Chiu on This

Beer and burger at the Bear

Good timing allowed me to meet up with my former co-worker Erin and her friend for lunch at the Thirsty Bear Brewing Company on the first day of my vacation in San Francisco. A bit woozy from having gotten up at 4am and sleeping for only 30 minutes on the plane ride from NYC, I didn't realize until halfway thru my 12 oz glass of Meyer ESB that I was a wee bit tipsy. Thankfully, the burger part of my beer and burger combo (a great deal at only $12) helped to provide some balance. Made with Wagyu beef, pork, and lamb (one of which came from Niman ranch, as if I could actually tell), and layered with a coarse mustard and interesting little pickles, the burger reminded me of a good merguez sausage. Not a bad choice, considering all the good looking tapas selections on the menu. Thumbs up also to the fries.

Honorable mention: the cask conditioned ale made with chamomile. The waiter rightly described it as "a little weird." Is it beer, or is it tea? I found the taste intriguing and palatable in the sample size, but wasn't ready to commit to full glass.

Not sure what I'll be having for dinner tonight, but tomorrow will be full on elastic waistband measures as I head to the Magnolia Pub and -- wait for it -- the House of Prime RIb! Medic!

Burger barrage

It's been a while since my last post, so in this installment I'll keep it simple and recap two burger places I've been to earlier this year, both of which I recommend.

First up, Bareburger. In August, I went to the location near NYU as part of a going away party for my former colleague and FOCOT, Professor Mike L. Bareburger's deal is its organic focus and grass-fed meats, but folks who know me know that I don't really care about that stuff. On the other hand, I got excited because I saw elk on the menu. On a recent visit to Seattle, I had hoped to get an elk burger at Uneeda Burger, as it had been favorably reviewed by my college classmate Chris, but I didn't get a chance and was wondering where I'd get my hands on elk back on the east coast. Problem solved.

Elk was the recommended meat (among the other fleshy options: turkey, beef, ostrich, lamb, and bison; veggie options also available) for the Jalapeno Express burger, which I ordered for what sounded like a blast of spiciness: pepperjack, red onion, jalapeno relish, horseradish mayo, and chipotle ketchup. The burger as a whole was very tasty, although the spiciness didn't really materialize. I deeply enjoyed the medium rare elk meat, which was rich, juicy, and tasty without any gaminess. I'm not sure if others would agree, but it tasted somewhat bacony-y, as if someone had ground up and added a couple of strips of bacon into mix. That alone should make you want to get some. I will have to try another elk burger soon, one that's very simple, so that I can get a better fix on the meat's flavor. Oh, the hardships of research.

Tommy's

I'm cleaning out my email and just dumping recommendations from folks here w/o much comment.  Dan says to go to Tommy's Burgers at 2575 W. Beverly Blvd. (Rampart Blvd.) in Los Angeles.  Check out the picture of their burger on their web site.  Mmmm.

Borders and burgers

Down in South Padre Island, TX, recently with the LOP crew for a retreat / training / conference.  After a site visit to Customs and Border Patrol in Brownsville (where we got to don night vision goggles to look at...bushes and each other), I was feeling pretty hungry.  It didn't help that we'd been eating tons and tons of food - and good food at that (thanks to Sam's selections from the Sheraton catering menu) - every 15 minutes or so in the course of the retreat, or that we got back to the hotel around 10:30.

But while the other participants trooped to the hotel restaurant, a small crew of Vera staff piled into the rental car and headed to the Whataburger in nearby Port Isabel. The Texans at the meeting recommended Whataburger, so, always on the lookout for good regional food, off we went.  The verdict: good - NYC should be so lucky to have a burger chain like this - but not as good as In-n-Out Burger.  Whataburger's burgers weren't quite as fresh as In-n-Out fare; the thin, but not meager, patties were a bit on the dry side for my taste.  Whataburger does get bonus points for its vanilla shake (thumbs up from Stacey and Susan), its onion rings (the fries were only so-so), the optional jalapenos to grace your burger, and, of course, its name.  So if you're in Texas and craving a fast food burger, head towards the big orange W.

Tortoise beats dog

Don was recently in Portland, OR, for work.  He wasn't able to try the sausages at Good Dog, Bad Dog but did recommend the burger at the Cheerful Tortoise, 1939 SW 6th Avenue near Portland State University (503-224-3377).  Don described it as a tasty but gloppy burger, a thin patty topped with cheese, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, thousand island dressing, and lots of pickles ("good pickle coverage" I think was his phrasing), and he also gave a thumbs-up to the french fries.  However, he was not impressed with the beer offerings.

