The Tin Cow

The Tin Cow is a burger joint in Downtown Pensacola but it's far from average.  Customers can build their own burger from the bottom up or choose from a selection of "pre-built" burgers.  The menus are part menu and part order pad.  One side as pre-built selections and the other the build your own.  The burger starts out at about $8 and there are up charges for certain items like kobe beef, buffalo (not chicken!), crab cakes, avocado mash.. you get the point. 

Double Dog Dare

I chose one of the pre-built selections: The Double Dog Dare.  It sounded so interesting on the menu.  It starts with your Angus beef patty then topped with a jalapeno cheese spread, kim chee and fresh jalapenos on a corn-dusted kaiser roll.  I know I am missing some items there.  I thought it was great.  I would never have thought to put kim chee on a burger but it works.  I am guessing the double dog dare refers to the amount of spiciness and I have to say it was hot but not unbearable.  The burger patty had a nice char on it but still juicy.  The inside had a hint of pink.  My burger was served with the bacon-infused potato chips.  Although it looked to be fried perfectly, there was burnt taste to them.  I was so excited about the potato chips too.  I think the burnt taste comes fro old oil. 

Smokehouse

My brother and I decided to half our burgers and share.  He got ordered the smokehouse, which comes with bacon, white cheddar cheese and sauteed mushroom and onions.  He asked for it to be medium and it was cooked more on the well side.  While that didn't ruin the burger, it did make the patty a little more on the dry side.  The toppings were excellent though.  Instead of just white mushrooms, Tin Cow has a good amount of portabello in there too.  It was melt in your mouth good.  He had the same problems with the potato chips as I did.

My friend decided to build her own burger.  She likes a very classic burger and that's what she got but apparently the build-your-owns are harder to make. She told me that several things on her order were omitted from the burger itself.  I'm not quite sure what they are but as you can imagine she was disappointed the toppings were not there. 

Parmesan fries $6.50

As an appetizer, we ordered the truffle oil infused Parmesan cheese fries.  The plate was huge.  I think it's hand cut fries but either way it was good.  There was plenty of Parmesan cheese on the fries and I guess the truffle oil is what makes it stick.  I still can't tell what truffle oil taste like.   I liked it but thought it needed a little more salt.  I think the cooks went light-handed since the cheese also have a little salty taste to it. 

Next time, I want to build my own burger and definitely get something with a fried egg on top.  I also want to try out Tin Cow's spiked milkshake.  I think it would be much like a bushwacker but different flavors.  I know this is nitpicking but I wish the menu were disposables instead of laminated.  Tin Cow uses wax pencils to mark your order and the menus can get a bit icky if the wax isn't cleaned off well.  It can give the wrong impression about the restaurant as a whole.

The Tin Cow is much more spacious than I thought.  There's two sides and plenty of seating.  There's everything from booths to tables and tables where it feels as if you're on display.  I think the service could have been better.  There was one guy for one side of the restaurant.  There was four tables or so occupied but it seem like he was doing a lot.  It took a minute for us to be able to put in our order and he wasn't as quick to refill our drinks as I would have liked.  I could clearly see two other waitress shooting the breeze in the dining room the entire time I was there and thought they could have given him a hand.  

Overall, I would return to the Tin Cow.  My favorite part it's open super late.. like 1 or 3am. So if you're having late night hunger pains, Tin Cow is a great option.  To check out The Tin Cow's website, click here but be aware the entire menu is not on the website. 

IN OTHER NEWS:

• I first tried to go to the Tin Cow on gallery night.  After being told it will be 40 minutes wait, my friends and I gave up at the 1 and a half hour mark.  Note to self don't do that again. 
• There's a ton of places in Downtown Pensacola I just saw.. hello World of Beer and the Leisure Club.  I wonder if either is any good.
• We tried to go to Another Broken Egg in Pensacola for lunch (yes, instead of the Tin Cow) and my brother's GPS on his tablet led us to a plot of land.  Uncool.