In and Out

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: What else can I get animal style?

Though most food nerds turn their nose at any fast food, even the most cynical pretentious foodie will be intrigued by an In and Out Burger. The closest one to Austin, Texas was in Lancaster, Texas just outside of Dallas. Thankfully I was traveling with a friend that has a lead foot and one of the best radar detectors that money can buy. The menu is simple enough but the allure of In and Out for those of us that do not have it as a dining option; it is the allure of that secret menu. Not to go into specifics, there are certain add ons and additional preparations that you can get for your meal. Also In and Out was one of the first places that toted fresh food and cooked to order burgers. I went with a 2x2 animal style (a double cheese burger with 2 slices of cheese), well done fries (as it sounds extra crispy fries), animal style and a Neapolitan shake. Animal style, which sounds straight gangster, is when the burger is topped with grilled onions and a special sauce, similar to the Big Mac sauce. Animal style friends are cheese fries topped with said combination/sauce.

Of course the comparison to Shake Shack is inevitable.

 The verdict is, that burger for burger, I will take the Shake Shack burger over an In and Out burger. It is a good fast food burger, one of the best, but Shake Shack is better. The patties were smaller and did not feel that substantial in my hands. Fries however, goes to In and Out, especially with the option of getting them well done but even the regular fries which I sampled on a friend’s tray were nice and crisp. Overall, it was worth checking out In and Out, the service was some of the best I had at a fast food place. The ultimate deadly combination would be to get a Shake Shack burger animal style but that is wishful dangerous thinking. 

Diner

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Good penmanship is a requirement with hand written menus

Diner is located in a pretty desolate part of Williamsburg and does not look like much from the outside. Yet, come here around noon on a Saturday, it is packed. Before Brooklyn became its own dining genre, there was Diner at the forefront and what all eateries if they know it or not, somehow replicate what they have been doing. The menu has some core items, but it changes depending on what is available and of course, it is handwritten and to add the hipster kicker, it is written on receipt paper, so it is just one long looking menu. Though they had some really interesting dishes, I was craving red meat in a carnivorous way and Diner makes a good one. 

Menu

The burger, is composed of dry aged grass fed beef which even you do not know what the combination of all of those words mean, you know it is going to be good and it was. Cooked to temp, this burger hit all the right notes of meaty and gaminess. The burger to bun ratio was perfect and dare I say that this burger is probably one of best (Minetta still reigns supreme) and has a hell of a price tag on it, for about 15 bucks. The fries accompanying it were fine but nothing to write home about and like that there was a side of fresh mayo. Call me a Francophile but I like eating my fries with mayo. The hipster vibe is strong here: some kind of indie rock is on and the dude is wearing really short shorts and suspenders, and I am pretty sure that ketchup is like, made in house. But you cannot deny the fact that there is some good food here that is worth checking out and a great tasting burger that rivals any in New York.

Damn fine burger

Diner

85 Broadway

Brooklyn, NY 
http://dinernyc.com/ 

Bowery Diner

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: The Bowery Diner insults every Jersey Diner.

tl;dr/note: suggest not coming here with so many other options within cripple walking distance


Mathieu Palombino's Motorino is one of my favorite places. Everything from the food, service and every aspect of this restaurant is on point. The opening of his newest venture, the Bowery Diner, I was in high anticipation however, after last night, I will most likely, not be going back here again. There are such things as an off night, but last night was far from beyond an off night, it was like a catastrophic failure. I was so unsatisfied with the meal that I did something that I have never done after a meal in New York: got pizza. 

Pistachio Milkshake- good

I guess like a colonoscopy, lets ease into this. The place is done up like a Pleasantville 1950s diner and the retro look stand out on the Bowery and I liked it. As the name says, it is a Diner and had all your usual diner fares but of course, being New York, they got a bit more than just flapjacks, omelets and burgers with whelks escargot style (which by the way, I did not get but sounds like something the Joe Beef guys got going on in there book, not starting anything, just putting it out there), cocktails, choucorute. Bowery Diner is a clash between a Bouchon and the American Diner. 

Brussel Sprouts- Okay

I stopped in here around 6 and the place was about a little over half full and decided to get a quick bite. Being a diner, I needed a milkshake (boozy ones offered as well), and I got the pistachio flavored one. I ordered the Bowery Special and a side of Brussel Sprouts because you need to get some veggies in some how. 


The good which unfortunately is not going to take to long:


1. the milkshake is hard to mess up and they were thankfully able to do this sucessfully and sadly the highlight of the everything. Also gave you the excess milkshake that did not make the cup which is always good
2. brussel sprouts was cooked with bacon and got the flattop treatment and had a nice char
3. the pickle that came with the burger. 


