A burger that Paul Newman would love

by: Anthony Fuda

The story goes that years ago if you were looking to get a good burger in Southington, you might have sat next to Paul Newman and enjoyed a couple beers and talked about racing at Nelson Speedway.

If you ask the locals who frequented Crossroads Bar & Grill in the 1970s you’d hear all about it.

It was called the Gables then, and it’s been a couple owners since, but according to current owner Bill Dragojevic, it used to be a typical shot and beer bar and the Paul Newman story holds true. Dragojevic purchased the place in 2014 and took a year to renovate it, creating his country with a contemporary twist establishment. Just the renovations are enough to bring people in, but they combine that with great food to keep them coming back.

We weren’t going to see Paul Newman, but with a history as rich as that, we knew a good burger was in our sights.

We entered the restaurant and were quickly greeted by our waitress Diane Sirrine. We heard she was the person who kept the place under control. She may be small in stature, but we heard the story of how she escorted a guy three times her size to the parking lot while the other patrons cheered.

After hearing Diane was the muscle, we were on our best behavior as we took a look around. We were told specifically to stop in the men’s room. We did and found the most creative use of a couple beer kegs. You have to see it for yourself. Bill gave us a tour of Crossroads that included his new state of the art kitchen.

After our tour we went straight to the menu and found one burger, but being a build your own, we knew the choices were limitless.

Dragojevic says his philosophy on the burger, as well as everything else on the menu, is simple. “Use the best ingredients you can find, make the best product you can, and keep it reasonably priced,” he said. “We do not have multiple burgers on the menu, as it seems everyone wants something a little different. We offer one burger, which is made from a blend called cattleman’s choice reserve, which is made fresh daily. From there we use the build your own philosophy.”

And he wasn’t kidding. Anything you can think of that they have in the kitchen you can put on your burger.

The burgers are sided with a huge portion of freshly cut thick fries or onion rings. You also have the choice of a regular bun or a pretzel bun.

I ordered my burger with cheddar cheese, bacon, pickles, lettuce, tomato and some hot boom boom sauce on a pretzel bun. The burger came out a perfect medium with a nice line of pink in the middle. The toppings were very fresh and the pretzel bun held this mammoth burger together very well. Each bite brought out the juices from the beef so you could savor the flavors of each topping. I am glad I ordered the pretzel bun, because the amount of toppings, combined with the juiciness of the burger, would not have held up as well with a lesser bun.

Scott said, “My burger was at least a half pound of meat on a pretzel bun. I topped it with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickles. There was no holding back on the portion size, which is very reflective of the two large handfuls of fries that complemented my meal. For $8.95 I had a burger feast which could last anyone two days.”

Looking around the room, JT noted, “Bill did a fantastic job with the renovation. The natural pine walls and stone fireplace gives it a mountain lodge feel. Beautiful, glass garage door windows open to a huge deck. The basic burger with bacon was delicious. I really wanted the pretzel bun, but I went with the regular one to see how it held up to the half pounder, which it did, to the last bite. Loved both the nachos and flat bread pizza.”

Spatman picked his toppings and remarked, “My burger was a superb blend of beef and seasoning well grilled to a juicy yet crispy patty topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, grilled onions, lettuce and pickles placed on a pretzel bun all leading to a fantastic ‘Tour de France’ for the taste buds. Sided with crunchy onion rings it was a feast for this BurgerGuy that rates a 4 out of 5 on my wet nap scale.”

As we waited for our burgers, Diane brought us a plate of nachos and a chicken-bacon-ranch flat bread as an appetizer. Both items were huge on flavor.

The nachos could have fed our group itself and the flat bread was amazing. It had a great taste of chicken and ranch with a nice pop of garlic.

When the meal was over we looked to the corner where Paul Newman would sit, and knew why he frequented this place. Bill put his modern touch on Crossroads and we think Mr. Newman would still stop in and look for his spot.

Keep reading the Valley food section each Wednesday for the best food the Valley has to offer.

If you know of a burger that should be on our hit list, send the info to mvbrb@hotmail.com, or on our Facebook page BurgerGuyz.