This weekend I found myself once again at The Anchor Bar in Superior, Wisconsin. After a night of great music at Pizza Luce I was invited to lunch with the fine folks from the two bands that performed the night before: Cars & Trucks and The Evening Rig.

The Anchor Bar is famous in dive bar circles and has been featured on some popular foodie shows in the past couple years. You might think I’m jumping on the bandwagon but I was born in the city of Superior so I’ve got some street cred.

I opted for the plain old $2.50 burger, some greasy bar fries, and a side of bacon. The burgers are what make the Anchor famous, but I go there for the bacon. They prepare their meat candy with all the love and affection you’d expect from northern Wisconsin dive bar — they drop the stips in the deep fryer then toss them on the flat giddle to finish them off. Mmmmmmm…deep fried bacon.

I grabbed one of the perfectly cooked strips of thick bacon and gave it the official taste test. In a word — perfect. For me, there is not a better way to prepare bacon then they do at the Anchor. I then piled the bacon high on my burger and topped it off with dill pickles and a splash of mustard.

The meal was absolute heaven for a bacon lover. If you can wiggle your way up to the south shore of Lake Superior, make the Anchor Bar a lunchtime stop. Make sure to order the Pancake Breakfast Shot as an added bonus.

Smaste™ rating: 42.959

We travel a lot and everywhere we go we try to seek out the best bacon in town. On a recent trip to the midwest, I was able to stop in quite a few places in Minnesota and Wisconsin to taste some great bacon meals.

One spot in particular really blew me away with the tastiness & quality was Aces on 29th in Superior, WI. With 9 items featuring bacon on the menu this was the kind of place that Bacon Today lives for, but the famous Charburger® was what really solidified Aces on 29th as a must-stop destination anytime I’m in the northern midwest.

The Charburger® got its start in around 1961 at the legendary regional drive through restaurant Nick’s Burger King in Duluth, Minnesota. The last Nick’s closed in 2002, but now with Aces on 29th the Charburger® legend lives on. With its 1/3 lb. all-beef burger, melted Swiss cheese, carmelized onions, kosher pickels, ketchup reduction sauce, and sesame bun, this burger is done to perfection. Add a couple thick slices of crispy smoked bacon for $1 and you’ve got a heavenly treat for any bacon lover.

When the burger arrived at the table it looked fabulous and was served with seasoned waffle fries.

I opened the burger and saw near perfection in bacon burger creation. As we always do when testing bacon meals, I broke off a small piece of bacon and tasted it before the rest of the burger. The crispy, thick sliced bacon was incredible and I quickly dove in to the complete meal.

The complete burger and fries were awesome. The combination of the Charburger’s smokey taste and the thick smoked bacon was a perfect match. The meal earns a Smaste™ rating of 42.998. This burger will be hard to beat.

If you’re ever near Superior, WI do yourself a favor and head over to Aces on 29th and add bacon to your burger.