Station Eats

Station Eats | Menu
Stamford, CT

Somewhere between McDonald’s and Mackenzie’s; between Burger King and Burger Bar, exists a space. Let’s call it the High End Burger Shack. (HEBS). The HEBS business model has been exploding in recent years, and it’s not hard to see why.

Say you want a nice, juicy burger. (In other words, say you’re me, at any given time). You don’t want to do the whole sit-down dinner thing with a wait staff, and a hostess, and tipping – I mean, it’s just a damn burger. But at the same time, you don’t want one of the synthetic sodium grenades you’d get at a fast food place. 

So, what’s the solution? Five Guys. Shake Shack. In-N-Out Burger (I will have it someday, dammit!). The solution is the HEBS. The wonderful little grey area between eat-in and take-out. The perfect beefquilibrium.

I love the HEBS. It’s my kind of place. So when I found out that Station Eats had opened in downtown Stamford, and had already received ringing endorsements from our comrades at OmNomCT, I just had to check it out.

High-end FoodPlusBeer photography strikes again.

The interior looks, well, like a HEBS. It’s stylishly designed, with the menu written on the wall in huge letters, so you can read it clearly, regardless of how drunk you are. The order process works more like Subway or Chipotle than Five Guys – you tell ‘em how much meat & cheese you want up front, and then walk your cooked burger through the topping station. It’s a perfect opportunity for impulsivity (OOH! I want jalapeños, too!)

I ordered a double cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, oni…wait, you don’t care what I got on my burger, do you? It’s okay, I wouldn’t care what you got on yours either. The point is, they’re made to order and you can get whatever you want. Same with the fries – you can get them with cheese, chili, Station Eats signature sauce, whatever your clogged little heart desires.

Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.

I also ordered the U-Turn, one of Station Eats’ “Hi-Octane” shakes for grown-ups. Chocolate ice cream, Oreo chunks, and bourbon - it’s like breakfast at Charlie Sheen’s house.

The burger was everything I could have expected – juicy, fresh, and tender…due in no small part to the fact that their meat is organic, and grass-fed, and locally sourced, and all that good stuff. The fries were perfectly hot, crispy and potato-ey. The shake had just the right amount of bourbon where its presence was felt, but it didn’t overpower the chocolate.

It was a perfect HEBS experience. Oh, yeah - did I mention that we were sitting on one of the picnic tables on their ROOFTOP DECK? Burgers and fresh air – what a combo. Just imagine what this place is going to look like on Alive at Five nights this summer.

It’s a good time to be a burger junkie. Long live Station Eats. Long live the HEBS.

Cheers,

Ryan

Louis Lunch - The First Hamburger Sandwich

I have been to the Empire State Building. I have seen Independence Hall. I have stood on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial and climbed the Statue of Liberty.

And now, I have eaten at Louis Lunch.

For as long as I can remember, cheeseburgers have been my favorite food. I love them. I cherish them. “Super Size Me” made me hungry. So walking into Louis Lunch, the self-proclaimed birthplace of the cheeseburger, was a sort of religious experience for me. As an agnostic fat kid, Louis Lunch is my Bethlehem. Or something like that.

You walk in the front door of Louis’, and…that’s it. You’re at the counter. The interior has been carved up by generations of carnivorous drunks and college students. The tables and booths are bizarrely small, lending some support to the notion that we as Americans have ballooned up over the past 100 years. The grills are upright gas cookers that have been in use by the restaurant since 1898. You’ve never seen anything like them and you probably won’t ever again.

When it comes to ordering, the only thing you can order is a burger. The only toppings are tomatoes, onions, and some sort of cheese spread. The burger is served on white toast. Ask for ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce or anything else and you are excommunicated.

As for the taste – the burgers are super juicy and tender, and you can tell the meat is high quality as they grind their own beef in-house. The toast lends a satisfying crunch and the tomato and onion add cool, crisp texture and a little bit of extra zing.

