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.

Red Robin (Yummmm)

Well, it seems pretty clear that the Red Robin in Wilbraham is vastly superior to the Red Robin in Holyoke.  Also, Holyoke is a word and Wilbraham is not, according to spellcheck.  Also, I am apparently ridiculously allergic to cats now, since I can barely open my eyes to type.  But none of this is really on topic.

Mom, Chuck, Bill and I went to Red Robin for dinner because Mom and Chuck were at Home Depot, and Red Robin is one plaza over.  I, of course, was fully in support of this idea for 2 reasons:  burgers are a great choice for dinner, and there was pretty much a 0% that I would have to pay for this burger.

I decided to try a burger that I was 80% sure I had never had before, so I went with the Bleu Ribbon Burger.  Get it, Bleu Ribbon instead of Blue Ribbon?  It's because there was crumbled Bleu cheese on the burger.  They are so clever.  There was also some kind of chipotle sauce, which was pretty good.  There was also definitely some kind of sauce, like maybe Heinz 57 or A1 or something with a number in it.  And there were some onion straws, which just seemed excessive.  Maybe they were there for health reasons?  Are onions even healthy?  I'll have to look this up, by which I mean completely forget about it.

I would eat that burger again.  And I would eat it with its wrapper thing still on it, because that was a really messy burger.  That chipotle sauce gets everywhere.

-Jon

Burgers & Hockey

After going to the Worcester Sharks game tonight with Jen and Melissa, the number of hockey games I have attended in the past. . . 5 years has increased to 1.  Which is kind of strange, since hockey games are actually pretty fun to attend, even though we didn't get to throw those foam pucks on the ice.  I guess it was some sort of contest for tickets or real pucks or God only knows what.

Before the game, we stopped for dinner at some place called Junior's in Worcester.  It was a nice place, and we could eat outside, which unfortunately let us listen to 2 separate siren incidents, 137 motorcycles, and one guy who was driving down the street dragging some part of his car underneath for what had to be several miles.  Also, the Red Sox were getting absolutely hammered by the Rays, and that is always a bad thing.

I ended up getting the hamburger (which was the only burger on the menu) and threw a bunch of stuff on top of it, like bacon, onions, mushrooms and cheese, in addition to the tomato that it came with.  There was also lettuce, but it didn't make the cut.  And even though I ordered it rare, and this burger came anything but rare (more like medium well, but hey, cooking is hard even if it's your JOB!), it was still pretty good.

Also, the fries were fantastic.  You gotta have good fries to go with a good burger.

-Jon

More Bacon!

For Thursday night dinner, it's always a surprise what is going to be coming since that is dinner with Dad and Stepmom day.  But as the weather improves, the chances are greater and greater that it will be a burger day.  Last week, there were burgers in the fridge, and I was pretty pumped, but it was not to be.  It ended up being Chinese food, which ordinarily is a fantastic choice, but for some reason the place decided to:  forget that Dad ordered food, put a super-rush on the food, and pack it up before it was actually hot.  The dumplings were good though.

Fast forward a week and it was again Thursday night.  This time I was coming straight from volleyball, so there was no chance to get psyched up.  However, when I smelled the bacon cooking, I was pretty sure there were burgers coming, and the sight of Ruffle's chips and that Frito-Lay jalapeno cheese dip (it's a Dias thing) confirmed my suspicions.  It was burger night!!

That was a good burger.  And the Sox just scored 3 runs as I type this.  And I've got a Sam Adams in lap (it would be dangerous to type and drink at the same time).  Life is good.

-Jon

Bringing Home the Bacon

There is nothing that quite compares to middle school drama.  And surprisingly enough, I am not using that in the sense that anyone would expect it.  I am literally talking about drama, as in the drama club's presentation of a play called Flapper.  Yes, I went to it.  And I dragged Kathryn.  Mostly because my students asked me to go, but I usually go to it every year since apparently the kids "appreciate it so much" in the words of Mrs. Pereira.

Somehow I ended up not having dinner before the play, so we went to Uno Chicago Grill (hereafter referred to as Uno's, because that's how I remember it from growing up) and I was ready to order within 4 seconds of sitting down.  Bring Home the Bacon Burger, spicy cheddar cheese, rare, Sam Summer.  I didn't even know places still made burgers rare anymore (other than R.F. O'Sullivan's, which will probably give you raw meat if you asked for it), so it was even better than I expected.  And I have high expectations for that burger.

It was made even better by the fact that I ended up not paying either.  That Kathryn is quick on the draw when it comes to getting the check.  If I were more of a gentleman, I may have even been upset by it.  Luckily I am not.

-Jon

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

In Which I Am Told a Terrible Lie

In my current state of moving, I have been using those cardboard boxes that reams of paper come in, so that it currently looks like I am not really moving from one apartment to another, but rather that I am a lawyer moving offices.  And the source of those boxes has been Jen, whose school apparently is overrun with said boxes.  This led to me stopping by her house today to obtain more boxes (I'm up to around 10) and us going to Uno's with Melissa.

At this point, I don't even really need the menu at Uno's, because I am getting the Bring Home the Bacon Burger with spicy cheddar cheese if I'm hungry.  If not, then it'll probably be the buffalo chicken quesadilla, but since that's not a burger there's really no point in discussing it further.  In and of itself, the burger is not particularly noteworthy, because it's always awesome.  However, today was filled with tragedy.

