PDX burgers: Canyon Grill

Thrillist released its list of the 10 best burgers outside of Portland a few months back -- only 2 of which are in a reasonable driving distance unless i'm out of town. after a day in Beaverton running errands with the hubs, it was a perfect excuse to try out Canyon Grill.

i ordered their signature burger that comes dressed with swiss, bacon, avocado, mushrooms, grilled onions, roasted red peppers, and Canyon Sauce. i was grateful it came wrapped in a little burger diaper, because this beast was massive and it was messy. the burger patty itself was pretty ordinary (though not bad by an stretch), but the fun was in the toppings. it was an uphill battle keeping everything on-bun, but was a mouth party when it all came together. 

i'd say if you're going there as a burger purist it wouldn't be top of the list (though in its defense i didn't try a plain burger and the patty flavor could have just been drowned out by all the toppings?), but if you're in town and need a good bite, it's worth hitting up. 

PDX burgers: Slow Bar

i had to make the difficult decision last week of where my birthday burger would be -- there are 1000 PDX burgers on my hit list, but Slow Bar took the cake. i've had way too many people recommend it, and seen it pop up on so many burger best-of lists here, so it seemed inappropriate to live in Portland over a year and not try it. 

the burger was a 1/2 pound beast -- columbia river reserve beef, gruyere, onion rings, butter lettuce (mmm the best burger lettuce), pickle relish and aioli. i had to take an onion ring off cuz the burger was so dang tall i could barely eat it. it was nicely seasoned and insanely juicy -- i tilted the burger vertically the entire time i ate i so it held all the juice in, kind of like a little burger cup. that sounds gross, but it might be one of the better burger tricks i've learned in some time. each bite turned into a juicy burgery mouth party, and i saved a bit of the bun from becoming overrun with dat meat juice.

the pickle relish was a little bit of a distraction at times (i'm not a big pickle-person), and that was really the only mild flaw i could find (which isn't even so much of a flaw as it just is a personal preference). that said, overall all of the flavors in the toppings were really, really well balanced. the onion rings and fries were perfectly crisp and light even though i know they were unhealthy as hell. i ended up eating 4893840238003 fries more than i should have because they, as well as the aioli, were just so damn tasty. Slow Bar, i get it. i will be going back. 8/10. 

and - bonus - the cocktail list is amazing, and delightful as well! 

Maui eats

Maui. fish tacos. pineapples. spam. kalua pork. fish. tacos. mas pork. while our first Sunday in paradise was spent watching football (boo team), i dotted up our map with every single taco/burger/shave ice/delish whatever location i had on my little HI hit list, including the recommended meal from each. since we ended up stomping all over the island, it was pretty clutch whenever we needed to make a little food break. when we're traveling, i usually end up missing half of the places i want to try since i don't realize i'm in the area until it's way too late - HOW i have never made a foodie map before now is beyond me. definitely no going back. 

Cool Cat Cafe, voted best burger in Maui 11 years running, and the location of where we celebrated National Cheeseburger Day. the September "burger of the month" was glazed ith homemade teriyaki sauce, topped with grilled onion & pineapple, melted cheddar jack cheese, shredded cabbage and kimchi, a lil of mayo all on a locally baked potato bun. i felt like fat rolly polly after this, but my god it was so much fun to take this messy beast. 

Stillwell's Bakery & Cafe - Spam, egg, cheese, tomato, touch of hot sauce on a fresh made croissant. so simple, so delish. after experiencing this delight we were so impressed by the wonders of the wonder meat we bought a can of Spam to grill up with breakfast for the rest of the week. day 1 Spam, delicious, day 2 & 3... not as good. but it's memory lives on through our memory of this beloved breakfast sandwich. 

Aloha Mixed Plate - why would we come here and NOT order the mixed plate from the menu. shoyu chicken, fresh fish, teriyaki beef, rice, macaroni salad. i don't usually eat macaroni salad (not a fan or cold pasta or macaroni salads really), but something in the slight vinegar sweetness just worked for me here. it was very simple, instead of what usually looks like a giant pile of macaroni mayo mush.






we split the mixed plate with coconut prawns which were actually of my favorite things we ate on the whole trip...and says a lot considering i don't really enjoy prawns or coconut a whole lot. sweet, toasty, crunchy delights. yum.





