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