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BurgerGuyz accept the Hugger-Mugger mission
If you go
Who: Hugger-Mugger Tasty Recipes Inc., 2650 Ellwood Road, New Castle, Pa.
Phone: 724-652-5155
Hours: Sunday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Menu: 17 burgers ($6.50 to $9.50)
Score: 4/5
Website: www.huggermuggertastyrecipes.com
by: Anthony Fuda
NEW CASTLE, PA.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to locate Hugger-Mugger Tasty Recipes, infiltrate its menu and bring back information on the burgers.
The word Hugger-Mugger means secrecy or concealment. So take this mission before all the documents are eaten.
We made the journey to New Castle under cover, sneaking between the shadows, making sure not to get caught before accomplishing our task.
Hugger-Mugger is a family-operated restaurant, specializing in homestyle food. The menu is filled with a variety of choices including breakfasts, salads, chicken, fish, pasta, steak, etc. There is something on this menu for everyone.
People who suggested Hugger-Mugger described how friendly the staff is, and we could not agree more. From the time we walked in until our last morsel of food was finished, our server, Corin McKinney, treated us like kings. The same can be said about every other patron in this eatery.
We were first impressed with the burger menu, boasting 17 choices. Some of the 8-ounce freshly made Angus beef burgers we chose were Classic (lettuce, tomato, onions, pickle), Deluxe Cheeseburger (choose from Swiss, American, mozzarella and cheddar cheese), Beefy BLT (classic BLT and add mayo, lettuce, tomato, served on Texas toast), Grilled Cheezzzzy Melt (sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles), The Big Stack (Two Angus burgers, thousand Island, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a double Kaiser bun), and Dante’s Inferno (Cajun seasonings, hot wing sauce, grilled jalapenos on a Kaiser roll). You can find the full list of burgers on the website.
Each burger comes with a choice of one side: fries, curly fries, coleslaw, cottage cheese, rice, vegetable of the day or applesauce. You can add a salad or onion rings for $1.
I chose Dante’s Inferno. With a nice Cajun flavor, this burger had me from the first bite. The grilled jalapenos and homemade hot sauce enhanced the heat, making each bite of my medium-well burger something to savor. At first you taste those delicious Cajun spices, followed by the pop of the grilled jalapenos and then just to add a little bit more, the hot sauce hits your tongue and all your senses are awakened. If you are a fan of just the right amount of heat on a burger, this one is for you.
Burger of the Month Winner Joe Mihaly said: “I picked the Grilled Cheezzzzy melt. I won the poll saying bacon was the best burger topping, so I added bacon as well as grilled onions. This burger had grilled cheese sandwiches as buns and didn’t disappoint. It was a great choice and I thoroughly enjoyed every bite. The bacon was crisp, the grilled onions were buttery and delicious, the lettuce still tasted fresh and clean. I also had the curly fries and they were excellent as well as perfectly cooked. If I had one complaint, I tend to like my burger cooked medium so it has a slight pink center. While it wasn’t overcooked, it was a little too done for my personal liking. All in all a great meal and I’d definitely make the drive to enjoy this great burger again sometime!”
Joe’s guest, Brianna Gearhart, said she isn’t a huge burger fan, but the Breakfast Burger was right up her alley. “It combined all my favorite breakfast foods in a burger. I found the perfect dinner-breakfast substitute, and it was really good.”
Chiz had what Hugger-Mugger calls The Big Stack. He said: “Oh my, what a burger! It contained two 8-ounce well-done burgers, thousand island dressing, lettuce, cheddar cheese, pickles and onions served on a Kaiser roll. There was even a toasted cut-out piece of bread to divide all of the burger lust. This is what the Big Mac wants to be when it grows up. The meat was very fresh and on point ... in fact all of the ingredients were fresh and delicious. And yes, I did eat the entire burger. Plus the curly fries dipped in mayo ... and a fresh hot chocolate-chip cookie sundae. This was one of the most well rounded, filling, and money-worthy meals I’ve had to date. Hugger-Mugger Tasty Recipes gets a huge thumbs up from me. I’d like to give a shout out to the awesome, ultra-attentive staff.
JT had the Beefy BLT, and said: “This is an excellent hamburger and the bacon was cooked just the way I like it — crispy. The service here is also top-notch. If there is one thing I like more than hamburgers, it’s desserts, and Hugger-Mugger has an extensive selection. It was almost as big as the burger menu itself. The only drawback is that it is a long drive from Youngstown, but well worth it.”
If you are in the New Castle area, you don’t have to be a spy and zip line in, but stop and try any one of Hugger-Mugger’s delicious burgers. And just as impressive as the burger menu is the dessert menu, but don’t leave any evidence.
We’re very grateful to our Free Burger Platter contest winner Joe Mihaly and guest Brianna Gearhart for assisting us with our review of Hugger-Mugger. Mihaly became our monthly contest winner when his email entry was chosen randomly. Check the Valley Food page weekly for the next chance to win.