2 legit 2 quit

great burger kitchen was legit bizness, sons. as soon as we walked in there, we were assaulted with the aroma of BEEFY goodness, lending a savoriness to the air.

they have a selection of classic burgers, with various toppings, supplemented by some alternative burger offerings (a veggie patty, a portobello burger, a lamb burger, a chicken burger). the classic burger is a beefy, thick, 6 oz served with optional (for an additional price) cheese (blue, brie, swiss, cheddar) and bacon. there are a variety of free toppings and then extra toppings that cost a little bit more. there are a selection of poutines - a lot of which sounded mundane (the ontario poutine with bacon) and awesome (the mexican poutine - with salsa, guacamole, cheddar, and sour cream - aka FRIES SUPREME BUT WITH GUACAMOLE). they also sell homemade chocolate chip cookies and what looked like hello dolly bars. pretty solid. the inside is pretty decent - warm and friendly, but not a lot of seating options - and most of what's available is taken up with hungry hordes waiting for their order.

we all got the classic burger and shared an order of onion rings, a classic poutine, and a mexican poutine. i also got a side of their "GBK" sauce which is their rendition of lick's "guk" or mcdonald's big mac sauce. here's how it looked:

 

 

 

 

the taste? pretty effin' solid all around. pricing was pretty decent. the poutines were about $6-7 a piece which considering the size of the container, was fair. the fries were chubby and crispy in some places and limp in others, acceptable given the amount of toppings in there. i thought the mexican was awesome...the addition of guacamole was inspired and it tasted kind of fresh and zingy with a bit of chopped cilantro. the poutine was very tasty as well - nice gravy, not too salty, real cheese curds. the onion rings looked disappointingly pale out of the box but were so crisp! with a light, almost gossamer batter - the only quibble from the roomie is that she prefers a thicker piece of onion in there.

GBK sauce was aight - like a thin, less chunky thousand island. it tasted okay on the burger but kind of got lost in the mix. the classic comes with lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, ketchup, and mustard (i think). the burger patty was thick, cooked medium well, and very tasty. could have been a little juicier, a little brawny from over handling, but that's a small quibble. in terms of the burger offerings in this neck of the woods for dedicated gourmet burger places, it blew the pants off of burger shoppe (and i would argue burger shoppe quality meats), where the burgers were kind of miserly and not worth going back for. i would definitely go back to this place.

it's still not quite as good as five guys burger and fries - i dunno what it is about these gourmet places...they just can't test that winning formula. i think they over handle the meat - plus the organic beef isn't as fatty as USDA. i'd also hazard a guess that the thicker patties aren't as satisfying as the thinner kind at five guys - more of a beef puck instead of that signature five guys crumble.

still, great burger kitchen is a fantastic addition to the neighbourhood and to a somewhat depressed strip of gerrard (which could use a little love.) so pumped that it's so close by! now all we need is for that neapolitan pizza place to open up and the west side can eat it.

today is a grocery shopping, cleaning the house, prepping for dinner party tomorrow, going for a run, doing some yoga kind of a day. then waiting for the arrival of kdubsguelph tdot to touch down! we may or may not celebrate earth hour (i'm pushing to see "hot tub time machine")

fin.

america the beautiful

as usual, upstate new york was good to us this weekend. we cruised down in our borrowed pt cruiser listening to our traditional road trip soundtrack of equal parts heart's greatest hits, les mis original broadway cast, assorted jazz, and hits from the radio. we got there late on saturday and scarfed down pizza paul's (pizza and buffalo wings) which was made all the more appetizing because my sister picked it up for us, fresh. delicious!


even though brian's u.s.a. diner is advertising for cooks in the penny saver, you wouldn't know it from the delectable (and mountainous) portion of breakfast i had the next morning. this is real-deal diner-style breakfast. $6.99 for the "belt-buster" pictured above. that's corned beef hash, 2 eggs, toast, and you choice of meat (sausage patty ftw!) i always get my toast dry, which is my small and meaningless concession to stemming the tides of fat about to be coursing through my veins. i never eat the toast anyway.


then we came home and played rock band (accompanied by my niece, who rocked out like whoa) and watched mtod and played around on the wii fit. i totally failed the initial fitness assessment on the wii. my bmi was in the normal range, but because i did so poorly on the balance/centre of gravity/reflex tests, my wii age was the oldest out of anyone there (49!!!!!!!!!!) epic fail!


for dinner we by-passed our usual burger go-to, red robin, in favour of "five guys burgers and fries" where i had the best not-made-at-home burger of my life. hands down. no question. they're a chain and if you ever happen to come across one in your travels and DON'T stop, you're a colossal fool and will rue the day the next time you hunker down and bite into a flabby, insipid, spongy, hero burger-type patty.

the surroundings are pretty bare bones...stark white walls with red-lettered testimonials, indifferent, mass-market chairs - red, black, and white colour scheme. let it be known also: they ONLY do burgers and fries (and hot dogs). no gravy. no onion rings. no milk shakes. no chicken. no fish. just the juiciest, most delectable patties (the "hamburger" comes with 2 patties, standard, the "little hamburger" means only one patty), sizzling full of beefy flavour and with the textbook 100% ground beef crumble that is a textural stamp of purity - no fillers, no soy, no gluten, here! i had the cheeseburger and went a little hog wild with my toppings: ketchup, mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and grilled mushrooms. see how soft and yielding that bun is??? perfect. this is a hamburger with an expiration date. you have to commit to eating that thing lest the co-mingling of juice, toppings, and condiments vaporize its tender carbohydrate casing. the fries are pure potato, from russets, fried to a limp, salted, mealiness (that's a good thing.) i'm actually overcome with pangs of sadness when i think about how long it's going to be until i can eat another one.

we closed out our stay with an obligatory dinosaur bbq visit. i had the platter that comes with ribs and 1/2 a chicken, and picked as my sides fried okra, and the goopiest, cheesiest mac'n'cheese i've ever had. so so so good! this is after we split an appetizer of fried green tomatoes and cajun boiled shrimp and before we split a dessert of peanut butter pie, chocolate icebox pie, and key lime pie. heavens! effin' rochester is like my freakin' mecca.

in between all that caloric blitz there was an incident with my nephew getting into my sister's lipstick, and a hilarious bedtime story reading courtesy of the dotytron to little ze (they're seriously best buds - probably because little ze's word for his favorite treat [donuts], dodo, is what he calls his unky.) anyway, the dotytron read this epic long story which little ze, in his little 2 year old brain, punctuated with "okaaaaaay" every 10 seconds. "once upon a time-" "okaaaaay" haha.

the dotytron is kind of losing his s**t right now. the night before he began his teaching block at his placement school, he did homework until wicked late and then huffily climbed into bed, mad at how little time there is in a day, how early he had to get up, that he wasn't asleep already, and generally at his lot in life. the cats jumped up on the dresser to nip off with one of those rubber "hope" bracelets that the dotytron had gotten from a student for valentine's day. he turned over in the bed, and not getting up, hissed at them, "guys! gimme the bracelet!" the cats, being cats, ignored him and continued batting it around. "GUYS! give it here. giveit. bring it to me. giveit." obviously they didn't listen, at which point, he flopped back over, screwed his eyes shut, and hissed, "you guys are F**KS." lol!!!

tonight for dinner i took another suzanne goin recipe for inspiration (i effin' LOVE suzanne goin) and made a butternut squash and radicchio risotto. because i live by the basic credo that all things are improved with the addition of a poached egg, i topped each portion with one. it was so very tasty. it was easy too. start to finish it took me an hour. i'll post the recipe some time.

fin.