My friend and former colleague, Pete, and I have been getting together periodically for hamburger lunches for many years. It’s happened less often since he and his wife moved to Florida, but they are up north for the summer and we finally managed to make plans to meet up this past Thursday.
Our destination was Outlaw’s Burger Barn & Creamery, which has been on my radar for a while. It’s Vineland, New Jersey, location probably had something to do with not getting there sooner. But Pete is staying at the Jersey shore and Vineland is close enough to half-way between us to make sense as a meeting place.
Another reason Outlaw’s seemed like a good spot for lunch was the photos I had seen of their indoor dining space. Thursday was one of the hottest days of the year.
Although I noticed the outdoor seating area next to the restaurant, we headed straight to the door, only to be greeted by a sign informing customers that the indoor facility is closed and orders should be placed at the nearby windows.
Given how scorching it was, I wasn’t happy, but we had both driven a long way and didn’t have a plan B. So we placed our orders and grabbed an outdoor table.
Thankfully, the situation turned out not to be that bad, as Outlaw’s has done a great job of shading their outdoor seating area and also had several ceiling fans running.
Pete ordered the burger called “The Works” minus the jalapenos, while I opted for the “Sweet Onion Smash” without the special sauce. I’ve been curious about Oklahoma-style onion-smashed burgers, which are most prevalent in the Route 66 town of El Reno, for many years, but still haven’t made it out there to try one. While I wasn’t necessarily expecting strict authenticity at Outlaw’s, my hopes for a good burger with an oniony twang were high nonetheless.
It took a while for our order buzzers to go off, but the conversation was engaging and the burgers turned out to be worth the wait.
The standard patties, including Pete’s, at Outlaw’s are six ounces – my ideal weight. Being faced with a choice between a too-small four-ouncer and a too-big eight-ouncer at some burger places is a pet peeve of mine. The Sweet Onion Smash is made with a pair of three-ounce patties., which also suits me fine. Many of my favorite burgers over the years have been prepared with two thin patties.
And it worked very well on this occasion. The meat was extremely juicy and had a nice flavor in spite of there being just a hint of pink in the middle. I’m not sure what cut of beef or blend they use, but it gets the job done beautifully.
The cheese covering prevented me from being able to judge how authentic the burger was in terms of matching what is served in El Reno. But I did see a couple caramelized onions sticking out and couldn’t have been much happier regardless of the authenticity factor.
Pete was generally pleased with his burger too, although he felt there was too much special sauce on it and commented that he should have ordered it without the sauce.
His thicker patty was perfectly done – with a nice level of pinkness in the middle.
The housemade chips that came on the side worked well with the burgers. I also had a black and white malted shake – or at least that’s what I ordered. I didn’t taste the malt, although it was still a good shake – thick and with the right amount of chocolate syrup.
It was great to see Pete for the first time in a while. I’m already thinking about where we can have our next burger together.
I expect to return Thursday or Friday with a post about one of the area’s currently hot cheesesteaks. They are a shop I’ve already posed on a couple times, but they’ve again changed to a new roll supplier, and the word online is that the latest one is a game-changer.
BZ Maestro Eats 
Excellent post. I’m headed to El Reno next month on another state capital walk trip — Little Rock and Oklahoma City (#47 and 48).
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You lucky bastard!
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Will you be visiting Hot Springs for ribs? I know they have two or three places there that are famous for them.
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No, that would be too much of a detour. I’ve been to McClard’s, and I have a couple of barbecue places in my sites in both cities
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That did look like a fine smash burger – good crispy edge but still moist. Yummy!
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I’m glad you and Pete got different styles of burgers so that we could see the difference. I’m a little disappointed there’s no bleu cheese dressing on the menu, so I think my burger would have swiss cheese, mushrooms, bacon and garlic aioli. One regular and one doublesmash, of course.
Now at Osteria Saporino, there’s a good chance I’m making an entree out of 2 orders of the mussels and clams. And when the bread’s gone I’m eating the rest of the broth/sauce with a spoon!
Did you eat the shellfish using a pair of empty shells as pincers?
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Wondering how there is no butter listed as a pie ingredient.. I know you don’t have the answer and the pie looks good but strikes me as strange to make a crust without it.
I’ve never had an El Reno style onion burger either, so more likely to make it to Outlaw than Sids. Was in OKC once in the 90’s and could have made the excursion but somehow it wasn’t on my radar at the time. Just reviewed my 5 editions of Roadfood going back to 1977 and Sids and Johnnies didn’t get a mention until 2002 so that explains it.
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The first edition I bought was the 6th. That could have been the one that had them first.
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