Hamburgers and America. Happy 4th of July!

Nothing says Summer and Independence Day like grilling out with friends and family on the 4th with an icon of American cuisine- The Hamburger! In my cooking career I've probably made 20-30,000 of these things and it never really gets old, I still don't mind making them, and I still love to eat 'em (even though I can't right now because of my diet). So this week on The Brag I'll talk a little about mine and my favorites from the past & present. Maybe it'll even help me work through the pain of not being able to have one, but probably not. So here goes..

If you've never looked into it I'll fill you in. Even though many seem to say they've invented the Hamburger Sandwich one place in particular seems to have the greatest claim. It's Louis' Lunch in New Haven, CT, just ask 'em! Actually don't, they'll probably throw you out. Just take my word for it.. If you've never been I highly recommend it, if nothing else for just pure nostalgic value, but the burgers are great too!

Luckily my sister in law was getting married up in Cromwell, CT near her home in Durham so we got the chance to swing through New Haven on the way back to the in-laws in Pelham, NY to grab a bite! Just don't ask for ketchup, they'll throw you out for that too..

The three dudes work in a frenzy here! Notice the old school white toaster and the three original cast iron vertical broilers in the background..

Where the magic happens! One of the owners removing the meat from the clam-shell that is used to grill the burgers in the vertical gas broiler. He then "dresses" them with fresh sliced beefsteak tomatoes and red onion on the white bread from the toaster and serves them to the customers.

The finished product. Delicious!

Another place in the Tri-state area that people tend to make a point of visiting is the White Manna in Hackensack, NJ. Not to be confused with White Mana in Jersey City where Mike Tyson keeps his pet pigeons..While many people "flock" to (pun intended) White Mana in Jersey City the more popular burger stand is White Manna in Hackensack.So much so in fact that Gourmet Magazine voted their White Castle like sliders the best burger in America a few years back! We stopped here on our way back from my families old stomping grounds in Shrewsbury last time we were there.

While the ones at White Manna are good I prefer the sliders at the White Diamond in Clark, NJ more.. My friend Shane Goodwin turned me on to this place. It's one of his great childhood memories growing up in Rumson and stopping here as a kid. Maybe it's just the seasoning on the grill, who knows! They seem pretty similar to me and they're fantastic! Stop in if you get the chance, it's right off the Jersey Turnpike.

My absolute favorite burger place back east though (and the one that is just down the street from the in-laws house) is "Greasy Nicks" (aka Leno's Clam Bar) in New Rochelle, NY. In fact, we love it so much that we put a burger on out menu as homage to the original and we called it what else, but "The Greasy Nick"!

Yes, I do believe the rumors are true that Nick Leno is indeed Jay Leno's cousin. Don't tell 'em I told you though! Anyway, in addition to awesome burgers they do serve some of the best "full belly" fried clams around when in season. This place is right on the waterfront and it gets crazy when it's nice out. Good thing we visit in May or October so we always get a seat.

I think the secret with this one is the bread, but it's really hard to get past the fried onion and beefy goodness! you almost don't need any condiments here, although my wife drenches it in ketchup. To each their own!

Our restaurant The Little Diner in Vail Colorado serves all shapes and sizes of hamburgers during lunch. Like the rest of our menu some are traditional favorites, others are regional specialties from around the country and a few are proprietary inventions that were made intentionally (or not) by us to spice the menu up a little. One of those unintentional inventions is The Little Burger- pictured below.

 

This is the "prototype" created the night before we opened the Diner the first time. I basically took items I had available on hand to make everyone something quick for dinner after working all day to get the restaurant ready to open. It's simplicity and massiveness are awesome and it's basically a giant Bob's Big Boy or Big Mac. A double decker with the middle bread, two half pound Angus beef patties, four slices of American cheese, four slices of bacon, and special sauce. It's fantastic! And a gut-buster..

Here at The Little Diner I believe we do serve the best burger in Vail, CO. 100% all natural (hand made in-house) Angus Beef half-pound patties, artisan buns, the best cheeses and bacon money can buy, fresh vine ripened tomatoes, crisp lettuce, and quality condiments.

