County General, The Best Burger Under 13 Bucks, and More

County General is Chef Victor Barry and Sommelier Carlo Catallo's effort (both co-owners of the fabulous high end Splendido Restaurant), on Queen Street. Resident chef, Garth Legree has a knowledgeable hand with rustic cuisine. This is a fun place, featuring great meats supplied by Cumbrae's, one of Toronto's top 3 butchers. It also has a very good bar.

A terrific, hearty white bean, ham and mustard soup with croutons.

Smoked pork belly and steamed buns, one with kim chi, two with avocado and two with green apple slaw (my fave). Terrific sandwiches!

The "general's" reuben. I asked for mine without cheese. Wonderfully smoky brisket, braised red cabbage, County dressing  all on fry pan grilled country rye bread. A great sandwich!!!

The only failure of the the experience, fried chicken thigh sandwich. Buttermilk brined chicken, avocado, chutney, coriander and green onion on "milk" bread. The fillings for the sandwich were perfect. The problem was the batter. It was not only too heavy but also soggy and I expected CRISP, from this group.

For me, I would have to rank this hamburger, ordered medium rare to rare and executed perfectly, as the best hamburger in the city under 13 bucks!! Forget Burger's Priest! This is great beef, juicy without being fatty from too much added fat and minimally handled to make for very good texture. I could eat this burger daily!