Not so special sauce

There is this most delicious hamburger joint in Michigan that is a must whenever I'm there. Last time I was back there I wasn't able to go, so this time I made it my #1 priority. After arriving at 8 am (and being awake for 4 hours), the first thing that I said when I got in the car was "wanna go to Red Coat for lunch?" followed by "can I get some coffee?"

After forcing three others to join me for lunch (they have the luxury of going whenever they want, so it's not so fun for them), we met there around 1 pm. I wanted to go there for lunch thinking there would be no wait...no such luck. We only had to wait about 15 minutes, but I still couldn't believe it, there isn't a whole lot of offices around there, so what did these people do that were congregating at the bar for a 3-hour lunch?

Anywho, the reason their burgers are so very delicious is because of this "special sauce" that they use. For the past few times that I've been there I have wanted to get a side of the sauce so I could taste it and try and figure out what was in it so I could try and make it myself. Of course I always forgot to do so. So this time my mom ordered her sauce on the side and I got super excited because that meant I could try it.

I always knew that it was some kind of mayo based sauce, but I could never figure out what else was in there. The moments ticked down until the burgers arrived. I could not contain my excitement, not only was I about to indulge in my favorite burger but I also had the opportunity to taste the sauce all on its own. So I first went in for the sauce..dun dun dah....

...mayo and, well, it just tasted like mayo and onions. That's it. There were definitely no other flavors in there that I could discern. Nothing. Maybe a bit of salt, but I really and truly believe that it was just mayo and onion. Totally disappointed I bit into my burger, and you know what? It didn't even taste as good now that I knew what was in the sauce. A sad, sad day.

I managed to finish my burger and lick the plate clean, but it certainly wasn't my usual Red Coat experience. I actually think my burger didn't taste as good because it was cooked a bit more than I like, which is almost always a deal-breaker for me and my burger enjoyment. Any bit darker than medium rare and my enjoyment exponentially falls off.

So maybe it was good because of the mystery in the sauce, I'm not sure. But I'm going to try and make my own onion-mayo sauce and see if my burger is any bit as good as I remember of the Red Coat golden years. I'm hopeful that there's more to Red Coat's burger than just the mystery of the sauce.