Because it's Memorial Day

Steven Raichlen shows us how to make the perfect all-American hamburger. I would gladly pay him Tuesday for this hamburger today.

* I admit that I've always had trouble pronouncing his name. But as he says, it's RIKE-lynn

Snacking State-by-State: Colorado II - Denver buffalo buffalo...

Many of the people eating those Western omelet sandwiches in the previous post would have been cattle ranchers and cowboys (again, Brokeback Mountain comes to mind). Cattle is an important part of life in Colorado, as it has been for well over a century.

Snacking State-by-State: Colorado

Official Name: State of Colorado
State Nickname: The Centennial State
Admission to the US: August 1, 1876 (#38)
Capital: Denver (largest city)
Other Important Cities: Colorado Springs (2nd largest), Aurora (3rd largest), Lakewood (4th largest); Fort Collins (5th largest)
Region: West, Southwest, Rocky Mountains; Mountain (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Bison, Pinyon Nut
Bordered by: Wyoming (north); Nebraska (northeast); Kansas (east); Oklahoma (southeast); New Mexico (south); Arizona (southwest - one of the Four Corners states); Utah (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: nothing, but note: Greenback Cutthroat Trout (fish - but, it is endangered so you better not eat it!!!)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: Southwestern (New Mexican) cuisine, beef, bison & buffalo, Denver/Western omelet and sandwich

The Colorado Beef Council notes that about a third of all Colorado counties are dependent on the beef industry, and that close to 60% of all agricultural product is beef [Colorado Beef Council, date unknown]. Coloradans, as all Westerners, found uses in many parts of the animal. That includes that most legendary of organ meats, the Rocky Mountain oyster. Though not as popular a delicacy as they used to be, they’re still the stuff of legend in Colorado. But they’re not terribly easy to find here in Maryland, which is why I am not bringing you a Rocky Mountain oyster recipe (Want one? Check out Josh Bishop’s post at GoColorado.com. This Michigan ex-pat writes about his first experience with the stuff in his new home in Denver).

I even thought far enough outside the box to consider that much more indigenous of Western bovines, the bison. The great North American Bison bison roamed this part of the continent for thousands of years, and though it almost went extinct it has made an important comeback, and is back on the dinner plates not just of Coloradans but many Americans. Steve Raabe writes for the Denver Post about the resurgence of bison, and crunches the numbers:

Colorado has about 185 bison ranchers with about 15,475 animals, ranking the state fourth in production, behind South Dakota, Nebraska and North Dakota. While the USDA does not track retail sales, Colorado is believed to rank at or near the top of the nation in per- capita consumption because of the high penetration of bison products in grocery stores and restaurants.

Bison advocates say consumers are attracted by the meat's taste and nutritional profile — leaner than comparable cuts of beef and other red meats. [Raabe 2010]

There are now bison farms all over the US, including in Maryland, where they didn’t really roam. I contacted Gunpowder Bison, that local favorite of Baltimore bison aficionados, but they were out, but took my name and number for when they get them (hell, it’s not like buffalo balls grow on trees). So no fried balls for now. Instead, I’m heading back to that much more simple and easy to prepare recipe, the burger, this time done Southwest - er, New Mexican style - in this case, with some bright green chiles.

The recipe: Best Bison Burger, New Mexican-style

There is many a recipe out there for bison burgers. The one I went with was a simple preparation from Chef Forrest Waldo, who wrote it for Denver-based High Plains Bison. I confess, however, that I made some minor additions to Southwestify it.


The most important, and expensive, ingredient is the bison. No big surprise there. So as not to waste the trip to Gunpowder Bison, at least I left with a pound of ground bison (about $8) - enough to make four quarter-pound burgers. In addition I added the following:

* Worcestershire sauce (got it)
* Tabasco sauce (had none, but I substituted El Yucateco’s smoky hot chipotle sauce)
* granulated garlic (none on hand? Just finely chop a clove of garlic like I did)
* To the recipe I added two small chiles from my garden plot, freshly thawed from the freezer.
* salt, pepper and olive oil (got them - this is for dipping the bison patties into before frying)
* And of course, soft hamburger buns (a bag of 6 for $3)

For an added New Mexican twist, in addition to the chiles I added to the meat, I also flame-roasted a poblano chile and quartered it, reserving one slice of chile for each burger. For a topping, I blended together an avocado, a flame-roasted Roma tomato and a squeeze of lime. Wisconsin cheddar finished off some of the burgers.

