This is butcher shop and burger restaurant in downtown Plano, Texas. You would absolutely never consider going there if you didn’t know better. From the outside it looks nothing like a regular hamburger restaurant and I probably wouldn’t think about buying fresh meat there either.

They advertise that they make burgers, BBQ and sausage from the outside. Surprising enough the butcher shop looks completely different than you expect once you get in there. It has 20 foot ceilings (or so) and lots of tables and looks more like a restaurant then a butcher shop. It is very light, clean and comfortable in there. They promote Buffalo burgers very heavily everywhere inside, so I was definitely trying that today.

Their burger menu was pretty simple. You could get beef, buffalo and turkey burgers, plain or all the way (with or without cheese). I ordered a buffalo burger all the way with cheese. I also ordered a side of fries and a drink. Total was $8.50 with tax which is a good price for a place like this. The order taker was very personable and customer oriented (and funny too).

I noticed that their “Veggie Burger” was permanently sold out (with a comment that “keep in mind this is a meat market”). Nice detail (see picture below).

The burger was ready in 10 minutes and that was fast considering they were very busy! The burger was probably 1/3 lbs and looked a little dull and pretty regular. I was getting ready to be disappointed, but I was wildly surprised!! The meat was absolutely the best tasting meat I have tried till date. I was so surprised that even after several bites I was unable to pinpoint what made the meat taste so darn good!

I have had buffalo before so I knew it was not the buffalo meat itself that made it so different. My friend that joined me for lunch at the restaurant was also very surprised and he didn’t have a good answer either what made this meat so super tasty. For now I will just say that they do or add something to the meat that makes it so great. The Japanese would call it Umami (see definition here) so I will refer to it like this until I crack the case.

I will make it my mission in life (until next mission) to find out what the mystery is. Next time I will order a Turkey AND a beef burger and see if they also taste as great as the buffalo burger. It was truly magical!

The fries (almost forgot about them) were very good also. They were nice and crisp and super fresh. They had a very clean taste and came hot right out of the oil.

This place is a hole-in-the-wall but they really show that you don’t need fancy or expensive ingredients to make a great burger. Yes, it is great if it looks good, but if the meat is super tasty it makes all the difference. Ye Ole Butcher Shop is making some of the best burgers out there and I will rate them a rare but solid 9 out of 10 for their burgers.

I will be back to solve the mystery and write a blog article about it!!