Our variety is great too! In addition to The Little Burger and the "classic" burgers (Hamburger, Cheeseburger, and Bacon Cheeseburger) we have the Patty Melt and the Avocado Cheese Burger to round out our traditional burger selection. After that we get into the more non-traditional burger selections that are more regional specialties. I guess since the Patty Melt and Avocado Cheese Burger were invented in Southern California they could be considered "regional specialties".. The aforementioned "Greasy Nick" with caramelized onions and American cheese, the Lumberjack with Taylor Ham from the Jersey Shore, the chili cheese burger, and the "Hatch" of New Mexico fame with diced green chiles and a fried egg on top all round out our menu.

While I love our burgers there are a few I just can't help but stop to eat when I'm in different parts of the country or Colorado. I love Whataburger when south of the Mason-Dixon, In-n-Out is a definite stop when in CA, NV, AZ, or UT, I eat Krystal (the southern equivalent of White Castle) when spending time visiting family in Tennessee (or on a layover at ATL), Good Times is great whenever I see one, Larkburger is great, and lately the burgers at Wendy's have been pretty awesome!

Another one I should mention is the "Black Label" burger at the Minetta Tavern in Greenwich Village (Manhattan). It is probably the epitome of what a burger can be, but I'm sure if you really wanted to you could watch the Anthony Bourdain- No Reservations episode to get the inside scoop so there is no reason to elaborate. And, as long as we're on the subject of high brow burger awesomeness the one at Peter Luger in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) is worth mentioning as well despite the fact that most peoiple go there for the famous Porterhouse. Last time I was there though I couldn't help but notice table after table ordering the burger at lunchtime, I guess the word is out! While neither is cheap they are well worth the money. If you ever get the chance- do it! They are both worth every cent.

The ones I miss the most though are the places I went to when I was growing up in Seattle. Dicks and Zeke's. It's a taste of home and my mouth will always water just thinking about them..

Yes, THAT Dick's, of Sir Mix-a-Lot fame ("My Posse's On Broadway" anyone?). Luckily last time we were back in Seattle a year ago May we were staying right across the street from the one on Lower Queen Anne so I could get my fix anytime day or night! This picture however was taken at the original Wallingford location we went to when I was little. My wife and I had to make the pilgrimage despite the fact there are Dick's all over Washington now.

Behold! Zeke's Drive-In! Just outside the hamlet of Gold Bar, WA on Route 2 on the way to Stevens Pass lies this diamond in the rough. Well worth the detour or a stop when skiing Stevens Pass, hiking Mt. Pilchuck, or Wallace Falls, this place never disappoints.

While the burgers are awesome (especially the "honeymooners special") it's kinda like Whataburger- the onion rings are really what you're after! These are by far the best ones in the world! Beer battered sweet Walla Walla onion goodness. I highly recommend sprinkling them with the provided Johnny's Salt though for the "full-on" experience.

Well, that's all for now! Hopefully you're not too hungry after this.. As Wimpy would say: "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today". ;)

Weekend at Berns-ies!

Well,
        I promised a little history and a little bit from our trip to the gulf coast and since I'm late posting last weeks I'll give you some of of both to make up for it.. Anyway, when I was a kid my mother traveled all over the country for business and was wined and dined over dinner with clients and business associates at all the best restaurants. She would always collect the matchbooks and custom swizzle-sticks from these places so of course being kids we would go through her "spoils" and ask her about these far away culinary destinations.

The one that came up most often in conversation and the one that was probably her favorite was Berns Steakhouse in Tampa, FL. I've been dreaming about going here my whole life since I first heard the place described in detail to me by my mother. It was almost a fairytale- it's plain warehouse-looking exterior, the lavish entryway, the enormous wine list and menu, the cavernous wine cellar, etc.. But, what more could be said about one of the best steakhouses in the country with the largest wine cellar in the world? Not much, although I guess I'll add my two cents.

I would have gotten a better shot on the way in , but there was a huge party bus parked out front. Like I said, not too impressive from the outside and back in the day when my Mom came here it was a rough area. Now the neighborhood is gentrified with many new hip restaurants and bars nearby.

