austin day 1

sandy's drive-in is a five minute walk from my hotel.

ordered a single - a thin griddled patty topped with mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles, on a sturdy bun with bacon and cheese. the fries were forgettable, but the burger solid.

later in the evening, dinner at fonda san miguel: fish in vera cruz sauce washed down with a DIY michelada.

Boerum Hill Green Chile Festival

Oh, hello there! How's it going? Guess what? The PSG is back in Park Slope. Even back to the same street where the PSG originated. Clinton Hill, we already miss you tons. Before we made the move back, we attended the First Annual Boerum Hill Green Chile Festival at Sean and Rebecca's newish apartment. DMR and I were introduced to green chile in New Mexico two summers ago but had been since deprived of this wonderful member of the capsaicin family.

A beautiful spread of pickled, cured and cultured edibles greeted us.

The chiles arrived from Hatch, NM, but were roasted by hand in small batches in Boerum Hill. By Sean and Rebecca's hands! Or maybe just Sean's. They were chopped up and incorporated into an elegant version of cheese fries. The chiles, not Sean's hands.

And of course, the chiles were used as a topping for cheeseburgers. The burgers were six ounce patties of Pat La Frieda's original blend - a mixture of brisket, chuck, and short rib. If you're going to go pre-made patty route, this is the only way to go. They are super flavorful and create a very juicy burger. A colorful salad of tomatoes and greens with Rebecca's homemade ranch dressing shared the plate and helped move the healthy needle to the right just a wee bit.

To drink, the only proper beverage to pair with a burger - BEER. Bud longnecks, PBR extra-tall boys and a hodge podge of others. A truly lovely meal.

DMR posted some photos of not food.

road trip to new haven

I took an impromptu road trip with Mooney and Yu to New Haven, CT, for some pizza. Dan chose to stay home to watch the Mets march towards another late season failure. After careful consideration, we decided on Frank Pepe. Based on closing hours, Sally's was our fallback and then Modern. I've been meaning to get up to New Haven for years now, not just for pizza but because Dr. Abby's been living here for a while and I still have never visited.

Yu can't contain her excitement for a clam pie.

Small clam pie. I love the roughness of the pie's shape and non-scientific slicing method.

Large spinach and sausage. I never think to order spinach as a topping, but this worked out so deliciously! The crusts were super thin but held up well to the toppings.

It's me and Dr. Abby! We are both drinking beers, but I am drinking clear birch beer.

The aftermath.

The famous ovens and super long pizza peels.

We were all stuffed but felt it was our duty to head a few blocks over to Louis Lunch, home of America's first hamburger. The meat is cooked in these ancient vertical ovens and served on toasted white bread with a schmear of cheese spread. Tomato and onion are options, but ketchup is not! I got a gassosa to drink and could not finish my half of the burger I split with Abby. Mooney made good work of his. I think Yu had a bite. Next time, I will have to sample a burger on a slightly less full tummy.

Weekend Eating Highlights

I’ve decided to start making routine posts – AGAIN. Hopefully it will go better this time.

Friday night’s dinner

Was feeling nostalgic and in the mood for sushi, so met up with a friend at Sushi Samba 7. I was shocked to find that this place was still packed to the gills by the “fake” sushi eating masses at 10:00 pm on a Friday night in 2008 AND that people actually had thought to make reservations. I only went there as a joke, so couldn’t believe how many people were trying to eat there for real. Even though, based upon my best recollections, Sushi Samba 7 didn’t pop up on the grid, or rather below the grid, until the mid to late nineties, it definitely has a distinct American Psycho vibe. I literally expected to see Patrick Bateman come strolling in with some sort of gore stuck to the lapel of his Cerruti suit. Regardless, this is what we ate:

- Samba 7 Roll - crispy lobster, scallion, cucumber, celery & jalapeño with wasabi-chimichurri dipping sauce
- Neo Tokyo Roll - yellowfin tuna, tempura flake & aji panca
- Pacific Roll - king crab, avocado, asian pear, soy paper & wasabi-avocado crema
- Two Kumamoto oysters and one Fanny Bay oyster (I ate these without the help of my friend)
- One piece of mackerel sushi (also a solo job)

Afterward, most likely because I was drunk, I got he idea in my brain that I was still ravenous, so we went to Rare, where I consumed what most would consider a proper dinner, but I categorized it simply as a snack/dessert. After carefully weighing my options, I ordered the M&M Burger, which is flambéed in whiskey, topped with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon. Just to be on the safe side, I also ordered a side of truffle butter. In hindsight, I think I was actually very hungry and not just eating my feelings, as I did not feel overly full upon finishing my second dinner.