Hula Barefoot Grill - beer-battered mahi mahi (no pic), with kalua pig & maui onion pot stickers. 

PDX burgers: Little Big Burger

so. since touching down in Portland for the first time, i've been to Little Big Burger not once, not twice, but three times. i saw LBB flagged by Serious Eats as one of their favorite burgers for $5 and under across the U.S., and seeing as this chain is dotted all over my new hometown i could not be anymore excited to try them. 

Little Big Burger's premise is simple. they offer a menu with about 6 items - burger, cheese burger, fries, soda... you get the drift. simple stuff, but the important stuff. each of those items is then made from the best ingredients they can get their little big hands on, and priced at an amazingly reasonable price considering what they deliver (spoiler alert: they deliver delicious). it truly is like getting a gourmet fancy pants burger in a fast food setting. 

national cheeseburger day!

yesterday, 9/18 was national cheeseburger day. a holiday that comith once a year, and to a burger aficionado is the equivalent of Christmas. it also fell on "healthy week" start since i've been eating like a HOSS and vowed eat light this week and lose a few L-Bs. i was not going to celebrate. i had chicken breasts marinating in the fridge. i was going to run for an errand. come home. go for a run. grill said chicken. 

as you would have it... errand was in the viscidity of New World Bistro Bar. NWBB has been rated one of the top burgers not only in the CapDis, but in all of NY. and i love it. K was in my passenger seat. K is a bad influence. net/net... no run, no grilled chicken, but yes a delicious cheeseburger. we split it to make it not "as bad" along with the Purple Haze Shrimp and some Blackened Stringbeans for him. 

it was... even better than i remember. perfectly cooked, well respected medium rare meat, peppered bacon, cheddar, grilled onion, chipotle aioli, pillowy soft fresh baked bun. total mouth party. the red onion was thicker cut and just grilled enough... which i really liked and will do moving forward. it gave it a nice lil crunch but was cooked down enough to have no onion "bite" to it, but still more flavorful than thin-cut carmelized onions. aaaah heaven. now today i will be healthy.... :o) 

Nighthawk's Kitchen

we hit up Nighthawk's Kitchen at the Troy Farmer's Market this past weekend. after all these years in Albany this was our first time hitting the market... which we did only because we heard a good burger lead was nestling in its stands. Serious Eats did a piece on the smashed burger from Nighthawks - not only is it rare for Albany burgers to get a blurb on SE, getting a full article is unheard of. 

Kyle & i did halfsies with a green chili cheeseburger with a side of buffalo mac & cheese and a BBQ burger (which had the BIGGEST slab of bacon on it, mother of god) with a gouda and something-something mac & cheese on the side. 

the burgers were served on potato buns, nice & juicy & a bit messy, with the toppings played nicely with both. the meat had an awesome taste to it, and the giant slabs of local cheese were the perfect gooey blanket to the meat party. i assumed the smashed burgers were going to be thin, but they were pretty hearty. enough so that i had to struggle through the mac & cheese, which was well worth the struggle. definitely a place that i will pop back to, especially after seeing the amount of delicious available at the market (it's more local cheese & bread than it is veggies, and a lot of gourmet snacks. good stuff).

Creo'

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druther's brewing co

this weekend we were in saratoga and ended up having din at druther's brewing co. who would have known they have one of THE best burgers i've had in a while. circus cafe was known to have the best rated burger in saratoga (had it, liked  it), but this hands down has it beat. i went halvsies w/ kyle and had the "if i had my druthers burger"(blend of chuck, short rib, and smoked pork belly, local aged cheddar, pickled green tomato, lettuce, pickled shallot, and druthers sauce) and the "something spicy burger" (blend of chuck, short rib, and smoked pork belly, havarti cheese, pickled spicy and sweet peppers, baby greens, and smoked chipotle aioli). pattys were AMAZING tasty & juicy. cooked perfectly medium rare as requested. preference went to the druthers burger since the spicy drowned out the meat a little bit (although it wasn't super spicy). fries were those super skinny lil guys that have been popping up on menus lately (like half the width of a shoestring little effers), weren't mind blowing but still enjoyable. will definitely be back.

