One of the first posts I did on Road Tips over four years ago was about Matt's Bar in Minneapolis. This blog has evolved so much since then that I'm not even going to link that particular post to this one. In other words, the writing and attention to detail in the entry pretty much sucked. I was in Minneapolis lately and decided to revisit Matt's Bar and get one of their signature "Jucy Lucy" burgers.
The Jucy Lucy is sort of a Twin Cities phenomenon. It's basically taking two thin burger patties and putting a stack of 1" by 1" squares of American Cheese in the middle, then sealing it up. The burger is then cooked on a flat top grill to a medium-well state. The cheese inside the burger gets up to over 180 degrees (F), so they warn you before you bite in that the cheese is scalding hot. It's safe to say more than a few roofs-of-the-mouth have been blistered by a Jucy Lucy over the years.
Matt's Bar was established in the early 50's by Matt Bristol. Legend has it that one day a customer came in and asked the cook to take two patties and tuck some cheese inside the two burgers. When the customer bit into the cheese-stuffed burger and the hot, juicy cheese oozed out, he reportedly said, "Boy, that's one juicy Lucy!" The name stuck, but it appears someone at Matt's Bar was sick the day they had spelling in grade school. They left the "i" out of juicy, making it "jucy". No matter, it distinguishes the burgers from other Jucy Lucy knock-offs around the Twin Cities.
Over the years, the Jucy Lucy has garnered a number of "best burger" awards in the Twin Cities. The burger itself, is truly a Twin City institution.
And Matt's Bar is nothing more than a small dive. Don't expect anything fancy if you go. There's a number of booths and some tables in the place, and a small bar that seats, maybe, 10 to 12 people. The current owner, Scott Nelson - who bought Matt's Bar in 1998 - has kept much of the same original 50's-style wood-paneled decor giving it a nice neighborhood bar feeling to the place.
It was in the middle of the afternoon when I got into Matt's, located in south central Minneapolis (see map). It was past the noon rush crowd that flows into Matt's Bar on a daily basis. There was one other person at the bar - it turned out it was the main cook for Matt's - and there were, possibly, two or three other booth's or tables full of people.
This is the menu at Matt's Bar. (Click on the picture to get a better look.) There's not much to it. My first trip to Matt's, I didn't see the menu board, but I knew I wanted a Jucy Lucy. I also ordered some fries. The waitress asked me if I wanted a half-order or a full-order. This was when I was still eating french fries on a regular basis. I ordered a full basket. That was a mistake. I must have gotten two pounds of fries. That was a monumental waste of food. I didn't come close to finishing half the basket.
This time I just wanted a Jucy Lucy. I ordered from the bartender and she said she'd get it right up for me. The small grill on the end of the bar area will churn out up to 600 Jucy Lucy's in a full day. They can probably cook 15 to 18 burgers at a time on the grill.
After about 10 to 12 minutes, my Jucy Lucy showed up. The bartender said, "You know there's melted cheese inside and it can be hot."
I said, "Oh, yeah. I know the drill."
I took a bite and immediately the hot, molten lava of cheese squirted out the opposite side of the burger where I bit into it and spilled onto the wax paper. That was it. It suddenly became a Jucy Lucy cheese dip.
Now, it had been over 4 years since I had my first and only Jucy Lucy and I gave the burger an honorable mention on my Top Ten List of burgers. I have to say that I remember a Jucy Lucy as being better than what I had. The burger was cooked more well done than medium-well. It wasn't all that juicy, even with the cheese. While you want consistency in a burger that is famous like a Jucy Lucy, I have to say it was not one of their top moments. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the main cook was on break and someone else was in charge of the grill that afternoon.
Since my visit to Matt's Bar this last fall, I happened to see an episode of "Man Vs. Food" on The Food Network. Adam Richman went to Minneapolis and visited Matt's Bar and had a Jucy Lucy. However, he also visited another place just down the road from Matt's Bar - The 5-8 Club - which boasts a Juicy Lucy, spelled in the correct way. In fact, The 5-8 Club boasts that "if it's spelled right, it's made right." Both Matt's Bar and The 5-8 Club claim they are the originators of the Jucy Lucy, or Juicy Lucy. The 5-8 Club has five different variations of their Juicy Lucy, including a pepperjack cheese Juicy Lucy. (It sounds similar to my "Cheese-Stuffed Nuclear Burger" that I came up with after my first visit to Matt's Bar.) It appears that I'll have to go try the Juicy Lucy at The 5-8 Club on my next visit to Minneapolis later this spring.
As I said, there's a number of Jucy Lucy knock-offs in the Twin Cities. Another one is the Groveland Tap in St. Paul. They do a Juicy Lucy (their spelling) with chopped jalapenos and pepperjack cheese. That sounds very intriguing.
In any event, I'll have to go back to Matt's Bar to get what I think a real Jucy Lucy is. I'm not going to dismiss the place as a has-been at this point. My burger wasn't very good on this trip, definitely not as good as I remember on my first visit. But I do want to try The 5-8 Club and Groveland Tap at some point as well. When I get through trying all the variations of Jucy Lucy's or Juicy Lucy's, I'll have a good idea as to who has the best in the Twin Cities.
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