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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Food / Respite Open Thread: Now I Want A Burger

Respite Open Thread: Now I Want A Burger

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Hell, yeah! (After brushing the chips & coleslaw off to the side of the plate, to be eaten separately.)


Pretty sure those red strips are bell peppers, fried with the onions & mushrooms, yes?

Look, I didn’t say it was health food, I said I would eat it — happily. And have, although usually it’s over sausages inna bun, like Sir Terry my favorite local pizza place intended. (It serves what in the Midwest we called ‘Greek style pizza’, but the ownership is — like most local pizza places — Brazillian.)

Reader Interactions

133Comments

  1. 1.

    Benw

    I’d eat a veggie burger version with everything but the coleslaw. I once got super sick on bad mayo and can’t stand it! Potato chips on burgers is a secret weapon – adds some nice cronch and saltiness.

  4. 4.

    Benw

    If any team is going to make some preposterous boneheaded mistakes and give the hapless Jets their first win, it’s the stupid Chargers.

  6. 6.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Reason number #14279 why I love my bride:

    We were watching the Australian version of the Bake-Off. One week they had “Aussie Burgers with The Lot”. Something like this.

    (Why would that be in a baking show? I think the excuse was they had to make their own buns)

    After the show she made them for dinner.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    Oh, sure. One of the joys of living in SoCal is the abundance of good burger places, and the variety within. That doesn’t look even remotely weird.

  10. 10.

    Martin

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Ok, I’ll confess that’s not a combination I ever would have dreamed up, and I will eat almost anything in sandwich form.

    The pineapple and beets would take some work. Both of those in convenient form tastes more like aluminum can than either pineapple or beets.

  11. 11.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Martin: She loves fresh pineapple, so there’s almost always one on the counter.

    I don’t remember the particular combination, it might not have been every single thing at that link. But it was pretty close, and it was assembled from ingredients we had at hand, as it was during lockdown.

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    Wow, this was a mind meld, because my housemate and I just decided to get the best burgers I’ve ever had, drive to the beach, and sit in the car and look at the ocean while we eat them.

    And now my heart is broken, because they are closed until 4 pm on Thursday. They’ve been remodeling to make more outdoor dining space. Guess my Thanksgiving dinner is chosen, though.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @Benw: But not when they are soggy with cole slaw.  Ugh.

    Even served with chips on the burger, they would likely be soggy from the heat of the burger by the time they hit the table.

  14. 14.

    cope

    No thank you.  Cheese, thin raw onion and catsup is the most “stuff” I like on a burger and even then, keep the catsup to a minimal amount.  The burger’s the thing the way I see it.  All the other things (which I do like) can be enjoyed in other venues.  Burgers gotta burg.

  16. 16.

    Martin

    @Mary G: Huh. We’ve never had them. Might be some work to convince Ms Martin (who loves a good burger) to forgo Olamendis if we’re in the neighborhood, but I’ll give it a whirl.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @scav:

    Big Blue Wave!

    Reminded me that I ran across this Newt Gingrich tweet earlier today:

    My friend Barry Casselman reports”Two key DFL MN state senators have switched parties and will now caucus with the GOP, giving conservatives a 34-29 margin. A big story with national implications!” The blue wave is gradually being replaced by a red tide.

    Apparently Newt, in his tortured aquatic metaphor, has no idea that a red tide is … not a good thing. A large bloom chokes off sea life and smells to high heaven. The toxins make their way up the food chain and can be harmful/deadly to wildlife and humans.

  19. 19.

    Winston

    My idea of the perfect burger, is a quarter pound patty, grilled bun, sharp cheddar cheese, sweet red onion, pickle and mustard. There was a place in Richmond, Ca. called the Red Onion that served this. Oh those were the days. I still fix it when I can. Or go to Wendy’s.

  20. 20.

    Ascap_scab

    No, I wouldn’t eat that and I’d bet Joe wouldn’t either. Before naming a sandwich after someone, how about asking them what they want?

  23. 23.