for the record, the point is still my fav albany burger joint, but this is eeking toward the top of the list for the area.  

san fran eats

san fran... the land of fog and way too many good eats. quick snapshot from our massive eat-fest all over the city:

i was most excited about hitting Umami Burger out there... i had read epic reviews on the chain on Serious Eats and was so happy there was a location out there. they were just as amazing as expected. the burger i had was the special... had pork belly and a fried egg on it, and a sauce i cannot recall. kyle had the Umami Burger which had shiitaki mushrooms, carmelized onion, roasted tomato, a parmesan crisp and umami ketchup... we went halfsies on both and they were equally amazing. if u see one, GO.

Pier 23 Cafe we stopped at for first night's din - it was featured on an epi of Diners Drive-ins & Dives, casual & right on the water so it seemed like a perfect fit. the DDD epi featured the whole roasted dungeness crab which is what K ordered; i had the fish & chips. Kyle really liked the crab but it wasn't as great as what he was expecting (over-hype?); my fish & chips were fantastic. that was actually the first time i ever tried AND ate all of my cole slaw. rather than shredded buggery looking mush, you could see all of the ingredients - just cabbage, seasoned mayo, normal stuff... so i gave it a go & it was fantastic.

ferry building market place Saturday farmer's market... this is the sausage, egg & cheese from Prather Ranch Meat Co - pasture raised, fresh made sausage with local eggs & cheese. mmmm.

late nite diner burger at Mel's Drive-In. The diner was too cute to walk by, so it was inevitable for a late night cheese burger was in the cards. i don't know if it was the drinks we had in us or the burger, but it was delish.

 

we took one day and hit Napa via the Napa Valley Wine Train - essentialy, you hop aboard this old antiquey train, eat a gourmet lunch, and eat desserts / sip drinks while cruising through the pretty views in napa. we opted to do a tour of the Domain Chandon winery while there as well which was bubbly and delish. (the creme brulee was fantastic... it's something i never order since i disregard it as "mushy", but holy cow, converted.

Dottie's True Blue Cafe was probably the most interesting dining experience we had in SF. on the walk there, you realize things are starting to turn slightly ghetto-ish. then you realize it's not slight, you're in the thick of the ghetto. and you say we must be lost, i should be right here... and now i've walked over a mile, and i'm too hungry to go on. and  just like that... amongst some of the most lively hobos you have ever seen, is the oasis of Dotties, with a huge line wrapped around the corner. in the rain. on a monday. WIERD. this place we had also found through Diner's Drive-ins & Dives. the menu is has all the traditional diner foods, but a lot of unique spins (all homemade) which is the draw. i ordered the Louisiana Hot Links & Eggs with Grilled Cheddar-Jalapeno Corn Bread (with Jalapeno Jelly) and Home Fries. the corn bread & jalapeno jelly was SO good... mother of god. i hot sauced my eggs for the first time (they had like 7 diff bottles on the table, how could i not) and am offically a fan. definitely worth a visit, esp with the rotating specials which seem like they would be unpredicable.

 as a pleasant surprise, there is a Burger Bar in San Fran. after missing it in Vegas, this was another work of burger fate. i did a build-your-own with pepper jack cheese, jalapeno bacon, grilled onions, chipolte mayo on an onion bun. kyle did mozz with roasted red pepper, grilled onion, basil pesto. both were amazing - i would say it would go in my top 5 of all burgers. juicy delicious patty that of course was not overcooked... Umami was a close contender but i think Burger Bar may have them beat by just a hair. GO.

after biking, we popped in to Lou's Pier 47 at Fisherman's Wharf for a late lunch / early dinner. i completely devoured these fish tacos. they never had a chance.