Saturday evening hors d'œuvres

In honor of her adorable mother’s visit to New York, my friend Dani threw a little party at her apartment on Saturday night. Since I am a one trick pony, I promised to bring oysters and scallops wrapped in bacon (wrapped separately, not together). Since it is my only one, I feel very fortunate that it is such a great trick. Usually I buy my seafood for this exercise at the Citarella on Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street, but didn’t really give myself ample lead time so had to go to Provisions in Fort Greene. Despite eagerly anticipating the opening of the Greene Grape’s bougie grocery last spring, I have been avoiding it due to reports of how ridiculously overpriced everything is. But alas, my hands were tied and I had to pull the trigger on Saturday in order to procure my little fruits de mer.

Too many dollars later, I emerged from my maiden voyage to Provisions with one pound of Mexican dry scallops, a dozen Hurricane Harbor oysters and a pound of lovely d’Artagnan (did you know that this purveyor of fine frenchie meats was based in Newark, NJ?) uncured applewood smoked bacon. While I felt everything was absurdly overpriced, the fact that the butcher who assisted me with my seafood purchases (yes, butcher - apparently the regular fishmonger was off that day) looked like a more handsome, bearded, beefier version of Lukas Haas helped to cushion the blow a little bit. I was vaguely interested in posting a missed connections thingy, something like “You – cute Provisions butcher person with Social Distortiony looking tattoos poking out from under your chef’s coat. Me – short Asian with Huey Lewis pin who enjoys wrapping things in bacon”, but my inherent laziness got the better of me.

Anyway, I was planning on going to the Greene Grape wine shop to pick up a bottle of Prosecco, but felt like I had given them enough of my money for one day, so instead walked up the street to Olivino, where I purchased a nice and inexpensive bottle of Charles de Fère blanc de blanc. I am happy to report that my bacon wrapped deliciousnesses, accompanied by the above referenced sparkling, were very well received by the guest of honor and I hope to delight her with more bacon wrapped concoctions in the not too distant future.

Taylor's Maid-Rites in Memphis

Even shipped from Iowa to Memphis frozen and re-heated for 45 seconds in a microwave (Maid Rite's instructions) they were delicious. They came plain with little baggies of finely chopped onions and thinly sliced pickles to put on if you wanted.

I had them plain and with onion/pickle/plain yellow mustard. It tasted great no matter what you did. If you remember from Sandwiches You Will Like, they double grind their own Iowa beef in the basement and then cook it upstairs. You'd think that it would taste like a sloppy joe minus the sauce, but it doesn't because the meat is so fine and they boil it instead of frying it up.

Photo and text courtesy of Hot Tub Eric of Memphis, TN.

green chile in new mexico pt 2 - burger vs. burger

Hmmm, we're in Santa Fe. What should we eat? Green chile cheeseburgers of course! We first tried Bert's Burger Bowl, which was a stone's throw from our hotel. These guys opened their doors in 1954 and claim to have invented this burger.

Dan manages to smile even though he is not happy with me making him pose in front of the joint.

We both ordered the house specialty and I got onion rings on the side and a lime coke to wash it all down. The mister got fries and a cherry coke. The patty was on the thin side and adorned with cheese, green chile, onions, pickle and mustard. There were no tomatoes due to the salmonella scare. I think they had a sign up explaining this.

Here's a shot of the lovely couple. The onion rings were awesome, perfectly crisp with a good balance of batter and onion. I just wish there were more than 6-7 to an order. The fries left much to be desired and it kills me to say this because Bert's is such an institution, but the burger did not live up to the hype either. The patty was overcooked and not moist at all.

