Bacon & Blue Cheese Burgers with Crispy Onion Straws

Jirik and I go to Red Robin a lot. As in most of the employees recognize us. I have fallen in love with their Blue Ribbon Burger. It has blue cheese and crispy onion straws... so good! I decided to try to replicate it at home. I also added bacon because almost everything is better with bacon :-)

Jirik LOVED this dinner (he had his sans blue cheese though). He said this was his favorite thing I've made so far. He says we're not going to Red Robin anymore, we'll just have these every week :-)

This is one of those times I really wished I had a nice camera. This picture just doesn't to the burger justice.


 1 lb. hamburger1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper1 1/2 teaspoons salt4 bacon slices, crumbleda little bit of onion, diced (just put in as much as you'd like) 8 small hamburger buns8 bacon slices blue cheesecrispy onion straws (recipe below)BBQ fry sauce (yep, I live in Utah) or any sauce of your choice**any other desired hamburger toppings  Crispy Onion Straws(recipe from Pioneer Woman, I just halved it)
1/2 whole Large Onion 1 cups Buttermilk 1 cups All-purpose Flour 1/2 Tablespoon Salt ¼ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper 1 quart (to 2 Quarts) Canola Oil Black Pepper To Taste BBQ Fry Sauce
1/3 c. BBQ sauce
2/3 c. mayonnaise
 In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, crumbled bacon, diced onion, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, and salt (you can also add some blue cheese). Cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.     (Now's a good time to start the crispy onion straws) Preheat grill for high heat. Gently form the burger mixture into about 8 patties (We bought smaller buns, so our burgers were more like sliders). Grill patties until well done (I used our George Foreman).   I cut bacon slices in half so they would fit better on our burgers. I actually just cooked them on the George Foreman. Serve on buns with fry sauce, crispy onion straws, bacon, and blue cheese.  Crispy Onion StrawsSlice onion very thin.  Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk and soak for at least an hour.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Heat oil to 375 degrees.
Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tap to shake off excess, and place them into hot oil.  Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown.