Slabtown Burgers
Our competition day ended around 3:00 on Saturday which, like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, is a change from year’s past. We were typically getting done closer to 8:00 so when we booked our rooms this year, we booked Saturday night as well.
L was a little cranky and wanted to go home but we already paid for the room. It was a gorgeous night out so why not just enjoy the down time sitting on the beach.
J, B, and I went outside to the beach when we got back to our room at the Grand Beach Resort in East Bay Township. L was still kind of mad so she stayed in the room until she realized she might as well enjoy it too.
I had asked several times about dinner before and after we headed to the beach. I never got a really good answer so around 7:00, I finally said, I’m going to go pick up dinner. If anyone wants anything, text me.
I, of course, had a plan.
I headed to Slabtown Burbers on West Front Street and Spruce Street west of downtown Traverse City. This is a place I’ve been wanting to go to for a couple of years but I’ve never had the time to run out to the west side of town. The restaurant, in what looks like a house in a residential neighborhood, has been open for over 15 years after it replaced a couple of failed restaurants in the same spot. The area has gotten a little more commercial recently with the addition of a multi story mixed use building across the street but Slabtown still looks out of place amongst the rows of homes that line Front Street
I parked along the street then made my way inside to order. It was a little after 7:00 when I walked in and the restaurant closes at 8:00. There was still a line almost to the door. I had kind of done my homework online before getting there but this still gave me a chance to question my decisions. When I got to the front of the line, I still changed my mind last minute and ordered The Big Bleu burger for myself and made it a bag with a side of fries and a drink which I ended up giving to J because they all wanted a Sprite (they have Northwoods Soda so I got whatever the Lemon Lime equivalent is called). Everyone else also decided they were hungry so I got B a single burger with cheese and bacon. I also made his a bag to get the drink and J wanted chili cheese tots so I got that as his side. L asked for a salad so I got her a house salad and a drink. The cost to feed all four of us was right around $45.
There are a couple of seating options at Slabtown. The inside option is kind of tight. There are are only a few tables squeezed into the same room as the kitchen and the order area. Two and four top tables are pushed up against a bench that runs along the outside wall making up most of the dining space. There is also a high top near the door for a little bit bigger groups.
The bulk of the seating is actually outside. There are tables on the porch, picnic tables on the front yard and metal garden tables on the walkway next to the ramp leading to the porch. It was an absolutely gorgeous night in Northern Michigan so this is really the best option.
One last thing to mention, they do have online ordering and if you’re just picking up, you can skip the line with a pickup window that opens to the outside. It’s on the ramp on the Spruce Street side of the house. I saw a few people walk up to grab bags while I was hanging on the porch waiting on my dinner.
It took about 15-20 minutes for a guy to come out of the house and call out my name. I was warned when I ordered that it would take 20-25 minutes and I don’t think it took quite that long. I grabbed the bag, stopped at a gas station along the way, and went back to the hotel to eat.
I pulled the fries out of my bag first because it was really the part of the meal I was looking forward to. These fries were delicious golden brown, fresh cut fries. They’re my absolute favorite kind of fries to get with a burger and the kind of fries I could make an entire meal around.
The burger I chose was actually a stuffed burger. It was the Big Bleu Burger which doesn’t look like much at first but it’s a half pound burger patty stuffed with bacon, bleu cheese and cream cheese then topped with ketchup, mustard, pickle, and onion. On first look, I thought, this wasn’t going to be worth the hype but then I bit into and all of those tangy flavors from the bleu cheese and the saltiness from the bacon took over. It still didn’t seem like a half pound burger to me but I was hungry so I kind of tore threw it just a couple of bites. This turned out to be one of those don’t judge a book by it’s cover type of burgers.
B’s burger didn’t actually look too much different than mine on the face. He got just a single 1/4 lb burger with American cheese and bacon. He kept saying he wasn’t hungry but as soon as he unwrapped this burger, he tore through it like we hadn’t fed him in days.
The side for his sandwich was Chili Cheese Tots which was J’s dinner. This container was filled with crispy, golden tots that were covered in a mess of chili and cheese. I’m not a tot guy so I kind of wished she would have gotten fries instead of tots. She ate about half and said it was delicious but even as a side, this was a lot of food. She ate about 3/4 of the box then boxed it up for the night. I thought about just pushing through the tots but I was also kind of stuffed anyway.
L isn’t a burger person. I knew that when I decided on Slabtown but she also told me she didn’t want dinner. I told her I could stop at Tropical Smoothie on the way back if she wanted. She looked at the menu anyway and saw a simple House Salad and asked for that. It’s a simple salad topped with tomatoes, onions, croutons, and long strips of Swiss cheese with ranch dressing. I asked for the onion and tomato to be left off leaving just the dried bread and cheese…just the way L likes it. Again, for not being hungry, she ate the whole salad.
Slabtown Burgers has been on my list of places to go to since we’ve been coming to Traverse City for figure skating. B has just recently realized he likes burgers so it makes it a little bit easier for me to pick burger places.
This is such a unique spot and totally fits the vibe of Traverse City. It was a delicious meal and a great way to cap off a fantastic (and successful on the ice) weekend at one of our favorite competitions.
SW Michigan Dining 