Is it the best burger I’ve ever had? No – although it’s a damn good, freshly made, satisfying sandwich. But the real charm is in the atmosphere. The history. You’re sitting in a tiny little shack, right next to the grandson of the man who invented the cheeseburger. He’s using the weirdest grill you’ve ever seen. He refuses to use condiments or expand the menu. And yet the line is still out the door. Stubbornness in the restaurant business is refreshing to see sometimes - Louis Lunch believes in doing things a certain way, and that’s just how it’s gonna be.

More power to ‘em.

Cheers,
Ryan

Beach Burger

“Well, well, well, look who decided to get off his lazy ass and write a blog post...”

Whoa. No need for name-calling, anonymous snarky reader. I happen to have been going through a lot of stressful and important st…okay, I’ve been lazy. Sorry about that. Please accept this post as my apology. 

 Suck it, Ansel Adams!
I know what you’re thinking. Why am I blogging a place called “Beach Burger” in January? I’ll tell you why. Burgers are not seasonal. I like burgers on the beach. I like burgers by the fireplace. It really doesn’t matter. It’s about the beef, not the motif. (I’m trademarking this.)

We walked into the joint and were immediately greeted by steel drum music – the unique island sound featured in “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid, and of course, all the Girls Gone Wild commercials. A good start.

The interior had a warm beach-town feel to it, like something out of LBI or Cape Cod, complete with buoys, nautical ropes, and starfish. My attention, however, was turned to the four or five flatscreen TVs mounted above the register, showcasing the various menu items.

I chose the Bynum Burger, named for Marc Anthony Bynum, the celebrity chef who worked with the owner to create Beach Burger’s menu. The burger consisted of a juicy, high-quality beef patty, tender pulled pork, crunchy onion strings and tangy BBQ sauce. In a word – awesome. One of the best burgers in the area and certainly worth the trip.

Fry ALL THE THINGS!
The fries, however, stole the show for me. They’re hand-cut in the kitchen, fried perfectly golden brown with just the right about of crispiness, and topped with the right amount of sea salt. Right up there with Five Guys (note: this is a very good thing).

Looking at the menu, there are a ton of reasons to come back. They have fried seafood (filling the void left behind by Overton’s seasonality), a unique selection of homemade milkshakes, and of course, more burgers (including one with fried oysters on it!)

If you’re in the area, stop by. If you’re not in the area, stop by anyway. It’s worth it.

Cheers,
Ryan

Blue Cheese Stuffed Bacon Burgers

NFL kick-off is an exciting weekend.  Now you have yet another excuse to drink beer and eat terribly unhealthy but deliciously fatty crave worthy food.  Each week we are going to post a Food Plus Beer original recipe that's worthy of Sunday Football.  So grab a beer, the remote, and get cookin'!

Warning: These burgers are monstrous and totally delicious and devastating to your circulatory system.  Do not operate machinery while under the influence of these burgers.  Beware of flowing melted blue cheese that not only covers, but also fills these abnormally juicy burgers.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Bacon Burgers
1/2 lb bacon
1 1/4 lb Ground Beef
4 T Bacon Fat (reserved)
A couple splashes of Amber Beer
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 t Salt
1/3 lb Blue Cheese (divided)
Crushed Black Pepper
1 Small Onion Caramelized

Garlic Balsamic Mayonnaise
1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
4 T Mayonnaise
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
Crushed Black Pepper

Fry Bacon in a pan. Reserve 4 tablespoons of fat and dry bacon on a paper towel.

Combine Beef, Bacon Fat, Beer, Worcestershire Sauce, and Salt.

Divide beef mixture into 4 even amounts and form 4 patties, about 4 inches in diameter.

Divide half of the blue cheese between 2 of the patties.  Make sure that the cheese is in the center and leave room around the edges.

Place the empty patties on top of the blue cheese topped patties and pinch the sides together.

Generously coat each side in crushed black pepper.

Grill on high heat for the first two minutes and then lower to medium high for 8 minutes.  Flip burgers and top with the remaining blue cheese. You'll want to put the cheese on soon after you flip because it takes a while for the blue cheese to melt.

Load up each side of the buns with the Garlic Balsamic Mayonnaise.  Put the burger on, smother with bacon and caramelized onions, grab another beer devour and be happy! Your mouth will thank you.