But those onion rings!!!

The following day, on our way out of town to El Paso, we tried the Bobcat Bite, which is on the Old Las Vegas Highway (once a part of the old Route 66). I can't recall where I first heard about this place, but I've been dreaming about this burger for a long time. It's run by a husband and wife team, and on this afternoon, a person who I imagine is their son was working there as well.

Again, we opted for the green chile cheeseburgers, cooked medium. Instead of chips, we split an order of home fries. Everything was cooked to order and we got there during a brisk lunch service, so had a little wait for our food. We ordered the home fries extra crispy and they came out as such. My only issue was that once again, I tasted "butter flavored something." I don't know if it was oil or margarine, but in this case, at least the potato seasoning helped to overcome that strange flavor.

This is an entirely different beast than Bert's burger. The burger is 10 ounces of meat (ground daily in-house!) and the patty alone is probably thicker than a Bert's patty plus bun. On the side were a couple pieces of crisp green leaf lettuce and two slices of bright red plum tomatoes.

The cross section reveals a perfectly cooked medium burger. This thing was oozing juices and the heft of the meat completely crushed the bottom bun. I liked the use of white American cheese over standard issue orange. It was almost a perfect burger... The meat was a little underseasoned; an extra dash of salt and pepper would have made for a knock your socks off burger. Even so, it was still a very, very, very good burger. I managed to finish it, though that last bite was really tough.

Taylor's Automatic Refresher - San Francisco, CA

San Francisco makes me feel very healthy. Maybe it's the clean, crisp air, or all the hills that make an eastward trek to Prospect Park seem like a cakewalk. So I chose to celebrate this feeling with a HAMBURGER, haha!


The walk from my hotel to Taylor's Automatic Refresher in the Ferry Building was a straight shot, and quick. I debated ordering the ahi tuna burger but settled on a classic bacon cheeseburger: a thinner, California style patty, American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles and secret sauce on a toasted egg bun. While I waiting for my order, I sat by the grill and watched the cooks in action from behind the glass. There was a lot going on in a small amount of space.

My burger was tasty, but lukewarm. This temperature issue prevented the cheese from melting into that satisfying ooey, gooey consistency. The hamburger patty oddly broke in half, as well. But the lettuce was crisp, the tomatoes ripe and the little wax paper jacket did help to control the juice and drippings.


To go along with the burger, I ordered some garlic fries, which are tossed in garlic butter & parsley. These were a fantastic shade of green and the camera doesn't do any justice to the neon hue of the fries. They were perfectly crisped and the seasoning was well distributed.


Washing the meal down was a Trumer Pilsner, an Austrian beer that a few years ago opened a brewery outpost in Berkeley. If I could find it on the East Coast, Trumer Pilsner would be what I drink all summer. It was so refreshing.

A Red Hook Eating Day

Started the day with some huaraches at the Red Hook food stands.

A vendor sprinkles cheese on the double layered shell.


Two plates needed for the finished product, which is touched with three of the four hot sauces they had available. I thought the lighter green one was going to be guacamole-based and mild. I was wrong. Thank goodness for the extra large horchata that did a very good job of cooling things down.


Hot Tub was visiting with Memphis. Amie had brunch plans with a friend so Hot Tub dug into the corn all by himself. He did pick up a horchata and bean and cheese pupusa for her on the way out.


Then it was a short drive down the road to get some Swingles (a frozen mini key lime pie on a stick and dipped in chocolate) from Steve's.


Dave taunts young Henry.


That evening, dinner at Lucali's gets thwarted by the two hour waiting time, so we headed over to Schnack. We got an order of fries and onion rings for the table. I got a kielbasa and single as well as a Sprecher root beer for myself. I think Hot Tub got the same kielbasa and single combo. Amie ordered the most delicious looking root beer shake and a single. Mooney went with the chili and Chris Larry got the RC Cola ribs. Dan got the two singles - one with bacon, one with cheese - pictured below. By the way, Schnack is now BYOB, but you can still order beer shakes.

