Bar 145 makes ordering a burger for dinner an event. It’s not just your typical bacon cheeseburger. The gastropub changes the game when it comes to burgers. It’s gourmet, and the toppings are, well, top of the line. 

Bar 145’s general manager, Dan Edmondson, recommends two popular burgers if you’ve never eaten there before. The Apple Pie Burger and Simpleton Burger are always crowd pleasers. Both feature cream cheese, but each has its own twist to it. 

A line cook in Toledo came up with the idea to put apples on a burger. He ran it as a special at Bar 145 Toledo a few times and guests loved it so much, it found a place on the permanent menu. 

Apples on a burger intrigued me, and because it was apart of Cleveland Magazine’s Best of Cleveland 2013 awards, I couldn’t pass it up. 

The burger is served on an openfaced brioche, which means it’s nearly impossible to eat like a normal two-bunned burger. You have to cut it up or suffer through sticky fingers. 

Rum-spiced apples sat on top, sprinkled with cinnamon, nutmeg and fried sage, on a spread of cream cheese. The seasoned patty sat underneath it all on the brioche. 

Kiel Rohrbacher, another manager, personally brought the dish out and the sweet apples and cinnamon wafted toward me. It was so pretty I almost didn’t want to eat it… almost.  

The dish is served with truffle fries – shoestring fried potatoes tossed with salt, pepper, rosemary, Parmesan cheese and white truffle oil, served with roasted red pepper aioli.  

“The Apple Pie Burger is brilliant,” said Chef de Cuisine Bill Johnson. “The only cheese it needs is the cream cheese.”

He said they make about 100 of these burgers a week. 

“[I’d] rather people choose a burger from the menu rather than the build your own portion because Chef Lucas works really hard to make these burgers,” Johnson said.

Lucas, the main chef, creates seasonal menus in addition to the permanent menu, and spends months working to perfect the specials. 

Rohrbacher suggested drinks to pair with the Apple Pie Burger. If you want to stick with cinnamon flavors, the Poison Apple is made with apple whiskey and Red Bull, garnished with a cinnamon stick. Caramel or vanilla bourbons also pair nicely with it, such as the Woodford Reserve Double Oak or Market 46 varieties. 

It’s a specialty that will keep you coming back for more, and it’ll satisfy your sweet tooth without having to order dessert.

Contact Aja Phillips at [email protected].