so there were 2-3 dim sum / thai / oriental places i really wanted to hit when we were there but it just never worked out. i was dyyying for asian something something before we left, so we hit the closest thing to us at Fisherman's Wharf (shocking they even had anything besides seafood), King of Thai Noodle House. we had the crab fried rice, crab wontons & red curry... we went in with zero expectations but everything turned out great. their red curry is now my new goal... i have to tweak my go-to recipe. mine is spicy & savory, theirs was spicy, savory & had a massive flavor-kick. mmmmmmm. 

and in conclusion, i'm eating very very healthy now that i'm back. un-frosted mini wheats, plain turkey sandwiches, and a lot of grilled chicken breasts with plain rice. will post more recipes when i'm 5 lbs down and back in the game : )  

Jack's Drive Inn

i've always seen Jack's recommended as a must-try burger joint around the Albany area, but had no idea where it was and had never gone so far as to try and venture. we were in the Wynantskill area where it's located a few days ago, so it turned into a magical night of burger fate.

i had no expectation going in since i had no pre-burger research done, but at first glance the place was adorable. tiny, roadside old-school place with a simple menu - burgers, dogs, fries & shakes. boom! and the prices were shocking... burger was $1.99... whaaat! (also good b/c it was cash-only and we only had $13 on hand... once again, work of the burger fate)

they served up fast-food style burgers - thin lil patties, standard freihofer buns, and no gourmet cheese or topping selections (it's "you want grilled onions and ketchup" or "no grilled onions and ketchup?" only. hell yes i want grilled onions and ketchup*!)

these were messy little things... the burger tasted almost like it was steamed ala the white castle burgers... i didn't see how they were cooking them but i feel like it was griddle cooked with the griddle just not -quite- hot enough to char the outside of the patty. it's not a gourmet fancy pants burger which is my usual epic burger style, but if you're going to for a fast food style nosh this little bugger is a delight. i had a blast getting that onion ketchup mess all over. and fries were frozen but they were fried JUST right so they were nice and crisp... hell yes.

*ketchup: i'm a ketchup hater (snob?). there are so many other fun things to put on a burger, i usually put whatever random sauce is around on it, or nothing at all if it's a very fine burger patty. it's like putting ketchup on a steak... just sacrelig! if it were up to me, i wouldn't even keep it in the house. the exception i make is for fast food burgers (keep it classic) or backyard bbq burgers (again... classic old school). when it works, it works.

Blu Stone Bistro

blu stone has been on my wanna-try restaurant list for a while now - all the reviews are great, and the menu is very fun (along w/ the cocktail menu...mmm). i wanted to try so many things off the menu, but was put in quite a conundrum once i saw a burger on the menu. not just 'a burger', but a house-blend prime rib patty. aaah stress. i had to order it.

the presentation was good - plump little bun, standard lettuce/tomato, and a gigantic patty. i ordered it medium rare, BUT... i got medium... maybe even medium well. no pink in sight. that kinda killed me. the burger still had an overall great flavor, but the overcooked meat definitely took away from what could have been a super-flavor party. no where near the patty perfection of the prime rib burger at the point. it reminded me of the chop house burger at standard - i actually love the chop house burger - it's straight up simple meat/lettuce/tomato party. but with that, i'm expecting regular simple ground beef - having the prime rib sets for a higher expectation with flavor/juiciness.

with all that said, i would give it another go. if the cook time was right, this burger definitely has potential. the app we had prior - the 'sticy rib' (boneless beef rib on a crispy crostini with house-made bbq sauce, topped with crispy onions) was absolutely delish, as was my martini. on to the next burger adventure...

five guys

i hadn't been to Five Guys in forevas... it was quite a happy pit stop yesterday in the midst of a day full of lame errands. i've always enjoyed Five Guys, but since it's not my favorite -style- of burger i kinda forget it's around. i ordered a double with cheese, tomato, grilled onions, jalapeno, a little bit of green pepper, and mayo (this is not normally what i would get on a burger, but i tend to get carried away since they have the topping free-for-all there. i skipped the bacon to make it "healthy" since i was doing the double... i've done the single patty and it doesn't have enough meat to carry through a proper juicy burger party).

