Mid-Michigan Dining

• 1107 S. Washington Ave.
• Lansing, MI 48910
• (517) 485-7877
• No Known Website
• No Menu Online

I got an e-mail from a reader over the weekend that suggested I try the Dalmation Firehouse Grill on my quest for the perfect burger.  Lance, the reader, called Dalmation’s burgers the “best in Lansing” and “amazing.”  With an endoresment like that, how could I pass?

Dalmation Firehouse Grill is located in REO Town next to the Cadillac Club.  It’s a small diner with a lunch counter and only six tables.  We stopped in for lunch on a Wednesday afternoon and the place was about half full.  The waitress came over for drink orders while we looked over the menu.  They’re only open for breakfast and lunch.  They switch over to the lunch menu at 11 am.  The waitress came back with our Pepsi’s and we were ready to order.

My girlfriend went with the BLT.  The sandwich came piled with bacon, lettuce and a few slices of tomato on white toast with a light spreading of mayo.  The lunch baskets came with fries, a pickle spear and a brownie bite.  While her sandwich was filling, her complaint was the same as mine on the burger.  The bacon was really chewey and not very crispy.  A couple hours later, she said her stomach was rumbling.  She really prefers her bacon way overdone and crispy.  The structure of the sandwich was great as you really got a lot for your money and had the bacon been a little crispier, this would have been the perfect BLT.  The bread was buttered when it was toasted and she said that gave the sandwich even more flavor.  The fries were the out of the bag type and they mixed shoestring and crinkle cut fries for some reason.  They were crispy and cooked perfectly.  The brownie bite was a great addition to the meal for desert.  It wasn’t very big, but the flavor was huge.  It was very gooey, fudgy, and even had chocolate chips in it.

Since the burger was the reason we chose Dalmation Firehouse for lunch, that’s what I had to get.  They had a few different kinds of burgers on their menu, but I chose the bacon cheeseburger.  I finally got what I was looking for in flavor of the meat.  It was a classic diner burger.  It was juicy and cooked perfectly on the flattop.  The cheese was melted almost into the burger and it was topped with a ton of bacon.  Like I stated early, the bacon was really chewey.  The flavor of it was good, but it was hard to eat.  After biting into the sandwich, I had to rip the bacon with my teeth.  I really liked that they put an extra effort into the bun.  It wasn’t just the usual seasame seed bun.  This bun was soft and flaky.  They buttered the bottom of it then toasted it on the grill as well.  It makes for an extra layer of flavor that most places skip on.

The Dalmation Firehouse Grill is truly a neighborhood diner.  The small space makes it cozy and the staff seemed to know most of the people in there at the time.  A couple of the waitresses were sitting at the counter talking to a customer and our waitress was carrying on a conversation with two soldiers who were sitting behind us.  The grill is out in the open so you can watch you meal being cooked.  Thank you, Lance, for the recommendation.  I’m not sure I would have found this place on my own.  Is it the best burger in Lansing?  Well, it’s probably the best I had so far.  The individual components of the burger have by far been the best.  The bacon knocks off a lot of points, but the meat, cheese, and bun combo was incredibly tasty.