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(2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10, ) Loading ...
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Once we left THE GRAND CANYON, we made our way to beautiful Zion National Park in southern Utah. Of all the places we visited on this trip, this was my favorite. It was amazing and I would recommend to anyone who asks, to go visit and see for yourselves. We hiked the really cool Angel’s Landing trail which, at one point, required that we scale the side of a cliff with only chains to hold on to. Very cool. After a few days there we were a little road weary and were in need of a hot shower and a soft bed. Fortunately we have family in Provo and Salt Lake which was only a few hours North of Zion. Also fortunately for us, there are a few burger places that I have been wanting to try in Salt Lake. We made our way up Highway 89, which was a pretty drive through small towns that sit in a green valley. We made a quick side trip to Bryce Canyon and saw the odd rock formations. We didn’t stay long because there was tons of snow and it was freezing. Once in Provo, we enjoyed some hot showers, visited with family, and asked for some burger joint suggestions. After much deliberation we settled in on Crown Burgers in Salt Lake City. I had heard of this place as it was the only burger in Utah featured in George Motz’s Hamburger America . I was also intrigued by the concept of a pastrami burger. With the destination in mind, we set the Garmin and hit the road for the short drive to Salt Lake. We arrived around 9 o’clock at night and this place was still busy. That is always a good sign. The menu was a cross between a typical burger joint and a Greek and Lebanese restaurant. You could order gyros, baklava, burgers, sweet potato fries, etc. It was quite exciting.
So, if you didn’t know this about me, I love burgers… I also love pastrami sandwiches. Wouldn’t you know it, the special of Crown Burgers is… the Crown Burger featuring a 1/4 pound patty and and equal amount of savory, delicious pastrami. This was a no brainer. “One please”, I said almost without thinking. A drink and fries were also ordered although that part does not stick in my memory as strongly. While I waited. I admired all of the “Best Burger” awards and other memorabilia about the founders of Crown Burgers (see picture, top right). With much anticipation, my order was ready. I grabbed my tray and made a quick stop to get ketchup and, of course, FRY SAUCE (You have to have fry sauce when in Utah)! I joined my wife in a booth in the corner and beheld one of the most appetizing (to me) sights! I really couldn’t see the beef patty but I definitely could see the pastrami. With both hands I dug in. This burger/pastrami sandwich was AMAZING! The seasoning and texture of the pastrami added so much to the overall burger package. The lettuce and tomato were good quality and added a nice, fresh touch to the burger. The bun was sufficient for the job at hand which was to act as the burger vehicle. The fries were crispy, like I like, but were nothing special compared to the burger.
What did I think of this meaty mash-up? I think it is quite obvious that it was great! If you like pastrami sandwiches and want to try it with something other than rye bread and coleslaw, this is for you. It is unique, it is memorable, it is worth having more than once. I will definitely go back the next time I’m in Salt Lake City (ski season perhaps?). This burger was a perfect break from the grueling road schedule we had been following for over a week. Now that the Crown Burger was sitting comfortably in my stomach, we made the sleepy drive back to Provo for a good nights sleep. We would need it b/c the next day we were off to Moab and more BURGER TYME ROAD TRIP ADVENTURES!
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a big deal around here. Being from Louisiana my experience with rodeos was somewhat limited to small 4h type events. For the HLSR the entire Reliant Center is used for three weeks to host a BBQ competition, a carnival, livestock auctions, championship rodeo events, and every night there is a concert with some pretty big names in country and pop music. To kick off the rodeo a parade of cowboys and covered wagons rides from downtown all the way to Reliant Center. I’ve lived in Houston for four years and had not had the chance to go to this gigantic ode to all things Texan until last week. A friend of mine at work had some extra tickets that he wasn’t going to be using and gave them to me. Excited for the chance to finally see what all the fuss is about, I rounded up my wife and my parents who were in town visiting. We got to ride Houston’s light rail (which for 49 weeks out of the year is almost completely pointless) which drops you off right at the front gates of the rodeo.
