More Carside To Go

This is a sequel post to 2 other posts. See if you can figure out which ones. First correct answer wins nothing.

I went up to the Great North a little early to hang out with the animals and see how many different allergy pills I could take in a single day without having some sort of synergistic effect that knocked me unconscious (the current record is 3: CVS Generic, Claritin and Zyrtec). I was also tasked with the picking of the dinner. Since I don't really know any of the places around there, and I didn't want to put much effort into it, I went with Applebee's because I thought it would be easiest for Kathryn to pick up on the way home, as she has to pass it.

Even though my version of the menu was given to me within 2 hours of placing my order, I somehow did not have an up-to-date copy. This resulted in my original order not actually being on the "real" menu and also in me feeling incredibly foolish for not having a backup plan. I just went with an easy standby. A cheeseburger! The Fire Pit Bacon Burger to be more specific. And it was good, even as takeout. I was pretty surprised. I think that place may have to be visited more frequently. Especially if they actually make the Fire Pit a little spicier.

After the burger I enjoyed a nice Winter Warmer and then fell asleep covered in pug and cats while watching the Celtics stage an impressive comeback over the Pacers. That is a good night.

-Jon

This is Becoming a Habit

Ok, so apparently I was not done with my Christmas shopping after all. Maybe next time I should check my list a little more closely. Maybe even check it twice! Wow, that was bad.

Back to the mall to finish up a couple last minute things. Of course, I am not able to divulge the gifts in case anyone actually reads this thing, but suffice it to say that as long as Mom's gift arrives in the next 2 days, I am all set. Also, it turns out that ordering something on December 11th still might not be early enough for it to arrive by Christmas. Hopefully next year I will come back and read this and do all my online shopping on Thanksgiving. Good thing I'm writing it down.

Since I am pretty much opposed to all other fast food, going to the mall offers me the chance to eat at the one passable restaurant: Wendy's. I ordered exactly the same thing as last time, but this time I actually made an effort to remember the name of the meal. Which I then forgot. I am an embarrassment to burger-blog-writers everywhere.

I am pleased that while the burger was literally exactly the same as last time, the fries were slightly less salty. Still far too salty, but at least semi-enjoyable. No Frosty this time though. Maybe that's a sign that I am growing up.

In other news, watch the posts for a new link. Tired of reading about burgers? Looking for under-researched and over-opinionated writing with far too many dependent clauses and an excessive use of parentheses? Want me to stop asking rhetorical questions? Stay tuned. . .

-Jon

One of Them Was Slightly Better

Days where 2 of the meals are cheeseburgers are generally good days. Today was no exception to this rule.

The first burger was Wendy's for lunch after a hard day of Christmas shopping. It actually was quite hard because of back pain from shoveling the day before. Kathryn and I utilized many a Holyoke Mall bench for frequent breaks, which I have to assume added about half an hour to our trip. Also, what is the deal with the Borders at that mall? It's nearly impossible to find what you are looking for if you are looking for a specific book.

I went with the. . . I don't know, whatever they replaced the Big Bacon Classic with. It's the exact same thing. And still delicious. And the Frosty (not Joe, the milkshake thing) is always a nice replacement for a soda. Too bad they went a little overboard with the salt on my French fries. I still ate them all though, because I am a champion.

Later, dinner ended up being cheeseburgers again! This time they were grilled in foolish sub-freezing temperatures over at Dad and Kelly's. Two of us had burgers, and two of us had charcoal briquets. Apparently these silly ladies think that well done is an appropriate way to cook a piece of meat. I shed a tear.

In an unrelated side (dish) note, we had tortellini salad along with the burgers. I would estimate that I ate about a pound. That is good stuff.

-Jon

9 Year Reunion

Obviously we'll have to try this again at Christmas after so many people decided not to be around, but the mini-reunion was still a fun time. Mostly spent making fun of pretty much everything. Especially New Jersey. Did you realize that simply living in New Jersey makes you less friendly? Ask Kim for more details.

We went to Ruby Tuesday this year, which seems to be less appealing than Uno's since far fewer people showed up. We ended up with a pair of (former) Sagans, a pair of Steves, Helder and myself. Then we proceeded to mock the vast majority of Facebook posts than people make. We also found out that Helder pretty much remembers nobody from high school, which will make the official reunion next year incredibly hilarious.

I would say that the highlight of the meal was when Steve ordered the Turkey Sliders, then commented after the waitress left that "I never had a turkey burger, I was just under a lot of pressure. It was the first thing I saw." I think he was distracted by the salad bar.

As for myself, I went with the Triple Prime Bacon Cheddar Burger (insert lame math joke about primes). No mayo. I believe my statement was "If there's mayo, so help me. . ." but no actual threat so that I wouldn't be asked to leave the restaurant. And there was no mayo. Clearly the key is to make sure that you make a ridiculous comment after asking for no mayo to make sure that it gets remembered. Good to know for future reference, until my plan to keep mayo off all burgers is enacted. If only I had my own restaurant.

-Jon

Much As I Expected

Although last night failed to deliver a burger (because we had gigantic burritos instead), today there was no question about what lunch would be. We bravely adventured the whole 200 yards through rain and puddles to make it over to R.F. O'Sullivan for a delicious meal.

After last night's crazy Carnival party (which involved rocking out pretty hardcore to I'm On a Boat and dominating some fools in Beirut/Pong), we had all intentions of having breakfast but instead decided to just wait until a more appropriate lunch time. Not that I wouldn't eat a burger for breakfast, as evidenced by a previous tale. Catherine showed up sometime around 11 I think and had to wait until Erica's roommate Jess could make it over on the T. She got lost. This cost us valuable eating time, but luckily Guitar Hero was able to hold us over until she got reoriented.

Good thing the Blackjack burger is so amazingly fantastic, because that was the worst Newcastle I have ever had. I think the 08 that I found on the bottle was probably the date it was good until, because I was highly disappointed in that beer. The burger itself was still as great as I remember, so the meal itself was a good time. Except that Jess ruined her burger by ordering it well done. What is wrong with people?

-Jon

The Ultimate Burger

Nope, I am not saying it is the winner of the Best Burger Ever. That was actually what it was called. Sorry for the deception.

Dinner was at a place in Turners Falls called Cafe Martin (I think I am missing some accent marks there, because there was a lot of French stuff on the walls). It it one of Kathryn's favorite places, and since I have no idea about anything that far north, she was obviously going to be the one making the decision. I felt slightly bad ordering a burger when there were so many fancy things on the menu, but I have a reputation to uphold.

We also started off with bruschetta, which was so ridiculously huge that I almost regretted the decision. At least until I ate it, because it was great. It also prevented Kathryn from having any chance of finishing her dinner. I, however, dominated the Ultimate Burger with surprising authority. I didn't finish my potatoes though. . .

The burger itself was another take on what apparently is my favorite. Sauteed onions, sauteed mushrooms, bacon and gorgonzola. I also put a couple tomatoes on there, even though they had no business with those other ingredients. But hey, tomatoes are delicious. And the whole thing was 8 oz (probably pre-cooked weight; why don't they just put the post-cooked weight? It's a mystery). And they cooked it right, which is highly pleasing. If I ever find myself almost in Vermont again, I will be stopping there for another one. Or maybe a filet mignon. Ooh! A burger made of filet mignon. Wait, that's probably going too far.

-Jon

November is Grilling Weather

So October was a little slow for eating burgers, but November is off to a quick start. Thursday night was another trip to Dad and Kelly's, and burgers were on the menu. There were also fancy French fries. I am not exactly sure what they were, but there was definitely some sort of garlic seasoning going on there. They were also really hot when they came out of the oven, which I experienced firsthand.

The sad part of the story is that of the 3 burgers that were not well done, Dad and I got the ones that were the most done, and Zannah got the rarest one. That is really unfair. She's a dog! Ours were only slightly past medium rare though, so nothing too serious.

We'll see if grilling continues once the snow starts. That's the real test.

-Jon

I Need a Mint

Today's burger was surprising in that the original plan was actually to go get breakfast. Unfortunately, the brunch buffet at The Station is apparently only available on Sundays. Oops. Also, the line at Sylvester's was like 45 minutes long, and there was no way that we intended to wait that long. There were so many people that it took Kathryn 3 minutes to get our names OFF the list. That is just wacky.

Eventually we ended up at Fitz Willy's because Kathryn and I knew it was good and Melissa had never been. This resulted in my food plans going from brunch to a burger. Namely, the French Onion burger. Not sure what exactly made it French, since it had Swiss cheese, but I am not in the burger-naming business (although I may look into it). There were sauteed onions, onions straws and a slice of red onion on this thing. I can only imagine what that did to my breath.

Sadly, the burger did not live up to the high expectations I had for it. First, it was overdone slightly. Nothing is worse for a burger than overcooking it. Second, we had the most ridiculously fantastic appetizer of all time: gorgonzola garlic bread. There was pretty much nothing that was going to live up to that thing. Fries were good though.

Next time I am going to follow my instincts and get a different burger. Or, just make it clear that I don't mean medium well when I say medium rare.

-Jon

That's a Lot of Possibilities

This post is long overdue, but since I am lazy all I have to say is "tough luck."

Also, it contains math.

At some point in the last 2 weeks (I believe it was a Sunday), we had burger night at Mom & Chuck's before the bros headed back to Boston. I am not sure what the original plan was, but somehow it exploded into so many burger options that it would take months to try them all. The various options included: onions in the burger, blue cheese in the burger, blue cheese on the burger, American cheese on the burger, pepper jack cheese on the burger, sauteed onions and sauteed mushrooms. I also prepped some red onions with olive oil and grilled those up. Admittedly, we may have gone a bit overboard on the onions, but to be fair, onions are delicious. And there was the option of a toasted bun, which is just a classy choice. Offhand, I think this ends up with 256 burger options based on the way I am doing the calculations. That's a lot of burgers.

After loading up with both sauteed. . . vegetables (not sure if onions or mushrooms count in that department), I decided on the grilled onion and American cheese option with onions and blue cheese inside the burger. This resulted in a burger that was about 2.5 inches tall. Also, there were two of them. I am fairly certain that was enough food to last me through the next day. But it was delicious, and I would eat another one right now if I wasn't full of pizza.

Oh yeah, the French fries were also fantastic. No such luck with the ketchup though. Really, why does any company besides Heinz even bother making ketchup?

-Jon

PS - If Kathryn says anything, this has been up for days.

Oops

Yes, I did eat some burgers the other night. No, I haven't written about it yet. Don't worry, I will take care of it this weekend. And hopefully eat another burger as well.

-Jon

Two Burgers > One Burger

After a long layoff (by my standards) from burgers, it looks like they are making a dietary comeback. I am not sure if this will keep up, since the weather is going to become less and less grill-friendly, but we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

No major stories to tell, but we have reaffirmed that burgers are much better when you add sauteed onions and sauteed mushrooms to them. I also believe that Matt and Bill would agree with this assertion. Also undeniable: eating 2 burgers is more awesome than eating 1 burger.*

I wonder if burgers will be on the menu at Mom & Chuck's wedding next weekend. . .

I also wonder if people will be annoyed that they were expecting a super-awesome story and instead got this. Sorry!

-Jon

*This does not apply to R.F. O'Sullivan, where eating 2 burgers will almost certainly kill you from beef poisoning. It's like alcohol poisoning for meat.

Yes, I Know They Feed You at Weddings. . .

But that still didn't stop me from eating "dinner" a few hours beforehand. I met up with Amy and Scott at the hotel around 3 or so. Luckily for us, we found out that the wedding we were there for was at 5:30, which was good since none of us had any idea about the time as of the morning of the event. As a side note, this story doubles as a strong motivator for paying more attention to where I put wedding invitations in the future.

Since the wedding was at 5:30, we figured dinner wouldn't be until somewhere around 9, and that is far too late. We went over to T.G.I. Friday's because it was the closest restaurant that we could see from the hotel.

The winning menu choice: the Jack Daniels burger. Burgers with alcohol or beer-based sauces seem to be the new big thing these days. I would say that this is because they are fantastic. Especially if you order them rare and they actually come that way. Know who could learn something about rare burgers? Uno's. Sometimes there, rare is interpreted as well done, and that is just a terrible thing to do to a burger. This story is kind of rambling.

As for the wedding, it was a good time. Congrats to Scott and Courtney (a different Scott from the previously mentioned one).

-Jon

PS - I wrote this whole post while watching the TV, so anything spelled wrong or anything that makes no sense at all is because of that.

Open House is Scary

Thursdays are exciting days because they are the days that I eat dinner with Dad and Kelly, and it's always a surprise what dinner is going to be. This particular Thursday was also Open House at work, which meant that after whatever surprise meal I ate, there was a minor chance that it would later be vomited up due to massive nervousness in front of a bunch of parents. Boy, that would make a great story.

It didn't happen though.

Dinner was bacon cheeseburgers, which is always a great addition to cheeseburgers. Also some baked beans were involved, and they also contained bacon. Really, bacon is a great addition to everything. Maybe I could make a blog about that. . .

Just kidding; I can barely keep this one updated. And I eat much more bacon than I eat cheeseburgers.

Open House also went smoothly. At least it did from my perspective. Who knows what those poor parents were thinking. If I had to guess, I would say that some of the thoughts were "why does he keep looking at the side wall there?" or possibly "wow, [their kid's name] was right about this guy. He's crazy."

Oh well, there's always next year to try to do it correctly.

-Jon

PS - Is anyone else as baffled by the fact that I don't have a tag for bacon as I am?

PPS - Why is each post's font size different? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here!!!

That Was a Wet Evening

Never one to turn down a gift, I gladly accepted Chuck's offer of a pair of Red Sox tickets that he couldn't use. Kathryn was also more than willing to take a free game. Unfortunately, the weather was quite threatening as we headed down the Mass Pike, so we had some concerns about how much use we would get out of them.

