#198: NADC Burger

The Bar

NADC Burger. 1007 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 8/2/2024 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Night Fever. Mezcal, musk melon, cucumber, lime. $12.

By looking at old pictures of the menu I see that this exact same drink used to be called the Disco Flip; I'm not sure what the reasoning behind the name change was (both seem to be Saturday Night Fever references?), but whatever you call it, it's a solid well mezcal cocktail. "Well mezcal" is not a phrase you usually see, because even as mezcal has come out of nowhere over the past decade to appear on most bar menus, it still has an aura of an exotic "special occasion" liquor to it, with a price tag to match. Unfortunately the exact brand wasn't specified on the menu and the staff didn't know either, so it was probably towards the Del Maguey end of the quality spectrum. Whatever it was, it was a relatively faint backdrop to the musk melon flavor (much as tequila is a type of mezcal and not the other way around, musk melon is a broad category that includes cantaloupe) and the cucumber lime, resulting in a pleasantly smoky/fruity/fresh/citrus balance. $12 is pretty reasonable for this cocktail, even if every few people would come here just for the drink.

The Crew

Aaron, Elijah.

Notes

As you have doubtless already inferred from the name, Not a Damn Chance Burger is primarily a burger joint. It's native to Austin, originally located in a trailer out back of Idle Hands on Rainey but now with an additional brick and mortar here on East Sixth, following in the now well-trodden path of Austin trailer success stories like Via 313, Torchy's, etc. As I mentioned above, drinks are not NADC's primary selling point, most people instead being lured by the promise of a premium wagyu burger from a chef with a Michelin star, but even though we were in that very unusual group of patrons visiting for the booze, we each still got one.

Now, the very premise of a "wagyu burger" has sparked fierce debates - the entire selling point of wagyu beef over regular beef is that the more delicate marbling of fat among the muscle makes for a better taste and sensory experience, which is completely obliterated when you then chop it up to make ground beef. Furthermore, when you then slather on sauce, cheese, pickles, onions, and jalapeños (no modifications allowed!), what's the added value of wagyu compared to any other ground beef with the same fat:muscle ratio? Great questions, especially given the $16 price tag for the burger alone. My answer is that the burger was really good (for a more comprehensive review, see here), and deserves to become a classic along the lines of Casino El Camino's burger just down the street. I would say that something like $12 would be a more appropriate price for it... except that somehow $16 has become the average price for a burger (almost double the mere $8.41 for a fast food burger), and this is certainly way above average quality. However, if you want cheap, you should be eating at Sandy's like a real Austinite anyway.