Does this mean no more Bubba Burgers?

Via Grub Street:

The greatest hamburger mystery of our time has been solved: We have it from a high-level source near the situation that the location of the long-awaited sequel to Shake Shack is Citi Field, better known as the new Shea Stadium. (Citi Field is currently under construction; it will be finished in April 2009, in time for opening day.) And that most definitely is not all: The Union Square Hospitality Group also plans a Danny Meyer sit-down restaurant there. (We’re waiting to hear back from Meyer on both of these reports.) As for the new Shake Shack, well, if you thought ball games resulted in long lines to the bathroom …

This has potential to be really, really great. What I'm worried about though is who is going to man the station? While Shea easily outperforms that other ballpark in New York when it comes to variety and quality of food served, the food service workers are slower than slow. The set up is illogical and it couldn't be more inefficient if they tried (well, actually....).

Since I don't eat the dogs that have been stewing in the steam case, I have to go to a stand and order from there. Here's how it usually plays out. Place your order with the food service worker (FSW). Oh, it's already the bottom of the first and hot dogs are not ready? Ok, find another stand. Place order with FSW. FSW then goes to put on rubber gloves. FSW walks to get the hot dog bun out of the plastic bag. FSW then struggles to split the bun. FSW comes back to you and asks, "You wanted a hot dog, right?" FSW over to the hot dog grillers and gets a dog. FSW starts talking with another FSW. FSW then put the dog in paper holder. FSW is about to ring you up, oh wait, FSW gets distracted and walks away. So close! FSW comes back and can't remember what you ordered. FSW finally rings you up. FSW takes your money. FSW eventually gives you your change. FSW has taken 5 minutes to put a fucking hot dog in a fucking bun.

Getting a burger at the Shake Shack is an ordeal (with delicious payout, however), after typing out the hot dog retrieval process, getting a burger at the Shake Shack at Citi Field might be something I have to stay away from.

Yesterday I went to the Mets vs. Braves with work and it was the first time at Shea for everyone in my department but me! I steered my meat-eating coworkers to the Mama's stand, which was a big hit. Thank god the sandwich was good because the game left me wanting to throw up.

It Crawled from the South Part V: Fourth of July Memphis Style

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than with some Korean barbecue? But first, a trip to Hernando, MS, to visit the Velvet Cream with DMR and Amie P.

The Velvet Cream is a tiny little shack with a huge menu and no tables or seats. You step up to the counter and place your order and either eat in or on the car.

I got a cheeseburger with the works and tater tots with melted cheese. The burger was nothing special, but the tater tots were an awesome crunchy and gooey mess. I loved the way the cheese was evenly draped over the potato nugget treasures. Amie P. got a vanilla snow, which was a delicious shake meets slush combo and Dan got a strawberry Sprite. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I was very wary of this strawberry Sprite. I was afraid it'd be Sprite with a couple pumps of strawberry syrup. I was terribly mistaken. The SS turned out to be a Sprite with real strawberries muddled into it! Granted, they were frozen, but I was really impressed by this. Also impressive were the t-shirts worn by the workers. DMR went up to get a Girl Scout Samoa Shake and wound up meeting the owner. Turns out they were out of t-shirts, but more would be coming in the next day. He said to stop by and we'd get free shirts, only we couldn't because we'd be leaving town! How's that for bad luck! Velvet Cream, if you read this, can you send us some shirts??? Also, please send us a snow shake. Yum!

Then it was back to Memphis for some grilling! Here's Sam getting ready. Sam is 1/4 Korean and 100% good times. Rumor has it he was a little nervous about having a Korean (that'd be me) try his LA kalbi. Pish posh! It was good stuff.

Hot Tub threw in some wood chips with the coals which gave the meat a really nice smoky flavor.

Out from the smoke emerges yours truly two- fisting High Lifes!

