Burgers and booze in Foggy Bottom

Its name rolls off the tongue with ease: Burger, Tap and Shake. The Foggy Bottom corner restaurant is home to tasty shakes, multiple varieties of beer on tap and burgers ground on the premises.

If you’re headed to Burger, Tap and Shake on your lunch hour, be prepared to wait and get ready to order your food to go. To make a long story short, BTS is a busy place.

If it’s your first time at the eatery, ordering the house burger, or “Six Buck Chuck,” is a great place to start. It’s cooked medium, but even my picky self was satisfied with the just-right amount of pink in the burger. The house burgers are served with lettuce, pickles, onions and tomato and what BTS calls government cheese (which is your plain old American).

Sides will set you back an extra $3, but the sweet-potato fries are worth it. Deliciously crispy with a hint of a peppery seasoning, they complemented the special AP sauce on the burger quite well. For those curious ones, the AP sauce consists of a house blend of mayo, ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce and chipotle sauce.

For the more adventurous, Burger, Tap and Shake offers signature burgers. Overheard in line as favorites were the Southern Comfort, which includes pimento cheese, fried green tomato, Vidalia onions and bread and butter pickles. Another man in line joked that after eating the Big Daddy, he might need a nap. That burger consists of smoked Benton bacon, buttermilk blue cheese, Lea & Perrins mushrooms and AP sauce.

If you’re at BTS during lunch, don’t be afraid to order any of its 20 different draft beers. The bar during a Thursday lunch hour was packed with hungry burger- and beer-seekers. BTS also offers canned beer and fountain drinks.

A section on the menu caught my eye, though — “shaketails”: alcoholic milkshake concoctions more detailed than any I’ve seen in the area. I chose the “stag party,” featuring Jim Beam Red Stag Bourbon, Leopold’s Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur and house-made vanilla ice cream.

I scoffed when I got carded upon ordering the milkshake. Boy, was I wrong. The milkshake was stronger than a lot of cocktails I’ve had lately. The shake was a naughty cherry-vanilla version of our grandparents’ malt shop favorites.

If spiked shakes aren’t on your menu when you visit, the restaurant offers your standard chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, black and white and a unique BTS shake, which comprises Butterfingers, Twix and Snickers — a complete and utter indulgence.

Burger, Tap and Shake is open until 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.