The recipe is pretty simple: mix the bison with the first four ingredients, then form into patties.


Chef Forrest recommends you dip each patty into the seasoned olive oil until covered, and fry those burgers up. Flip them over a few times. They are done when they no longer run with red blood.

Notice that beer in the background? New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collins, CO, y'all need to get Fat Tire out here in Maryland. Pretty please. I had to smuggle this bottle in my luggage from California. That's not easy.

It’s pretentious artsy foodie word time, folks, and I apologize. Here goes: these burgers were luscious. That’s how I can best describe them, I just can’t help it. Remembering back to my first experience with bison back at a rest stop in California, I told people that it tasted sort of like beef, only subtler and cleaner. That’s bison for you: a nice, gorgeous-tasting meat. Yes, pricey, but I don’t eat it that often. The ingredients all do a good job not of masking but of complementing the bison. This goes for my impromptu guacamole. There’s something about avocado that seems to go very nicely with bison, and here I found that out firsthand.

For my next few posts I head “Back East” as it were - to the Deep South, to the Mid-Atlantic, and right next, to my first foray on this trip-by-blog-post to New England. It’s real, bona fide Yankee cuisine as I head north to Connecticut!

Sources:

Beard, James A. James Beard's American Cookery. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company 1972. Parts also available on Google Books.

Bishop, Josh. “Rocky Mountain Oysters: Try Them If You Dare”. GoColorado.com (Life, Leisure & Travel in the Centennial State), date unknown. Copyright GoWorld Publishing, 2003-2011.

Colorado Beef Council. “The Legacy of Cattle in Colorado”. Colorado Beef Council, date unknown. Copyright Colorado Beef Council, 2011.

Monette, Mark (interview). “Let’s Talk Colorado Cuisine: Mark Monette”. Colorado.com, date unknown. Copyright Colorado Tourism Office, 2011.

New Mexico Tourism Department. “New Mexico Cuisine (Culinary Enchantment)”. NewMexico.org, date unknown. Copyright New Mexico Tourism Department, 2010.

Raabe, Steve. “Bison becoming the other red meat”. Denver Post, published April 22, 2010.

Wagner, Kyle. “The Bite: The yolk's on us”. Denver Westword, published Thursday, Mar 15 2001.

Waldo, Forrest. “Best Bison Burger”. High Plains Bison, date unknown. Copyright High Plains Bison (a Trade Name of Golden Bison Company), 2010.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Colorado" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods webpage link to "Colorado”.

Because it's the Fourth of July

What does Steven Raichlen know about hamburgers? A lot, man, a lot. Happy Independence Day!

WTF, Friendly's?

Friendly's Grilled Cheese Burger Melt. Excess. Gluttony. Ick.

(Photo from Friendly's via Slashfood)

Hamburger Mary's

One quick note about dinner last night: I headed out to Palm Springs, as I always do when I visit SoCal. I love that whole desert-meets-mid-century aesthetic. Really, it's almost as you'll turn a corner and Elizabeth Taylor or Bob Hope will be putzing around on vacation.

Out of all the establishments I could've chosen, this time I went to that relatively small, gay-friendly chain known as Hamburger Mary's. The restaurant has a large plaster statue of a smiling Mary, winking as she holds up a massive hamburger - think Bob's Big Boy in drag. Inside, tables of mostly gay male patrons of various ages will sit amongst movie posters of various movies with "Mary" in the title, all while dance mixes of contemporary music videos play on TV's in the background (the bar has a fairly large one).