It Crawled from the South Part III: Music City, USA Day One

After a few nights in Memphis, DMR and I headed to Nashville! After making the three hour drive, we met up with some work colleagues of mine for a lunch of meat and threes at Arnold's Country Kitchen. Once again I messed up and forgot to grab the camera from the bag but the wonderful Holly's Eats has a great entry on Arnold's with a ton of photos, including this exterior shot:


So basically Arnold's is a no frills cafeteria style eatery. Grab a tray, tell 'em what you want and don't hold up the line. The food was so tasty and the workers cheery and funny as hell. I think no matter how fast you place your order, they'll still be telling you to move faster. I loved being there. I loved having my food served to me by these sassy ladies. I loved the food. Dan and I both went a roast beef platter with potatoes, green beans and mac and cheese, along with a sweet tea to drink. The meat was accompanied by some of the most flavorful jus ever. It was peppery and rich and went well with all the sides. Along with your dish, you also get cornbread two-ways. One is a little baked muffin and the other is a flat corn cake which is apparently griddled like a pancake. For dessert, I tried some of JT's chess pie, which reminded me of derby pie minus the chocolate. A little too sweet for me.

Why do we not have meat and three joints in the East? Where are all the cafeteria style places around here? This is exactly how I like to and want to eat on a daily basis. I hope I get back there in my lifetime.

Afterwards, we hit Las Paletas for some Mexican popsicles, but they were closed!

That evening, Dan and I went to a Nashville Sounds game. As he mentions, the most exciting part of this stadium is their guitar shaped scoreboard. Second might be that they sell Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. I had a couple bites of Dan's and a soft Super Pretzel with nacho cheese dipping sauce.

The game was super snoozy boring and I even fell asleep for a bunch of pitches. It went into extra innings and we left to visit a honk-tonk downtown called Robert's. The band that was playing was pretty awful, but the Hi Life was nice and cold. We sat at the bar and ordered up some dinner. I went with a grilled cheese with onion rings and DMR a cheeseburger with fries. The onion rings were pretty good and it's tough to fuck up a grilled cheese. DMR thought the burger wasn't even mediocre. Man, it was a long day.

It Crawled from the South Part I: Memphis

I was expecting a bag of peanuts, or worse yet, these nasty packets of soy stick mix that we kept getting served while traveling around Asia last summer, but Continental surprised me with a decent (read: edible) in-flight snack. Still, the tiny turkey sandwich (one slice of meat on a dinner roll) and bag of Fritos didn't do much to stave off our hunger. Soon after Hot Tub Eric picked Dan and me up at the Memphis airport, we found ourselves at Payne's Bar-B-Q. Payne's is no-frills with a large dining area and a little window where you place your order. I loved the smell of Payne's. You just can not get that in New York. HTE and DMR went with sandwiches - chopped hots all around. Having never been to Payne's, I should have followed the lead of the local, but I went with a rib plate with smoky beans and chartreuse cole slaw. I thought the ribs were good; Eric, never having strayed from a chopped hot tried some of my ribs and thought they were alright but nothing out of this world. They were tangy and spicy with a touch of sweet and the two sides were great. We almost pulled the trigger on a fried fruit pie and in retrospect I'm trying to figure out why we didn't.

I still had plane brains so no photos. I wish I had gotten a picture of the menu on the wall which offered "more" for $.25.

Photo of Payne's exterior by a Tripadvisor member from Atlanta, GA

Eric and Amie (Hot Tub's better half) had secured Miss Ebony for baby-sitting duties that evening, so for dinner we hit the Lamplighter to get some burgers and beers before heading off to the drive-in theater, something I'd never done before! The Lamplighter is the perfect local - cheap beer, good eats, good jukebox and a good bartender. If you've seen the video for Cat Power's "Lived in Bars," well, it was filmed in this tiny place. Miss Shirley is the bartender and also the cook. Her burgers are fantastic. Apparently Shirley hand shapes all the patties herself and griddles them up in a cast iron skillet. Whatever method she uses, it's a simple burger perfectly executed, one that evokes a feeling of home. Eric, Amie and I ordered cheeseburgers with everything, hold the onions. An order with everything includes ketchup, mayo, pickles, lettuce, tomato in addition to the onion. Raw onions often give me headaches which is a reason I opted out of those. Dan went with a patty melt - his first ever! So many firsts! We also got two orders of fries for the table. Shirley's fries are dynamite - hand cut so you get a pile of mismatched skin-on potato sticks crisped to golden perfection. Pitchers of PBR are served with frosted mugs. I don't really need to say more.