Kona Grill - Stamford, CT

For all the great happy hours in Stamford, there’s one category that’s sadly under-represented: Happy-Hours-With-Food (Henceforth referred to as HHWFs). These are, of course, happy hours in which the discount extends to food items as well as drinks.

Now I know what you’re saying: “But Ryan, C.J. McDouchenstein’s has 50 cent wing nights on Wednesdays!” True, and I love me some wing night, but it doesn’t do me much good on a Friday. A HHWF, by definition that I’m currently making up on the spot, is a happy hour that discounts food every day (weekends, of course, notwithstanding).

Think about it a bit. In Stamford, it’s pretty easy to find a 4 dollar beer on a weekday afternoon, but decidedly more difficult to find a corresponding $5 appetizer. Enter Kona Grill.

Being that it’s located A. in the Stamford mall, and B. across the street from mega-companies like UBS, Kona Grill is a bit of a haven for yuppies and jailbait high-school chicks. But for a HHWF, my friends, we’d gladly enter the gates of Mordor.

We arrived at Kona this past Friday afternoon after spending the afternoon shirtless, throwing rocks at each other and swilling light pee beer. This may have been part of the reason our waiter hated us. But that’s neither here nor there – we wanted sushi and Sake bombs, stat.

Sake bombs at Kona’s happy hour are $7.50, and we had enough for three people to do two rounds apiece. Now, is Sake and Japanese rice beer as good as a cold IPA? No, but it’s insanely cheap, it’s fun to do something different and I like the feeling when your Sake cup smashes into your front teeth. So there.

For dinner, I ordered a fiery shrimp roll and twin mini-burgers with fries off the happy hour menu. The fiery shrimp roll was just spicy enough (Sriracha ftw), with good flavor and a satisfying shrimp crunch. The burgers were bigger than I expected and surprisingly good, with well-seasoned beef, a tasty bun and a nice pile of     shoestring fries. The combined price of my dishes: $8.13.

You can find better sushi in Stamford. You can find a better atmosphere. You can find a much better beer list. But I defy you to beat $10.38 for a sushi roll, twin sliders, fries, and two rounds of Sake bomb. It’s a HHWF, baby! And that’s exactly why Kona Grill has one of the best happy hours in Stamford.

But there’s one other aspect where Kona truly stands alone. Their HHWF starts at [4] 3, ends at 7 – and starts up again at 10. That’s right; Kona is crazy enough to give out discounted food and drinks from 10 til close on a Friday night. I think I’m turning Japanese.

Sayonara,

Ryan

SBC Stamford

Southport Brewing Company
Stamford, CT
http://www.southportbrewing.com/
Menu

The night of Cinco de Mayo, FPB and its friends had a brilliant idea: to go out to a Mexican restaurant!

Unfortunately, everyone in Stamford had the exact same idea. It was already quarter past 7, and facing a 45-minute wait for a table at Maryann’s on Summer St., we made the executive decision to change plans on the fly and grab a table across the road at SBC. (And aren’t you lucky?  Lately we’ve reviewed more Mexican than the INS. It was time for something different anyway).

For those who don’t know, SBC is a brewpub, serving standard American fare and a selection of beers brewed in-house to go along with the regular tap rotation. And being that the first location opened in Southport, CT, SBC actually stands for Southport Brewing Company, leading to a crippling case of acronym confusion whereby everyone accidentally calls it Stamford Brewing Company. Let’s just move on.

Being that it WAS still Cinco de Mayo, we all opened with a round of the Margaritas SBC was advertising on its doors - $6 apiece, and you get to keep the cup! The Margaritas were pretty good, though a tad sweet for my taste (and no rock salt – alas). The cup was just a flimsy plastic thing, so we didn’t actually take them home like we would if they were sweet pint glasses or something (double alas?)

For dinner, I split an order of fried calamari and a small Margherita pizza. The calamari was nice and crispy, lightly fried with two different dipping sauces (important for a schizo like me). The Margherita pizza here, though, is really a hidden treasure. I hadn’t had it since I barfed it up after Junior prom (not the pizza’s fault, vodka’s fault), but it was just as tasty as I remembered it (on the way down, at least). Plentiful cheese, juicy tomato slices everywhere, a healthy dose of basil – just a really well-done pie in a fairly unexpected place.