i honestly forgot how damn good these things can be... it was a fatty delicious mouth party. toppings (super-fresh toppings) & grease falling everywhere... definitely how it should be. i'm pretty sure i got a mean stare from a mom who was trying to show her young son how to eat properly as i was canibalizing this... i honestly wanted to go over there and how show him how to eat a burger like a champ (not that i'm not for manners, but if you're eating giant burgers, wings, etc, i think even Emily Post's rule is that you just have to go to town).

hello, lover. did you bring me some lettuce?
you shouldn't have.



i didn't notice where the fries were from that day, but they were on POINT, esp with the malt vinegar aaah. i think the visit gets a 7.5 *******~. my one request is that they add in more cheese choices (and answer the mystery are the mushrooms canned or fresh?!?!)

d.p. brasserie

since kyle & i did xmas apart this year, last night we went out for a lil date night. we were going to try Taste, but it was closed so we headed to D.P. Brasserie which i've had been dying to try for a while... their menu is just yummy and fun, and everyday they post specials on Facebook, which for everyday has a new and ridiculously creative burgers special.

for drinks i had the Pop Rocks to start (stoli raz & O, ketel one citron, peach schnapps, oj, cranberry & pineapple juices, sour, all in a pop rock-rimmed glass). umm... YUMMM. as soon as i saw the pop rock-rimmed glass there was no ? i had to order it, but it was an added bonus that the drink was actually delish. second drink was the Pretty Woman which was champagne & fragoli with fresh strawberry.

we had an order of pot stickers which i enjoyed...nice char when they fried them (there were only 3, but that was actually a good thing since my din was going to be so big). mmm. their bread was little handmade hot pretzel bites/rolls... <3.

the burger special was curry crusted, with carmelized onion, gorgonzola, bacon aoili, and... i can't remember what else. the patty was gargantuon, but HOLY F probably the juiciest burger i ever had in my life. it was like biting into a water balloon. and cooked medium rare to perfection. i loved every single little bite of it. my one complaint was the bun... since the burger was so juicy the bottom bun couldn't really hold up to all of it... it was half bun, half squish by the time i got to the end of it. i kind of had fun making a big mess, but i could see if you're at the restaurant and wanting to pretend to be fancy you would have a little bit of a struggle. i'd give it 8.5********~, and really have to go back (need to try their DP burger with foi gras & truffles, and their asian influenced short ribs sound deviiiine).

consolidated list: albany, ny burger recos

after looking for an albany burger joint to test out yesterday, i realized all of my burger reco lists and notes are in different places... so. i now bring to you the full best-of-web burger recommendations for albany, ny. i'm trying to hit all of these, just a little ways away from completing the task. and when i do, it will be time to move : ) 

(all the places with a star i've hit. UPDATE 12/27/11: adding D.P. Brasserie, their burger is epic. also.. although Pump Station & Sutters are listed as top Albany recos, IMO they are the hit-or-miss ones on the list. UPDATE 8/21/12: added Druthers, which is one of the top 5 local burgers IMO. UPDATE 9/27/12: adding Creo. Pat LaFrieda burger patties, cooked fabulously in Alb. HELL YES. UPDATE 3/4/13: adding Capital City Gastropub)


 Burger Centric 
*Capital City Gastropub (8/10)
*Chez Mike (5.5/10 try 1; 7.5/10 try 2)
*Creo (8/10)
*Circus Cafe (Saratoga) (7/10)
*D.P. Brasserie (7.5/10)
*Druthers Brewing Co (Saratoga)(8/10)
 Graney's
*Jack's Drive-In (Wynantskill) (6.5/10)
*Juicy Burger (9/10)
*Juniors (6.5/10)
 Indian Ladder Farms (not technically in Albany, but close)
*New World Bistro Bar (8/10)
*Nighhawk's Kitchen (7/10)
*The Point (this is not on Albany reco lists, but it's one of my top picks) (9/10)
*Pump Station (6/10)
*Shake Shack (Saratoga) (7.5/10)
*Spill'n The Beans (8/10)
*Standard (also not on Albany reco lists, but one of my picks) (7/10)
*Sutters (6/10)
*Wine-n-Diner (6/10)

sutter's mill & mining co.