Don't worry, the doors aren't warped, it was just the panorama feature on the iPhone. I couldn't get the picture perfect with it being such a busy place. The restaurant seats 350 people and they turn out between 800 and 1,200 dinners a night! We played it safe and made our reservations two months in advance.

This was another difficult one to get. The foyer is old school awesomeness! Darkly lit, velvet lined walls, vintage chandeliers, statues, and huge oil paintings. When my mother came here back in the late 70's and early 80's they still had separate men's and women's smoking parlors on either side of the entryway as you walked in. Upstairs are the restrooms and straight back to the left of the entryway is the bar area.

Our dining room. I counted six separate dining areas, plus the bar, and the Harry Waugh Dessert Room upstairs. Each room is distinctly different yet all done in the same general theme. You can find tons of great pictures of the whole restaurant here.

Yes, the wine list is a wine BOOK! And just for the bottles, the wines by the glass are in the folder below. They have everything from everywhere and for obvious reasons is on the top of the list in Wine Spectator year after year. Bern and Gert Laxer were collectors of fine wines for themselves, their beloved restaurant, and later their wine store. With a wine cellar that houses over 500,000 bottles this book is a necessity and is actually smaller than the one that was printed when Bern was still alive. It was so big and famous he chained them to the tables so no one would take them as souvenirs! Berns employs two full time Sommelier's and several apprentices that man the wine room and wine cellar to manage all of this, more on that later! You can view the wine list by clicking here.

This is the wines-by-the-glass book. It's probably the size of most good restaurants wine list. They have well over two hundred wines by the glass and several pages of specialty drinks, liquors, and beers in here.

Started things off "right" with one of my faves- Blanton's Bourbon "neat" with two ice cubes.

Berns Classic Manhattan while I pa-rouse the gigantic menu! One of the best I've ever had. Notice the erect pinky.

This is just the steak list page on the book-like menu. They have nearly every popular cut of beef in any weight and/ or thickness you desire. They literally butcher your steak for you at the time you order it. You can get any steak with or without the bone and if you order the Strip Loin the cut out the tough gristly bits and replace it with tenderloin so you don't loose any of the weight. If you order a 24oz Strip Loin you get 24oz of edible meat here folks. This attention to detail on their meat is why they command the high prices you see above and it's worth every cent! On the opposite page it describes this process as well as how to order it the way you want it cooked. Every sauce and style of cooking a steak is represented and is an option- Oscar style, Diane, Au Poive, Demi Glas, Chimichurri, you name it although most people just get it the way it comes brushed with garlic butter. They will cook it to the EXACT temperature you want it. You like it somewhere between medium-rare and medium? No problem!You can of course check the menu out here, but I'll try to sum it up for you. The first page on the inside of the cover has the daily specials that include appetizers, fresh local seafood, and a meat dish or two like kobe beef or a 90 day dry aged steak. It then moves on to the salads, cheeses, appetizers, and the caviar menu, yes, menu.. Then the steak pages and after that the non-beef options i.e. their classic seafood and poultry dishes. it's all good here! They even feature LIVE seafood. There are fish tanks in the kitchen and they will butcher your fresh live fish to order.. AWESOME!

I obviously had wine pairings with every course.. So many different ones in fact with all the courses that I just told the waiter to bring me whatever he thought would go well. I love wine, but I am far from an aficionado and with the dizzying selection they have here I felt it was better left in the hands of a professional. It was great! Everything he suggested went together perfectly.

Now,  on to the most important part. The food! Above you see the Escargots with home made Italian Bread Toast Points. It was about the best we've ever had! The sauce was so good we practically licked the dish clean! Ridiculously rich and the depth of flavor was outstanding! We couldn't stop ourselves from eating everything including the bread even though we knew we had four more courses coming!

 

Somehow I dropped the ball and missed snapping shots of the French Onion Soup course and the waiter making our salads tableside.. Oops! Guess the alcohol was starting to kick in a little.. Anyway, the soup was good, the salads were impressively prepared table side by the waiter, and of course the wine was fantastic! With Berns being one of the first "Farm to Table" restaurants some of the vegetables (especially the hard to find ones) are grown on the restaurants own farm. The waiters (who train for at least a year) spend a month or two working on the farm during their internship.

