Rockwood Urban Grill: 4.3/5

Zeke's Burger: 4.4
$16 (platter)

100 Mile Burger: 4.4
$19 (platter)

Manitoba Maple Burger: 4.4
$15 (platter)

Urban Cheeseburger: 3.5
$14 (platter)

A shiny new Winnipeg ‘burb gets a new franchise – the Rockwood Urban Grill at Sage Creek. Owned by Jeff and Ashlea Street, former cattle farmers out of Moose Jaw, Rockwood is the first chain-child of Rock Creek. It’s bright and airy with plenty of wood features and an open kitchen.

Rockwood Urban Grill’s menu is developed around wood smoke, and the flavour comes from a 1,000 F Champion Tuff Grill. A mixture of pine and oak smoke pairs well with the beef flavours. Rockwood provided: “It’s an 8 oz patty and each burger has something different – the type of sauce, peppercorn coating, etc. We keep our seasoning pretty basic with mostly just salt and pepper to let the meat flavour come through naturally. Our wood fired grill is a big inspiration for most of our items.”

Half our group ordered the  Zeke’s Burger  [bacon, caramelized onion, smoked cheddar, provolone and secret sauce]. Karen scribed: “This was an excellent burger overall. The bun held up fairly well - almost matched in size to the huge burger. Fresh tomato and I loved the bacon, cheese, onion combo - it made the burger juicy over every bite.” Sandy rapid fired: “So many flavours. Smokey. BBQ. Cheesy. Charbroiled. Bacon. Onion. So cheesy. The bun is my least favourite part. Dry. Dusty. Unimaginative.” Laura exclaimed “Probably the best burger I have ever had!”

The 100 Mile Burger [peppercorn crusted patty, grilled sausage, bacon, provolone, smoked cheddar, caramelized onion, tomato relish, roasted red pepper aioli and pickles] was the other popular choice. Jeff critiqued “I wasn't sure about this burger the first few bites, but then everything came together once I bit into all the toppings. So. Freakin. Good. It was big, but not too big. I could definitely order this again.”

Burgers come as a platter and the selection of sides was excellent. People loved the Fire Grilled Caesar and the soups got rave reviews. Other choices include fries or chips and the Little House on the Prairie Salad. Rob wrote “Thai soup was excellent. Large portion and just the right amount of spicy.” Jeff said “the fire-grilled Caesar Salad was brilliant.”

Rockwood has a decent selection of beers on tap, and if you can’t decide, they offer flights of four, 4-oz. glasses. These were popular, and before long our table was covered with mini-Weizen glasses. They ran out and subsequent flights of fancy were denied until the dishwasher could catch up.

Burger Club’s visit to Rockwood started out a hot and sunny day, but a surprise monsoon rolled in right at supper time, leaving patio patrons scrambling to dry off in the lounge. Rockwood ran out of chairs, and as some of our party were tardy, we lost one seat. When the stragglers showed up, our waitress did the only thing she could and brought in a wicker patio chair. Luckily Chris is a hunter who doesn’t think twice about lying in soggy ditches so didn’t mind sitting in a sodden chair!