Immediately we were met with a barrage of food, cowboy hats, boots, and animals! The rodeo is known for its wide array of deep fried novelties. From deep fried Oreos to chicken fried bacon to funnel cakes to fried Coca Cola (it’s true), you can get almost any artery clogging fix you can imagine. I had heard from a friend that there was a place that was offering a deep fried cheeseburger. That’s right, an entire cheeseburger that is battered and fried in grease. Sound delicious? Not really. Did I want to try it? Absolutely! We walked around for about an hour in search of this deep fried white whale only to find deep fried everything else but the burger. Finally I asked someone at the info station if he could tell me where I could find it. He didn’t know so he called it in over their radio. After some staticky chatter the name “Chicken Charlie’s” came through. So off we went. When we rounded the corner, leaving the main thoroughfare of food establishments, we entered a realm of carnival stands. These are basically dolled up trailers that sell food. After an hour of searching for the deep fried cheeseburger we finally found Chicken Charlie’s. I had to admit, I was getting nervous.
There in the window, among images of deep fried avocados and corn dogs was the sign “Totally Fried White Castle” – $4.95. This is it. Apparently they are using the frozen White Castle burgers you can buy at the grocery store. No matter. After all of this anticipation I still wanted to try it. I waited in line and much to the chagrin of my wife, was finally able to place my order, “One deep fried cheeseburger, please”. The girl asked if I wanted anything to drink. “I better get a bottled water”, I responded. The wait was like watching a parade of fried foods. Plate after plate of deep fried everything was being passed through the window to rodeo goers. Finally, my plate came through. What I saw resembled a biscuit covered in fried chicken breading sitting on top of some rather weak looking fries. Loaded with a few small cups of ketchup, I found a spot to sit and dove in.
Upon my first bite I realized why no one else is selling deep fried burger… The bun retained an amazing amount of the grease. This was by far one of the worst things I’ve ever tried to eat. I quickly gulped down half of my water. The only way to get the greasy taste out of my mouth was to eat as much ketchup and fries as possible. My wife just shook her head not needing to say “I told you so”. In spite of my initial horror with this abomination… I tried another bite. Again, terrible. So only two bites in, I gave up. This was such a fantastically terrible burger experience that I had to document it.
Folks, the rodeo was a lot of fun. This burger, although disgusting, was a fun quest. After the absolute failure of filling up on deep fried Burger Tyme, we headed back into the main area and had some good barbecue, fresh potato chips, and funnel cake. I also picked up a huge bag of my personal favorite, Fresh Popped Kettle Corn! This was a great experience that I was glad to be able to bring my family to and I would not hesitate to go back to again.
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 10, ) Loading ...
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GQ does it again. While in Philadelphia I was continuing the search for the best burger in the WORLD and came across Rouge. It was highly touted by many online reviews but the one that made up my mind for me was GQ’s “20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die” in which Rouge was ranked 4th…. 4th! It must be amazing then, right? If you recall, I followed this list’s suggestions when in Seattle, WA and ate at Red Mill Burgers. It was good but only ranked 17th. So, with the recommendations from other burger reviewers and GQ telling me that it was essentially a “life experience” burger I decided that Rouge would be my next Philly Burger Tyme! Fortunately for my wife and I we have some friends that live in Philadelphia who were kind enough to let us stay with them. So as a vote of thanks we treated them to this “one of a kind”, “inspirational” burger experience. On a cool Saturday morning before our adventure to Valley Forge, we made our way to downtown Philly, to enjoy a nice lunch. Philly is a cool city with a lot of really impressive old architecture and deep history. Rouge sits across the street from a nice inner city park and across from that a centuries old cathedral. With this view in site its no wonder that the outside is prime seating at Rouge. Fortunately for us the weather was pretty chilly so there was plenty of outside seating. We took our seats and thus began the fanciest burger experience of Burger Tyme history.