Kyle ordered the Brew Burger. Despite having only two slices of bacon, the flavor was all there. Well seasoned and properly cooked to "medium" meat, smothered in caramelized onions and fontina cheese. The fries weren't too shabby either!

I was so fired up, I decided to order one of SBC’s beers, the English Pale Ale. It was decent, smooth, drinkable, but just kind of unremarkable. Then I tried the IPA that Kyle ordered, and it tasted almost exactly the same. You really have to squint your tongue to notice much of a difference at all. They were like store-brand versions of a good beer - the basics were all there, but they were missing the subtleties and flavors that make a beer "craft". That's probably why they're only $4.50 apiece.

I mean - these beers aren’t BAD, they’re just…meh. And that’s a shame, because SBC has an awesome location, a great layout, good food, and it really has a chance to be the best bar in town, except that the one thing you’d expect a brewpub to have – awesome homemade beer - is missing. It’s like watching LeBron James squander his talent year after year in the playoffs - it’s painful to watch good potential go to waste.

SBC is still a fun place to hang out, particularly during the summer, and we WILL be back…we just wish they’d remember what the B in SBC stands for.

Cheers,

Ryan

Prime 16

New Haven, CT
Menu | Taps [rotating]
www.prime16.com

As Kyle, myself, and our dear companions stood inside the New England Brewing Company in Woodbridge, debating aloud our options for lunch, we heard a voice:
“Go to Prime 16.”

No, it was not God, whose Holiness was surely busy answering a slew of Easter Weekend prayers. It was just some dude.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Why would you listen to just some dude?” Well, it’s because he showed up at the brewery to fill three empty growlers with Imperial IPA. And you know that age-old adage: Always take lunch recommendations from the random guy at the brewery filling 3 growlers with Imperial IPA.

So, with that, we headed to downtown New Haven for the beer & burger frenzy that is Prime 16. With 20 rare and continuously rotating beers on tap and 16 burgers on the menu (the reason it’s called Prime 16, perhaps?), the combinations of awesomeness are endless (well, not endless, but this isn’t a blog about math, so I ain’t doin’ it.)

Not only that, but we had just stumbled into the Saturday 2-4 Happy Hour, which featured 50% off draft beer and wings. Hominahominahomina.

If you don't like what's on tap, wait a couple minutes for a keg to kick. Better yet, kill yourself.

Faster than you can say “why the hell isn’t this place in Stamford,” I ordered a Heavy Seas Dubbel Cannon Belgian IPA, and a warmup round of crispy, tangy wings (half buffalo, half Jack Daniels’ Bourbon). The wings were great, but the burger was a monster.

The only thing cooler than triangular plates are tasty wings. Also, beer.

After grabbing another brew, Brooklyn’s Main Engine Start, it was time for the Cowboy Burger – at least a half-pound of juicy beef, topped with smoked Canadian bacon, a fried egg, cheddar cheese, lettuce and salsa. In a word - awesome. The beef was delicious and perfectly cooked, the bacon was salty and crunchy, that delicious egg goo dripping all over the place…I had a burgasm. Let’s just leave it at that.

You just had a burgasm, too.

As if that wasn’t enough, I upgraded my regular fries to fries with truffle oil and Parmesan cheese, because, why the hell not. I’m telling you, these are hall-of-fame level fries. Garlicky, cheesy, salty…you must go for the upgrade. Just do it.

All in all, this place helped to turn a terrible rainy Saturday in mid-April into an epic journey. Great food, great beer. It sounds simple, but it’s so rare to find both in the same place. Prime 16 has it.

And if the growler guy from New England Brewing Company is reading this, we salute you. You’re in the nonexistent Food Plus Beer Hall of Fame, right next to the fries I just anointed.

Buurrrp,

-Ryan

Donovan's & Mackenzie

Norwalk, CT
http://www.donovanssono.com/

Menu

Beers on Tap: Bass Ale, Bud Lite, Captain Lawrence Pale Ale, Dogfish 60-Minute IPA, Guinness, Magic Hat #9, Newcastle, Shocktop, Samual Adam's Seasonal, Stella Artois.

