7/4/09-Bobby's Burger Palace @ Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT

Day trip to the Sun! We took a lovely, rain-free drive out to Mohegan to do a little shopping, walking around and dining at Mohegan's newest establishment, Bobby's Burger Palace. A franchise of Bobby Flay's newest creation, it is a small nook with a brightly colored retro diner feel but with much more creative burger options. The menu is limited, as would be expected by the name of the restaurant but that is exactly what he is going for here--a good, American burger joint complete with onion rings, french fries and milkshakes. The burgers on the menu are straight out of his latest cookbook (of which we've tried a few with great success) so we decided on this visit to try two that we had not as of yet attempted to make. Tom ordered the Miami Burger--pressed with ham, swiss cheese, pickles, mustard and mayo--the burger is smaller than what you would recieve at Red Robin or another burger joint but aside from that, it was juicy and the toppings were quite good, especially the gooey swiss cheese. I ordered the Dallas Burger which is spice encrusted with BBQ sauce, monterey jack cheese, pickles and coleslaw (which I omitted)--this was the clear winner between us--the BBQ sauce had a nice sweet & smokey flavor (and I now will have to try and replicate it with the recipe in the book). We also shared an order of the regular french fries (plenty to split between the both of us and tastes as good as the version we've made at home) and it was served with his signature fry sauce (not sure on the ingredients, but horseradish must be one of them--very good). There were also an array of other sauces on the table to try, my favorite being the chipotle ketchup--just a slight kick to it, nice flavor. Tom and I also split a black and white milkshake--it is not like the one I had at Steak and Shake unfortunately (S&S makes fabulous milkshakes, too bad its not available on the east coast!). The milkshake might as well have been a chocolate shake--I guess it was just not what I was expecting--also, you may be accustomed to being served the silver mixing glass with your poured glass of milkshake but that is not the case here so that was a bit of a letdown. In all, good experience--would most likely return if looking for a quick bite to eat.

Note: we were informed of their "no tipping" policy as we were placing our orders before we went to find our seats--not sure why they have that policy, yet have a line on your credit card slip for a tip. Also, as with any food joint at the casino, the lines can get long--I would not wait in it any longer than the entrance to it (at that point, you can expect to be waiting in line approx. 20 minutes).

www.bobbysburgerpalace.com