The Harrisonburg Restaurant Crawl: Jack Brown's Beer and Burger Joint

Went downtown again today for lunch, this time at Jack Brown's. It's located right across from Cuchi Guido's and adjacent to Court Square. They are known for their beer and burgers, in case that wasn't apparent. I went around 12:30pm, and unfortunately when I got there the inside was completely full and also the bar so I had to sit outside on the patio.

The inside of the restaurant is VERY small, and although well-decorated, holds almost no customers. This was very disappointing. There is seating for around 20 outside, but overall there just isn't very much space to eat here. I sat down and ordered a Purple Haze off of the beer menu (which is huge!) and all the bottled beers are $4 unless other wise indicated. They also show the percentage of alcohol in each beer next to it on the beer menu, so I guess you know what you are getting yourself into.

The server was friendly and prompt, and I ordered a cheeseburger, which was only $5, and she asked me if I wanted fries as well (an additional $2) but I figured the burger would be enough for lunch. Everything on the menu is pretty much a 'la carte, so the burgers don't come with fries as you would expect. I was also tempted to order the grilled cheese, being a huge grilled cheese fan, but since they are known for their burgers I stuck with that.

Each day of the week Jack Brown's has a daily special burger, which is separate from the regular menu and has a lot more toppings than the plain hamburger or cheeseburger. The daily special featured today was the "Elvis", it has peanut butter, mayo, bacon, and cheese on top of a burger. I opted to get the cheeseburger, not being a huge peanut butter fan, but I have heard very good things about their specials.

The cheeseburger came out pretty quickly, and came with a pickle and some dressing I assumed was ranch sauce. I put the sauce on the burger and dug in. It was very good, but kind of small in my opinion. After finishing I had kind of wished I had ordered fries with it, because I was not very full. It was tasty and only $5 though. My total came to $9.98, which is a pretty good price for lunch, although I wouldn't say I was totally satisfied afterwards.

I was expecting a slightly larger burger but looking back at how low the prices are I should've figured it wasn't going to be huge. The burger specials are probably much larger, and they are also $2 more. I was very impressed with their selections of beer as well, and the waitress seemed to be knowledgeable about the beers herself, which is always good.

I would really like to come back here on a Friday and try their special that day which is called the "Greg Brady". It's a burger topped with home made Mac and Cheese and barbecue chips. Sounds totally indulgent, but delicious.

Purple Haze: