Back-to-back Burgers

Side note: I ate a salmon burger at some point in the past week, but that is definitely not going to count as a burger.  Salmon isn't even meat.  The burger was pretty good though, and, unlike its shellfish friends, didn't result in a night of vomit.

Apparently today was burger day, because I got different invitations to eat burgers.  And of course I accepted both.  The first one was at Melissa's, and the second was at Mom's.

While watching what ended up being a Celtics loss, Melissa, Nicky and I made up some enormous burgers with gorgonzola cheese inside the meat along with some minced red onion.  There was also some chipotle peppers and smoked paprika in there somewhere, and we had grilled onions on top.  That burger was fantastic.  I am starting to think that the Black & Blue Burger is highly underrated.  In addition, I was also able to continue the Sam Adams Summer Ale Challenge II, and that is always a good thing.

About 10 minutes after finishing the monstrous chipotle Black & Blue burger, I was on my way to eat yet another burger.  This one was a little less elaborate, and pretty much just consisted of a regular burger with American cheese and sauteed onions.  I would have to guess that at this point, my body contains about 5/8 of a pound of grilled ground beef.  And that is the sign of a successful day.

-Jon

Two Stories in One

So apparently writing things on time is not really my thing.  I have heard that there is a way to "back-date" these things, but I am not exactly sure how to do that, or really what the heck that means.  Catherine?

Technically the first pair of burgers should not count, but I haven't had a burger in a long time so let's just go with this.  For opening weekend of the new place, James decided that it was time to grill something.  Our ideas were: burgers, bacon or a cake.  Also, it would appear that the last one is "impossible" to grill, or at least I have been told so, and we ended up going with burgers.  But they were turkey burgers, so they will have to be excluded from the search.

On the other hand, ground turkey with a little Italian seasoning and ground red peppers makes a pretty sweet burger.  Throw a little cheese on there with a couple slices of red onions and you've got a hell of a burger.  Or 2, since I really like eating burgers.

After turkey burgers, it was probably time for a full-on meat burger.  And this chance presented itself tonight during a trip to eastern Mass for dropping off a car (mine, specifically).  The plan is to watch the Sox tomorrow and then get a little crazy, but that is really not part of the story.

Back on track.  I got to Alex's first, so after battling with the door lock for about 7 minutes, I made it in and waited for Catherine's triumphant return to the United States.  After a few minutes of level grinding in FFIII, the Michel Clan of Alex, Catherine, Mrs. M and Tania (who is not technically a Michel based on her last name being something else) arrived, followed later by Mr. M and we all headed to  R.F. O'Sullivan.  This was apparently a popular decision for the evening, because we had to wait quite a bit for a table, although we did actually get a table this time, which is in stark contrast to previous trips where we ended up both table-less and burger-less.

I went for the Paddy-O-Melt, which was super great and only had the downside of being inferior to Alex's ridiculously delicious Blackjack burger.  At least now I know what to get next time.  I also made a good decision to not get tap beer because that place, despite having fantastic burgers, has not cleaned their tap lines in probably 8 years.  They do have Red Stripe though, so I had about 3 of those after the Magic Hat variety festival at Alex's apartment.  I would say, despite not contributing to the Sam Adams Summer Ale Challenge II, the night was a success.

-Jon

Carside To Go

Everything about this burger suggested that it was not going to be very good.  It was takeout from Applebee's; it was sitting for a while before pickup (their fault, since it was clearly ready long before they said it would be); the French fries tasted weird.  And despite all that, it was actually surprisingly good.

The burger was something like the Cheddar Bacon Cheeseburger.  Nothing crazy going on, but all in all it was a good time.  This was possibly because the Summer of Sam Summer Challenge II is now in effect (and with Summer Ale around I have a more positive outlook toward everything).  In addition, the beer has been released two weeks early according to my beer provider at Pop 'N Kork.  While this is bad news for him, since he still has a large stock of crappy White Ale, it is excellent news for me.  However, this has nothing to do with burgers.

I think that if I ever end up at Applebee's for some reason, I am going to have to give this burger a try for real to see if it was just a fluke or if there is some sweet, sweet burger action going on at that restaurant.  Only time will tell.

-Jon