Happy Hour: M-F 3-7, $1 off all drinks, free hors d'oeuvres


Though there are plenty of delicious and deserving restaurants in our hometown of Stamford, sometimes you just need a change of scenery. So on a snowy night this past Friday, we took Food Plus Beer on down to South Norwalk for beer and burgers.

After parking near the Maritime Center and thinking about how cool the shark tank is, we made our way to Donovan’s & Mackenzie restaurant a few blocks away. During this walk, approximately 43 snowballs were formed and thrown at road signs, telephone poles, and girlfriends.

With cold snowball hands, we entered Donovan’s & Mackenzie to find that it had set a new record for “most TVs simultaneously tuned to Olympic Curling.” They had at least five or six TVs set to the broom-heavy sport, shattering the previous record of one. Furthermore, the patrons were loudly cheering for the Canadian team. I still haven’t figured out whether their excitement was genuine or sarcastic.

I ordered a Dogfish 60-Minute IPA from the decent-sized beer menu, and started to look over the menu. This, of course, was a formality. It was destined to be a burger night and that’s just all there was to it. I ordered a Bacon Mushroom Cheeseburger, Kyle had the same minus the fungus.

The beef was high quality and flavorful, and the bacon was big and thick…exactly the kind of bacon one hopes for when one orders bacon on a burger. I found the burger to be one of the messiest I’ve had in recent memory. That’s not necessarily a gripe…what the hell do I care if I’m licking ketchup off my fingers? No one’s looking at me anyway – Curling’s on.

The fries were “crispy, yet soft” as one friend of the blog implored me to write. I tend to agree, but I must also note the subtle, delicate notes of potato throughout.

‘Twas a nice little night in ol’ SoNo; I daresay we will be back before long. As we made our way back towards the car and thought about the sharks at the Maritime Center once more, we finished our trip just as we had started it: With a 4-seam snowball falling about 2 feet short of a nearby “No Parking” sign.

I’ll stick to watching winter sports.

-Ryan

Food For Thought #2

Article: Hungry Jack's chipped over monster burger (The Sydney Morning Harold)


Hungry Jack's double Angry Angus Burger has been under attack in the last few days. According to the article:

Hungry Jack's double Angry Angus, packed with deep fried onion rings, two slices of cheese, two beef patties and several rashers of bacon, contains 26 grams of saturated fat and 5.6 grams of salt - 10 grams more saturated fat and 1.6 grams more salt than the daily intake recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Now that sounds like a meal! I'd have already bought one and been telling you how awesome it was (how could it not be?) but the closest Hungry Jack's is in Australia. The article then states that:

Eating the Angry Angus would cause a diner's blood pressure to rise immediately and eating it regularly would cause chronic high blood pressure, leading to heart attack, kidney failure and stroke, the chairman of the Sydney World Action on Salt and Health, Bruce Neal, said yesterday.

Health officials in Australia aren't very happy about this. In fact, many are demanding the burger carry a warning label. We all know the surgeons general warning on alcohol doesn't stop anyone. And alcohol has age restrictions, legal limits, and other regulations associated with it, why would this have any effect on a burger which has no restrictions whatsoever? What do you think?

Oh yea, a top health official also said:

''The burger has a great title because it makes me doubly angry. It is highly disappointing that a manufacturer in modern-day Australia would consider serving this to people. 'To think that you could have only one of these burgers every two days and nothing else is a ridiculous idea.''

Ridiculous indeed. Sign me up!

-Kyle

Ryan’s Birthday in New York: A Food and Beer Spectacle

In Connecticut, you can’t rent a car until you reach age 25. That’s all that’s left for me. My last real milestone. I have reached 22; the first of the many non-exciting ages I will reach here on out for the rest of my life, before I am eaten by a shark off of Australia’s Gold Coast at the age of 76. I had a vision.

But hey – just because the milestone isn’t exciting doesn’t mean we can’t have fun, does it? That was a rhetorical question.

