A friend of mine had mentioned earlier this summer that he had eaten at a new burger place over in Moline and he thought it was pretty good. I had heard that a new place had opened in September of last year in what used to be the old Governor's space in Moline, but we had not been there to give the place to try. On a lazy Sunday afternoon, my wife and I made the trip over to 53rd St. just north of Avenue of the Cities to give Steel Plow Burger Company a try. (see map)
The Steel Plow Burger Company is a collaborative effort between four men - Dan Whitaker, Mike Harper, Larry Anderson and John Barrett - off of an idea Harper had for a restaurant concept of classic gourmet burgers and monster-sized ice cream drinks for adults and kids. Whitaker had restaurant experience - he runs the River House in Moline (a place that we like to go to from time to time, but curiously I've never done a Road Tips write-up on the River House) - and when the old Governor's space along 53rd St. became available, the group jumped on the chance to open their burger joint there.
Now, the old Governor's location in Moline held a special place for my wife and me. It was the spot where we had our first legitimate date 24 years ago. We both got taco salads and I drank a lot of water because I was severely hungover from a previous long day of heavy drinking - it turned out to be my last as an unattached man. So, we got a minor kick out of going back to the place where we had our first meal together so many years ago.
And the place had changed dramatically. While Governor's was a little cozy and dim with dark wood booths, the atmosphere at Steel Plow Burger Company was much more lighter and lively. The main feature was a large fireplace in the middle of the dining room - the placement was sort of curious to me, but I figured that it also acted as a support for the roof. There was a nice bar toward the back of the dining area and a number of booths along the other walls of the room.
There was an indoor/outdoor space on the back of the building that looked like it could also seat people in the winter. We had a chance to sit out there, but I asked to be put into a booth in the dining room.
After being seated and given menus to look over, our server - Chelle (Shelley) stopped by to greet us. I was looking over the beer selection they had to offer - it wasn't extensive, but it was good enough. I ended up getting a Revolution Fist City pale ale. My wife was marveling at the huge ice cream milk shakes that were being delivered to tables near us. I tried to talk her into getting one with a shot of liquor mixed in, but she said that if she had one of the "above-the-rim" milk shakes she would go into a coma just from the sugar alone.
The burgers at Steel Plow are a mixture of prime rib steak trimmings that are ground together and flat grilled. They also feature hormone and antibiotic-free grass fed beef for burgers, as well as lean ground bison. My wife is a big fan of bison, but I find that it can get dried out pretty quickly during the cooking process if it isn't handled properly. For the health conscious, turkey and black bean burgers are also available.
They have a number of specialty burgers on the menu including a French onion burger, a Firehouse burger that is topped with jalapeños, chorizo, pepper jack cheese and a hot sauce, a truffle sauce Swiss cheese and mushroom burger, and the "Double Dare Ya" burger that features a 1 pound ground prime burger stuffed with jalapeños, red onions and bacon, then mixed with an onion mix with American and Swiss cheese. Steel Plow also as a number of non-burger sandwiches including a grilled or breaded pork tenderloin, a New Orleans-style muffuletta, a grilled chicken sandwich, and something that caught my eye - mahi mahi grilled tacos. They also had a smoked gouda/American/cheddar/Swiss grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes and bacon added. For a dollar more, you could get avocado slices added. My wife perked up when she saw that.
Appetizers at Steel Plow featured large chicken wings - they looked more like legs for the ones I saw, a poutine appetizer, nachos, housemade deviled eggs, and a large 12" pretzel that they called family size. One other interesting thing I found on their menu was a number of variations of macaroni and cheese, all named for one of the Three Stooges. The "Moe" was just basic mac and cheese with aged cheddar, the "Larry" had chorizo mixed in with the mac and cheese, the "Curly" had sliced hot dogs mixed in (something I'd never seen in a mac and cheese before), and the "Shemp" had bacon mixed in. They had a little bit of everything on the menu at Steel Plow.
They have a "build-your-own" burger on the menu at Steel Plow and that's the way my wife and I ordered up our burgers. The first step is choosing your type of burger (she ordered bison, of course), then the type of bun (or you can go "topless" as my wife ordered), then a choice of cheese (six different cheeses to choose from) and then if you want lettuce, tomato, pickles or onions. For a $1 upcharge, you can get jalapeños, bacon, avocado slices, sautéed mushrooms or onions, and a fried egg. My wife got cheddar cheese on her burger. For her side, she got the cole slaw after Chelle told her that it was a vinegar-based cole slaw. Only it wasn't - it was cream-based and she thought it tasted pretty bland. But she enjoyed the burger very much. She said that the bison burger wasn't dried out and had a wonderful flavor. I don't know how she could taste the bison as there was a big slab of melted cheddar cheese on top of it.
I went with the regular prime rib burger on an onion bun with smoked gouda cheese. I also had them put sautéed mushrooms, a slice of red onion and pickles on the burger. I also asked her to put bacon on the burger, but they forgot to put the bacon on. (I pointed that out to Chelle about halfway through finishing the burger. She offered to bring some bacon out, but I just had her take it off the bill.) For my side, I got what they called a medley of fries - French fries, waffle cut fries, sweet potato fries, steak fries and curly fries. My wife ate more of the fries than I did considering she didn't care for her cole slaw all that much.
The burger was juicy and flavorful. The slice of smoked gouda was pretty thin and I didn't get much of a taste sensation from the cheese. But the onion bun was light, fluffy and held together very well with what turned out to be a multi-napkin burger. The red onion was very forward in taste and went well with the other things on the burger. Yes, this was a very good burger.
My wife and I pretty much liked everything about our first visit to Steel Plow Burger Company. Oh, I had a couple quibbles along the way - they forgot the bacon on my burger and the craft beer list was just OK, in my opinion. And my wife didn't care much for her cole slaw that she got as a side. But the burgers we both had - she had the bison burger with no bun, and I had the regular prime beef burger with an onion bun - were very good. We like to go out and get a good burger from time to time, and Steel Plow has now entered into the rotation of places that we'll head to for a burger and a beer. I just don't know if we'll ever try one of those huge ice cream drinks that they have.
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