We decided to forego the bus because if there was a major rain delay, the bus would not be leaving until the game was officially called. Instead, we decided to drive to Somerville first and have a burger with Alex and Erica. At this point, there was not really much rain, but the signs of future rain were apparent.

The four of us headed over to R.F. O'Sullivan, and, surprisingly, were able to immediately get a table. It looks like 5:30 on Saturday is not a busy time. Since I went for the Black & Blue Burger last time (see previous post I believe), it was time to go back to the Blackjack Burger. Good choice. It was equally delicious as previous editions of said burger. Plus this is one of the few places that will give you a rare burger. I know I have said that before, but I think it's important to bring up every time. Maybe other places could learn a thing or two from my eloquent words.

Possibly even more impressive than the burger was the fact that Kathryn finished her entire burger. These things are roughly the size of her normal sized head. And thus about half the size of my oversized melon.

After the burger, we walked down to the T-Station and headed for Fenway. Once we arrived at Kenmore, we were a little concerned because it was already 7:30 and, as it was not raining, we thought we had missed a few innings.

Boy were we wrong. Not only did we not miss anything, but the game didn't start until 9:14. A slightly more than 2-hour delay during which it rained for a total of 7 minutes. Seven minutes!!! At least the grounds crew kept things interesting by continually fooling around with the tarp and making the entire crowd think the game was about to start. Let's put it this way. During a real rain-delay at Fenway, the entire front section of the stadium is empty. During this delay, every person was still in their seats. So ridiculous.

By the time the 5th inning ended, the Sox were up by a ton and it was starting to rain again. We decided (along with about 13,981 other people) that it was time to go and took the T back to Porter Square. Of course, by this point it had stopped raining again, and we decided to walk instead of calling Alex for a ride.

Big mistake.

We made it about halfway before the sky opened up on us. By the time we got to Alex's apartment, it looked like I had just gotten out of the shower.

But the Sox won, and I did get a burger. I am still calling the night a win.

-Jon

A Marathon Burger Day, or Burgers for Breakfast

After a depressingly long hiatus from rounded meat patties, today I ended up eating nothing but cheeseburgers. And side dishes that go along with cheeseburgers. And maybe a cookie too. It was a good day.

I picked up Bill at Logan after his trip to California since apparently no one else was able to do it. This was slightly after 10:00am. As we were navigating Logan's treacherous road system (which I believe was designed by a guy who was inspired by the web of a drunk spider), he suggested that we could get burgers at RF O'Sullivan since we were sort of close to it. I gave them a call and found out they opened at 11, so that was good news. I was also shocked to find that I was able to get there from the eastern side of Cambridge, since that meant I needed exit 20 instead of exit 18, even though I was going to the same place. I put that little tale in there because someone else has got to find that strange.

It turns out that 11am is a good time to beat the rush, since we were the first people there. Surprisingly, another group of people came in as well. That's how good the burgers are. I had the Black & Blue burger again, and it was super again. My only issue with it is that they use bleu cheese dressing and put it on last, which meant that by the end of the meal I had bleu cheese hands.

Also, their pickles aren't great.

Fast forward to dinner, and it was burgers again! Mostly because Chuck was bribing me, Bill, Kathryn, Mia, Nate and Mia's roommate Sarah Beth with burgers in exchange with assistance in addressing wedding invitations. The burgers of the night, at least for me, were made with both bleu cheese and American (melted over the crumbled bleu cheese to keep it from escaping), mushrooms and sauteed onions. Then we got wild for the 2nd burger and actually put the bleu cheese inside. That was an even better method to prevent premature bleu cheese jail breaks.

I have a strong suspicion that today will be far less burger-filled.

-Jon

More Fast Food

Now, the first burger after a trip to RF's is always going to suffer from high expectations, so it was not going to bode well for the burger we grabbed on the way home that we stopped at Wendy's. Since I'm not a huge fast food fan in the first place (exception made for In-N-Out Burger of course), there is not much chance that I was going to be wowed by this thing.

After we left Boston, we traveled about 13 minutes before I fell asleep. Then I woke up and found that we had only gone like 3 exits and then hit some ridiculous traffic. It was completely stop-and-go, with most of the emphasis being on the stop part. Finally we decided that route 20 might be a better choice, and weaseled our way off the highway at exit 10A. And that decision brought us to Wendy's.

A long time ago I was told that it's always better at a fast food place to make a special order so that there is no way they can give you a burger that has been sitting a while. Wendy's makes this easy to do because they commit burger Sin #1 and have mayo on their Big Bacon Classic. Side note - the Big Bacon Classic has been demoted from the list of numbered meals. What is that about? Amy and I both opted for the BBC, while Scott chose some sort of chicken looking thing. That burger was exactly what you would expect from Wendy's, with the added bonus of being put together really sloppily.

Three hours after departing, we finally arrived back at Ludlow. This is far too long of a time for that trip. At least the rest of the weekend was super wacky.

-Jon

It's Been Too Long

I don't even remember when the last time I had an R.F. O'Sullivan burger was. I mean, obviously I could look back and figure it out, but that is not going to happen after the number of "sodas" I have consumed at the present. Basically, it's been far too long.

It's pretty much a mini-RPI reunion here at Alex's apartment, which is much smaller than it should be for this number of people. Also, there is currently a dog on my bed. Well, air-mattress.

But I digress.

We went to R.F. O'Sullivan (and Son) for dinner, because that just has to happen. It's literally around the corner. Not going would be a crime against. . . burgers? I am not sure. A crime against someone anyway. Scott and Amy were my ride, so we arrived, drank some #9s, and headed over to meet Erica at the Church of Burgers. After a long wait (like 26 minutes), we got our table and menus, which were completely unnecessary. All 5 of us got various versions of the Blackjack Burger, which, if you recall, is currently the reigning burger champion. Also, we got more beer (I mean soda), which was probably not needed. At least some of it was Summer Ale.

The burger was as delicious as I remember, which is great since a lot of the time things end up being crappy when you try them again later. Like the movie Mighty Ducks? Remember that movie? Watch it again, and you will be incredibly disappointed.

Alright, I should probably end at this point. If the post doesn't make sense, we will just blame it on the fact that I am in quite a bit of pain after dropping a 60-lb weight on my foot this morning. That or the booze. Take your pick.

Editor's note - It is now the next night, and that dog ended up ruining a good night of sleep for at least 3 people. And I still have very little idea what I was trying to convey when I typed this up the first time. Apologies for that. I will (not) try harder in the future.

-Jon

All Sorts of Stories

Well, it's really only a couple stories, but they are fairly entertaining to me. Of course, I have the attention span and sense of humor of a 13-year old so that may explain a lot of it.

The annual birthday party of Nick took place yesterday, and it contained, among other things, grilled cheeseburgers. Or possibly grilled charcoal. Nick was a little bit intoxicated, so he may have possibly forgotten about the burgers for a while, which meant any burgers that were in the center of the grill looked a lot like Brillo pads. And I still ate two of them. I think I have a problem. . .

