Parkdale's Stampede Bison Grill is located just off Queen St West on Brock and specializes in, you guessed it, bison burgers. I stopped in with a friend this past week to get my very own custom Bison Burger and see what else the Stampede has to offer.

The burger menu here offers a nice variety, aside from the bison and roast bison specialties. You can get beef, chicken, club and even veggie, all made the way you like with custom toppings (see the menu posted below for details).

We order up the standard Bison Burger and a Veggie Burger along with a side of Sweet Potato Fries and Onion Rings.

The Bison Burger ($4.75), pictured at the top, is thick and meaty but, thankfully, not as dry as I expected from my last experience with bison elsewhere. Size-wise, I like the patty thickness at Stampede. Thick enough to register with your taste buds (especially as the buns are a little on the huge side) but not so chunky that you need a couple litres of water to wash it down (you know you've been there). A slathering of "stampede mayo" along with pickles, lettuce, onions and tomatoes make this a well-rounded and tasty burger.

The Veggie Burger ($4.50) shows that even this red-meat-loving kitchen knows how to treat its veggie friends. This has got to be one of my favourite vegetable patties in recent memory. Bits of zucchini, beans, carrots, mushrooms, etc are all visible to the naked eye. We topped this burger with roasted red peppers and loved every nutritious morsel.

The Onion Rings ($2.25) are thick-cut and crispy coated -- no weak, stringy rings here. I made the mistake of eating one and then leaving the rest til after I'd polished off the burger, so the majority of the rings had grown a little soft by then. Word to the wise - have 'em while they're hot.

And then there were the Sweet Potato Fries (also $2.25). What I liked about these was that they weren't deep fried to a blackened crisp like so many eateries are doing these days. They were full of flavour and soft with a slight crispiness around the edges.

What didn't work for me was matching them up with a burger. These tend to sit heavier than traditional fries and, as a result, really pushed us over the fullness edge. We couldn't finish them and I, for one, would go with the regular fries next time 'round.

Overall, I dig what the Stampede Bison Grill is cookin' up, especially on this strip of Queen that doesn't usually excite me in terms of lunch options. I'll certainly be back again.

Food photos by Tanja-Tiziana .