last night i needed to get out of the house... kyle wasn't up for a fancy pants dinner, i was up for anything... seemed like a good night to test out a new burger joint. i've been slowly chipping away at all of the albany best-burger recommendations. sutter's is a casual sports bar type place that's known for great burgers and wings (been bustin them out since 1973). casual enough where i could wear the very cupcake tee shirt i was already in. bingo! 

we started with 10 of the medium-heat wings... they were really big, juicy, and the sauce was great. not very hot, but great flavor. mmmmm. for burgers, we decided to do the 2 burger split. we both wanted the (i forget the exact name) burger with horseradish sauce & bacon, and added sauteed onions. second we were torn between two, but ended up with the french country burger which had a french country mushroom sauce and cracked peppercorns.

i started with the french country... it was not cooked medium rare as requested, but was still very tasty. i was expecting the mushroom sauce to taste like a mushroom reduction sauce (just what i had in my head), but it was more like a gravy (and sooo messy) so it turned it kind of into a salisbury steak concoction. the one thing i did notice about the patty is that it had a ton of flavor, but it wasn't tooo juicy - it was very firmly packed without a lot of room for juices. looking at their site, it's actually intentional the way they make them firm packed that way, and since it's an 85/15 blend, explains why there isn't a lot of extra fat. it's against my personal preference (loose packed to give a lot of room for fatty mess to play), but i think i can forgive since the meat was very good.

second half was the horseradish... LOVED the sauce on that (horseradish, sourcream & mayo). with the bacon & onion it was quite a mouth party. this patty was also firm and not cooked medium rare, but again it still tasted great. as far as ratings... i'd say it was 5.5*****~.

chesterfield restaurant

with granny living in Rochester right now, we all decided to do a meet up in Utica for a lil 89th birthday lunch. we went to Chesterfield's, an old (60+ year old) italian restaurant. lunch menu was a few pastas (all homemade), salads and sandwiches. aaand a burger special for lunch, bingo! it was the antipasto burger, which was roasted red peppers, onion, mozzarella, capicola, and garlic mayo on a fresh baked bun. i thought it was ciabatta at first and got a little nervous (i hate when it's hard to tear through the bun and the burger squishes out), but mmmmm hell yes it was a super soft, fresh baked bread with a lil parm.

this burger was a total mouth party. the burger was loosely packed, juicy as hell, which went so well with the fresh fixins and soft bun... they all blended together and partied nicely. and they cook to order when they cook to order - it actually came out at a perfect medium rare. i had no expectations, but am happy report it was one of the better burgers i've had in a while. 7.5 *******~.

Bill's Bar and Burger

Sunday we were in NYC for a family thing, and grabbed a quick bite at Bill's Bar and Burger afterwards, which of course was delightful news to me to hear anything with burger in the name.

(photo + red glow of florescent lights)

the menu didn't have a ton of burger options, but did pride itself on having their patties ground fresh every morning & hand pressed. mmmmm. i had The Mexican (pepper jack cheese, pico de gallo, jalapeno, lettuce, chipotle aioli). at first glance was a fairly petite burger (the patties are 6 oz), but all the veggies were super fresh (including the jalapeno which were nice and thin-cut) and the traditional sesame seed bun had such a perfect little shape, like a lil stout burger soldier. first thing i noticed when i dove into this puppy was that it was juicy as hell (i had grease dripping down my chin at one point). they packed a ton of flavor into this little guy, which was cooked with a nice pink center. fries were crispy seasoned steak fries. i had it with a Rodenbach Classic Red Ale which was one of the better beers i've had in a while (reminded me to Lienenkugel Berry which is one of my favs but not sold in NY yet... just less sweet which was nice). i liked it i did. it's a good place to go to if you're craving a straight up burger with clean taste... not too many frills, just fresh fast food style. overall rating... 7 *******.

westchester burger co.