After eating those burger-like substances, I ended up getting into a few games of beer pong with James since either Nicole didn't want to play anymore or she was banned from the team for ineptitude. After a tough first game, we called for a rematch and things got real. We won the first game in fairly standard fashion, but it was game 2 that was truly impressive. In that game, we were able to both sink twice in a row (balls back!), and won the game in under 4 minutes. It was probably the greatest game of beer pong ever played (that night). Then we won a couple more games until things kind of wound down. Which leads to story number 2.

Nick has a pretty extensive bar in his (parents') basement. It's like being in an actual bar, just with better lighting. And I'm pretty sure this bar is the reason for the downfall of last night's beer pong, because after our last victory we found out that everyone was downstairs doing various shots. That's acceptable though, because shots are fun. The last one we ended up doing was a shot of absinthe, which I am fairly certain used to be illegal in the US. My guess is that it was banned because it is terrible. It was like bad licorice jelly beans, except the taste stays in your mouth. Plus I didn't even see any weird stuff like in Eurotrip. How silly.

Also, I am going to tell one more story even though it didn't happen last night, just because the main protagonist was at the party and that's good enough for me. Last week, or maybe the week before, or possibly sometime before that (the date is unimportant), we were at the Lighthouse enjoying a beer or 5 and just generally being silly. After a while, I decided it would be fun for Dan to talk to anyone around us, which ended up being a girl named Samantha. Despite all of Dan's charm, it just wasn't meant to be because after a while she finally told him that she had a boyfriend. His response was classic: "That's debatable." Since then, anything that is a fact we don't like has become debatable. Thanks, Dan.

-Jon

My Tire is Fixed

Being as it's summer and I have pretty much nothing important to do or places to go, the fact that I ran over a nail somewhere back in July was not enough of an impetus to actually get the tire fixed. Fast forward a couple weeks, and I was finally bored enough to take my car in. Turns out that nail holes near the sidewall are not fixable, which means I got to shell out lots of dollars to replace a tire with a small hole and tons of tread left. How fun.

Anyway, since Town Fair Tire is apparently the best tire place around because I was told it would be a couple hours until they replaced the tire. That is a long time, so I called Bill for a ride. Since it was about 2 or so, and Bill apparently gets up around 1, I was hungry for lunch and he was hungry for "breakfast." We went to Ruby Tuesday, which surprisingly has not changed its menu since the last time I was there. Must be a record!

I ate the Alpine Swiss burger, which was good. And super-juicy. It was like the thing had sprung a leak. I was amazed that one burger could result in that much liquid on the plate afterwards. Then I put my napkin in the excess juice so it would soak it up to play a joke on the waitress. It worked! My life is quite exciting.

-Jon

Probably Not New Jersey's Best Work . . .

This weekend was the big trip to Baltimore to see the Sox take on the lowly Orioles. First of all, Camden Yards is much too nice of a ballpark for a team like Baltimore to have. It's really not fair. Second of all, there is some sort of crazy outside drinking festival that apparently takes place after every game right across the street from the park. That was a fun time, mostly because James, Joe, Bill and myself decided to ask every guy who walked by if he had met Lindsay. If you haven't seen How I Met Your Mother, you won't get what was going on.

After having some gastrointestinal difficulties on Sunday morning (a burrito looks surprisingly similar coming back up as it does on its way down), I was really hungry by the time we were going home. The bus hit a rest stop somewhere in New Jersey, and our choices were Roy Rogers, Pizza Hut or Blimpie (which I am pretty sure was the cause of the vomiting from earlier in the day). I'm aware that Blimpie doesn't serve burritos, but I think the sandwich from Blimpie caused my stomach to reject the burrito I had for dinner. Regardless, I ended up choosing a bacon cheeseburger from Roy Rogers and then loading it up with tomatoes.

Boy was that a mediocre burger. Even with my incredibly low expectations, I was still disappointed. I have no idea where we were, but I hope we weren't in New Brunswick because that would mean I missed out on New Jersey's best burger.

On the plus side, the Sox won both games we attended, so we had that going for us. Which is nice.

-Jon

A Pre-Dinner Burger

After several days (or probably months) of mocking Melissa for not having seen The Big Lebowski (technically she saw part of it but made the unforgivable mistake of falling asleep during it), we finally scheduled a Lebowski-viewing and White Russian-drinking event at our house. Also, since some people can't order pizzas correctly, James took care of the ordering, meaning we actually got a buffalo chicken pizza from Palermo's as opposed to some weird chicken club pizza from Pinocchio's.

And I told you that story so I could tell you this one. Since the Lebowski showing wasn't occurring until around 8, I still decided that I could use a free dinner at Dad & Kelly's, which just happened to be cheeseburgers. Nice rare cheeseburgers. Sadly, there were no tomatoes, but that is not quite a deal breaker.

Of course the movie was again fantastic, just like the first 36 times* I've seen it. Also, I seem to go a little heavy on the Kahlua in my White Russians. We finished off the Kahlua bottle before the vodka even though there are supposed to be equal parts of each. Oops.

-Jon

*I have no idea how many times I've actually seen that movie. I would put the total well over 25 though.

The 3rd Annual Birthday Bash

For the 3rd straight year, Melissa's and my birthday celebration (which, yes, I know this is far in advance of my actual birthday) took place and was quite the festive occasion. Nice weather? Check. Keg of Summer Ale? Check. Cheeseburgers? Check. Five-layer taco dip? Hey, where'd those other 2 layers go??

It turned out that we got one of the only sunny days that have occurred in July, although it did pour last night. Or someone stood on the roof outside my bedroom window with a hose. I wasn't really paying close attention. After eating about half of the taco dip, I figured I would be good to go in the eating department until I saw some people wandering around with burgers. Clearly I needed to get my hands on one of those! A few minutes and a slice of pepper jack cheese and tomato later I was able to obtain a super greasy burger. And some pasta salad. I also was about to eat some jambalaya until I noticed the shrimp in there. Boy, would that have put a damper on the entire afternoon.

Eventually the mosquitoes took over the party, so things had to move inside before all our blood was taken by them. All in all it was a good time; now I just have to wait to see all the crazy pictures on Facebook of what REALLY happened.

-Jon

82

No burgers for me since my day at the Shake Shack, but I did stumble across New York's 82 Notable Burgers, which New York Magazine put up on their website last week. I've had a few of these burgers in my time here in New York, but it looks like I have my work cut out for me...



And lucky for me, there is a list of 16 more in Boston for me to check out when I'm at home. Maybe Jon can get a head start and fill me in on the good ones.

Another Trip to Northampton

This is starting to become a habit here; another week, another trip to Northampton. Of course, the original plan was to go to some music thing at the Summit House in South Hadley, so the fact that we ended up eating dinner in Northampton means that things clearly went wrong. We also ended up missing a chance at a new trivia night, but oh well. At least we got ice cream!

