Bred Gourmet
There are so many ways to make a burger, but have you ever tried a smoked burger? Well, that's just one of the specialties here at a unique burger joint named Bred. We are in Cambridge, Massachusetts, between Kendall Square and Central Square, right near MIT. It's sort of a more upscale and local version of a Five Guys or a Shake Shack, but the food is way, way better than any chain.
The man behind the menu here is Tambo Barrow. He's the owner, and he opened the original Bred in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester. After a decade of perfecting his burger prowess, he opened up in this bigger, sexier location. Having this larger space allows them to have a lot more on the menu, plus there's full service now and there's a bar. so yes, you can get beer, wine and some killer cocktails.
First and foremost, this place is all about the burgers, and burgers are all about the beef. Every patty is smoked in their Southern Pride smoker. They use real hardwood here, and then they're finished on the grill. Every burger has that great juiciness on the inside, a little bit of char on the outside, with just a hint of smoke and a ton of flavor. This place is all about comfort food, along with some Caribbean and Cajun twists. This burger has everything that Bred is all about. This one is called the Maui burger. It’s made with sweet plantains on the bottom, nice juicy patty, melted habanero pepper jack cheese, then some thick cut pork belly, sweet crispy onions, and then over the top, some griddled pineapple. You stack all those flavors, all those textures, onto a nice fluffy brioche bun with some barbecue sauce all over it. Juicy, saucy, crispy, insanely, insanely good.
Now here is a burger that will absolutely make your head spin. This is the UFO burger. Basically, this is a bunless burger where you're using onions as the bun, and it is just a big old stack of beef and onions and cheese. It is impossible to eat with your hands, so you are gonna have to knife and fork it. Buns are for kids. It's all about the burger.
The most upscale burger is known as the Uncle Bernie. So this one uses Wagyu beef, and not just one patty. Two wagyu patties go on this one, then it's topped off with some secret sauce. I like to upgrade this with some bacon as well, and then a whole bunch of their homemade cherry compote. You might be saying to yourself, Why are you throwing some cherry jam onto a burger? Because if you haven't tried it, you just don't understand. It might cost a few extra bucks, but it is definitely worth it. Uncle Bernie, you are the man.
Bred has really stepped up their game in this new location with a whole bunch of new delicious menu items. The appetizers here are all impossible to resist. They have everything from Rhode Island style calamari to jumbo smoked chicken wings in a Jamaican jerk honey sauce. My personal favorite are the onion rings. I am a sucker for onion rings, puffy and crispy on the outside, sweet and soft on the inside, and so so good.
On the sandwich side of things, they definitely get their inspiration from New Orleans. Check out the shrimp po’ boy, lightly battered shrimp, creamy remoulade sauce, a nice toasty French bread. There's also an amazing chicken sandwich. This one is called the 504 so this is a buttermilk brined Cajun style fried chicken with coleslaw, homemade Cajun sauce and pickles on a beautiful sweet potato bun. Perfect bun for one incredible chicken sandwich.
If you're a french fry lover, you're going to love it here. They have a full variety of great sides, hand cut traditional fries, sweet potato fries, Truffle Parmesan Fries. And you can even make your side dish into more of a main meal with the Stizz Fries. This dish has a cult following in Dorchester. It starts with a big mound of Cajun style french fries topped with spicy sweet chili sauce, buttermilk fried chicken, chipotle aioli and scallions. Frankly, this is ludicrously good. You have to try this at least once in your life.
Another option are their oxtail fries. But I think the move is to get the oxtail with their mac and cheese. So just check out the gloriously cheesiness of this mac and cheese. You're talking four types of cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, cheddar and Gouda. They use big shell pastas, and the key is upgrading it to the oxtail. It's extremely beefy and savory, and when you add that richness to the already insanely creamy and cheesy mac and cheese, it is just crazy good.
There are a million burger joints, but nobody does it like this, between the po’ boys the crazy fries and burgers that might have 10 ingredients and yet they make one incredibly delicious bite. So if you have a craving for beef, you got to come and get it at Bred.
