Sunday, March 16, 2008

Yummy Yummy Yummy (I Got Love In My Tummy)

A couple of friends of mine recently started on a burger quest. We didn’t really set out on a “quest,” but one Friday GJ said let’s grab a burger at BLT Burger and we did. Then the following weekend we found ourselves at a joint in Alphabet City and then it became an almost weekly thing.

So our burger crusade has become a nice conversation starter because even a vegetarian is on the lookout for a decent veggie burger (though they’ll never find that out here!). And once you tell someone what we’re doing, they inevitably ask, “so where’s the best one?” and “are you writing reviews?” Well it’s too early in the search to say where the best one is yet, and with my poor memory, it’s bordering on too late to write them up.

But it’s clear you can’t start a mission like this and not document it, so here’s my feeble attempt. Please note that these are not really reviews. I don’t know much about food and probably couldn’t tell ground chuck from sirloin. And I can’t find a non-stilted or clichéd way of writing a restaurant review – so I’m not going to try. When I wrote music “reviews” I always wanted to find a way to make the music pertinent to your life. Thus my goal was to give you a sense of whether a record would appeal to your ears. Who better to judge the quality of music then the listener and the maker. And so it goes with burgers.

However, these write ups include the thoughts of the 3 main participants. I pulled out what’s important to me and threw a few words down about those things so that you could decide for yourself if you want to go. But my counterparts have a different interest in food. GJ would never be so pretentious to describe himself as a “foodie,” but Fish and I have no compunction about describing him as such. And Fish is a former chef who’s run kitchens in some very popular restaurants around New York City. So he gets the “chef” designation and brings that knowledge to our journey. Me? I once described myself as a food pedestrian – meaning my taste buds are not well developed, but I know what I like and don’t like (which could be anything from Taco Bell to the Union Square Café).

If you’re in town and want to join us on one of our burger treks, say the word. Otherwise heed these words and enjoy your next hamburger.

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy,
I. got love in my tummy,
That your love can satisfy;
Love, you're such a sweet thing,
Good enough to eat thing
And sweet thing, that ain't no lie.
I love to hold ya,
Oh love, to kiss ya,
Ooh love, I love it so.
Ooh love, you're sweeter,
Sweeter than sugar.
Ooh love, I wont let you go.

--Ohio Express

1 comment:

Gregory Joseph said...

The burger quest did in fact start later that evening after we had left 'BLT Burger' As we were walking up 6th Avenue on our way to the post-game, we all started talking about where out favorite burger in the City resided. All sorts of establishments were tossed about: Corner Bistro, Pete's Tavern to name a few. Two days later I sent this email to the crew:

"Who's up for finding out where the best burger resides? We can get together once a week or so and hit a different burger spot. All suggestions encouraged."

Since then we've embarked on this quest and it has been satisfying and seldom disappointing. Like Figy Pudin, I'm not playing favorites, nor am I putting one place above the other. I'm just trying to find a great meal, great value and great conversation with two great friends.

A few takeaways from BLT.

Dale's Pale Ale - love this beer and its great that this French-inspired burger place has found a place on its beer list for this Colorado micro.

Buddy Holly - Snagged a free CD from Figy

The Cranberries - Yes, we had to let it linger and linger we did. The place cleared out by the time we finished off out desserts and allowed us the time to linger at our table talking about nothing important at all. A welcomed change of pace from your normal Friday night dining experience.

GJ