With the denial of my inevitable mortality in mind, I ventured into New York City with Kyle and 3 friends of Food Plus Beer for a full day of misbehavior.

BROOKLYN BREWERY

After dropping off our things with our generous hosts, we hopped a subway to Brooklyn Brewery, home to some of the best beers I’ve ever had. When you walk into this place it actually smells like they're brewing beer. The beers here were 6 for 20$ (you buy tokens for beer). We had our first at about 2:10 p.m. For me, it was the Blast!: an Imperial IPA with a 8.5% ABV. So tasty. The flavors just pop, but it’s not overpowering. It doesn’t feel like you’re drinking such a strong beer. I followed with their 6.1% Winter Ale, a dark and sweet little number that reminded me a bit of Newcastle.

Brooklyn Brewery has cat.

We then took the “tour,” which in reality was just a short spiel by one of the brewery workers. Brooklyn only brews during the week, and they only give tours during the weekend. So there wasn’t much to see, but our tour guide had spilled something on his crotch, so there’s always that. There was also a great story about the time the brewery had its forklift stolen, only they didn’t have the money to afford a new one at the time, so the two brewmasters drove around all night in order to find the forklift and steal it back. Did I mention I love this company? It was also interesting to learn that they use pure unfiltered NYC tap water for all of their brewing while most craft breweries go to great lengths to get theirs filtered.

We downed another Blast! for the road, but since the place was BYOF (bring your own food - or order some to be delivered there) we skipped joyfully out of the brewery. Those beers don’t mess around, so we were already doing a bit of wobbling at this point.

MUGS ALE HOUSE

After stopping at a hipster used-clothing store and contemplating purchasing a circa-1994 leather Chicago Bulls jacket, we made our way to a bar called Mugs Ale House for much needed appetizers and of course, more beer (not to mention shots of the always-dangerous Rumplemintz). We had decent wings that could have used some more sauce, and nachos that my beer-riddled brain remembers as quite tasty. They had 36 beers on tap. I chose beer called Sweet Hoe, which I picked solely because of its funny name, Remember, I’m 22 years old.

SHAKE SHACK

After this, we went back to our hosts’ place (after getting off the wrong exit on the L train, of course) to continue to drink and prepare for dinner. Dinner was a delicious little burger-and-fries place called the Shake Shack, where they give you a fun little buzzer that vibrates when your food is ready. The meal was delicious and inexpensive, and the beef was top notch. This short blurb doesn't do it justice, if you see one, immediately go order yourself a burger.

EAST END BAR AND GRILL

Our next stop was the East End Bar and Grill, a Texas Tech fan bar that we went to in order to watch the Tech game with our host. Rather than taking a cab there, the group opted to take a drunken stroll through Central Park, which was blurry and beautiful. The game was a back and forth affair, but the smelly Oklahoma State Cowboys came through in the end. Magner’s and Smithwick’s were consumed here.

P.D. O'HURLEYS, GRAY'S PAPAYA

At this point, Kyle and his lady friend left for Stamford, leaving just 3 soldiers to carry out the remainder of the mission. We chose to usher in my birthday around midnight at an Irish pub called P.D. O’Hurley’s. As soon as we walked in the door, the Irish bartender was in a shouting match with a customer and violence was being threatened. We were clearly in the right place. We grabbed a couple Harp’s… and then we all realized that enough was enough. There would be no overdoing it on this night. We stopped by Gray’s Papaya for some sauerkraut chili dogs, and hit the sack.

3 bars, one brewery, and junk food galore. It was a good birthday.

-Ryan

October 9th Part 2: Burgers/Monster B's Party Bus

Previously, on Food Plus Beer:
Uh…just read the post below this one. That should provide adequate summation.

Anyway, with the rapture of Stew Leonard’s still fresh in our minds, Food Plus Beer decided it was time for…

Food and Beer. What, are you surprised?

In my case, it was more like Food Plus Beer Plus Rum. Always ends well. We threw back a few while watching UConn football build up an impressive lead against Pittsburgh and then throw it away in vulgarity-inducing, heartbreaking fashion. It was the type of sports-related tragedy that only meat can fix.

