Dining for $25 or less: Burger Bros.

By Karen Nitkin | Special to the sun

March 27, 2008

You don't have to major in math to recognize that Towson plus hamburgers equals a good idea.

Brothers Michael and Timothy Murphy have put this equation to the test with the November opening of Burger Bros., a colorfully painted 30-seat shop in a great location on Allegheny Avenue. Thanks to their simple formula, burger lovers no longer have to choose between hockey-puck fast food and time-draining sit-down restaurants.

Burger Bros. offers surprisingly tender, gently seasoned half-pound burgers, nestled on amazing lightly toasted buttery brioche buns, served in about the same time it takes to get a fast-food meal.

And the choice of toppings is just as mouth-watering, with a list that includes caramelized onions, blue cheese, feta, honey mustard, jalapeno peppers and more.

If those burgers were the only thing offered at Burger Bros., that would be enough. But Burger Bros. also supplies a better-than-average chicken sandwich ($5.29), plus turkey burgers, mushroom burgers, hot dogs, salads, fries, onion rings and chicken wings.

All this is written on a board that customers can peruse while they wait in line to order. While the food is being prepared, diners can fill their drinks (fresh-squeezed lemonade is one of the choices, as well as the usual sodas) then sit at one of the utilitarian booths that line the small interior.

To the restaurant's immeasurable credit, the wait isn't long at all. Unless you make a point of asking for something different, your burger will arrive medium-well. Normally, I prefer my hamburgers medium-rare, since I think cooking the meat more than that yields tough results. Yet the Angus beef used at Burger Bros. remained impressively juicy.

Michael Murphy said the burgers are hand-formed each morning, and they are by far the best thing on the menu, which is fitting for a place called Burger Bros. But the chicken sandwich, available grilled or fried, is about a thousand times superior to the fast-food versions. The marinated breast doesn't get dry from the grilling, which creates a nicely browned crust of flavor. And did I mention how much I like that brioche roll and the roster of toppings?

Chicken-wing fans can order their wings with bones ($6.99 for 10) or without ($7.49). The boneless wings are really nothing more than deep-fried chicken nuggets, coated in buffalo or barbecue sauce. These pop-in-your-mouth balls of crunchiness are satisfying in their own way, but have none of the finesse of this restaurant's excellent burgers. Our french fries, though hand-cut, nicely salted and pleasingly crisp, were not hot enough. And the onion rings were more disappointing by far, with only a thin ring of onion in each heavily battered ring.

Burger Bros. also offers salads, which are prepared in-house in advance and portioned into ready-to-go plastic tubs. Our Greek salad ($5.79) was no more than the sum of its pedestrian parts -- a mix of iceberg and romaine, some grape tomatoes, canned black olives, cucumbers, red onion, pepperoncinis and a handful of crumbled feta.

Like the fries and the chicken wings, the salads are acceptable, but not up to the high standards that the Murphy brothers set with their hamburgers. Still, I have a good feeling about this place, which takes a simple concept and executes it well.

The crowds of office workers and students who have discovered Burger Bros. seem to agree.