Photo of Shirley and her burger from The Memphis Flyer.

As for the movie, we saw the latest Die Hard and it was pretty awful. Car neighbors with bad drive-in etiquette (pulling up to a group of folks sitting outside their cars and smoking them out with exhaust fumes cause you've just got to blast the a/c during the entire movie on a night where it wasn't even that hot or humid, forgetting to shut the trunk of your minivan so that it blocks the view of the movie watchers behind you), didn't help much. Amie and I did check out the snack bar, which was a mix of 1970s college cafeteria meets the Jetsons.

Introducing for the first time: DeCoursy's Sidecar

Before delving into the monumental caloric intake from the trip down South, a little post to tip our hat to DeCoursy's Sidecar (560 5th Ave between 15th and 16th).

We've been waiting for this bar/restaurant to open for a while now and it's finally time! Run by our friend Bart (ex-O'Connor's) and his brother Johnny (who I believe used to man the raw bar at Blue Ribbon Brooklyn), Sidecar is making us regret our move to Clinton Hill. Ok, not really, but it'd be great to still live within a 10 minute walk of this place.

Over the weekend the DeCoursy brothers opened the doors to friends and family for a little soft pre-launch. There may not be a classier joint around.

Exterior shot with their fantastic hanging signage.

I started with a few malpeques, which were served with this delicious cucumber mignonette that I wanted to slurp down like a shot of vinegary gazpacho. Don't mind the large ice cubes - I heard the ice crusher was down.

DMR and I then tackled a BLT soup - greens, tomato and bacon in a chicken based stock topped with crouton with a dollop of aioli. Incredibly, Johnny said he had only one order for it the previous night! WTF? I wish we had each ordered one!

DMR went with a burger and I was about to order the Vietnamese pork sandwich, but then my mouth opened and "fried chicken" came out. The meat was tender and juicy and the crust nicely seasoned and crunchy. I was a big fan of the "succotash" served on the side, and not just because of the pieces of bacon that were sauteed along with the vegetables. That's root mash as the other side.

I obviously liked my chicken. It was a hearty portion of drumstick, thigh and breast and I ate it all (with a little help from DMR on the thigh which I had saved for last).
The diet starts tomorrow!!!

Dessert was peach cobbler and despite my allergy to stone fruit, I dug in. I had to stop once my mouth started getting super itchy, but those few bites were totally worth it! I imagine desserts will be changed up regularly.

Although they are still awaiting their liquor license (very soon is the word), Sidecar is officially opening its doors tomorrow. Their house cocktails, which we'll write about once the bar starts rolling, will include old-timey standards like the Moscow Mule, Pimm's Cup and of course the Sidecar, as well as some new ones concocted by Bart. Until then, it's still certainly worth it to stop by for the food and to plug some quarters into one of the finest jukeboxes around (or an original Spy Hunter arcade game if that's your speed). The DeCoursys have poured a lot of love and soul into the place and the thoughtful little touches mean a lot to a nitpicker like me! I knew it was a good sign when we sat down at "Johnny's Bar" (aka the bar in front of the kitchen) to eat and there was a hook for my bag. Oh, and the bathrooms boast the XLERATOR, the greatest hand dryer ever known to man.

DeCoursy's Sidecar
560 5th Ave between 15th and 16th
Brooklyn, USA

Greetings from Memphis

Just checking my email at the Team Plumley HQ, waiting for Hot Tub Eric and T-Bone to get back from the butcher so we can dig into some Gus' fried chicken that's hanging out in the fridge.

Some of what we've eaten so far: cheeseburger at the Lamplighter, hot rib plate at Payne's, country ham and eggs at the Beauty Shop and a meat and three plate at Arnold's (Nashville).

Stay tuned.

Can't a girl get a decent burger around here?

