Blue Back Square, in West Hartford, CT is a bit of a controversy.  It’s a huge commercial development near West Hartford center which features several shops, offices, and lofts, all packaged into what feels and looks like an urban neighborhood.  The buildings are tall, the streets are pedestrian friendly, and the mixed use private spaces lend a bit of a cosmopolitan feel to the entire place.

Of course, it’s not an urban neighborhood, it’s a glorified shopping mall.  The entire development has essentially been invented, imposed into West Hartford, and the look and feel is similar to the large outdoor shoppertainment areas of Southern California.  The stores are exclusive, you have to pay to park on-site, and while you are short walk from the vibrant shopping and dining scene in West Hartford center, you feel a world away.  The (excellent) Whole Foods next door is listed on Blue Back’s website, but you can’t park at Whole Foods and walk over to Blue Back.  Parking at Blue Back, walking over to Whole Foods, buying groceries and walking across the street back to one of the parking garages at Blue Back is ten times the hassle of simply moving your car if you want to visit both.  There are aspects of Blue Back which are admirable, and the land could have certainly been used for less-worthy developments, but the sum effect is clear - this isn’t development in search of a community, this is development in search of a market.

The place still has it’s charms.  The West Hartford Public Library backs up against the development and you can enter from Main Street or the center of Blue Back itself.  There are trees.  There’s a movie theater back on Main Street, something you don’t see that often anymore.  You walk around, you sit on a bench, sometimes people talk to each other.  Once you step out of the dark parking garage, it is undeniably nice.  And the food, at least at one spot, is really good.

There is that bastion of tourist strips and mega-malls, The Cheesecake Factory.  The place caused a sensation across Central Connecticut when it opened, causing hours-long waits fueled by glowing praise and positive notes from local papers.  There’s also a Moe’s Southwest Grill (warning, obnoxious website), a coffee place, an Au Bon Pain, an expensive steakhouse chain with valet parking, and a Munson’s Chocolate.

The newest, and hottest, is The Counter, and considering the recent foodie crazes over upscale burger places, it seems like a perfect fit.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical.  The reviews were good, but I had a few hesitations, mostly because I love burgers, and I’m completely picky about them.  For one thing, I like little ones, or, maybe, I don’t like huge ones.  Five Guys is heaven for me.  Shake Shack deserves all the praise it gets.  There is a time and place, I suppose, for half pound burgers, but I am generally not a fan, as I find huge burgers are usually unruly and awkward to eat, and often just flavorless and bland.  At The Counter, they start at 1/3lb. and go up from there, so I had faith that I could deal with the smallest one as long as it was constructed properly.

In addition, I’m a purist.  Unusual burgers are fine on occasion, but judging a burger place based on something wild and unusual is impossible without going for a back-to-basics version first.  So I was a bit overwhelmed by this:

Black Olives.  Carrot Strings.  Dried Cranberries.  Hard Boiled Eggs.  Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa.  Sprouts.  Sun-Dried Tomatoes.  Apricot Sauce, Ginger Soy Glaze, Peanut Sauce, Fried Eggs, Black Forest Ham!  Do not want!  No!  I totally get that Peanut Sauce could be great on a burger but then I would have to go back and figure out the other 4 toppings that would make sense with Peanut Sauce.  More like a science project than a menu.

If it all seems like too much they have a small selection of pre-composed burgers to order, but I remained vigilant.  A 1/3lb. burger on a burger bun, with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, pickle, blue cheese, and mayo.  Classic.  My eating partner gleefully got what I had feared most for myself - a burger with black bean salsa, olives, roasted red peppers, buttermilk ranch, and blue cheese.  A Frankenstein burger.  “Did you really just order that?” I had to ask.

Before the burgers, a good sign.  A really good sign.

The 50/50 order of onion rings and fries was excellent.  The fries were crispy and cruncy, with just a little hit of seasoning salt for flavor.  Very addictive, I had to force myself to slow down once they got to the table.  The onion ring portion was also a winner.  The batter to onion ratio was perfect, and they were just greasy enough to lick the salt off your fingers once you had plucked a few in your mouth.  They came with barbecue sauce and buttermilk dressing for dipping, both fine but ketchup or just plain was good, too.

Here’s the random-toppings burger:

It looked good but I couldn’t get over the topping combination my dining partner had ordered to ooh and aah over it.  I was pleased to see the toasted bun and reddish color in the middle of the beef.

Mine was a winner.  It was indeed a little too big to be perfect.  The blue cheese was very strong and very salty and there was plenty of it, so it was a little overpowering especially in combination with tangy pickles.  The tomato wasn’t much of a player overall.  Those are really my only complaints, otherwise the beef was flavorful and perfectly cooked.  The bun was soft and smooshy and toasted to a nice golden brown.  This was a remarkably well-crafted burger.

I will return.  Now that I know The Counter is the real deal, I will indeed branch out a bit for my next visit.  The bun my burger came on was pitch-perfect, but they also offer an English Muffin option, which is also a beautiful burger carrier.  The ingredients are top notch, so I may lay off the blue cheese next time in exchange for something less pungent, and more gooey.  I may go in for raw onion instead of grilled next time, because some of my favorite burgers include a sweet-ish sauce (and it looks like they offer a few) which contrast nicely with a spicy, crunchy slice of onion.

If you like burgers, this will be a very welcome addition to the Hartford dining scene.  Just make sure you bring money for parking.

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