Smoke the Burger Joint
 Canton, Ohio           Date of Visit  12/06/15           http://www.burgersbysmoke.com

Heard something about a new burger place in Canton and since we were down that way decided to give them a go. Found out later they are out of the same crew responsible for Old Carolina BBQ and the smoke name made more sense…then you have a burger and it makes total sense. The strip plaza location is cleanly decorated and strewn with TV’s most of which are advertising fashion shots of their burgers. The others are playing music videos done by bands prior to the advent of MTV, before video killed the radio star.
 

You order at the counter and someone will bring a tray of goodies. We ordered the small wings and two each of the shakes, fries and burgers. The shakes were rich and freshly spun. Steph's Milky Way with caramel and chocolate was just right. I had to try the chocolate/peanutbutter/bacon which wasn’t as successful, not because it had bacon but the bacon just wasn’t very good. B-Spot Burgers still has no competition.

The wings are large and ours were coated with the traditional wet buffalo sauce which really didn’t add anything but a slick layer of grease. Didn’t matter much since the smoke on the chicken really shone through, might have been better with a better sauce but it really didn’t require it.

The wings are smoked, the burgers are smoked, I don’t know if the fries are smoked but I couldn’t decipher any. What they do is shake flavor atop the thin fresh cut spuds just as they emerge from the second trip to the fryer. We went with steakhouse (garlic, salt and pepper) and the smokehouse (paprika, salt and pepper). Both were good but the paprika added something extra we both preferred. Great fries.
 

Almost always I will break off a piece of the patty to see how it tastes alone. I forgot. I can guarantee you they are smoked, it’s subtle enough to be tasty instead of distracting or bitter. For me the toppings are exceptionally well thought out and executed. Steph went with the Buffalo Blue Cheeseburger topped with buffalo mayo, bleu cheese and shaved celery. Proportion, flavor, it all worked just like you wanted it too. I had the Dirty Vegas which won the 2014 National Hamburger Festival  featuring balsamic mayo, spinach, cheddar, jalapeno bacon, caramelized onions and a fried egg. The egg yolk still had a bit of run in it, sweet, sharp and fatty mayo, salty smoky bacon with kick, cheese and veggies…it was really well done. And both were done to the requested temp. Smoke is one of the fancy dancy burger places actually delivering for the extra time and expense. Worth a trip.