Okay, we eased into it, take a deep breath, try to relax and bend over:

Bowery Special- bad

the Burger the Bowery Special was topped with a pastrami patty done up in house, a beef patty, greyere and brown mustard. A nice rift on a a Rubuen. Apparently cooked to order is not really done here and I only had the choice of medium rare or medium. That is it. When I asked for the burger to be rare, I server, some dude with a Bro'd out fauxhawk ignored my clear request for a rare burger and when I insisted on a rare burger he reacted the way you should not react or respond:


faux grimace


"uhh we don't do rare here"


When I inquired why not here is another way to not respond


"we just like, don't"




This should of been my sign to leave. Like Napoleon marching into Russia and seeing snowfall, should have paid attention to the sign, and just turned the hell around.


After taking my order and bringing my milkshake. This would be the last time I would see my server. Oh, except when he cleared my stuff. 


The burger was a sad affair. the burger patty was mealy and apparently cooked to order did not matter because as dim as the lighting was, that was cooked beyond medium rare and closer to well done and "why are you abusing this meat". It lacked any beef flavor, mealy. The pastrami patty was just okay and was a step above the beef patty. the bun to meat ratio, even with 2 kinds of meat in it was clearly off and the bun was just "ehh". The fries which clearly took up the most real estate on the plate were greasy and limp. This was just a sad plate. The damned clown, and easily the fast food Ginger makes a better burger. I wanted to complain, but unannounced to me, I apparently had SARs or a contagious disease because no one was to be found. I had to flag down the hostess, just to get a side of mayonnaise.


Finally when my server made a cameo and cleared my plate, he did not even question the barely touched fries and the burger that was left, and if he did not really care, then I guess I just stopped caring either. 


This is probably the biggest negative review I have ever written so far in this blog and I hope there is only going to be limited to a few. This place just failed on so many levels and compared to his other venture, Motorino where the server actually questioned me of all was alright when I left pizza bones on the plate it does not seem possible that these two places are opened by the same person. The website to the Bowery Diner has a picture of a diner car being pushed over into the water which in truthfully ironic, because this is my exact feelings on this place. 




Bowery Diner 
241 Bowery
New York

bowerydiner.com/ 

Uncle Chang Burger

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I still have no clue who Uncle Chang is, but the dude rocks New Balance Cross Trainers

In Tainan, the streets are filled with these breakfast lunch places that have a variety of sandwiches and such in the morning. As much as people eat congee and other things, sometimes they do not want that early morning starch bomb and just want a sandwich. One of these places, Uncle Chang Burger according to one of my cousins, has opened one or two locations in Tainan and from the times i passed it in the morning, looks busy and usually it seems like a fast food operation and I generally steer clear away from that but look at the man, he looks so happy and why would you not want a burger from Uncle Chang? Also as the signage advertises, there is indeed corn soup which is a great way to wash down a burger.

Thankfully, Uncle Chang does not have food time discrimination and serves a burger all day which is how it should be. They had the usual suspects of Taiwan breakfast foods of egg crepes, soy milk and various teas but I went with the chicken sandwich with eggs and the hamburger.

the chicken I later observed, was not really "chicken" but really smoked deli-like chicken. The egg I thought was going to be a runny egg like egg but it was scrambled eggs, but at least they were fluffy. Dressed with lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup and mayonnaise it was a okay sandwich. The deli-like chicken was a bit salty and the roll was soft but sweet, but compound that with the ketchup (ketchup produced in Asian countries, is generally distinctly sweeter) it was actually a bit too sweet for me.

The burger was the size of a dollar menu cheeseburger which I guess to the rest of the world is "normal" sized. It was topped with shredded cabbage, mayonnaise and ketchup. The bun was soft and sweet but it was not warmed or toasted. The burger patty can be best described as with a "huh". It is not cooled to order but upon inspection, you noticed flecks of brown stuff and it has an eerie sheen to it. Upon eating it, I realize that the flecks is actually bits of fried shallots and that the burger patty had a starchy consistency to it. The patty I suspect has probably little beef or no beef at all and it was more like a sausage patty. The patty had meat in it, I just was not sure what kind of meat it was, Upton Sinclair would most likely be all over this thing. The burger again, like most things in Tainan, a too sweet for my taste but the addition of the fried shallots in the patty almost balanced it out.


Though I most likely will not be getting a burger from Uncle Chang again, it is fun to see and try foods that seems atypical to what I used to seeing here, seen in a different light. However, next time I need breakfast, I think I'll stick to an egg crepe...maybe try the corn soup.

Prime Meats- the Burger

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Despite the awesome Saloon/Western atmosphere of Prime Meats, I am 100% sure that Mr. Earp would never be caught dead rocking girl jeans and bright red suspenders

Craving a burger, my options are limitless in New York. After a failed attempt to get macarons at Laudree early Saturday morning (I like macarons, but not 2 hour wait for it) I decided to take the trek out to Carroll Gardens and try out Prime Meats from the Frankies. Prime Meats is just one of the many burger that many rave about and falling into the “fancy pants” burger as described via Serious Eats, I decided I needed to check it out.  

Stepping into Prime Meats for the first time, you feel as if you entered a time warp and entered into a mining town saloon (minus the cholera and dust) which I was liking and given the host and the waiters that day were quoting, Tombstone indisputably one of the best Westerns and portrayal of Wyatt Earp, I instantly fell in love with this place. Food After the Jump!