Another (Peanut) Butter Burger

You don't need to visit Wisconsin to know that slapping a half-stick of butter on a burger makes sense. But how about peanut butter? RUB BBQ's clever Monday night rotating burger special continues, and the burger on Presidents' Day was the Goober Burger.

The Goober Burger is said to have originated at The Wheel Inn Drive-In in Sedalia, Missouri. Traditionally, it's a beef patty with melted peanut butter and mayonnaise. RUB's featured a hearty slathering of JIF, lettuce, tomato, and the options of mayo and cheese. The peanut butter was warm and glistening— it had started to melt and there was less mouth-smacking. While you could certainly taste the meat, peanut butter was the overwhelming flavor: meat as condiment to a peanut butter sandwich. Think American satay. As for the lettuce and tomato, some swear against it, but here it provided welcome textural variety. The bun became pleasantly mushy and sweet, but that meant that unless you were sharing, it required an eat-in-one-go move.

We had originally set out to taste RUB's Butter Burger, to compare it with one eaten at Lexington Avenue Candy Shop. The Butter Burger had been a Monday night special several weeks before, but they obliged by making one. It's just as decadent as Lexington's, but by the time it arrived, most of the butter had melted. This had no negative effects flavor-wise, but it was missing the textural/temperature indulgence of having both cool and melted butter in several bites.

RUB BBQ's Monday night special begins at 6pm. The chef decides on the burger the day-of, so call ahead.