The Rouge Burger. $16. Reading the menu, the Rouge Burger seems like a culinary masterpiece. “Challah Roll, Caramelized Onions, Gruyere Cheese & Pommes Frites”. How could one resist such fine ingredients. While I was not sure what a Challah roll was, we placed our order for four Rouge burgers. While we waited we were treated with a warm roll and salted butter. I’m sure this was traditional for all of the entrees that Rouge serves, but it was a little odd to start off a burger with more bread. In fairness the roll was very good. Rouge was pretty busy at the time we were there which might explain the long-ish wait. After about 20 minutes we were brought our burgers. The first impression based upon how the burger looked was “Wow”. I could hardly wait to try it. It was served open face with the veggies on the side. So after a little assembly I was finally able to dig in. The patty was huge. It had to be 3/4 of a pound of beef and 3 inches thick. It completely overpowered the rest of the burger. Every bite all I could taste was beef. Some liked this as it was high quality beef. I however was looking forward to the mingling of the other flavors such as the caramelized onions and the gruyere cheese. This was not a very well balanced burger. The veggies were also of high quality and the pomme frites, or in English, french fries, we very good as well.
The Rouge Burger. $16. This was the most expensive burger in Burger Tyme history. At $16 and being 4th on the list of “Burgers to eat before you die” I expected this to be the pinnacle of our burger journey so far. I was sadly disappointed. The Rouge burger, while consisting of high quality components, which in and of themselves are great, was a poor assemblage of a gourmet burger concept. I blame the overly thick patty. It was absurdly thick. I would recommend dropping the price a few dollars and shedding a 1/4 pound to allow the other flavors to come out. The balance was just not here. When in downtown Philly would I go to Rouge for a burger? No. I would walk a few more blocks and enjoy the $12 Good Dog Burger.
A second lesson learned here is that GQ and I have very different tastes in what makes a good burger. So far I’ve had number 17 and number 4 only to be disappointed at both when there were much better burger options nearby. Oh well… fortunately there are plenty of resources for the burger tymer to find the best buger in the world. Many of which can be found linked to this site!
Original review here
The Sticky Burger. What the heck is a sticky burger? After a long hiatus from Hubcap, I finally returned to downtown Houston and had a chance to return to one of my (and most of Houston’s) favorite burger joints, Hubcap Grill. I was pleasantly surprised to see the improvements they made since I last visited. There was a cover over the patio/alley/seating area, they installed fans to keep outside diners cool, and most importantly they had an actual menu instead of the dry erase board they were using. This menu included a few items that were new to me. Muffaletta burger, philly cheese burger, frito pie burger, and the sticky burger. I read the ingredients of the sticky burger; cheese, peanut butter, meat, and bacon… For some reason, that sounded amazing to me. When it was my turn to order I asked the lady behind the counter “Is the sticky burger good?”. “Ehh. Some people like it.” she replied. That response scared me on this first visit back so I chickened out and ordered my usual cheeseburger. It was good but for days I couldn’t stop thinking about the sticky burger. The sticky burger was sticking to my dreams like peanut butter on the roof of my mouth!
A week later I couldn’t take it any more so I went back. This time I confidently ordered a sticky burger and an IBC root beer (that’s kind of like milk, right?). I decided to save my heart and passed on the fries. Eager with anticipation I waited for the lady to bring out my burger. My patience paid off and out came what would soon become one of my favorite burgers. As you can see, this burger looks like a regular bacon cheese burger with no veggies. But what you can’t see is the two layers of crunchy peanut butter coating the top and bottom bun. I bit into it and the flavor was miraculous! The savory bacon, creamy cheese, and seasoned patty combined with sweet and salty peanut butter to make my taste buds sing. This seemed a lot more like eating a peanut butter sandwich than a hamburger but there was no denying that it was a bacon cheeseburger. As typical with peanut butter, the eating was slow going. The crunchy peanut butter added a wonderful texture to the burger experience. Thankfully this was not a dry burger. It was plenty juicy to keep the chewing going without becoming a chore.
I loved the sticky burger! So much, in fact, that I went back a week later and had it again. Consistently good! Consistently strange! I’m tempted to try the other odd burger choices that Hubcap offers, but I’m probably more tempted to just get another sticky burger and then take an afternoon nap.