I guess Fitzwilly's has been around for a ridiculously long time (at least according my Mom and Chuck), but it was my first trip there. It was also long overdue, because they had a great menu with like 50 different things. Not that it really mattered, since the only thing I planned on ordering was a cheeseburger. I went for the Jack and Muenster Burger. The sauce was some kind of Jack Daniel's sauce, and it was fantastic. Also, it turns out that muenster is a highly underrated cheese. Throw some tomato and a slice of red onion on there and you've got a winning burger.

They've also got pretty good french fries. And mashed potatoes. Which I stole from Chuck after they accidently gave him fries instead of his mashed potatoes and then when they brought them later he was no longer interested. That was kind of a long story without much of a point. I guess in the end I would go back there since they had so many other things to try, but I am still pro-Paradise City as far as burgers in Northampton are concerned.

Now it feels like time for a nap. We'll see how that goes.

Just Pretend This Went Up Sunday

Oops, I forgot. The second run of cookouts at Jen & Melissa's was on Sunday in preparation for the actual birthday party coming up. There were a lot of similarities between this cookout and the last one. Most of the same people, lots of Summer Ale, nice weather, etc. There was one major difference, which was that this time we didn't put any of the bottles in the pool after we finished. I did try to throw them all on the lawn though (with help from Bill, Joe and James), because that is just fun.

We had burgers again, even though Melissa tried to ruin them by not letting Nicky put bleu cheese inside them because she claimed that some people might not like bleu cheese. Now this in and of itself is pretty much unacceptable, but I think it would be possible to maybe put the cheese inside some of the burgers and not others. Apparently her one-third* sized woman brain could not come up with this on her own. Unfortunately, the burgers were already formed by the time I had arrived and I could not correct this grievous error.

The burgers were probably good, but it's been several days since I ate it and I can't remember for sure. It's also possible that I ate 2 of them, but who can say. I am fairly certain that there was not bacon, but even that remains a mystery. I guess from now on I should take care of these things in a more timely fashion.

-Jon

*This is from Anchorman before all you women-folk fly off the handle.

The Unexpected Lunch Burger

After a long break, it was yet again burger time. This one was unexpected because the original plan was to go to Joy's for lunch, which in itself was unexpected as Joy's is a breakfast tradition. Regardless, somehow we ended up at Ruby Tuesday's instead since Joy's entire staff is currently on vacation. Or maybe just Joy is on vacation and refuses to open the place. This is not really on topic.

I don't know when the last time I was at Ruby Tuesday's was, but they have changed their menus again (for what I can only imagine is the 19th time in the past 6 years) and potentially had new burgers. It was a toss-up between the Boston Blue Burger (hooray alliteration!) and the Blackened Fish "Burger," but after an extremely short internal debate I went with the 3 B's. Hey, the sauce had Boston Lager in it and I'm a sucker for Sam Adams.

Surprisingly, everything about the burger was good except the blue cheese. I know, I'm as shocked as you are. It was some crumbled bleu cheese thing, but it just wasn't that great. I knocked a bunch of it off, which made everything better. Also, I guess they redid their fries since they weren't covered with 14 tablespoons of salt. That is good news! Plus, my burger was made with real cow, unlike Kathryn and James' burgers. This helped me avoid the wrath of Matt, who apparently only allows meat burgers (good choice there, as evidenced by my first posting ever).

In other news, I may be in Boston this weekend depending on if Alex's possible concussion lets him remember he's supposed to let me know tomorrow. That may result in another Blackjack Burger (the current champion) and other beer-related shenanigans. How exciting! Although in all honesty, I am hoping I eat at least one more burger before then.

-Jon

Saturday in the Park

Nothing says summer in Manhattan to me more than spending a sunny Saturday afternoon in Madison Square Park at my favorite (so far) NYC burger establishment, the Shake Shack (www.shakeshacknyc.com). The original Shake Shack stands at the southeast corner of what is, for my money, one of New York’s prettiest parks (there are also locations in the Upper West Side and the Mets’ CitiField). Despite being a strictly outdoor eatery, Shake Shack is open year-round and, in nice weather, the line to order can stretch a full city block. That is exactly what happened on Saturday, when after weeks and weeks of seemingly never-ending rain, I was finally able to meet up with a couple of friends to spend one of the first sunny weekend days of the summer outside. From the looks of it, the wait would be about 45-50 minutes long, but fortunately, for me, I’ve been to the Shake Shack more times than I can count, so I was prepared and ready to wait.

Time waiting to order passed quickly and about an hour after getting in line, we were sitting down with our burgers at one of the tables provided by the city’s Parks department. Much to Jon’s dismay, I’m sure, I refuse to eat burgers with tomatoes on them (hate tomatoes – HATE them). It takes away from what the burger is all about, I say. And while I won’t flat out put mayonnaise on my burger, I may use a mayonnaise-based sauce as a topper (ie, Shack Sauce). So, I ordered a plain cheeseburger, fries, an Arnold Palmer to drink, and a side of homemade Shack Sauce (for both the burger and the fries). On the outside, it’s a run-of-the-mill looking burger, but it’s so much more tasty. It’s made fresh every day of half ground sirloin / half brisket – very juicy and flavorful. I topped the meal off with a peanut butter sundae (Shake Shack also makes EXCELLENT frozen custard – I don’t know what frozen custard actually is, except that it is completely delicious).

My cousin and her boyfriend came down to the city on Saturday and got in line for a burger as I was finishing my sundae. He was a first-timer and after his burger, told me that it was definitely worth the 45-minute wait. All in all, great day spent at the park with good food and friends. I’m sure the Shack Shack hasn’t seen the last of me this summer. And, of course, I’ll try to fit some other burger places in, too!

Maybe it was foreshadowing?

Well, that took a lot less time than I expected. I think it was probably Monday that I mentioned Paradise City Tavern as being a better choice than Local Burger and then today I ended up eating a delicious burger there. (I could easily check this, but that seems like a lot of work, and if it wasn't Monday I will just go back and edit this post anyway so no one will be the wiser. Unless someone screen shots this, but that is wicked nerdy. Wow, I am way off track.)

This time I tried the BBQ Burger, because I was supposed to eat it last time but then I got sidetracked by something with bacon on it. There's probably a post about it back in February somewhere. Today's burger was crazy. Besides the burger itself, there was some pulled-pork, some onion rings, a slice of gouda cheese (highly underrated as a cheese), and the standard lettuce, tomato and onion. Red onion actually. Nice work, Paradise City. Also, by my estimate (backed up by Kathryn), the entire thing was between 3 and 4 inches tall. I felt like one of those snakes (boa constrictor maybe?) trying to unhinge my jaw to make it fit.

What a great burger. I will hopefully be eating another one soon. That pulled pork really got the job done. They also had good fries (again), which really gives them the edge over any other nearby burger joints. Local Burger, I'm looking at you! Also at the Dirty Truth, but just because Paradise City is so clearly superior. At this rate, I will have eaten at all the Northampton burger places by the end of the year.