Mary's has various offerings, but why the hell would you order anything but a hamburger? Besides, they have a massive list of hamburgers from which to choose (price range; around $12 - $17), including the Surf & Turf Burger (topped with popcorn shrimp), the Blue Boy Burger (bacon and lots and lots of bleu cheese), and the one eye-popping Mac and Cheese Burger topped with exactly what you'd think (because Americans just aren't fat enough).

There were also several "exotic meat" burgers (each set at $17), including kobe beef, ostrich, wild boar, Texas antelope, buffalo (which isn't all that exotic anymore) and - get this - kangaroo. I was going to order that the second I saw it but the waitress said they just didn't have any kangaroo meat. The way she put it, it sounded as if they hadn't had kangaroo for a very long time. Oh well. The one time I ate it - in 1998 at a nondescript, probably defunct All-American BBQ in Yucca Valley or Joshua Tree - I loved it. My waitress compared the flavor to ostrich, but I find them to be somewhat different. I'm not a big fan of ostrich meat.

So instead of kangaroo, I opted for the "Buffy the Hamburger Slayer" burger ($12): a half-pound of beef covered in red wine, Swiss cheese and Caesar dressing, and speared throughout with garlic cloves (pickles are complementary but you have to ask for them). I opted for the fries, instead of the cole slaw or potato salad, and I don't think I made a wise choice. I hardly touched the fries, which were a little shriveled and pretty much a throwaway item, but the slaw would've been very refreshing.

but I didn't come to eat fries - I came for a hamburger. And I really liked this burger. The first bite was so mellow. Even though I've eaten a lot of roasted garlic, I couldn't put my finger on the taste at first. The combination of the garlic and various toppings made this hamburger a flavorful pleasure. Yes, it kept falling apart, and yes, I eventually had to resort to eating it with a fork, but it was truly a deliciously moist and flavorful hamburger! I will likely have to seek out other burgers, if not specifically this one, the next time I am in PS or for that matter any other city that sports a Hamburger Mary's (NB: the closest one to Baltimore is in Cincinatti. I figured they would've opened one in Rehoboth by now, but I guess not)

Iced Gems Baking

I had the chance to go for a bison burger at the Kooper's Chowhound Burger Wagon yesterday at 222 Schilling Circle in Hunt Valley. As I found out on Twitter (it's showing itself to be such a useful tool), the Iced Gems Baking company was also going to have their cupcake truck nearby. I'm guessing the two got together to coordinate this, but if not it was a good bit of luck. After ordering my bison burger with spicy Cuban sauce and blue cheese ($8 today), I walked over to the cupcake truck and saw a small but nice variety of cupcakes ($2.50 each): peanut butter, red velvet, vanilla, chocolate and - get this - Vanilla² and Chocolate² (vanilla frosting on vanilla cupcake and chocolate frosting on chocolate cupcake, respectively). I thought I'd keep my first exposure to the self-described "boutique bakery" and its goodies to those Vanilla² and Chocolate² creations.

I am usually a bigger fan of vanilla than of chocolate, but you have to try their Chocolate² cupcake. The moist and tender cake part was so intensely chocolaty, much more than any chocolate cake I have ever eaten. The frosting on top was thick and rich, and had a relatively large, soft chocolate candy on top. It was a simple and perfect cupcake. The Vanilla² was also delicious, and I especially loved the white frosting crowning the delicate vanilla cake, though I was more impressed with the chocolate. I would still buy either.

One thing I've noticed with most cupcakes these days applies to Iced Gems' gems: you probably need a fork to eat them. It's too big for me to bite into unless I nibble here and there. It's not one of those cupcakes with a big ol' pile of frosting reaching higher than a hon with a beehive, but it's still tall. This is not a complaint so much as a practical observation for you to keep in mind when you are eating it.

Food finds I haven't gotten around to posting...

Just a few odds and ends - things that have gotten away from me over the last month or so. I meant to write about 'em but I never bothered.

1. Poorman's Mess

You remember that little old lady who kept talking about Depression-Era cooking on YouTube? I made Clara's recipe for Poorman's Meal. It really doesn't taste very good. But hell, are you gonna care about that if you're living through a depression? Considering that, it's damn near haute cuisine!

