Campus Eats: B. Good

Could B. better — healthy, but taste is lacking

February 6, 2009
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Photos by Amy Laskowski and Alan Wong

A burger is my default meal when I don’t know what to order at a restaurant — it’s usually the one item you can trust, and when done right, burgers are so good. Yeah, they’re a quick waay to clog your arteries, but I’ll take my chances and continue looking for a patty of juicy cow meat (sorry, vegetarians) overflowing with toppings any day.

B. Good, a local restaurant chain with a catchy name, is making big promises. The restaurant was started by two friends who love fast food, but hate the greasy and overfull feeling that often comes with it. They decided to start a restaurant that would fill the need in the Boston area for healthy food offered quickly and inexpensively.

I headed over to the Harvard Street location, near Coolidge Corner, on a recent dismal, snowy day with two friends. The restaurant is in a converted garage with exposed brick walls and a cement floor — making things a little drafty on such a cold day.

The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, salads, fries, and shakes. In every burger or sandwich, you’re offered the choice of a beef burger, a turkey burger, a veggie burger, or an oven-baked chicken sandwich. We all chose the beef burger — who could resist after reading the description: “house-ground, hand-packed, American Black Angus beef.” All burgers were served on a toasted wheat bun.

We sampled the imaginatively dubbed Cousin Oliver and West Side burgers. The Cousin Oliver, named by a customer for a Brady Bunch character, is your basic burger, with lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickles — I added bacon for an extra 49 cents, because of my philosophy that any meal is improved by bacon. Unfortunately, the burger I had requested to be cooked medium was dry and appeared to be well-done.

The West Side was heavy on toppings — avocado, cilantro, tomato, and chipotle salsa. “It makes me feel healthier!” one of our group exclaimed. But while the different add-ons complemented one another, the chipotle salsa could have been a little spicier; it was hardly noticeable.

Other combinations include the Adopted Luke, a burger with mushrooms, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese, and barbecue sauce, and the El Guapo, a burger with bacon, jalapeno-ranch, lettuce, tomato, and onion. If I paid B. Good another visit, I’d try a salad, too: the Hatchback has baby spinach, arugula, blue cheese, dried cherries, dried apples, almonds, and balsamic dressing.

My favorite part of the meal? The Real Fries. Hand-cut and oven-baked, they were crispy and sprinkled with salt and chili seasoning. They make a perfect snack, and it’s nice knowing they’re not fried in oil like in other fast-food places. The Sweet Potato Fries were less impressive; they arrived slightly charred, and one friend described them as “flabby, and not salty enough.”

B. Good was decent, and lived up to its promise of “Real Food. Fast” — our order was out in less than 10 minutes. But it’s a little expensive ($6-$7 for a burger or salad, $2.19 for fries, $4.59 for a large shake), and to be honest, when I want a burger, I’m not so worried about how healthy it is.

B. Good has four locations around the Boston area. Click here for directions. Click here to read about more campus eats, or become a fan of the Facebook page, eat @ bu.

Amy Laskowski can be reached at amlaskow@bu.edu.

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  • Amy Laskowski

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    Photo of Amy Laskowski. A white woman with long brown hair pulled into a half up, half down style and wearing a burgundy top, smiles and poses in front of a dark grey backdrop.

    Amy Laskowski is a senior writer at Boston University. She is always hunting for interesting, quirky stories around BU and helps manage and edit the work of BU Today’s interns. She did her undergrad at Syracuse University and earned a master’s in journalism at the College of Communication in 2015. Profile

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There are 6 comments on Campus Eats: B. Good

  2. I’ve been to b.good 5 times now, and every time I’m disappointed. I’ve tried their turkey, chicken and garden burger patties, all leaving much to be desired no matter what ‘flavor’ sandwich I get. And ~$9 for a ‘fast food’ sandwich, drink and fries is a little expensive for my taste – especially when the tastiness is sub-par.

    However, if you stop in on Monday or Tuesday during the month of February and say you received their ‘part of your family’ email, you’ll get a sandwich, fries and a drink for $5 (they send out these email’s when you sign up on their website and register an Allston, Brighton or Brookline address)! That makes it a little more worth it. However, after the February deal is done, I probably won’t be back.

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  4. The one sure way to change relatively (!) innocuous fat into arterial cement it to emulsify it. BGood grills burgers hours (days. . .?) in advance and reheats them when needed. If you like “rare” it ain’t gonna happen. Same for bacon. This way no fat globule goes unaffected. Tip. In Back Bay, go next door to Duzo for some of the best sushi on the planet, or across the street to Fire Fly for a real burger. For a city world know for birthing high quality franchise fare like AuBonPain, Legal Seafood and Boston Market, we need to spread the word that this one was “born in Brookline” and hope they think Flatbush Avenue.

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  5. this article is bogus! b good has amazing food (not frozen or overly processed) that tastes good. the reason a meal doesn’t cost .99 cents is because it’s made fresh by people. they also have coupons and do delivery. and veggie burgers! and the sweet potato fries are awesome. wake up people!!

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