-Jon

The Sequel

It would appear that 6 pounds of meat was more than the ten of us could eat on Friday, which meant leftovers! Luckily, James was on top of his game so he didn't cook the extra meat, but wrapped it up raw for future consumption. This resulted in the leftover burgers being as good as the originals (like Back to the Future II) and not incredibly disappointing (like every American Pie movie after the theater ones).

After a long day consisting of watching the Red Sox, drinking a few Summer Ales, halfway doing laundry and stealing a hammock (with full documentation, NOT by Kathryn. . .), James fired up the grill, I sliced up some veggies and Kathryn. . . relaxed? Regardless, we had some more fantastic burgers. Then we moved the hammock into the living room. That has nothing to do with anything, but I think it's a funny image. Those things seem much larger inside than they do outside.

Tomorrow is apparently hammock returning day, which is sad. But there's always a chance of another burger, which would make the loss easier to take.

-Jon

Here Comes a New Challenger!!

All Street Fighter II references aside, James has stepped up to the burger challenge (which has apparently started, although I am not sure when) and definitely ended up in the top 2. I think it may be between James' burgers and Nicky's stuffed bleu cheese burgers at this point. Although, Nicky says she's got something else planned for the future. I am excited.

I am not exactly sure what the name of the night was, but it was something along the lines of the Best Burger Challenge, or close enough anyways. I am not sure of all the ingredients in these burgers, but we confirmed quite a few: onions, rosemary, garlic powder, Sweet Baby Ray's and I want to say Tabasco (?). There was also bacon and pepper jack cheese, widely regarded as one of the premier cheeses for burgers. James also did some kind of crazy thing with a red onion where he put some butter and beer inside it and then grilled it whole. Next time we'll have to start that process sooner, because apparently onions take a lot longer to grill than burgers.

These were some big burgers, but that didn't stop Bill, Joe or me from having 2. Or stop Dave from somehow hijacking Nicole's burger. We also had a tomato and mozzarella salad that I whipped up while rocking out to the musical stylings of Dexys Midnight Runners (Come On Eileen, while a great song, is probably not a course of action Eileen would appreciate) and Dropkick Murphys (I would say Tessie is probably the best song written about being a fan of the Red Sox (and possibly the only one?)). That's right, you just experienced the nested parentheses. Only found here. Back on topic though, of course there were ample Summer Ales, because this whole thing happened at our house.

I think there may be more uncooked burgers in the fridge. If that is the case, I am pretty sure what dinner will be on Sunday.

-Jon

Local Burger (and Fries!)

After having a burger on Sunday, you'd think that I would be unlikely to eat another on Monday. You would be wrong. Today was a day to try a new burger place. Upon Mia's recommendation, Kathryn and I went to Local Burger in Northampton for some grass-fed local beef. Mmmm, local cows.

They had a bunch of burgers that you could get, and then they just had a list of things you could throw on a burger. I went with some cow from Easthampton with Applewood smoked bacon (I am beginning to think that these Applewood folks have a monopoly on the bacon-for-burgers industry), crumbled blue cheese, tomato and onion. I am unconvinced that there was actually onion on there however, because I couldn't see any and I couldn't taste any. But there was no charge for it, so I don't feel too upset about it. We also got a large order of fries, which I do not recommend since they were by far the saltiest fries I have eaten this year. I think they may even be saltier than the fries at Ruby Tuesday's, which have been known to cause immediate hypertension.

We also got some ice cream at Herrel's, which is probably spelled wrong. But it was pretty good ice cream. And they sell it by weight, which is like the strangest thing I have ever seen. I think I got a 4 oz. ice cream, which was a small? Coffee and brownie!! It was also good, except that the brownies had nuts in them. Unacceptable! Also, this is not an ice cream blog, so time to get on topic.

In the end, it was a pretty good burger. I think next time I will ask for onion a little bit louder. Or just go to Paradise City, which was like 50 yards away. They have more beers there anyways. Although Local Burger has a BYOB policy, which 2 of the other patrons took full advantage of (?) by bringing in 40s of High Life. I am not quite sure if I would rather have that or the root beer I ended up choosing. Life's tough decisions. . . .

-Jon

Independence Day (Plus 1)

So maybe our timing was a little off, but after all the family related foolishness of the actual 4th of July, there was a burger- and beer-filled party on the 5th of July. And after having a "real" meal for the 4th, since it's also Mom's birthday, it was nice to have burgers since that just feels more appropriate. Sort of like turkey on Thanksgiving.

After several hours in the pool listening to the Sox game, we had successfully finished the first case of Sam Adams and left the bottles all across Jen's yard. James, Bill and I also found a really fun game where you take the ice cubes out of the cooler and whip them at whoever is currently crossing the yard. Of course, this game is only fun for us, but that's not really relevant. It was then time for some grilled meat.

Even though Nicky was there, Melissa took the reins and made some burgers that were ready in a reasonable amount of time and left the kitchen looking clean. If you don't know, Nicky's cooking is delicious, but the aftermath sort of resembles a hurricane, if a hurricane could be centralized entirely in one kitchen and only attacked pots and pans. The topping du jour was the spicy Montreal seasoning along with pepper jack cheese. This further lends proof to my theory that burgers with a little zip are just better. She also grilled up some red onions, and there were gigantic tomatoes for us normal folk.

I definitely have to get some of that Montreal stuff. I bet it would even make those frozen burgers that come 40 to a pack taste pretty good. Tomorrow I am heading off to try a new burger place on Mia's recommendation. I am not sure what to expect, mostly because she is a vegetarian. Should be interesting.

-Jon

A Close Call

I have now introduced my family to the joys of red onions (which are terribly named, because they always seem to be a purple color). I still haven't quite mastered the timing of how long to put them on the grill, but I think I'll have it next time. I will also need a new set of teeth that actually close together so that I can bite through them, but that is a different story.

After slicing up the onions and throwing a little Italian dressing on them for zest, they went on the grill and the clouds started rolling in. Apparently cutting onions also makes God cry. Or Jesus. Whichever one of Them is in charge of the weather. It was obviously going to be a tight race, and it ended up that just as the burgers were coming off the grill, the sky opened up and drenched everything. Sadly, this meant that the buns did not get toasted.

Also, like a grownup, I tried bacon & ranch pasta salad (which was gross) and baked beans (which were surprisingly ok). I am not sure where the mayo is implied in that pasta salad title, but it was in there. Disgusting.

-Jon

Cookout Day

James', Nicole's and my first cookout at the new house came and went in a fairly successful fashion. Of course, I am defining success as: nothing caught on fire, no one was hospitalized and the police did not show up (other than the officers who were invited). In addition, many beverages were consumed and there was no damage to the house. After being involved in so many house-damaging and police-arriving incidents in college, it was a nice change of pace.