    Kent

    @Benw:If any team is going to make some preposterous boneheaded mistakes and give the hapless Jets their first win, it’s the stupid Chargers.

    Nope, they are now up 21-6.  Even the Chargers can’t figure out how to lose to the Jets.

  24. 24.

    Peale

    Hmmm. If I were to create a PA inspired burger, it would probably be a patty topped with fried Lebanon Baloney, a cheese perogi, and, yeah, since Utz is there, their Party Mix.  A Snyder’s pretzel bun might work, too. Not sure how the scrapple would work into it.

    Thankfully, they didn’t note that Hershey and Reeses are there and tried to work kisses and peanut butter cups into the mix.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @Cheryl Rofer: No, but that and the Fire Burger are two favorites of mine at the local bar that serves burgers.

    Fire Burger has grilled onions and red peppers (hot), with either ghost pepper or pepperjack cheese, with homemade thin cut fries on the side.  I almost always get the fire burger, though.

    So good with either beer or a really spicy ginger ale.

    edit: lettuce, tomato, sliced pickles and raw onion are optional on all of their burgers.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    @Peale

    Or you could slop some of all 57 of Heinz’ varieties on burger and call it a day.

    Glass of either black cherry Wishniak or birch beer on the side.

    :)

  33. 33.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Good god no! That’s about as gross as the mayonnaise-flavored ice cream that came out a few years back

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    @HumboldtBlue: Hmm.  We are trying out the “new code” that the twitter feed plugin developers think will solve the slowness issue.

    Are you still here?

    If so, I can turn the plugin off for a bit and you can let me know if that makes a difference.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: It truly is sublime.  Plus, it was in kind of a hole-in-the wall location, which I consider a plus, in a place that reminded me of the neighborhood tavern my parents owned while I was growing up.

    Sadly they moved more than a year ago.  Burgers are almost as good as they were in the old place, but the atmosphere is more upscale and most definitely does not remind me of my parent’s tavern.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    @SiubhanDuinne: I saw this tweet earlier and thought of you

    How many times can one man lose, Before he concedes the election? The answer my friend Is golfing yet again The answer is golfing yet again.

    link

  40. 40.

    Punchy

    I’ll take my burger with some fromage, own’yuns, and some HP sauce.  A Swiss/Scot burger with a side of halitosis.

  42. 42.

    Charluckles

    @Martin:

    Have a brother who lived in Australia for a decade. If you like a good burger you must try the Aussie version with good quality sliced beets and a fried egg. An epiphany in our family.

  44. 44.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Cheryl Rofer: BECAUSE I DON’T LIVE IN SANTA FE WHERE THEY ARE DA BOMB.  Actually I don’t much care for cheese on the burger but I made an exception in Santa Fe.

    In other burger news, In n Out opened a branch nearby (in Colorado) to 2 mile long lines, traffic jams and a 14 hour wait. I eschew fast food but did try an In n Out burger a couple of years ago and I just don’t get it. In 14 hours I could be in New Zealand if and when they’ll have me.

  45. 45.

    Starfish

    Two new In-and-Out Burgers have opened in Colorado, and people have been standing in line for hours and hours in the middle of a pandemic. Can you imagine a 12-hour line for fast food?

  46. 46.

    HumboldtBlue

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m here and it’s just weird. Long delay in loading front page images and just general lag overall with each keystroke at times.

    I’m gonna unplug my modem for 15 seconds and plug it back in just for old time’s sake.

  47. 47.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    No beef for me, but I like a nice turkey burger (must be fresh, not frozen) with Swiss cheese, fried mushrooms, and fresh tomatoes, onions, and pickles. Messy but so good…

  48. 48.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @WaterGirl: We think alike, WG. Why would you sog the chips up like that?  I wouldn’t be able to fit my mouth around that anyway and would wind up eating with a knife and fork. But the ingredients sound fabulous. Now I want a burger. And chips. And slaw.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @Sure Lurkalot: I always figure it’s never a good sign if they name a place “In and Out” or “Hot and Now”.

