For the curious

To find the best veggie burger (and probably the best burger, period) in Mississippi, you just travel a few short miles off I-55, and end up at what seems to be a deserted row of stores. But, what's this? There are about a million people inside one of these shops. It's Cool Al's burger joint, and when you step in you immediately realize: this is where my burger and fry dreams become reality.

Cool Al's Garden Burger

My burger dreams are of the non-meat variety, and I typically pass on veggie burgers because they never taste very good to me. And have weird chunks of brown mess in them, or crunching pieces of carrot, bell pepper and broccoli messing up the whole experience.

But. Then there's this garden burger. Made of a combo of brown rice, several varieties of mushroom, some whole wheat, oats, garlic and seasoning secrets (pretty sure we're talking at least a bit of soy sauce, onion and cayenne pepper), this little burger is a delight! I always order it with grilled onions and the tomato ginger sauce on the side. Perfection.

Their fries are a dream also, as is their Black Bean Jamaican Burger. A gets the Sinbad, which is named after a high school friend of his and features a small pond of perfect BBQ sauce. As a side note: I can think of seven places in Jackson with some feature (a drink, a dish, a sundae or a haircut) named after A or a person he knows. Yes, a haircut.