2. Kroger's Deli
The Cincinnati-based Kroger's food chain spans much of the Midwest and South. The one in Hinesville, GA, has just about the best ready-to-eat food of any spermarket deli counter I have ever ordered from. I got three BBQ ribs (which actually amounted to six), mac & cheese and Western fries. I could only finish half of it.

3. Southern BBQ done right

My sister and her husband introduced me to the delicious BBQ at the Clubhouse in Rye Patch in nearby Ludowici.

The fried pickles were definitely different from those you might find at Sonic: saltier, lighter, picklier, a little less greasy. This is the type of thing that I would eat all day, even though I know it would kill me.

Their sampler plate was very filling, and again I could not finish half of it (I left for home before I could finish it, and James finished the rest for me). The meats really outshone the sides - the cole slaw was tasty and had a flavor I can't quite place, though the mac & cheese was okay. I just can't begin to describe the ribs, sliced butt and chicken. Soooooooo good.

4. Mrs. Holmes' Boiled Peanuts

You can find these at convenience stores all over Georgia and South Carolina, in the same type of hot containers you might find nacho cheese. Margaret Holmes' Boiled Peanuts - I got a small container for about $1.50 in several places. Available in original or Cajun. Oh good Lord, I feel like I'm shilling for peanuts now.

5. In-N-Out

We may not have a Sonic closer than 50 miles to Baltimore, but we could one day. We will never have an In-N-Out anywhere near us. For my last meal before setting foot on the plane to BWI last month I had to stop at the Ontario Mills In-N-Out, the fabled hamburger place that makes everything from scratch and to order, and makes the BBQ ribs I got from Kroger's look like health food. Some of you may know that In-N-Out serves three value meals, and that's it: the hamburger, the cheeseburger and the fabled "Double Double" (two patties). By default, each comes with tomatoes, lettuce, thick onion slices and "special sauce" (it's Thousand Island Dressing). It comes with fries that are cut on site from actual potatoes, and a drink that is either soda or milkshake. Their milkshakes are fabled, too.

What's perhaps as famous is their "Secret menu" that isn't listed on their drive thru menu. Instead, you have to be a local "in the know." Or else find it online, either on In-N-Out's website or listed by others (such as this compilation from Badmouth.net). I didn't get too secret-menu-ish, and merely order the burger "toasted" - that's a regular burger on a toasted bun - with "light" (underfried) fries. I wasn't too crazy about them.

I wanted to order the Animal Burger - a patty with mustard mixed into it, and extra sauce. But I forgot the name so I didn't want to sit there for five minutes trying to remember, holding up the drive thru line and missing on dropping off my rental car and, from there, catching my flight.

I devoured the burger in the airport, plus half of the lackluster fries (I'm not a fry person anyway). And you should've seen me suck down that milkshake, since they wouldn't have let me take it through the security line. Ice-cream-headache-induced painful bliss, that's all I can say.

You should've seen the milkshake-related pun I was going to use to segue into the next bit...

6. Gay Pride Block Partay!!! (and Parade)

Unlike most major cities, Baltimore's Gay Pride Parade is kind of, um, (What's the word I'm looking for?) low-scale. Though I did get pelted by paraders throwing both Mardi Gras beads and Tootsie Rolls in festive rainbow-colored papers. Was I the only one who thought it strange that Chipotle had a float? Ah well, at least we're in the age when corporations are more likely than they used to be to even show their faces in a gay pride parade! And you gotta love that slogan - yes, the guy's T shirt does say "¿Homo estás?"

My friends were right, though - the Block Party is better than the following day's festival, which I didn't even bother with. After flitting back & forth between the Hippo and the Central Station, with some quality time in Minato for supper - I didn't even want to bother.

Mind you, the food was pretty lackluster at the Block Party. I mean, LGBT pride events aren't exactly known as culinary meccas. But this one sign was just too strange to pass by:

What famous Thai Mexican Food do they mean, anyway? Much better was the gelato I got at Marie Louise Bistro (I'm glad I gave them a second try), though their mimosas were pretty watered down for my tastes.