    If the best thing you can say about your food is that you can get it right away and it’s hot … not good.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    @HumboldtBlue: Okay, but after you do that and see if it helps, come back and let me know.

    And if you’ll stick around for a few minutes, I can turn of the plugin and you can let me know if that makes a difference or not.

  52. 52.

    Benw

    @WaterGirl: I second the soggy cole slaw mix ugh. I take potato chips served on the side and put them on in bits so they don’t get soggy as I eat. (I also do this with fries)

  53. 53.

    Peale

    So what would a Delaware burger be?  I’ve only been there twice. I’m guessing lab grown DuPont Chicken “Meat” and taffy. It’ll be on sale for $3, but you’ll have to pay a $25 toll if you come in from out of state.

  57. 57.

    Benw

    @Kent: Up 21-6 means if the Chargers just put their heads down and play Charger ball they will lose in the dumbest possible way

  58. 58.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    My favorite is a third to a half pound of burger done medium rare and seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano, a slice of melted cheddar, a thin slice of red onion,  arugula, large pickle slice, mustard, mayo and a soft grilled bun…

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I’ll just say that Katzinger’s in Columbus, Ohio waited until Bill Clinton came there and order a specific sandwich before naming it after him.  That makes sense to me.

  67. 67.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Peale:

    Nah, no way. Delaware burger would be beef, swiss, lettuce, pickle, mustard and ketchup with onion rings stuffed inside.

    And you can’t be badmouthing the Blue Hens like that either, pal (said in Biden’s “come on man!” voice).

  71. 71.

    WaterGirl

    @mrmoshpotato: We seriously had an In and Out fast food place, and a Hot and Now.  I assumed they were chains.

    I never eat at fast food places, so I didn’t eat there.  But they were not here more than a year or two, and then were gone.

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    Tried Five Guys a few years ago when was in NY. Do not grok the adoration. Mediocre, soggy burger. Found the fries so disgusting that ended up tossing the bulk of them into the nearest trash receptacle.

  79. 79.

    Winston

    @mrmoshpotato: I think there’s a Five Guys in every town in Florida. I like their juicy burgers, and their french fries are the bomb. 100 lb bags of potatoes stacked up, so you know they’re fresh.

  81. 81.

    patrick II

    @cope:

    That is pretty much the opposite of the way I feel about raw onion.  For me, the flavor raw onion is so strong it’s more like having an onion sandwich with hamburger as the condiment.

  82. 82.

    patrick II

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “Apparently Newt, in his tortured aquatic metaphor, has no idea that a red tide is … not a good thing. A large bloom chokes off sea life and smells to high heaven. The toxins make their way up the food chain and can be harmful/deadly to wildlife and humans.

    Newt probably thinks that’s a good thing.

  86. 86.

    JMG

    @Peale: No, the Charcoal Pit on Rt. 202 serves fantastic burgers and has for over 50 years. No doubt Biden ate there as a teenager. I did. Every Delaware teen has. As has every Wilmington adult.

  88. 88.

    RSA

    @cope: No thank you.  Cheese, thin raw onion and catsup is the most “stuff” I like on a burger and even then, keep the catsup to a minimal amount.  The burger’s the thing the way I see it.

    Go, Team Moderation. I’m thinking of what I generally like to put on a burger, either when I’m the cook or I go out, and it’s not a lot. Cheese, lettuce, tomato, maybe a slather of mustard or mayonnaise. Boring, now that I write it down, but I want the burger to have a chance to be the star.

  90. 90.

    Mary G

    @germy: I was just going to ask if we could have a political thread, since it’s been all respite for hours and I wanted to talk about that:

    Um she was at the nearly 2-hour press conference w Giuliani and Trump mentioned her in a tweet. Hard to put the toothpaste back etc pic.twitter.com/Rd1PD5WFi2— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 22, 2020

  92. 92.

    patrick II

    My favorite burger is with cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo.  I make it at home because when eating out the bacon has usually been sitting around and is no longer crispy.  I toast a thick piece of multi-grain bread rather than use a bun to make sure it’s healthy.