We recently visited two new burger joints in Brooklyn. Burger stands seem to be to new restaurants what "wolf" was to indie rock during the past 12-16 months: Wolfmother; Wolf Parade; Wolf Eyes; Peter and the Wolf; etc. Yesterday's lunch was at the Brooklyn Burger Bar in Park Slope, in the space formerly occupied by Bar Minnow, and where they tout hand-made black Angus beef patties. We were hipped to it by the Larrys a couple days ago, although you couldn't miss the garish yellow awning if you tried.

The first sign of trouble was when the waitress took our order without writing it down, a huge pet peeve of ours. I went with a medium burger with bacon and mozzarella, while DMR went with provolone and caramelized onions on the side, cooked to medium as well. She came back a few minutes later to confirm the cheese type and double check whether or not I had ordered bacon. Can readers with wait experience chime in on why there's such an abhorrence to taking a pen to paper, especially in a casual restaurant setting? Our burgers arrived on plate with a mound of shoestring fries (though special house fries are offered on the menu, they were inexplicably unavailable on this day), lettuce, a slice of tomato, a thin ring of red onions and a new pickle wedge. When our server asked if we needed anything else, I answered with black pepper, mayo, mustard, a couple place settings, oh and the top bun for DMR's burger!
I was appalled. I don't think Dan nor the server noticed and when I pointed this out, she in all seriousness asked Dan to check under the lettuce leaf! I wasn't sure whether to bang my head on the table or burst out laughing. I wish the missing brioche half was the only shortcoming of the day. Despite the burgers looking solid appearance-wise, there's not much else positive to report.
The fries were cold and a bit too oily. The burger was void of flavor and juiciness. The caramelized onions had been reduced to a sickly sweet jam, so off-putting I had to scrape it off my burger. When our bill arrived, we noticed we were charged $4 for a glass of fountain root beer. GTLO! We were trying to think of an explanation for this exorbitant charge. Perhaps there were free refills, although the menu doesn't note that (or the price). We needed an explanation and what we were told was that the root beer served used to be the more premium bottled Abita. Used to? Meaning when the Brooklyn Burger Bar was Bar Minnow, a completely different restaurant? So they just haven't gotten around to reconfiguring Ordertron 2000? DMR and I both got the impression that we weren't first customers to point out this price gouging. Why don't they just charge $20 for a burger and hope that most people won't say anything or won't even notice. Oh, and where does a restaurant get the nerve to not give back coin change? It's one thing if you get shorted a penny or two (although I still find that to be really arrogant and aggravating - if you don't want to deal with unrounded numbers, alter your prices to include tax and even it off), but seriously, where was my 27 cents today? I wish Bonnie's was open for lunch.

On the flip side, we are going to give 67 Burger a second shot even though the CLC, DMR and I weren't blown away on the first try. There were some problems with the food preparation and overrall flow of the place but also a couple of little quirks and glimpses of greatness they can build on. I was a big fan of 67 Burger's fountain beverage choices. On tap were RC Cola, Diet Rite, Bosco Chocolate Soda and Stewart's Root Beer. The $1.95 price includes a free refill, possibly even refills, because the drinks were casually filled and never to the top. The french fries, when not sitting on the counter, waiting to be delivered to your table, were piping hot and delicious. Unfortunately, one of our orders of fries had the misfortune to sit out too long and lost its crispiness. All three of our burgers were way overdone. The CLC had ordered hers medium rare, while DMR and I went with our usual medium doneness. Only my burger showed any hint of pink. The outsides were charred and hard as a rock, as were the buns (note the bottom right of the plate). The insides though surprisingly remained somewhat juicy, which combined with the sauteed mushrooms and onions, aided in the disintegration of the bottom bun.
These guys should really ditch the table service. It doesn't make any sense at any time, but especially when there's a crowd, as was the case when we ate here. You order at the register, so why then sit around and wait for someone to deliver your food? Was I supposed to wait for a server to come around to ask for a drink refill or was it kosher that I turned around, stood up and took the three steps to the counter to ask for one? Service issues aside, our pal Balgavy was shocked upon hearing of our not too stellar experience, as he's had a number of perfectly cooked rare burgers here. That gives us hope.