The Quest Continues.

My dear friends Al and Bev Zembrosky invited me out to dinner tonight, and who am I to say no to dinner with dear friends. We went out to Houston's in Irvine and as is my style of late, I had their burger. They serve a classic cheeseburger of ground chuck, with melted cheddar, yellow mustard, mayo, onions, tomatoes, pickles, the works. They opt for shredded lettuce, which is actually my preference, and the bun is also a nice sesame topped egg bun (I think). Overall a good classic cheeseburger. It doesn't beat out Crow Bar, Haven and Father's Office for top three status, but a solid burger none the less.

ISO 400
21mm
f/6.3
1/100 sec
430ex speedlite (palm of hand bounce, there were no other items available)

We have a winner

"Excuse me sir, you can't take any more pictures in here with that camera; everything is copyrighted". This is the first time anyone has every stopped me from taking pictures. It felt good.

That aside, if I had more time I could have gotten a better burger shot. Fathers Office. Best Burger. Hands down. More quality and cheaper price than its closest competitor [in my opinion Black Label burger from Crow Bar]. What you see above is a burger made with Dry Aged Rib eye, sweet caramelized onions, blue cheese, arugula and unicorn's horn served on a toasted French bread. It is the best burger I have ever tasted. I have no taste for gourmet burgers any longer. I quit. Seriously. Don't even look at me with your petty attempts to duplicate this burger. Marvel in its simplicity, soak in its magnanimous savor, salivate with anticipation of the day you might taste something so splendid as this.

Also we had grilled summer figs on the side, those are that other thing. prosciutto wrapped, stuffed with
chèvre, and finnished with a balsamic reduction. They were sweet, and tangy. A nice side.

ISO 320
31mm
f/11.0
1/100 sec
speedlite 430ex [hat bounce]

Memphis: Build your own burger

Tuesday nights are build your own burger night at Memphis in Santa Ana. Needless to say I built a burger. [Top] Mid Rare buffalo on baby greens, tomato slices, caramelized onions, with bacon, chèvre and chermoula. The chèvre was nice, but a bit over powering, the chermoula came out quite nicely adding just the right amount of spice to compliment the buffalo without covering it up. You can imagine the rest, bacon, onions, greens etc. A very savory burger. Buffalo is a touch dry, I'll go rare next time. My friend had a southern sandwich as his custom burger, I hesitate to call it a burger though. Fried Chicken with red onion, bacon, and a fried egg, with melted aged cheddar, smothered in rich country gravy. Both came on a very nice egg burger bun. I got sweet potato fries, and he got gumbo. It was good.

ISO 300

30mm

f/4.0

1/50 sec

Canon 430ex speedlite [bounced off of the wine list]

Hamburger Club 2.0

So two weeks ago I met with my dear friends and it turns out that I am now a member of a bi-weekly (every two weeks, correct me if thats not what that means) gourmet burger club. This week we went to Slaters in Anaheim Hills. The table shared a Slaters 50/50 Peanut Butter Jealousy [top], and I had a custom Slaters 50/50 [mid and bottom] with mozzarella, baby greens, grilled onions, and anchovies (yes anchovies, and yes they are delicious). Slaters specialty 50/50 is a burger made half of ground beef and half ground bacon. These burgers are half bacon so they only come fully cooked, but the bacon content keeps the texture moist and tender. I prefer the dry aged goodness of the Crow Bar, but the price point on these was about half, so I won't complain. The bacon flavor inside the patties comes through in a salty and savory compliment to the beef, but does leave something to be wanted from the beef. Though these burgers are quite good they simply are not as juicy as I want my burgers to be, and I believe this is due to the bacon/beef mix.

The Peanut Butter and Jealousy, was a nice bite of nostalgia however. This burger is topped with peanut butter, strawberry jelly, and thick cut bacon. At first all you get in your mouth is sticky peanut butter and jelly, which tastes (at least for me) just like childhood, then the smoky thick bacon and the savory patty meat your palate with a satisfying chew. Although the top of the mouth stickiness of the peanut butter and jelly doesn't quite suit my burger needs. 

ISO 1600

17mm  27mm  21mm

f/4.0

1/50 sec

Speedlite 430ex [bounced off my hat]