  93. 93.

    Winston

    When I lived in Cincinnati, they only place to go for take out was skyline chili. No burgers, of course, but I haven’t been there for a while.

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    My dad met a man who owned a burger joint in the next town who also had the same first and last name. He sold his shop to In and Out decades ago and went to work there as an executive. His son had the same first, last and middle initial as me, their daughter had the same name as my sister. They met on a Shriner’s outing, the man sat next to dad, offered his hand and said I’m…. Dad said so am I. Man said my last name is….. Dad said so is mine. Then found out about the kids. His wife didn’t have the same name as mom. They lived about 4 miles from us, nice people. I just looked on the In and Out site to see if I could find a date for when he sold his stand and no date but I was young so it was early in the In and Out story and is still an operating stand. Also the starting pay for working at a stand is $16.25/hr. I thought that was quite interesting, as how the cost of a burger/fries/drink is less than $6. Each location does sell a lot of burgers in a day.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    @Winston

    Two words: Kula onions.

    Also too, December is usually when bags of luscious gigantic sweet yellow onions from South America (Peru?) appear at Costco here. Love to use those in preparing onion soup.

  99. 99.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Mary G:

    Why do elephants have red genitals?

    So they can hide in strawberry patches.

    How did Tarzan die?

    Picking strawberries.

    Bonus round!

    What do you do with an elephant with three balls?

    Walk the elephant and pitch to the giraffe on deck.

  102. 102.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Tried Five Guys a few years ago when was in NY. Do not grok the adoration. Mediocre, soggy burger. Found the fries so disgusting that ended up tossing the bulk of them into the nearest trash receptacle.

    Five Guys recently opened up here in my Southern California community. The burger was not soggy. Everything was fresh and crisp. The regular fries were very good.

    The crazy thing is that even though I would give the burger high marks for freshness of ingredients (the lettuce and tomato had a nice fresh snap when you bit into it), and the burger was cooked well, there was nothing particularly distinctive about it.

    It was a good basic burger.  But burgers are like that. I would not say that my go-to burger, In-and-Out, is the absolute best burger in the world, but I like the taste of it, and the flavor and quality are uniform wherever you get them.

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    Was at one time an ancient drug store in one of the towns where I lived – straight out of the Victorian age, all dark mahogany, green marble and sparkling brass) which also had a similarly venerable lunch counter. Behind it a window allowed a view into the back room so one could watch as they ground the meat to order every time a burger was ordered.

  105. 105.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @mrmoshpotato: I miss our local Five Guys. :(

    Five Guys opened up a few months back next to Ollie’s Discount Outlet on Merritt Blvd in Dundalk MD. Ollie’s is a regular stop on my Greater Dundalk Outlet & Cheep Stuff Circuit (along with H&S Bakery Outlet Store, Big Lots, ALDI’s, Save-A-Lot, Dollar Tree [2 locations] and DJ’s Liquidators) – maybe I should check out their offerings & prices (which I anticipate will be at least double what the national franchises charge) when next I make the run, probably tomorrow sometime…

  107. 107.

    brantl

    @WaterGirl: Cock and Bull is $5 for a four pack, taste is as strong as Altoid’s Ginger mints.  Pink cap Blenheim spicy ginger ale, I’ve never had that.

  109. 109.

    WaterGirl

    @brantl: Looks like most of the stores that sell it are not in this region.  :-(  They said Schnucks carries it, which we do have, but our local Schnucks stores don’t take phone calls now because of COVID.  No idea why.

    I’ll keep an eye out for it, though, when I start to linger in stores again instead of racing in and out as fast as I can.

  114. 114.

    JeffH

    @NotMax: Is it Franks? Thanks.

    (A comment that will be incomprehensible to anyone not familiar with 80s era Philadelphia tv commercials.)

  116. 116.