Bringing up baby, or butter burger blogging?

I knew this would happen.  After much nagging, I hadn't been able to get Don to write a blog of his butter burger experience in Milwaukee, and now it will be near impossible given the arrival of his daughter this past Sunday.  So the only thing I can do is recount what I heard from him and Nicole.  Don's review is overwhelmingly positive.  He got the "regular" butter burger, which also has cheese on it; Nicole got the "light" (or is it "lite") version, which sounds like a hefty schmear of butter across the toasted bun, rather than the thick pat of butter that adorns the thin hamburger patty in the regular version.  I believe there is also version that includes even more butter, but I forget what that's called (super, extra, heavy, crazy?).

Don asserts that the picture at left (lifted shamelessly from the roadfood.com site) makes the butter burger appear to be quite nasty, while it is not.  He thinks they've let the butter pool and congeal in an unnatural fashion (i.e., not on one's palate or in one's stomach).

There is only one way for me to get more details on the burger (and on the fries and shakes - the banana malted sounds really good), and that's by somehow inserting myself into the next round of work Don and Nicole have lined up in Milwaukee.  Do you all hear me?  I'm willing to sing for my supper.

I don't think I could survive the road trip that Don has planned for himself and his friend Jerome, wherein they eat a path from Milwaukee, starting with the butter burger, to Chicago, where I think many a hot dog and Italian beef will be ingested.

I really have to stop writing these blogs around dinner time.  This is torture.

Solly's Grille, 4629 North Port Washington Rd. in Milwaukee. 414-332-8808

A burger a day

While waiting for a post from Don and/or Nicole regarding Milwaukee's fabled Butter Burger, I thought I'd devote the next few days to writing about burgers I've encountered recently, and those that have lingered in my mind.

If you're ever in Honolulu, here are a couple of recommendations.  Teddy's Bigger Burgers is a good choice.  It seems to be touted as the islands' version of the much beloved In-n-Out burger.  There are lots of - maybe too many - burger varieties.  Going against instinct, I ordered their Cajun burger, which was generally yummy but not really spicy in either sense of heat or flavor, i.e., not what I'd expected.  Their thin-cut fries are particularly tasty.  Check out the branch in the Koko Marina shopping center if you're heading out towards Hanauma Bay (close to where I grew up).

Another Honolulu favorite among locals and tourists is the Kua 'Aina Sandwich Shop in Ward Village (formerly Ward Center).  I think the burgers are appealing and certainly ample but maybe a little too hyped up.  The fries, however, are addictive.  (Maybe I'm really writing a post about fries?)

Sadly, my favorite burger from childhood - a wonderfully drippy teri-burger with lots of mayo (sounds gross but it was absolutely delectable) - no longer exists.  The Kaimuki drive-in that cooked it up has been long gone, replaced by an eatery that looks definitely more upscale.  But the next time I'm home I ought to take a peek and see if the teri-burger has somehow been transferred to the new menu.

Now it's time for dinner.

You don't make friends with salad

Gloria (aka Glo aka G-Unit) has been the source of numerous restaurant recommendations, but most notable are her burger picks.  Charley's, on Church just below the WTC, produces a wonderfully gloppy, gut-busting burger (pictured at left).  The lunch special gets you the burger, way too many fries, and a soda for $6 or so.  It's one of my favorite guilty pleasures and, unfortunately, one I indulge in far too often.  But I'm not the only one - in addition to Gloria, Mike B. and Don have been known to instigate runs to Charley's, occasionally for their equally heart-clogging Philly cheesesteak.

Another of G's picks, Paul's Place, is easy to miss.  On 2nd Avenue just south of St. Marks Place, it's perpetually obscured by scaffolding, visual clutter, and hordes of people jammed at the street corner.  After a marathon of stuffing binders for a SRI training last year, G, Mike B., and I decided to stuff our faces, and were not disappointed by the oversized burgers and platters of fried objects (potatoes and onions) provided at Paul's.  (I found the thin haze of grease in the air reminiscent of that other great burger joint, Big Nick's on the Upper West Side, and equally icky.)  For a much better review of Paul's, check out this NPR piece (thanks to Dan for sending the link) which uses an excellent ranking system of cost-per-bite.