B & B Junction: Okay, but not heavenly

B&B Junction, as most of you all know, has taken up the old 4-Rivers BBQ spot on Fairbanks. The layout and structure of the establishment is exactly the same- except for it's new proprietors.
Something that they tout is their 'farm-to-table' philosophy- more of this later.

I ordered the #6 ($8.5) with a veggie patty, a large portion of hand-cut fries ($6) and a seasonal Delirium Noël dark ale($6).



The #6 is a "ghost chili cheese, roasted poblano-bacon jam, sriracha aioli, arugula"- only some of which actually came through on the palate. The patty itself was delicious- packed with black-eyed peas, wild rice and even celery. It was moist and very good.  The rest of the burger was nowhere as spicy as it had advertised. As a crash-course for chili-heads, the ghost chili is one of the hottest peppers on the planet until last year when it was dethroned by an Trinidadian hybrid. At over a million Scoville heat units, the ghost pepper is exceptionally hot (law enforcement pepper spray only being much more hotter). Needless to say, this burger was nowhere near it. The poblano-bacon jam was a smidgen of a dollop and the sriracha aioli just as much. Arugula was the only thing that was present in a decent amount beyond the patty and the bun. It was a sheer disappointment especially when the menu had a pepper symbol as a warning for all those who dared to venture- I ordered it hoping that it was a mouth-searing, eyeball-tearing, face-sweating extravaganza. It turned out... more sweet than spicy.

The fries were delicious and well-seasoned. What I really enjoyed were their in-house condiments with ketchup laced with sweet mango and a creamy mustard zinging with horseradish. Plus when the server told us about their Portabello fries, I could only imagine them being yummy with other fry combinations.

The beers, I'm assuming, vary from season to season so I won't go much into them. I know that the beer was supposed to be presented in a snifter, but I wished they had digressed from that and presented a pint of it- especially for $6 when on draft. It felt small on the portion size.

IN A NUTSHELL: This is not exactly a farm-to-table establishment some meats come all the way from California or New Hampshire (therefore, a middle man was required at some point). Yet they know where their main ingredients are sourced and, on the flip-side, some of the greens come from straight from their backyard in Eustis. So it's close, but not exactly as advertised. Portion sizes are good for a power lunch but not for a gorging session (even with a 10oz burger for an additional $3 I can imagine stomachs having room for seconds). Beers need to be upgraded to thirst-quenching sizes- especially if you are sitting outside on their patio area under the hot Florida sun. Burgers are creative, varied in different interesting combinations, and good, but not addictive enough that they would make me drive here everyday.