    Shantanu Saha

    By coincidence, I made those burgers last week for my family (cole slaw and potato chips on the side). Beef patties grilled in a pan, followed by frying the onions, mushrooms, and peppers in the beef fat. All on brioche buns and (in my case) finished off with A1 steak sauce. It was gone in minutes.

  117. 117.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat:   Le sigh.

    Seems to be a slow news day, so far.  I am catching up on the Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival (google it; films free and available til 11 EDT tonight).  And started reading “Mexican Gothic”, which looks fab.

    But I ache for those who would like to talk about something non … respite.

  119. 119.

    Anne Laurie

    @Winston: But [Five Guy’s] expanded so much the quality varies significantly.

    Well, *that* explains something that’s puzzled me.   We first ate Five Guys at the Parsippany NJ branch, maybe a decade ago, when they were still new & interesting.  And we loved it!

    Couple years back, a Five Guys opened in our neighborhood here north of Boston.  The Spousal Unit still approves of their burgers, but I find them… bland.  And the fries, which I’d remembered as outstanding, are not worth eating.

    On the other hand, there’s now a Sonic Burger some twenty minutes from our house, and I thoroughly approve.  Especially since they’ve got tater tots, which I adore!

  120. 120.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @pamelabrown53: Yes I have! Numerous times. Enjoyed along with their cucumber-jalapeno margarita. My fave. I’m waiting for the plague to go away so we can eat there again.

  121. 121.

    scav

    The Trump Struck-Off Team of Lawyers rolls on. I wonder why bringing coffee wasn’t involved this time.  What a cheapskate, not buying her round.

  122. 122.

    laura

    @WaterGirl: “really spicy gingerale” APB be on the lookout for canada dry bold. It’s new, it’s hot as blazes, it’s all that! We’re having cheeseburgers at home tonight- there must be a cosmic force crying out for food on a bun accross our weary nation. We’re having beans on the side bc our strategic bean reserves are at a level that allows for the possibility of beans at at least two meals per day.

  124. 124.

    Ramalama

    Reminds me of a bakery I went to in Ottawa, Canada (the capital city), right after Obama/Biden were elected the first time. This bakery made a sugar cookie with Obama’s face on it. It sold tens of thousands of these Obama cookies and shipped them all over the world; Australia, Japan, Singapore are the countries that come to mind.

    It baffled me. Obama. Ottawa. Cookies.

    It was a marketing coup by the bakery. It was a sign of relief, excitement by the world that George W and Darth Cheney were finally out. Good guys in, I guess.

  125. 125.

    laura

    @WaterGirl: “really spicy gingerale” APB be on the lookout for canada dry bold. It’s new, it’s hot as blazes, it’s all that! We’re having cheeseburgers at home tonight- there must be a cosmic force crying out for food on a bun accross our weary nation. We’re having beans on the side bc our strategic bean reserves are at a level that allows for the possibility of beans at at least two meals per day.

     

    @WaterGirl: in and Out is a high quality burger for fast food. It’s a pretty simple menu and the burgers are not from a sleeve of preformed patties. I had a bad burger food poisoning that stopped me from eating ground beef for a decade. In and Out is the only non homemade burger I’d consider. If you ever find yourself on the left coast, you should give it a go. But a 12 hour wait – nope.

  130. 130.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl:

    More to the point, who waits half a day for “fast” “food”?

    I-O is okay within the category of places to eat at an interstate entrance/exit. Given the choice of it or McDonald’s, Burger King, Carl’s Junior, Taco Bell et al, In-and-Out it is. But zero times out of a hundred do I seek one out just because.

  132. 132.

    laura

    @WaterGirl:  food banks and drive through testing, but not burgers or donuts.

    The grilled cheeseburger was good – ultrathin sliced white own’yun, grilled bun, pickles lettuce condiments and beans on the side, but has hit my gut like a cheeseburger.

  133. 133.

    lige

    I love coleslaw on a burger! It’s one of my takeaways from living in NC for about a year. The cabbage and mayonnaise make a nice contrast to the beef and cheese. Never been to Delaware so I have no idea if that particular food way travelled up the coast.

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