My Burger in the Big Easy, Part Deux

While I did not get to Port O Call, unfortunately, I did have a pretty kickin' burger at the Hilton's Bar and Grill, located right in the lobby of my hotel. It was grilled much like a Burger King burger is grilled (or flame-broiled as they like to say) and was thick and flavorful. It came with a beautiful heap of crispy fries and a really cool condiment tray that was pre-filled with French's mustard (not my favorite, but ok) and mayo. The third little hole was empty for your ketchup which they had on the table (Heinz, my favorite).

This burger is just what I needed as I ended my foodie conference that was resplendant with gorgeous meals like sweet potato paparadelle, lemonfish with brown butter and capers, beautiful cheeses from Wisconsin, chocolate turtle pie, and the most exquisite raw seafood display at our Bourbon House dinner.

While I was fortunate to experience such fine cuisine, sometimes one can't help to desire some of the more basic, grounding food groups like burgers, macaroni and cheese, Chinese food and Mexican. It makes for a well-rounded palette I suppose, and even more important, a grounded, well-rounded person.

Until next time....

My Burger in the Big Easy, Part 1

Back from New Orleans - - what a city! Even though I was there for work, I got the chance to take in the flavors of some of the cities best restaurants (too fancy to have burgers on the menu, unfortunately) and a few of the sites. Perhaps what I was most impressed with were the people. They were kind, hospitable, and extremely positive. And, they really, really love their city and are proud of their hard work to rebuild it after "the storm" (as they call Katrina).

Now, I was in New Orleans for a work conference, so most of my time was spent in the four walls of a banquet room listening to various culinary experts speak about topics ranging from plating to sustainability in cookbooks, magazines, and newspapers. I had the pleasure of meeting Josh Ozersky of Grub Street (www.nymag.com) but his panel on his new book Hamburgers: A History was sold out. I stil hope to get his book and keep up with my interest in burgers and their place in society.

I had a Po' Boy for lunch at Johnny's on my first day in New Orleans. On the menu was, in fact, a cheeseburger po' boy, but I felt it fitting to stick to something more traditional, so I had the shrimp po' boy which was a huge piece of French bread filled with crispy battered-fried shrimp, a generous amount of tangy French dressing, pickles, lettuce and tomato. My receipt indicated that ordering the 'boy this way was "Frenched." I submit that it was "Delish."

Best Burger Quote of the Day

"All I want out of life is good conversation ... and a good burger." - my good friend, Dar

I am gearing up for my trip to New Orleans and was told that I have to check out Port of Call:
They supposedly have great burgers that come with a baked potato....something new and different for me in my burger experiences.

Some time a go, my friend, Dar and I check out Island Burgers & Shakes on 9th Avenue in NYC and they served no potato of any kind, and were kinda of proud of it. It's sort of their thing to 'not' do fries. Whatever.


Will check in from New Orleans...

Houlihan's Disappoints

Last night I had dinner at Houlihan's and was in the mood for a burger (surprise, surprise!) The Tillamook Cheddar burger looked especially tempting, with the menu touting the aged cheese - - and 2 thick slices of it - - on a yummy burger situated on a whole wheat bun.


Sold. With a side of steamed broccoli. (Hey, I've got to attempt to eat healthy here!) And another side of bbq sauce, as I wanted to craft my own "bbq cheddar burger."

Burger comes out, looking scrumptious. But all this talk of Tillamook Cheddar was lost - - a. I could barely taste it and b. there was only one thin piece of it on the darn burger. The burger meat was not flavorful at all, even though it was cooked to my liking: medium with a nice pink center.

Note to Houlihan's: If I'm ordering a side of brocolli to be healthy do you think you can give me maybe more than 5-6 little trees? If I'd ordered the fries, my plate would've been teeming over with the golden goodness....but instead, you skimp on the healthy stuff?!? Bad, bad Houli-gans!

City Burger, Here I Come!

Just read about this on Grub Street today:


Am cautiously excited to hear of this new burger outpost, however, when I hear the name 'Abitino's,' thoughts of underwhelming chain-restaurant pizza come to mind. Although, this Grub Street blurb says that they'll be using the same meat purveyor as Shake Shack, so hopefully, that means that the burger will be bodacious. We shall see....

A Burger No Better Than...

BETTER BURGER NYC


When I first discovered this place a few years ago, I was working in the garment district and was pysched that one could actually get a 'healthy' all-beef burger and not feel oh-so-guilty about it afterwards.

Not only do they treat the cows nicely at Better Burger, but they're committed to treating your body nicely, too, by offering organic ketchups and mustards, whole-wheat buns and air-baked fries.

Now, let's be frank about something here: you're not getting an extra-crispy fry.
Especially if you're getting your order delivered. But you can't have your cake and eat it too! Healthy fries are still fries...actually, I guess they're not in this case since they're not fried per se, but you see what I'm getting at.

In my humble burger opinion, it's better to go Better if you're hungry for a healthy burger and pay a little bit more. And not feel so guilty about your lunch!

My Burger at Work Today

One of the benefits of working at a cooking school is that they give us lunch a few times a week. When I saw that Burgers and Dogs with All the Fixin's was on the menu today, I grabbed my digital camera and took a close-up of my lunch.

A pretty darn good burger, I tell ya!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

So I recently uploaded a photo of the burger I ordered while on my honeymoon in St. Barths. I think it appropriate to be my profile photo, as it definitely speaks to being completely and utterly burger-licious.

My husband, Mike, and I would eat lunch by the pool at our hotel restaurant, Indigo, pretty much everyday, and would see the waitstaff struggling to carry four or five of these burger plates at a time to the lunchtime crowd - - the plate itself was really incredible: a huge square plate with a cheeseburger that had to be at least 3/4 of a pound of beef, a heaping portion of golden crisp pommes frites and the tiniest blob of carrot slaw, which I'm guessing was primarily for garnish. The dish was without a doubt a feast for the eyes....but was it a feast for the tastebuds? I'm not so sure...

Despite being a beautifully constructed burger in presentation, gargantuan in size, etc., it was truly "all sizzle..." and, well, you get the idea. I think it had something to do with the burger meat -- it was extremely fatty and not as flavorful as I would've liked it to be. And truthfully, a few bites into it, I was kind of disgusted by how much food this was and how wasteful it was that I couldn't finish it. Besides, we're sitting poolside, and chomping on a 3/4-lb. burger while watching European bathing beauties prance around in barely-there bikinis made me feel a little guilty about what I was putting into my body!

Now, I titled this entry 'Cheeseburger in Paradise' but for the record - - the song was written by Jimmy Buffet, yes, in St. Barths. But, no, not about this particular restaurant's burger...Buffet wrote the song about Le Select, although there 's a lot out there on the internet that says otherwise. Here's a pretty reliable source, though (The New York Times): http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/travel/28stbarts.html#

Buffet also has a pretty substantial franchise going on with this name, Cheeseburger in Paradise, although I've yet to eat there - - any thoughts out there?