Aprils Challenge Winner

the envelope please………………..

The Pepper Canister way exceeded most of our expectations.

With 7 members rising to  the challenge most  felt the Pepper Canister was a better burger than English
members comments:

on English:

-The only thing I would go back to English for was the hot bartender.

-I was satisfied with the service, wasn’t the greatest and not the worst

-I had such high expectation for English and sadly everyone’s burger on my group was way over cooked and dry.Maybe it was an off night?

-the burger was made just the way I like it! I got the burger with 3 toppings, bacon, cheddar and avocado and it only enhanced the flavor of the burger.

On the Pepper Canister

-Lovely grill marks on a perfectly cooked burger. More of a solid bar burger than gourmet but it was good.

-So juicy and tasty, I wanted another one….

-Was cooked as ordered, great meat to bun ratio. The bun and toppings are basic burger fare but still great without the fancy pants add ons.

-burger came overcooked and bun was disappointing.

-

BC abroad-Dallas

I went to Dallas, Tx this past weekend. I knew it be a good steer eating town, there had to be some good burgers. I choose a local place called The Twisted Root Burger Co.  This place was started by some chefs who wanted some damn good food. Everything is made in house from the burgers and shakes to the 3 kinds of pickles and kick ass ketchup on the tables. I had to walk a mile through the Dallas wasteland aka thier downtown on a hot saturday afternoon to get to this meaty oasis.

This place rocks!! There was  a line to the door. You go in order and are given a colored laminate sqaure with a pop icon reference (mine was Daisy Duke). When your food is ready you go up and get it from the window. In the meantime you snag a table and a beer and wait. Great people watching, it is loud there and you have to pay attention when the intercom starts asking for Bond, James Bond or whoever’s food is up.

I was so torn with what to get as they have a lot of types of burgers. Besides beef, turkey and vegetarian they also offer buffalo and venison. There are many types of fried options and even a menu category called sissy food for the salad eaters.

After much debate (luckily I was in line for a while) I went with the Western burger (pepperjack cheese, bacon, fried onions and jalapenos) cooked medium rare. They do have a sign up front stating they cook all burgers medium well and if you want it otherwise you better order it that way.I couldn’t choose one side so I ordered the Fride Ride, a sampling of all things fried (curly fries, sweet potato chips, green beans, pickles and onions served with 2 kinds of ranch). I went with cold bottled beer which they had a good selection my choice was to toss down a few Nerga Modelo.

The Fride Ride

I snagged some of the pickles they have near the register (bread and butter, dill and spicy all made there) and grabbed a seat with my friend (who declined to order..wimp) . I was on my second beer when my name was called. What I brought back was heaven. The fride ride was a heaping basket of perfectly battered and fried  goodness.  The sweet potato chips and green beans were the best Ive had yet. My guest couldn’t resist either and tucked in a fair amount.

The burger was massive.  The bun was solid and the toppings were in excess for sure. I used some of the house made Dijon-horseradish mustard on the burger and had used the house ketchup and BBQ sauce as well on the fride ride. All 3 condiments were superb. It was a great taste balance and the bacon the cut into smaller bite sized pieces which gave some smokiness to each bite. The patty was a shade over cooked , closer to medium but the flavor…the flavor of the patty was amazing. it was rich in beef flavor and had been well seasoned . I actually half way through the burger stripped off the bun and toppings and ate the rest of the patty solo, it was so good on its own.

I only hope they can move one of these up here. It was tasty and affordable. They have a few TX location so check them out if you can.

Applejacks burger notes

Ok when I emailed our members and asked them to give me some basic info and a member, most did. Freakin Applejack wrote a term paper on it. To much for our member page but figured I would post it here as he had some good burger feed back.

The Good

Mity Nice – best patty melt I’ve had thus far in Chicago.  They don’t try to gussy it up with gruyere, or caramelized onions tossed in truffle oil, or any such nonsense–it’s American cheese with grilled onions on rye baby.  Since you need to griddle the patty with the bread, cheese & onions, some places tend to overshoot your burger temp.  Not this place.  Me likey.

Joe’s Seafood & Steak – this is what I call “the tidy burger”.  This isn’t a sloppy affair that you actually consider using a fork and knife with (and then never actually do, as the stains on Blackie’s shirt will attest); everything is balanced, both in taste and proportion; the patty is perfectly cooked, juicy but not-too-juicy; and you’re not left with half of your toppings on the plate by the last bite.

West Town Tavern - on Tuesdays, you can knock down their famous Wagyu beef burger, served with curried sweet potato chips.  They serve it on focaccia, so the bread-to-meat ratio is a little higher than I like, but I can live with it.  This is about the borderline for me where a burger gets too froufrou to be taken seriously.  I usually wash it down with a glass of old vines Zin, and then 8 gin & tonics.

In-N-Out – there was one pretty close to us when Big Daddy and I lived in Lost Wages.  You can’t go wrong with the “4 by 4″–four patties and four slices of cheese on a single bun.  It’s not on the menu but everyone there knows what it is.  Apparently 4×4 is as large as they go now, since some clowns ordered a 100×100 burgers and needed a wheel barrel to carry it away.

Fatburger - this is another one Big Daddy and I would hit up in Vegas, though it was a 25 minute drive to the other side of town.  We’d go with the Triple King (three patties with cheese), and then topped it off with bacon, chili and fried egg (defibrillator optional).  Sure, it ends up being $13 for a fast food burger, but who doesn’t like hot chili on a 115 degree Vegas day?

The Bad

Epic Burger – wildly overrated by some in this club (cough, Momzilla, cough).  Forgot all the organic ingredients and free range kangaroo meat or whatever–these are small, fast food sized patties that are cooked medium.  By the time you add on your toppings and the obligatory second patty, it’s like a $10 burger.  Thanks for playing, but no thanks.

Grand Lux Cafe – didn’t know this was some upscale concept by the Cheesecake Factory, otherwise I never would have gone.  Per usual, got the Patty Melt medium rare.  Didn’t read the fine print, as apparently this comes with thousand island dressing on it.  Thousand island dressing?  It’s a patty melt, not a reuben ferchrissakes (note to self: check to see if there is a Chicago Reuben Club–I’m in).  The parmesan bread just didn’t work on this, and the patty drippings mixed with the dressing to form some sort of weird coagulation on the plate.  They need to go back to the drawing board on this one.

and The Ugly

Jollibee’s – sorry Agent Starling, this place may be a point of Filipino pride, but the burger sucks.  First of all, the decor looks like Hello Kitty threw up in Legoland.  The burger was a notch below Hardee’s, which should be a criminal offense in both the U.S. and the Philippines.  And lastly, who the $*%# eats spaghetti as a side with a burger?

Petterino’s – $11 for a very mediocre cheeseburger, the kind I could get at any bar for half that.  This thing was only marginally better than O’Donnie’s (in)famous dollar burger. ‘Nuff said.