Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Hamburger America Heads to The White House


After seeing the Brian Williams NBC special "Inside The Obama White House" where Obama makes a burger run to Five Guys I felt it was necessary that the president had a copy of my book. I also sent a copy to the White House staff since it was obvious from the show that they all like burgers. If you missed the show, Obama and his wingman Reggie Love take orders around the office at lunch one day, slip out to a local DC Five Guys, and return to the White House with huge grease-stained bags full of burgers. It was a brilliant and unpretentious moment in the White House even if it had been solely for the cameras. Later that day the president sees First Lady Michelle and tells her that he had a 'tasty burger' for lunch with Brian. The brass at Five Guys headquarters must have been falling over themselves when they saw the show.


Thursday, July 16, 2009

67 Burger - So Good

Here's my little brother Ted yesterday with a facefull of one of the best burgers in Brooklyn, the 67 Burger.

Last Friday the family stopped at 67 Burger in Fort Greene, Brooklyn on our way out to the beach for some greasy nourishment. The signature burger there is so good that my wife, the former vegetarian, announced, "I have to stop eating burgers." The 67 Burger, with a dollop of blue cheese spread and crispy bacon, (pictured left) is the ultimate guilty pleasure. So guilty that halfway through her burger she seriously considered quitting. I tried to explain that you swear off burgers when you've have enough bad experiences, not good ones. She'll be back. Who can pass up a great burger?

Ted and I went back yesterday just to make sure it really was that good, and it was.


Monday, July 13, 2009

Vacation Burgers


I spent the week at the beach at the end of June and made a point to sample a bunch of the local fresh-beef burgers on the East end of Long Island. Of the three talked-about burgers in the Hamptons that I tried it was the 'Chamby' of the Westhampton diner Dave's Bun 'N Burger that took the prize (the others I tried were not even worthy of mention here). 

The Chamby starts as fresh-ground beef from Dean's Meat Market only 2 doors down. The hand-pattied burger, around 1/3 of a pound, is grilled on an open flame and served on a white squishy bun with American cheese and a wad of sliced ham. Why others have not thought of this before is beyond me. The simple combo of beef, cheese, and ham is awesome.

Thankfully the summer has just begun and there will be more Bun 'N Burger visits in the near future.


Thursday, July 2, 2009

Billy Mays is Dead


Sorry I have not posted in almost a month but the NYC Food Film Festival took over my life for the month of June. Just as I was getting back into the swing of all things burger I received the awful news that pitchman Billy Mays was dead of heart failure at 50. Let's just hope that it wasn't from using that disaster of a kitchen gadget the Big City Slider Station (the one that I tossed in the garbage after a reader told me the non-stick surface on theirs started to flake off.)

RIP Billy. Your crazy ways will be missed.

More posts soon.