It just keeps getting better.. In the foreground you see the ultimate 32 oz. NY Striploin with all the fat and gristle removed and supplanted by the chunk of tenderloin to the left, then topped with Fois Gras and garlic butter. In the back is my wife's Fillet Mignon. Both came with Creamed Spinach, Fried Onion Strings, Sauteed Carrots, Baked Potato with all the fixins (prepared tableside), or you can upgrade to the twice baked potato like I did. In the middle there are two boats- one with Red Wine Demi Glace and one with a Sesame-Soy Veloute (kind of like a fancy-extra thick Teriyaki sauce). Everything was off the hook!

After you pay your bill for the dinner portion of your meal you are given the option of getting a tour of the kitchen and wine cellar on your way up to the Harry Waugh Dessert Room upstairs. One of the waitstaff interns gives the guided tour and you are allowed to take as many pictures and ask as many questions as you like.

Above you see the main kitchen area with the Expo Station on the left. Behind the Expo area is the charcoal grill that cooks about 200 steaks at a time and is manned by four cooks. To the left of that beyond the video screens hanging from the ceiling is the Fry Station where nearly 500 lbs of onions per day are cut fresh to order, battered, and fried to accompany the steaks. To the right is the Saute Station manned by four cooks and the walkway in the middle goes to the butchering area, bakery, and Dessert Station.

Here is where the magic happens! The Butchering area on the back side of the Grilling Station (to the left) as they were cleaning up for the night. This is where all the steaks and fish are cut fresh to order. If you want a 3" thick 32 oz. steak (like I did) this is where they carve it! To the right is the Bakery and behind that is the Dessert/ Pastry Station.

Tucked back in the far corner of the baking area is Berns' very own coffee roaster. This vintage turn - of - the - century cast iron workhorse roasts all of Berns' hand picked beans for use in all of their coffees, desserts, and kitchen recipe's!

Yes, they even have their own cheese cave! Kind of a necessity with all the wine and giant dessert menu I guess.. Anyway, there are two to store and age the huge selection here. They are both regulated differently for temperature and humidity based on the types of cheese. One is for softer cheeses and kept at 50 degrees and 90% humidity. The other is for hard cheeses and kept at 55-60 degrees and 80% humidity. To the left of the cheese cave are the huge coolers that house the two 1,200 gallon live fish tanks, but they don't let you take pictures of that.. You can check out the cheese menu by clicking here.

You walk through a refrigerated room where they keep the white wines to get from the kitchen into the wine cellar. This is the foyer in the red wine portion of the cellar with the first row of bottles on the left and the red wines by the glass on the right. The doorway to the rear leads to the dessert wine room. As I said before they have over 200 wines by the glass and they keep about 150-200,000 bottles on site. The rest of their 500,000 bottle + collection is kept in a warehouse nearby that also services their store- Berns Fine Wine & Spirits. Check it out here!

Here is one of the rows, there are at least five that I could count of just reds. It's basically floor to ceiling with bottles stuck into nooks and crannies all over the place..

Unfortunately due to the darkness and the romance of the Harry Waugh Dessert Room this was the best photo I could get. You can get a better idea of how the room looks by checking out the photo's here. The wooden alcoves are made out of re-purposed redwood wine barrels that sit between two and six people depending on the size of your group. There are also open booths that surround the grand piano where the maestro plays nightly. We got one of the wine barrels which was pretty cool and retro chic. Kind of a 70's feel like the rest of the restaurant. Each booth comes complete with a music selector switch where you can pick either the live feed from the piano, or jazz, Sinatra, etc. as well as a phone to summon your server.

They treat the dessert room as almost a separate restaurant (hence the paying of your check downstairs for dinner first) and there is a separate host stand when you arrive upstairs. In fact, you can make a reservation just for the dessert room if you want to. When you are seated the server goes through everything and the dessert menu is just as extensive as the dinner menu in the dining room. The first two of three pages are desserts and cheeses while the rest of the book are dessert wines, aperitif's, dessert drinks, and coffee drinks. You can read more about Harry Waugh and the dessert menu by clicking here.

"Cafe Con Leche" Bern.. This is Berns version of the classic Ybor City- Cafe Con Leche and it was probably the single best coffee drink I've ever had in my life.. It was perfect in every way!