had a client lunch this afternoon and was smitten to hear that the restaurant of choice was the Westchester Burger Co., rye brook NY. never been, never heard of it. for apps we had some chicken spring rolls, guac-n-chips, jalepeno cheese sticks (these had cornmeal breading & avacodo cream in them, v yum), and steamed dumplings. MMM. deciding a burger was difficult, but i ended up ordering the Lamb Burger that had grilled zucchini/squash, carmelized onion, and rosemary aioli. this was actually my first lamb burger, cooked medium since that's what they recommended, and it was really good. it didn't have a very lamby-flavor (if i didn't know what it was i may not have even noticed), but it was a total mouth party overall. no pics since i was at a work thing, but i did sneak one of desert, which was this little desert burger thing... glazed donuts (bun), chocolate lava cake (burger), jelly (ketchup), kiwi (lettuce), and strawberry (tomato). the desert was a bit more form over function with the flavor, but we still had fun with it.

overall rating 7 *******, would def go back.

Wendy's new hot 'n juicy cheeseburger

i saw the ads for the new Wendy's burger and didn't really care that much... have never been big on Wendy's burgers (i'm a BK girl at heart), so it's not anything that really would affect my world. but a very mixed review post in Serious Eats peaked my interest. saturday i had no time 2 grab lunch so figured the time is now.

now, i'm not a fan of raw onion on my burgers but needed to try this burger head on so i ordered it as-is. the burgers are supposed to have "new premium toppings", "juicier, thicker beef", and "buttered, toasted buns". here it is in all its glory:

at first bite, it was fresh. crisp (not wimpy) lettuce, nice tomato slab, some pickles, mayo, and (yuck) the raw red onion (the worst uncooked onion of them all), processedy american cheese. unlike a BK burger where you get hit with the delicious fake smoke seasoning, this patty doesn't have any flavor... it's just a meat springboard for the toppings. a few bites in, the flavor starts to remind me of McDonalds burgers. not that they are very alike in form, but if you know me you know that i cannot have a McD's burger without vomiting. that's the reminiscence. (side note: we did a lot of NY-->FL road trips when i was little in the family woody, during the McD's $.29 burger and $.39 cheeseburger sales of the 80s & early 90s. we'd buy a sack of about 20 burgers, enough to last us through several states at a clip. between the family time and the disgusting cheese/itty bitty onion shit taste, i would vomit from about the whole ride from VA to FL. anytime i've tried to touch one since, puke city.) what's happened with this burger is that the red onion has infiltrated all of the other toppings, and it's melding with the mildly offensive "buttered" bun.

i'm usually offput by buttered buns unless i'm at a place with great buns and real butter. otherwise, i really don't need the extra calories and it doesn't add anything. this was absolutely the case here. the american cheese (which i haven't been a fan of in general lately) is also throwing me over the edge... plasticy smelty bleck mixing with onion hell & fake butter. (yes, that is a burger shot taken while driving. i'm also wearing killer heels (on my way to Hurricane Club, next post!))

75% of the way into my burger, the McD's puke sensation was too overpowering and i had to throw it out. took me a good 5 minutes to recover and be in place where i can dive into my fries, though i ended up nauseous for a good 2 hours after that. compounded with guilt that my hour+ gym session was wasted on this wreck. lesson learned: never send a farmers daughter to do a king's job. 2 stars **. (it gets one star since it's not the burgers fault i despise red onion. still sucks tho.)

juicy burger

bad day yesterday. ended with good burgers though, courtesy once again of Juicy Burger, albany. kyle and i went halfsies so we didn't have to commit to just one burger topping.

Roasted Red Pepper burger with Basil Pesto & Fresh Mozz. LOVE that the top bun looks like it's jumping off in excitement haha. if i didn't have to eat it, would love to glue google eyes on it and keep it as a pet : )

Teriyaki Onion Burger (sauteed red onions & teri sauce) with Bacon & Mushrooms. this was our first time having this one and it was bangin.

side note: ordered them both "red" (brown, pink, red are the options) hoping for medium rare, but received a solid medium (pink) burger. EVERY place does this lately though - are people that fearful of mad cow still?! even with that said, these beasts are so juicy & tasty cooked medium that you don't miss it, but this phenomenon is irking me.

in short: consistently delicious, 8.5 stars baby ********~.