7. Stuff what was shipped to me from California

Because it wouldn't fit into my luggage, I had to mail some food back to Baltimore. Most of it was from the Chinese-American supermarket chain 99 Ranch and the British-based supermarket chain Fresh & Easy.

My last day in SoCal last month, I went crazy with non-perishable groceries in the Fresh & Easy. I haven't had a chance to try any of these goodies yet, but I did score some brownie mix, raspberry-chipotle and peanut sauces, chai and chocolate black teas - all Fresh & Easy brand - and Singapore Noodles from the Sof'ella Food Company, whose products I have never seen this side of the Mississippi River. I look forward to trying them all, especially the brownie mix. I had an actual brownie from Fresh & Easy, and if it's from the same ingredients then the mix should be good.

From 99 Ranch, I picked up some loose tea in a lovely decorative jar (Gil already had some and made some for us at his place). I also picked up two cans of Chaokoh coconut milk, a highly recommended brand, before realizing that you can, in fact, find this brand in Maryland after all. I also got some desserts. One was a confection of taro paste covered in white chocolate. It tastes better than it sounds. Actually, it tastes pretty good.

The other thing I got was a heart-shaped plastic container filled with - you won't believe this - candied olives.

Yes, candied olives.

In a moment that I can only describe as Andrew Zimmern-esque in its bizarreness, I bit into the candied olive, an uncured olive coated in sugar, with the pit still in it of course. I can proudly say that I tried it. I can firmly say that I not only will not be eating this again, but I that I could not even finish the one olive I bit into, and threw it and the rest of the container away - but only after spitting out what little was in my mouth. I mean, yeeeeekhkh.

A few recommendations...

Those of you who write blogs know that it can at times be, well, time-consuming. Especially for such a focused blog like this one. As such, there are too many restaurants and too many meals, too many funny videos and too many other things I do that I just don't get to mention. So here they are: a few things I haven't mentioned lately that don't really merit a whole post (unlike my recent trip to Green Spring Station - I'll post on that soon).

• If y'all read about my excursion off Exit 17 to Woodlawn, you'll remember that the Shaheen Indian-Pakistani Restaurant was recommended to me. Well I went - twice. Pretty good stuff. 100% halal for the observant Muslim diner. Their goat is some of the best and least bony I have eaten in a while. $5.99 per lb. to take out their lunch buffet (the first I've seen do it by the pound), plus a section of desserts. Good stuff.
• Plus, did you know my post about that very subject is the first one that comes up when you Google "shaheen security square mall"?
  
• Speaking of which: just this past week I stopped by a place off Rossville and Bel Air Road, the recently opened Mount Everest (for which I can find no links whatsoever), which serves Nepalese and Indian food, as well as Italian, Greek and American. It's the "pizza-subs-and-curry" place turned into a festive-looking Nepalese restaurant. Their chicken tikka masala is a bit dry, despite floating in all that tikka masala sauce. Their saag paneer (Indian cheese in spinach) is quite good. $8.99 per box.
• I stopped by Pepe's Pizza on Falls Road. For $3.45 after tax I got enough Hawaiian pizza to last me two meals. Good and filling pizza. BTW: my recent Exit 23A post is the second hit when you Google "pepe's pizza mount washington".
  
• My sister treated me to dinner tonight at Damon's Grill (she's so nice). There is a smattering of locations in Maryland, but it's mostly based in Pennsylvania and Ohio. We got some great burgers for $7.95 plus 50 cents per topping. Get too much (fried mushrooms, fried onions, guac and Provolone cheese) and it'll all slip and slide off. Her mudslide was also tasty. The apple cobbler that we split was okay. I've had better, but it was decent.
• Oh, Cloverfield rocked.
  