The clear highlight of the entire party was Mom's taco dip, which lasted approximately 19 minutes. After that, James took care of grilling duties, and we had some chicken wings, hot dogs (gross) and cheeseburgers. The wings were good, but the burgers were excellent. I am not sure how I ended up with one (it was on a plate and I decided it was mine; this might not have been the case), but I was pretty pleased with the decision. Next party we'll have to go with more burgers and fewer hot dogs, since we ran out of hot dog buns and people were using our precious burger buns with their nasty hot dogs.

Also, we had several cases of Summer Ale, so there was some nice progress on this year's Summer Ale Challenge. That may have also been responsible for the mysteriously appearing burger. Good times.

Happy Father's Day

Nothing fancy here, just a couple burgers over at Dad & Kelly's for Father's Day. I think they were the usual ones they get from Big Y, kept a little bit rare. Even though Kelly eats charcoal burgers, she still grills good ones for the rest of us. What a nice lady.

There were also tomatoes to put on them, because as everyone knows, burgers are much better when tomato is included. Don't ask Melissa though, because she is silly and thinks that tomatoes are bad. There was lettuce too, but who gets excited about lettuce?

I think that Wednesday night might have to be a burger night to celebrate the end of school for the year and the temporary suspension of my oppressive math regime. Also to celebrate the passing of the 200 mark for this summer's challenge. Now that is something to get excited about.

-Jon

Live From New York

Finally. After several months of reading Jon’s posts, I am officially joining in his quest to find the world’s best burger. Hopefully I can contribute any and all burger-related news with some semblance of regularity, but I’m afraid that Jon may have me beat on that count, considering my 150 sq. ft. New York City apartment with no outdoor space prevents me from grilling anything at all (as much as I wish I could!). But what NYC lacks in space, it certainly makes up for with some of the best burger joints on the East Coast. It’s my mission to hit up as many of these places as I can, as long as my stomach (and waistline) can handle it. Stay tuned…

In Lieu of Work

After something like 172 days of doing work, it was finally time for the 8th grade field trip to High Meadow. This marks the 5th time or so that I've been there, because that was definitely the exact same 8th grade trip that the school took when I was there. Hey, it's Ludlow: if something changes there is going to be a panic attack on an epidemic scale.

The thing about this field trip that is great is that there is pretty much no responsibility on my part other than eating and making sure everyone that is on the bus on the way is also on the bus for the trip home (success!). And obviously I decided to go with a cheeseburger for lunch. Considering that the people cooking were feeding something like 5 schools of kids, I can't be too upset with the burger being way more cooked than it needed to be. You gotta figure there were something like a thousand kids there at once. I think the most burgers I've ever been responsible for at one time is like 8. Besides, there was red onion. Can't really go wrong with red onion.

I bet next year I can just copy and paste this exact same thing and have it still be true. Stay tuned for about 12 months.

-Jon

A New Record

After a wild night with the Funbags, I had to make my way down to CT for Amy and Scott's engagement cookout/yard sport extravaganza. And since my car had to spend the night across town, that meant I got a late start on my trip down after walking across town to pick it up. This actually worked out pretty well, because it meant that the food was already ready by the time I arrived.

I am not exactly sure what the seasoning on the burgers was (because the name of the seasoning was Burger Shakers, a somewhat vague title), but it was great. I think the order of events was something along the line of: open a Magic Hat, eat a burger, finish Hank's game of croquet, eat another burger, sit on a hammock, eat another burger (this one only had a bottom bun for some reason, which caused much amusement for everyone else present), sit around making jokes about college, sit around making jokes about pretty much everyone we went to college with, and eat another burger. Yes, I ate 4 burgers. That is a personal best. And, possibly more impressive, there were no repercussions like meat poisoning. I think that record will probably stand for a while, if not forever.

-Jon

More Spicy Burgers

Well, maybe it wasn't that spicy, but you would think a burger with the name Fire Pit Bacon Burger that had pepper-jack cheese and smoky chipotle spread (and yes I am currently looking at the menu online) would have at least a little zip to it.

I also learned another valuable lesson about women. Apparently if one tells you at 5:30 that you should show up any time after 6, she really means that you should show up immediately at 6 because if you aren't there by 6:13 you will get a unnecessarily angry text message about your current location. Also, as a side note, if you are already "late," (although I can't see how you could be late if the time frame is so vague) she may get upset if you open a beer upon arrival. Even if you drink the beer in 8 minutes. I know, I was shocked as well.

Anyway, I was sort of the odd man out (literally) at dinner, as I am the only one who got a burger, the only one who got a beer, the only one that is a male and the only one who eats burgers properly. Meaning rare. Technically the burger was not really rare, but I ordered it rare so I get points for trying. It seems that Melissa, Kathryn and Diana all are fans of charcoal burgers, by which I mean burgers that taste like charcoal, not charcoal grilled.

The burger was good in spite of its failure to be spicy, and it had red onion on it, which is fast becoming a required topping for me. Stay tuned for my next story in which I don't eat for 19 hours and then end the fasting with a ridiculous lunch.

-Jon

My Best Work Yet

Alright, now we're talking.  I think I'm finally getting the hand of this grilling thing.  Well, getting the hang of it again.  I guess taking the winter off really hurts your abilities.

Today there was no falling apart of burgers, nothing fell through the grating, and everything came out right.  The burger du jour was grass-fed local beef from lovely Shelburne Falls, courtesy of Kathryn.  I decided to get a little crazy and try to do something fancy, and it ended up working out pretty well.  I picked up a red onion at Randall's (since it is clearly the superior onion) and went with the Nicky S. plan of grilling a nice cross section of it.  Then I threw a little crushed red pepper on the meat along with a bit of Tuscan seasoning (which comes highly recommended by Nicole M.).  Finally, in a stroke of genius, I melted the cheese OVER the onion.  Seriously, from now on, all toppings will go under the cheese.  It's fantastic.

After all that preparation, the burgers were finally ready.  I will say this for the Tuscan stuff:  even if it doesn't make the burgers better (even though it does), it makes everything smell great when you open up the grill.  Maybe it's part potpourri?  The burgers came out nice and rare, and as of yet, there is no food poisoning.

Plus, I got to add to the Summer Ale Challenge (also courtesy of Kathryn).  Between beers and burgers, there isn't a whole lot that could ruin this night.

-Jon

Call Me Lance

Ok, that is a little bit on the fruity side, what with the ball thing.  And that guy from N*Sync.  Or the Backstreet Boys, whichever one had the Lance guy.  But I did ride a bicycle today for about 6 miles, so it's sort of appropriate, and definitely referring to Lance Armstrong.  Not that I am on any sort of health kick; it was strictly to get a burger.  And it was a fantastic decision.

We had burgers that were very similar to the stuffed bleu cheese burgers from last time.  Possibly the same burgers, although these ones were spicier.  Also, I am not sure if we had tomatoes with them last time.  But the bleu cheese inside was great again, and the bleu cheese on top (along with grilled onions, which may or may not have fallen on the ground).  Plus, spicy burgers are making a strong case for being superior than the non-spicy kind (for instance, the Blackjack Burger).  And you really can't go wrong with a couple Summer Ales.  But not too many, because it might be a crime to drink and ride a bicycle.  And I don't want any firsthand knowledge if it is.

