I found PDG via google (how I find most of my places to eat if it's not by word of mouth for those who are curious) while searching for something that's open on Sundays (Since many many many many places are closed on Sundays here in Paris). The burger joint is a small cozy shop located about a 5 minutes walk the other direction from Le Bon Marche off Sevres-Babylone. The shop opens at noon on Sundays and by the time I got there by 12:30pm, there was already a small wait. But since I was by myself this time, I was able to get a seat fairly quickly (note: this place isn't meant to accommodate large crowds). I scanned the menu fairly quickly and settled on the Royal Burger which came with a fried egg, guacamole, bacon, onion, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and of course the meat patty and bun.
The burger itself was quite massive, even in American burger standards, and had all the makings of a good burger (bacon, egg, and guac, three of my top five burger ingredients, with alfalfa sprouts and sauteed onions rounding off that list). But as I was sizing up the burger (literally) I took a quick look around and realized everybody was eating their burgers using forks and knives. To be honest, I was quite tempted to just pick up the burger with my hands and start chowing down but as soon as I pressed the bun down onto the burger, the perfectly cooked egg popped and the gooey yolk starting dripping down the sides of the burger. That's when I realized that if I was going to use my hands for this burger, it would've been a messy ordeal and although I have no qualms with a messy burger, I felt like the situation was not proper to be asking for mounds of napkins and while everyone else was properly cutting their burger into bite sized squares. So I manned up picked up my fork and knife and began the rather painful process of delicately eating my monstrous burger.
Individually, the burger ingredients were delicious. The bacon was meaty with a slight crisp, the egg was gooey and perfectly fried, and the guac was creamy. However, something about these three together with the meat patty and bun just didn't taste right. Like I said earlier, the Royal Burger had all the makings of what should have been an extremely delicious burger but from the first bite to the very last bite (yes I finished it all), something didn't taste right and I just couldn't put my tongue to it.
I think part of it was the severely under performing, rather tasteless bun. The other part might have been the whole fork and knife experience. I was thinking, and I came to an unsupported conclusion when you eat a burger with a fork and knife, the first thing that hits your tongue is the bun. However, when you bite into a burger with your hands, the teeth usually cut straight through the bun and your tongue usually gets a full blast of flavor on what is inside the burger. By using the fork and knife and getting bun first, I believe your mouth is saturated by the taste of the plain bun that dampens the flavors of everything else.
Or silly unscientific hypothesis aside, maybe you're just not supposed to eat a burger for breakfast. Regardless, the Royal Burger at PDG was a learning experience with a hefty fine: 20.40 for my burger and another 4 for a large glass of Orangina. If you just can't seem to prolong a burger craving in Paris, I would say Chez Prosper first (but their burger is seasonal so sometimes it might not be there) and then PDG as a backup. But either way, don't be French and use your fork and knife.
PDG Rive Gauche
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5 Rue Dragon, 75006 Paris, France
Metro: St. Germain de Pres, Saint Sulpice, Mabillon, Sevres Babylone
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