• Whole Foods' rice milk really isn't all that bad when compared to the real thing, at least in hot chocolate and in cereal. Just avoid rice drink - it's not the same.
• And I made one more recipe from a book I bought in California and have had on my shelf for a while, Paulette Mitchell's 15-Minute Single Gourmet: 100 Deliciously Simple Recipes for One (1996: Macmillan, New York, NY). It was her basil pesto. It didn't turn out the way it should have - either I had too little basil or else I used walnuts instead of pine nuts. It's more like a chunky basil paste. it's still edible, just not what I had had in mind.
• And I'm still waiting to take advantage of the smokelessness of the local bars. They did this too in California when I lived there. Even though I am a militant non-smoker, at first I thought it was silly. I mean, it's a bar for God's sake. But it didn't hit California businesses bad at all - most of them just installed outdoor patios if they didn't already have them, and they worked just fine. Put up a few outdoor heaters and Maryland's bars will be just fine too.

Exit 15A: US-40 East (to Baltimore)

US Route 40 is one of the oldest cross-country highways in the nation. Dating to the 1920's, it extends all the way from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Park City, Utah (originally going as far west as San Fran). Like I-95, Route 40 - Baltimore's own slice of the National Pike - cuts the Beltway in half, going through Baltimore City. On the west side of the beltway, you can get to Route 40 by Exits 15A (into the city) and B (to Ellicott City).

I wanted a quick, cheap dinner this evening, and this time I had a good idea of where I wanted to go. I passed on the former IHOP-turned-"Shirley's Family Diner" (map, Google Earth still thinks it's an IHOP), which sounds fun enough that I may go there next time. Also passed by the Pho 1 Restaurant (map and review) in the Westview Mall. Instead I decided on Mr. G's Hamburgers (map), a small little place that is quite familiar to me, because I ate there all the time in high school. My high school girlfriend (neither of us knew, okay?) even worked there. My favorite thing to get was the foot-long hot dog, though the hamburgers, onion rings and milkshakes were always a safe and satisfying bet. So unlike many of the places I am visiting for this series, I already know Mr. G's.

Or at least, I thought I knew Mr. G's. After the place got gutted by fire a few years ago, it seems to have expanded, a lot. Gone was the little waiting room where you sat while they made your food. Now there's a small clutch of tables, complete with blob of condiments and flies on top (ick). Still, most of Mr. G's is behind-the-counter space, as before. And behind those counters lie a dizzying array of soft-serve ice creams, burgers, fried chicken, trout, ribs, breakfast foods, spaghetti (or as it was billed by Mr. G's, "SPAGETY"), Western fries (for the uninitiated, the best description I can find is here, on the Royal Farms web site) and mammoth onion rings.

I got a bit buggy-eyed when I saw the prices for the combo platters - especially the half-cheeseburger for $8! It did dawn on me that this wasn't just a cheeseburger but a cheeseburger sub, but I did notice the glaring lack of prices for most items. Not a great way to prepare your change. The young woman behind the counter told me the cheeseburger was $3.50 (or so). To that I ordered some Western fries (mmmm), for a grand total of $5.80. Only later did it hit me to order some of their delicious-looking onion rings (nope, no flies in this case). I would have, but there was a fairly long line at the counter.

Some of the food on display looked wonderful - the ribs and mac and cheese were tempting, and again, there were those onion rings. There were some pretty average-looking items as well, specifically their fried chicken, and some stuff that looked downright inedible. To wit: there were some green beans that had a very unnatural hue; and a large, gummy and dried-out blob of angel-hair "spagety" is hopefully never going near anyone's mouth.

I took my burger and fries to the parents' house and ate it there. The burger, which had provolone, onion, lettuce and pickle (toppings of my choice, instead of a pre-set selection), was juicy and set between two halves of a soft, not-so-thick kaiser roll (I hate the thick ones - I don't eat sandwiches for the bread, after all). I have had tastier, and much thicker burgers than this one, but for what it was worth it was quite satisfying. The dog and cat thought so too, as I threw little shards of meat and roll at them (those two, they are a pair). Along with that were some satisfyingly salty Western fries. They could've been a little crispier on the outside, but you don't really order Western fries for the crispiness of the coating anyway - it's all about the thickness of the fry and the flavor of the coating. And for a small order, it was a pretty large sample of fries that they gave me - easily a whole potato in that bag.