-Jon

Getting Better

Looks like I am getting the hang of this thing.  Today I was able to grill myself a burger without it falling apart AND keeping it rare.  Although it probably stayed together because it was formed by someone else, but that's not the point.  I went with a combination of Worcestershire sauce and spicy Montreal steak rub to make it slightly more awesome.  This was successful.  I also got to have chips and jalapeno cheddar dip, since I was at Dad and Kelly's house.

In other news, Casey is finally supposed to be contributing here, and that should make the amount of burger related news roughly double.  We'll see how that works out.  I reserve the right to make snarky comments on her posts as well, since I apparently have admin rights.  Hooray abuses of power!

-Jon

A First

In what I believe is a first for me, today I ate a burger which was specifically designed to make it on any future top 10 lists that I may put up here.  I feel kind of special.

Since I was invited to a Memorial Day barbecue that was rumoured to have cheeseburgers, I threw out my original plan of not going to a barbecue and replaced it with a plan of definitely attending a barbecue.  This turned out to be a good decision.

Erica's roommate Kelly was determined to not only make the blog (which is obviously going to happen if there is a burger eaten) but to get her burger noticed.  Well, wish granted.  She not only made some homemade patties from ground beef instead of frozen stuff (hey, that is impressive stuff for a barbecue), there were 3 different choices for burgers!  I ended up going for the bacon & blue cheese burger, which had bacon and blue cheese inside the meat!  There were also tomatoes in there.  Apparently that is a popular thing to do out in Eastern Mass.  Who knew?  Additionally, there was bacon to go on top of the burger along with some pepperjack cheese (which may be my new favorite cheese).  And to make it even more awesome, the cheese was melted over the bacon so it couldn't escape.  There were also tomatoes and onions to go under the burger as well.

Looks like I am going to have to try harder from now on at my own house.

-Jon

The Required Somerville Experience

Ever after all the burgers of the past week, I still had to make a command decision to visit R.F. O'Sullivan before the weekend was over.  I think that my journalistic integrity requires it.  Plus, I was pretty pumped to try the Blackjack burger after the last time I was there.  So after a pretty action packed day which included a surprise trip to the Red Sox and an incredibly expired beer at a place called The Lower Depths (although there were also some good, non-expired beers as well), we headed over to R.F.'s with Alex's friend Lindsey.

Since I was already planning on this burger being super fantastic, I was a little nervous that it wasn't going to live up to those expectations.  Fortunately, that was not the case.  There were some cajun spices on that thing, and the sauce on top was great.  I think it was some kind of creole sauce, but I am pretty sure I don't know what that means.

I do know that this is now the burger against which all future burgers will be judged.  ESPNZone Black & Blue Burger, you have been displaced!

-Jon

As Promised

After a cheeseburger for lunch and some wings for a snack, we headed over to the SWC party to celebrate our workout successes slash bemoan our failures.  Since the penalty for failure is $20, and I am quite cheap, I was in the celebration group.  The money from all the failures goes toward the food and beer for the party, which makes the beer even more delicious.*

Shortly after arriving (we were on beer #2), the party coordinator, Shakes, brought down a bunch of hamburgers and threw them on the grill with a request to me to keep an eye on them.  Then, perhaps because he heard about my difficulties Tuesday, he asked Alex to keep an eye on my keeping an eye.  Then he realized his foolishness and asked 2 other people to watch us and make sure we didn't forget.  Eventually this ridiculous chain-of-command broke down into Alex watching the burgers with me supervising (a fancy word for doing nothing).

The burgers ended up being quite delicious.  There was some kind of seasoning that we could not identify, as well as onions being chopped up inside.  There were also some tomatoes chopped up in there as well!  That was quite a pleasant surprise.

From there the night got a little wacky, and somehow I ended up wearing a toga.  It's not quite as strange as it sounds, since the party was a toga party, but I am not positive of the order of events that resulted in me not wearing pants and instead wearing a bed sheet.  Life is funny sometimes.

-Jon

*Since the beer was some kind of domestic keg beer, the level of deliciousness is debatable.  

One Down, 49 To Go

So obviously with my borderline insane love of burgers, I was fairly excited to come across this link.  Now I clearly have a lot of work to do, but I can cross off the easiest (in theory) one after visiting Christopher's in Cambridge (conveniently located right near Alex's).

Since the burger on the list was the English Burger, I didn't even consult the menu and went for it rare.  Remember when they stopped letting you order burgers rare?  That was a terrible time for eating.  Anyways, this burger was great.  I am not sure if it was the seasoning stuff or the fact that it was marinated in some kind of Sam Adams based marinade (ok, it was the beer) but that was a good burger.  I am not sure if it's the best in the state though, because those burgers at R. F. O'Sullivan are also quite good.  Actually, this burger was probably good enough to be on the menu there.  And it was served on an English muffin, which I think may be where they came up with the name. 

I think that dinner may also be cheeseburgers.  Is it possible to get meat poisoning?

-Jon

Two for one

As is generally the case on Thursdays, I ended up at Dad and Kelly's for dinner, and it just so happened that this week was burger week.  Score.  And, much like Tuesday, the side dish was corn.  Except this time is was grown-up corn, as in corn on the cob.  This was a slight improvement over the Smartfood popcorn side dish with the last burger.  Also, the grilling was performed at a much higher level.  So basically Thursday's burgers were all around done better than Tuesday's burgers.  And I ate 2.  With tomatoes.  Then, Bill was quite upset with himself after only asking for one burger since they ended up being so delicious.  My guess is this is going to result in him asking for 2 next time and then being sorry.  Only time will tell.

Even after 3 burgers this week so far, there are going to be a plethora of burgers eaten this weekend in Cambridge.  Stay tuned.

-Jon

I Actually Grill Something. . .

. . . although it was with mixed results.  On the plus side, no one got food poisoning (yet).  And it's been over 24 hours, so I think the window on that one is closed.  On the minus side (is that word even used like that?), I rushed my burger patty construction, so mine maybe fell apart a little.  By which I mean completely fell apart, but I was able to salvage it using some quick reflexes and duct tape.*

Basically the burgers came about because I really wanted to have another burger with blue cheese inside it, so I bought some cheese last week but somehow forgot the important part of a burger: the actual meat.  Fortunately, some meat magically appeared in the freezer this past weekend, so I used the promise of meat to lure Kathryn over (I hate cooking for just myself) and threw some meat together in burger form.  Also, it turns out that we have a patty making device, so I felt pretty foolish after my burger fell apart.  Luckily I don't suffer from any burger regret, because the actual burger was pretty good.  Next time I will be more adequately prepared to form raw meat.

Also, I'll probably come up with a better side dish than Smartfood popcorn.  Maybe.

-Jon

*That may be an exaggeration.  I actually have slow reflexes.