For the grand finale my wife had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle with a scoop of house made Banana Ice Cream and for me I had the Malted Chocolate Cake with the mini chocolate malt and malted chocolate mousse. We shared and they were some of the best desserts we ever had. Of course every single element is made in-house from the ice cream to the malt balls and it shows. .Not pictured is the awesome tawny port our waitress suggested go with the chocolate.. A great finish to an unbelievable dining experience!

If you're ever in the Tampa area this place is a must-do! I've had ties to this place my whole life and it was one of my dreams to come here so we made the detour and it was the cherry on top of our gulf coast tour! While I've probably had better individual items of this meal at other restaurants (for the most part) none of them can pull off the whole experience like Berns does night after night. If you're a wine person there is no better place in the world! All in all it was well worth the trip and if you do come plan on dining here twice at least so you can truly explore the menu . Also, bring your wallet because you'll want to try all the good stuff this place has to offer and the wine!

Cheers!

Healthy Eating..

As you may see by my svelte physique I am not a health nut or anything. But, I am definitely not in the best shape of my life- especially after coming home from the previously mentioned Gulf Coast vacation. Anyway, as you can presume I am on a diet from chowing down seriously hard for three weeks and will continue as long as I can without loosing my mind!

In the meantime I will keep myself busy with the "Brag" exploring my history of food and sharing with you all why I love it, where I've been, what I've done, what I miss, who I admire, what I've seen, where I want to go, and what I hope to do in the future. Some future posts you'll see things I'm coming up with in The Little Diner "Test Kitchen" here at our house in Vail, CO and maybe a behind the scenes glimpse or two at our restaurant..

Check it out:

Simplicity at it's finest and one of my most favorite treats. You say "Yeah, but it's just a Grapefruit", but it's not JUST a Grapefruit it's one of natures finest inventions! Sweet-Sour-Deliciousness! And, once you get past the painful chore of cutting out the individual pieces the melt in your mouth pulp of the slices are just that- a little slice of heaven! No need for sugar here, my wife does that, but she's a girl. I love it! Moving on..

Ahh!!! Two of my most favorite things in the world- Sushi Rice and my trusty Zojirushi "Neuro-Fuzzy" Rice Maker! First, the rice.. While most sushi rice will do, the one I like the most is the one we have here. Kokuho Rose from Koda Farms in South Dos Palos, CA in the Central Valley. Doesn't get much better! If you're in a bind Nishiki makes a pretty good product.  Anyway, it's topped with Shichimi Togarashi- a zesty Japanese seven chili pepper spice blend and Tamari- the traditional Japanese dark soy sauce. No Kikoman here folks! I just use that stuff to cook with.. I've been eating this combination since I was a little kid going out for Japanese food in the International District with my family growing up in Seattle. More on that later!

The Zojirushi! Best rice maker ever! It's called "Neuro Fuzzy" because it is intelligent and actually cooks the rice perfectly every time based on standard cook times, humidity, type of rice to be cooked, etc.. Not only that, but all you have to do is load it properly, select the type of rice, push the pink button on the right, it plays a little chime, and does everything else automatically! No fuss- no muss! When it's done it plays "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and your good to go! You can also leave the rice in there for up to two days if you want! Thats right, TWO DAYS! FRESH-HOT-RICE! It's like having a hot food dispenser on your kitchen counter, AWESOME!

Simple Smoked Salmon Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette and Crispy Julienned Fish Skins. I would have gone with the Ginger-soy Vinaigrette, but I ran out. This is what's for dinner tonight, and it worked out great! More simple pleasures. The crispy fish skins aren't for everyone, but growing up in the northwest crispy Salmon skin is just one of those treats you don't pass up when you get the chance.. For me anyway, maybe it's the Japanese influence.

Oishii desu ne!

So,

After photo-bombing everyone on Facebook during a recent trip to the Gulf Coast with all my foodie stuff I decided that it was "high time" to breakdown and start my very own food blog- or brag as I'd like to call it.. This is the first entry mostly to test it out. I'm still pretty green with this whole thing so it will definitely be a learning process.

Cheers!