Now; there are burgers, and there are blog burgers. And we’re not going to bore you with the former.

It's common knowledge that everything is better when it's wrapped in bacon. In this case we decided to wrap it around a pair of massive beef patties. Here's how we did it:



Start with some fatty ground chuck (80/20). Make sure you have enough for at least two-third pounds per burger (otherwise you'll have wimpy burgers). 


Season your meat as desired then make two one-third pound, flat patties of equal size.
Put a slice of cheese on top of one, and then put the other patty on top.


Pinch the sides together so that you have one large burger stuffed with cheese. (make it a little thinner in the middle so you don't end up with a meatball)


Lay out 4 slices of bacon in a weave formation:

Center the burger on the bacon weave and fold the strips over the burger.
Grill on high heat on both sides for 2 minutes to start in order to sear the bacon and have it properly stick to the burger.


Cook as desired and add more cheese to the top during the last minute.

How was it you ask? Well, it was awesome. With bacon drippings getting absorbed by the burger as the fat renders, and a slice of cheese in the center, this might just be the juiciest burger you'll ever have. You'll have a hard time burning this one. Although the burger was full of delicious bacon flavor, the only problem I had was that the bacon didn't get crispy. I enjoy a bit of crunch when I'm eating my burger. Solution: cook more crispy bacon in the traditional way and throw it on top!

-Kyle

After dinner, we were joined by several more friends of Food Plus Beer, and the thought of going to a bar arose. I was indifferent at first…there were drinks where we were that weren’t 5 bucks. But then someone said something that woke up megabuzzed One-Track-Mind Ryan: “Monster B’s Party Bus.” You may remember a brief mention of this magical service in our initial Monster B’s writeup.

It was over. This was happening. Even if no one else wanted to go, we still would have gone. But as it turned out, everyone seemed pretty thrilled about this magical idea, and so we called. There were 9 people in our party, and they said we needed 15. We pulled the old “Well, I suppose I’ll just take my business elsewhere” routine, and before long, the bus was picking us up.

There’s just something surreal about an actual bus that brings you to and from the bar free of charge. I’m still not sure whether or not that happened. We didn’t stay long, and our time there was a bit hazy, but one thing is for damn sure – we haven’t ridden the party bus for the last time. Also, smart business plan. Seriously. That bus provided them with 9 customers who otherwise certainly wouldn’t have gone to Monster B’s – and there was a cover charge. (The one bummer about the whole thing – there was some cover band there that night).

So the bus brings us back to our downtown location, and drops us off in the middle of the road. As we’re walking away, the bus gets pulled over. Kind of funny, but mostly, it’s a shame. Anything that disturbs the Monster B’s Party Bus in the performance of its duties is ill-advised in my book.

October 9th. Nice day to be alive.

One more thing...Stop by your local delicious Taco Bell on Halloween and pick up a free Black Taco! 6 pm to midnight.

-Ryan

Black Bear Saloon @ Stamford

Stamford, CT
http://www.blackbearstamford.com/

Menu

Happy Hour: M-F 4-7pm
$3 drafts & wells, other daily food specials

In nature, a brown bear is more likely to attack you for territorial reasons. They think you’re messing with their babies; and they don’t like that kind of thing. Play dead and start praying. On the other hand, if a black bear attacks you, you’d better try to fight it off - it’s more than likely trying to eat you.

Exactly one week ago, however, it was we that were eating the Black Bear, in Stamford’s Columbus Circle. While I was much chagrined to learn that seared bear loin was not available on the menu, I found solace in a huge cheeseburger, which I proceeded to rip from limb to limb like a black bear (Ursus americanus) might a wayward hiker.

We went on a Tuesday, which was 2 for 1 burger night. There are two ways to go about this deal:

1. Maximum Gluttony. Be a man and order two burgers for yourself for the price of one.
2. Gentlemanly Restraint. Eat one burger and pretend to be full afterwards.

I’d like to tell you we fought the good fight and chose option 1. I’d like to tell you that. But prison is no fairy tale world.

Whoops, got caught up in Shawshank Redemption.