One thing that hits me now: no more foot-long hot dogs on the menu? That much is disappointing. Well, at least they still have those intimidating onion rings.

Gorgeous onion rings, with a gummy lump of SPAGETY in the background

Places I visited:

Mr. G's Fast Lane Hamburgers (American / hamburgers / ice cream) - 5600 Johnnycake Rd

Gwynn Oak, MD 21207; Phone: (410) 744-0011

• Would I eat there again? Depends on what I'd order - at least for the onion rings
  
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Again, to try the onion rings
  

Places to look up later:

Pho 1 (Vietnamese) - 5764 Baltimore National Pike, Catonsville, MD 21228; Phone: (410) 719-7500

Shirley's Family Diner (diner / American) -5600 Baltimore National Pike, Catonsville, MD 21228; Phone: (410) 788-9270

Red Brick Station

Dang, I spent so much money this weekend on furniture for the new place - furniture that isn't falling apart, that is. Even so I lowballed it. I went to IKEA and found a pretty inexpensive table and chairs set for $260 Lovely, black and glass, with black metal chairs with wicker seats. But even $260 is more than I want to spend.

Before that, I got good and filled up at White Marsh Town Center. Wasn't in the mood for Japanese.* Nope, not Mexican.* Or Italian. I was in the mood for burgers and my sister suggested the Red Brick Station. She and my brother-in-law just love the place. They have - some lovely microbrews of all kinds: ales, stouts, ambers, the whole schlemiel. They even have a sampler of their best microbrews - 28 oz. total of seven different beers (you do the math)!

As we are wont to do, Cathy and I over-ordered. After a hearty helping of crab dip with crusty bread I got a delicious bison burger with bacon and Swiss ($11). Granted, the bison-ness wasn't remarkable - I've had better bison. This tasted like beef, but it was a tasty burger anyway. Cathy is trying to eat vegetarian and fish more often. I forget what she had - some kind of fish dish. I had a little taste and it was good. But I was too wrapped up in my burger to notice.

Well, the burger and the beer.

I got this delicious, almost chocolatey stout (about $4.50). My sister recommended it because her husband loves this stuff. Now I do too! It was only 4.5% alcohol. It also came in their sampler ($4.50 as well). Their beers were a mixed bag, but nothing bad in the bunch, and a few stand-outs. There were some excellent ones, particularly their stouts (the 4.5% and 10%; the former was better-tasting). Also good were their Avenue Ale, which was nice and spicy to me, with a lovely aroma, and their Honeygo Lite, which was, well, meady.

I am so ready for a beer tasting! That would be more my thing than some little old wine tasting.

The total cost was about $50. We left a $10 tip. Well, Cathy did. She was paying me back for some Indian food I paid for the other day. Although now that I think about it, she put in a little for that, too.

The question now is, can I afford to pay her back after all that I spent at IKEA? Oh well, she makes more than I do anyway :)

* Link comes with annoying, irritating, computer-slowing extraneous stuff.

Ronnie McDonald?

If this winds up on Project Runway so help me...

A Weekend of Food: from Monterey Park to Temecula! (UPDATED WITH PHOTOS)

I was quite busy this weekend, with everything from dim sum to buffalo burgers to Carolina-style BBQ to wine tasting! A very brief rundown:

Ocean Star, Monterey Park

My friends and I were looking for food choices on Saturday, and the idea of dim sum struck me again (I couldn't get it out of my system from San Fran). So my one friend Gil suggested this place in the LA suburb of Monterey Park, again with a large Chinese community, the Ocean Star Seafood Restaurant. The place looked like a hotel inside, and the dining area was humongous! As soon as the three of us sat down carts were being bought to our table filled with all sorts of dim sum - some gristly chicken dish (the only one that wasn't very good), rice steamed in banana wrappers, sesame balls, clams in oyster sauce, Peking duck, Chinese broccoli steamed on site, and bowls of congee to cleanse the palate, among many other things. The three of us left, stomachs bulging (the photo at left doesn't even begin to tell how much we ate). Grand total came out to about $25 per person, for an experience that easily could've cost twice that!