There's really no reason to go to Uno's and not drink a few beers, so we decided to get beer.  When Melissa asked if they had Spring Ale on tap (an admittedly foolish question, as Spring Ale blows), the waitress told us they had switched to Summer Ale.  I, of course, was immediately overcome with emotion for two reasons:  the first being that Summer Ale coming out is like the best moment of the beer drinking calendar, and the second being embarrassed that I was surprised by it coming out so early.  Needless to say, we ordered a round.  Sadly, no matter what that waitress said, that was definitely NOT Summer Ale, and I have had a few (hundred) so I know what I'm saying here.  I don't know if it was Spring Ale in a Summer Ale keg, or just a mistake on the waitress's part, but the official start of drinking season is yet to come.  On the plus side, I did have a bunch of #9's, so the beer drinking was not a total loss.

-Jon

Double Cheeseburgers

It has been quite a long time since I've had a cheeseburger.  Like 2 weeks!  Or more!!  Or less, maybe.  I am pretty terrible with dates / calendar-related activities.  But yesterday broke the drought.  We went with some enormous handmade burgers grilled by Chuck.  And to make them even more awesome, there were sauteed onions and tomatoes.  Now, Melissa and Jen may tell you that burgers should not have tomatoes, but they are wrong.  And Communists.  I will not stand idly by while this anti-tomato, pro-Communist aggression is perpetuated!

But back to our burgers, which were excellent.  It's really hard to go back to those frozen, store-bought burgers that come like 40 to a box once you get used to having fresh ground beef.*  These were so good that I ended up eating 2, which was probably somewhere around 9/16 of a pound of beef.**  It was actually so much that I had to eat more meat today to avoid getting symptoms of withdrawal.  I am pretty pumped for Spring to get serious about grilling and make up some ridiculous recipes.

-Jon

* Editor's note:  frozen burgers are ok at Alex's if prepared with boursin cheese.

** Precooked weight.

We Eat More Burgers

Since burgers were not an option Friday night, they became a requirement on Saturday.  Along with about a million beers, starting at 11:45 am.  It was a day of beer variety, combining Magic Hat, Sam Adams Boston Ale, Red Stripe (Hooray beer!) and Harpoon UFO.  Also, we threw a White Russian in there for good measure.

Of course we ended up at R.F. O'Sullivan for lunch, where I had a Black & Blue Burger to compare it to the one from ESPNZone.  Surprisingly, the ESPNZone burger might have been the winner.  The blue cheese on this one was a little too everywhere.  But we did get to continue our drinking, which was pretty sweet.  And we ended up eating the leftover fries and onion rings around midnight.

Then we ate more burgers the next day for lunch, but homemade again.  With bacon.  This was a quality weekend for burgers all around.

-Jon

Homemade Boursin Burgers

It would appear that every year, the Harpoon Brewery celebrates St. Patrick's Day a bit early, and this year that would be on March 6th.  The entry fee is a bit steep ($20), but, hypothetically, if your friend knows one of the beer pourers, you can easily make this fee back, and then some.  Which is exactly what happened, because Alex knew one of the pourers and we ended up drinking about way too much beer for the low, low price of nothing.

The downside to this is that we ended up a bit too drunk a bit too early, but had high hopes of making it back to Somerville before R.F. O'Sullivan closed.  And we nearly did it.  Except we were 2 minutes late.  Two minutes!!!  Faster walking, an earlier train, the shuttle leaving earlier. . . some tiny combination of events would have gotten us those delicious burgers!  Unfortunately, it was not to be.

Except that Alex is a problem solver.  And he had burgers at his apartment.  And some crazy cheese called "boursin."  Maybe it was the extreme intoxication, or maybe it was because we hadn't eaten in like 12 hours, but those burgers were fantastic.  And messy.  I actually made a bib out of paper towels, both because of the messiness and my inability to focus on the task at hand of eating a burger neatly.

The next day, R.F. O'Sullivan will be visited, but for that night, homemade burgers rule!

-Jon

Oh yeah. . .

I guess I forgot about the last burger of the Vegas trip. Which is strange, because it was by far the best one. And I got an enormous glass (if that's the right word for the monstrous container) of Sam Adams, which I was allowed to wander the casino with.

After James and I abused the craps table at Casino Royale for $96 and $248 respectively, the 6 of us headed to ESPNZone for dinner on James' recommendation. It did not disappoint. I went with the Black and Blue Burger, mostly because it had a funny title. But also because how often do you get a burger that is covered in gorgonzola cheese? It also had blackened spices, which based on my cooking is just a fancy word for burnt, but this time meant "delicious." I guess I have a few things to learn about cooking. There was also some chipotle sauce on that bad boy, which was a fantastic choice. Hands down, it was the best of the 5 Vegas burgers, and would give some of R.F. O'Sullivan's a run for their money.

We also had the enjoyment of being next to a wall covered in TVs showing like 13 different sporting events, but the most exciting was a hockey game. No, seriously! There was a drunken group of guys who had to be from Canada based purely on their love of hockey and their intense cheering for Calgary. Which meant that I was also cheering for Calgary, only because it meant I could start yelling in a restaurant without any consequences. Ah Vegas, I do so love your open container laws.

-Jon