Yes, dear friends, myself and my 3 companions each enjoyed one of Black Bear’s fine burgers. I went with the Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger. The beef was tasty and tender, high-fiving the bacon and seesawing back and forth over my palette with its good friend, Bleu cheese. I also decided to have sweet potato fries as opposed to its more traditional counterpart because hey: I’m crazy like that. They were quite good.

All I ask is 3 beers apiece for each of my coworkers. Damn it, Shawshank. Black Bear had the dubious task of being the next Restaurant/Bar review following Monster B’s and their bevy of beer, and the difference in selection is obviously huge. But really, as long as they have one beer you really like, it’s not so bad, huh? So the four of us went with the always satisfying Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. And pints were just $3 all night. Score.

Here’s the beers that were on tap:
Bass, Bud light, Budweiser, Guinness, Magic Hat Circus Boy, Miller Lite, Sam Adams Winter Lager, Shocktop, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Stella Artois,

A few other things:

Every one of their booths running across the back wall has its own TV. We watched the Yankee game and laughed gregariously at the miserable job the closed caption guy was doing. “Alex Rodriguez is dalkgdan 2 gor 4 tonihgty.” That kind of thing. Good comedy.

Also, we were able to knock 10% off the bill with the iShop Stamford Downtown card (http://www.ishopstamforddowntown/). How’s a huge burger with fries and two Sierra Nevadas for about $12 plus tip sound?

Black Bear has deals Sun-Wed every week, and that’s a great time to check the place out. Good food, good beer, what more could you want? Maybe the opportunity to lasso a bear, but now I’m splitting hairs.

In the battle of Food vs. Beer, it is hereby decreed that Black Bear is…

A food place! Go around 6-7 and enjoy it before it gets annoyingly clubby.

-Ryan

Double Bacon Cheeseburger

Well, it's been 5 months in the making...let's get this baby goin'! Ladies and Gentlemen... Food plus Beer! Hey everyone, this is Kyle, and here's a little man-feast I whipped up that's packed with bacon both inside and on top.

Ingredients:

1.5 lb Ground Chuck 80/20
.5 lb Ground Pork
1 lb Bacon
½ Large Onion (chopped)
1 Clove Garlic (crushed)
2T Montreal Steak Seasoning
1T Barbeque Sauce

Poppy or Sesame Seed Rolls (classic buns won’t be able to handle these big boys)
2 Slices of White American Cheese per Burger (don’t get singles)
2 Slices of Monterey Jack Cheese per Burger
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayonnaise

Directions:

1. Cut half of the bacon into 1 inch pieces and sauté. Set aside the rest of the bacon for topping.
   
   
2. When bacon is getting crispy add chopped onion and continue frying until onion is soft
   
   
3. Drain half of the grease from the pan and let the remainder cool
   
   
4. Once cool, combine mixture with all remaining ingredients (excluding buns and cheese) in a bowl (use your hands! It’s the easiest way by far)
   
   
5. Divide mixture into as many patties as you like. When it comes to burgers the bigger the better, so I made 3 massive patties. Make your patties a little thinner in the middle so they don’t turn into meatballs.
   
   
6. If you’re burgers are really big, I recommend starting each side on high heat and then lowering the heat. Flip burgers only once during cooking. Meanwhile prepare the rest of the bacon to put on top.
   
   
7. When done, flip burgers once more and add your cheese for the last 2 minutes (until it melts)
   
8. Drop it on a lightly toasted bun and add desired toppings
   
9. Proceed straight to Burger City, first stop, Bun Town. As always, wash it down with a cold beer.
   
   

You can feel the intensity in my eyes. That's me, Ryan. Hi. Eating this burger was guttural. Primal. I felt like a lion tearing apart a zebra on the Serengeti. A zebra covered in melted cheese. I mean, come on, stop it. Food this good just isn't fair. But it wasn't just food. After all, the site is called Food Plus Beer, ain't it? We complemented this Meatapalooza by throwing back a few Longhammer IPAs, a sexy hoppy little number with a 6.5% ABV (Alcohol by volume, stupid) and a slight malty finish. Bottom line? I'd do it again. Right now.

-Ryan