Carolina-Style BBQ with Friends

I visited a friend that same night who made some wonderful Carolina-style BBQ. Originally, our plan was to do steamed crabs, but it was too damn expensive to ship them into SoCal, and even the local Asian supermarkets were either out or too pricey! So BBQ it was - tenderly cooked in sugar and vinegar. Throw it on a bun, add to that BBQ sauce and cole slaw, and eat away! Best with sweet corn smothered in butter and, of course, Old Bay. It's so fun to see people, like some folks in attendance, address the matter of why you would sprinkle seafood seasoning on corn. ***SIGH*** Add to that a heaping bowl of boiled peanuts as nibbles. Mmmm.

Temecula Valley Wine Tasting

Yes, Southern California has a wine industry, based in the city of Temecula. Yes, it's inferior to that of Central California. But yes, there are some tasty wines, none of which can be shipped to Maryland (which is why my buddies spent several hundred dollars on wine yesterday, and I spent, well, none). We stopped at a few wineries to taste some whites, reds, rosés, sparklings and ports. They all make you pay for tastings, usually about $6 to $8 for 5 to 6 wines. Places visited include, among others, the Filsinger Winery, with a very funny wine server, and the Oak Mountain Winery, inside a nice, cool, cavernous round building which is dark but cheery inside. I signed a petition to get Maryland to start allowing out-of-state wineries to ship to them. A lot of good that'll do.

Mad Madeline's BBQ

After the whole wine thing we three went to Temecula's Old Town area, looked around for food, and found our choices were limited to BBQ, BBQ and barbacoa (Spanish for "barbecue"). So, we went to a fairly crowded place, Mad Madeline's (their website is much fancier than their restaurant). Madeline's has their seating outside, under a big porch, and their kitchen is indoors (of course). You can watch country music videos while waiting for their specialties, such as burgers and whatnot. We each ordered burgers - Jim and I the buffalo burgers, Gil the feta burger. These were some of the best burgers we've had in a while. I am already a fan of buffalo, and prefer it to beef whenever I can get my hands on it. Even better is buffalo with red onion, spicy mustard and ketchup on top. Mmmm. Grand total: $40 for the three of us, for burgers, sides and whatnot.

Other photos

Funny vintners with a sense of humor

We didn't eat here, but the name of the restaurant is funny. The sign is even funnier!

Doritos that taste like French onion soup burgers

From Alex at the Technology & MSG blog. Apparently, these Doritos taste exactly like the burgers that are mixed with Lipton's French soup onion mix!

Amateur Gourmet as Trip Planner

Lately, I've been checking out the Amateur Gourmet - mind out of the gutter, he's dating someone - for some culinary ideas for my impending trip to NYC on Memorial Day weekend. (I've given up on Chowhound.com - that site is just weird and user-unfriendly now). I have to admire Adam. He doesn't give a damn what people think when he whips out his camera and photographs his food. Me, well, that's why I bought a camera phone!

Anyway, I know of one place I won't be visiting. Check out this utterly forgettable restaurant called Stand in Manhattan's Union Square (another Adam, at A Hamburger Today, had a memorably bad experience with the bun, though he seemed to like the meat). He would've told his readers where it was, but as he said, he forgot. He did love their toasted marshmallow milkshake, but that was it. I'm not going to spend 90 minutes getting lost on the New York subway again just to find some damn milkshake!

Totally random thought, by the way: Gosh I love the subways in Washington, London and Mexico City. They are so efficient! The one in New York, though, is utterly confusing. Bad, bad subway. It's weird that Mexico City, a city much larger than NYC, has such a more user-friendly metro system. To me, at least.

But at least New York has a subway, instead of the thing we have. I hope the guv and the DC mayor do eventually link up the light rail or at least Penn Station to the DC Metro. Just more convenient than the MARC Train for me.