MacPHEE'S - Ortenville, MI

Friday, November 30 saw a special St. Andrews Day edition of It's Hamburger Day! I have had to cut back my hamburger explorations. School and a job that has proven to be, well, unreliable at best are taking up much of my free time. However as a good Scottish boy, I could not let St. Andrews Day, the national holiday of Scotland, go by without recognition. Now while my goal is to locate the finest hamburgers, I decided to also seek out some native scottish vittles. A quick seach discoverd our target this week, MacPhee's. About 40 miles north of Detroit, MacPhees is a warm and frendly family restaurant with a bar. They have burgers and also a scottish section of the menu, which featured SCOTTISH MEAT PIES. This are Scotland's forerunner to the burger. A pastry pie shell, filled with a ground beef as well as some carrots and onions. And then drizzled with hot gravy.

Now I had a dilemma. What to do. Do I eat the meat pie, as my scottish heiritage demands, or sample the burger as you all demand. The solution was elegant in it's simplicity: get both.

Having a lunch of a delicious meat pie was just what I needed. If you do not want to drive all the way to Ortenville, you can locate meatpies near Redford/Livonia at Ackroyd's Scottish Bakery. Just try one....trust me.  As for hamburgers, I ordered one to go and had it for dinner.

NICE BUN. Soft with a good crust, without being too hard or bursting into shards of rigid crumbs. The patty is a substanial thick patty, Basic seasoning, and I got it with a slice of american cheese (though several types may be had), and some nice THICK cut bacon. I chased this down with a Belhaven Scottish Ale. Scottish Ales are dark and thick. This one had a bitterness that I was not overly fond of, but did have a foam head you could chew... atrademark of Scottish ale. It did go well with the burger as well. The service was attentive without hovering. And the food cam in a reasonable amount of time. All in all a nice time out.

Joining me was Barb Frye, and Michael Marcus. The distance was a deal breaker for most, but if you get the chance to stop in, you wont be dissapointed. I don't know if I would drive 40 miles for this burger, but I would for their scottish selections.