lunch. As my co-worker AJ and I made the hour long drive up to Seattle, we decided that what this trip was missing was a really good burger. I harnessed the power of my Treo device and googled "Best Burgers Seattle WA." To my surprise one of the first results to pop up was GQ Magazine's list of The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die (17. Double Bacon Deluxe with Cheese, Red Mill Burgers, Seattle). Now, are any of our regular readers out there having flashbacks?? You might remember way back in June I did this post about eating a burger off Esquire Magazine's 60 Things Worth Shortening Your Life For. What is it with men's magazines and their obsession with death?

AJ and I decided that if one of the 20 burgers you must eat before you die was just a few exits away, then eat it, we must, indeed! We headed to the Interbay location and it turned out to be a cute little "burger shack" type place with some picnic tables outside and semi-kitch decor inside. With little patience for admiring the scenery (we were HUNGRY), we got down to ordering. Aj went all out and got the double Bacon Deluxe with Cheese, I "only" got the Single Bacon Deluxe with Cheese. We also got some fries, AJ got a chocolate shake, and I got a chocolate malt. As we ordered this obscene amount of food, I noticed something which I knew was a harbinger of good things to come:

If you look closely, you will see that that is a picture of a GIANT stack of bacon on next to the griddle. They are not kidding with the bacon at this place! I was sure the bacon-stack was a good sign, and when the food arrived a few minutes later, it was confirmed.

I was in too much of a rush to start eating to get a better shot of these delicious burgers. But man, were they good! First off, they were huge. That is not a standard sesame seed bun, I'd guess it has about a 20% larger circumference than a normal bun. The patty (or patties, on the double) were totally delicious and juicy (as in take a bite and hot burger juice drips down your hand). The bacon was probably the best bacon i have ever had on a burger. Instead of a couple slices of greasy, limp, forgettable bacon, Red Mill's burgers had multiple strips of thick-cut, perfectly crispy, crunchy, peppery bacon. It. was. AWESOME. The cheese, veggies, and "mill sauce" (which I think is mayo with some kind of flavoring, and potentially crack, in it) all came together to make this a damn good burger. If you are in Seattle, or really anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, I highly recommend you get one of these burgers immediately, if not sooner.

The fries were good but not outstanding. The malt was top-notch, so much so that as I write this at 9:15 am, a full week after drinking it, I am craving one right now. AJ reported that his shake was also excellent. Overall this was a super-good meal that I probably never would have had without google and GQ!

With more time to kill before we needed to get to Sea-Tac, we decided to head over to the Pike Place Market, one of Seattle's biggest tourist attractions. We were too full from the burgers to eat any of the great looking food there, but we had a great time strolling around, people watching, and soaking up the great sites and smells (especially the gorgeous flowers)! I wanted to share a few of the pictures I snapped:

We thouroughly enjoyed visiting the Market and I was just happy to visit the Pacific Northwest again. Stay tuned for more posts from around the country!

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