The Artery Killer

Chelsea Tavern
821 North Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
Score 7.2
$$$$$

Kenneth: After my first trip to Wilmington, I heard of a deep fried burger, of which my friend’s father wouldn’t stop raving about.  After a little research, I found out it was the "Dirtier" at Chelsea Tavern.  Walking into Chelsea Tavern, you are greeted by a large bar in the front, with a selection of thirty beers on tap, and causal dinning that features a lot of local favorites with a flare in the back.  After being seated in the back and reading what was on the "Dirtier," I became fearful for my own well-being, or at least the well-being of my arteries. 

          The "Dirtier" features a hot sauce-dipped, beer battered, deep fried, pat LaFrieda house blend patty topped with crispy scrapple, fried egg, and blue cheese on a brioche bun.  I ordered the burger medium and added the lettuce and tomato that came with it.  First off, the brioche bun didn't stand a chance against all the grease this burger supplied.  It started to fall apart midway through the burger and became complete limp by the end.  If you have ever had deep fried food, you know the first few bites are mostly batter, and this was the case here as well.  Here, you only tasted the scrapple, hot sauce, fried egg, and some of the beer batter; but when you reached the patty it was surprisingly juicy.  The batter kept in all of the juice and flavor of the meat in my medium patty.  The mix between the crunchy batter, scrapple, and juiciness of the egg gave the "Dirtier" a good mixture of flavors and textures.  However, I wish they chose a bun that could hold up to this burger because outside of the bun, the burger was pretty good. 

          Deep frying a burger is different and not for the faint of heart, or anyone with a heart problem for that matter.  Overall, I truly enjoyed this burger; but I could feel my arteries and veins slowly becoming clogged. Every sandwich Chelsea Tavern offers comes with either their hand cut trio fries, which were great, or a chili horseradish aioli salad.  Even you don’t try the "Dirtier" you should try everything else Chelsea Tavern has to offer.

Overall rating 7.2