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

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

Jimmy Would Not Approve

After a day spent almost entirely walking and drinking (James and I had our first beer at about 12:01 pm), we headed for Margaritaville for dinner. This later became a recurring joke for the rest of the week, but that is not the focus here. The first thing I learned was that mixing an NSAID with a day of drinking makes me a whole lot more twitchy than usual, and also keeps me from enjoying an alcoholic beverage while waiting for a table. But, like a true soldier, I managed to overcome the synergistic effects and get my Red Stripe on with the burger.

Speaking of which, if you call your burger the Cheeseburger in Paradise, you had damn well better be sure you know the song. Especially if you are serving a crazy customer (I am in that category). If the song claims the burger has an onion slice, and you serve the burger without an onion slice, people (me) may be upset. Fortunately, they did have Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes, so at least they paid some attention. And that 57 sauce is pretty good. We'll have to acquire some for the new pad.

Other than failing to actually follow the lyrics, the burger was good. I would eat more of them, but not in Vegas since there were way more awesome burgers to follow. On the plus side, James passed out at the table and there were several balloon hats around, and that's some amusing stuff. And the next day, the burgers started to really pick up.

-Jon