2018: The Year in Food

Welcome to the end of the year!!! It's been a pretty good one, and at this time, there's always a bunch of lists and retrospectives, so here's another!!! A look back at some of the stuff I ate!!!

To start off, I'm always looking for a good Chicago deep dish pizza. There's a few places that are purported to to serve it up, but the only new to me one I tried was a place called Dough Box. It's pretty decent, but not quite as good as the one I had in Chicago.

Next up is a creation of my own. The Woody Show had a segment on the ultimate stoner foods, and one was a grilled bacon cheese peanut butter & jelly sandwich. I think Menace may have cooked some up. Probably on 4-20. I love me a grilled PB&J, it's a meal and dessert in one, so I tried out the embellishments, and it was pretty good. Added in some grilled onions, and if I remember, I had some fancy kind of cheese. When I went to make it, though, there was only one slice each of two different kinds of bread, so it was a real mash up.

I've been going to the Aldi by my work for some time now. they have some of the best prices on most stuffs. One time while I was there, they had Jeno's East Chicago deep dish pizzas for around $6. Had to get one, and while, once again, not as good as Chicago, it was still quite plausible, for a fraction of the price. I think I got one more before they sold out, and they came back later and I got 2 or 3 more.

Next up, Oinkster had their Burger Week again. I skipped last year, but this year they were bringing back a few of my favorites, so I made it a quest again. I think the winner for my favorite was the Thrilla from Manilla. Pork patty with shrimp & mushrooms in a lumpia wrapper, green papaya relish, pork belly, and sweet sweet Thai sauce.

I was looking most forward to the Pantera burger, with grilled mac & cheese, pulled pork, bacon and garlic aioli. Sounded awesome, but for some reason I was underwhelmed.

One of my favorites from my first time was the Bet it All on Black Garlic burger, with a lot of garlic stuff on it, too. When we got there for this one, they told us they were out of the black buns, so it'd be on just a regular bun, but when I got it home, it was black!!! Didn't seem as garlicy as the first one I'd had.

They also had several of their "tribute" burgers, starting with the Big Max, then the Sourdough Josh, and the week ended with the McRibster, which makes the original seem like the ribwich from the gas station!!!

Habit Burger never disappoints, and I made it by for the limited time guacamole crunch burger, and it was well worth it. Later on in the year they had a French Onion burger that was also quite good!!!

Here's one I happened on. For National Donut Day, Burger King came up with the Whopper Donut!!! Only five locations in the country were going to have them, and one was close to where I was going to be, so I was able to get in on it!!!

Really nothing that special, just a Whopper with the middle punched out. Comes with a "mini Whopper slider", which is just the punched out center. Whopper is a pretty good mass-production burger, so I enjoyed it.

As briefly mentioned, we went to the Orange County Fair this year. Always fair food to be had, and here's a few!!! We got some of the Australian Battered Potatoes, which were quite good.

Of course, deep fried stuff had to be consumed. I got some deep fried cheesecake, the younger boy got some deep fried Oreos.

Mom got the deep fried Nutella. Looked bad, tastes good. She also got some pizza on a stick later on.

Of course, they had the Christmas party for my work this year. Seemed like a lot of people weren't going when you'd talk to them, but once we got there, every place you look you see someone. I'm always tempted to get the fish, but I got the filet mignon, and it was good!!! Mine was kind of thin, but that made it nicely cooked throughout. Dessert was these little cakes.

Just the other day I went to Taco Bell and had them try and make a re-creation of Woody's deep dish Mexican pizza!!! He'd gone to their test kitchen and stacked it to where it'd just barely fit in their oven. I basically just had 'em double up everything, and it looks like it could have gone taller, but it was honestly more than enough!!!

Finally, back at the end of August, noted crackpot California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman was calling for a boycott of In-N-Out Burger. All that made me do is want an In-N-Out Burger. The next night, I went by and got one. The boycott doesn't seem to have done them any harm. It occurred to me just the other day, I can't recall the last time I've had an In-N-Out Burger that wasn't prepared animal style!!!

I took this picture and posted it on Twitter. I think it may have been the most liked and retweeted post I've ever done. For the text, I just did three words.

God bless America.

Oinkster's Burger Week 2015

I've made mention in a few other mentions about Oinkster in Eagle Rock, including a post chronicling my first visit back in 2007. The place is a little pricey, but totally worth it. This year, they were having (though not for the first time, just the first time on my radar) Burger Week in the first week of June. This year all the creations are inspired by movies and television, a different one each day. Buy all seven, & you get a T-shirt. You know I'm a sucker for a T-shirt!!! Challenge accepted!!! I'd been planning on doing it all solo, but I told my wife about it, and she wanted in on it, too. OK, my free T-shirt price just doubled!!! Coulda been worse, though, if the firstborn wasn't off in boot camp!!!

This meant that after getting off work and going home to get my wife, it's after 8 by the time we get there. Even at that hour, there is still a line going out the door and around the side of the building. Burger week brought 'em out in droves!!! So, it's kind of late by the time I eat, but I'm good and hungry for it. I missed getting a shot of the first day's burger, the Krusty Klogger, from the SImpson's movie. Ironically, that was the catylist for this post. Took one of my random, use 'em up, vacation days today, and FXX had The Simpsons Movie on, and I had to watch it. It's a double cheeseburger (homemade cheese) with bacon, bourbon-bacon jam, bacon dressing and even a side of pork rind dust!!! It was a worthy burger, and for all what's on it, a fairly pretty good deal. Of course, we had to get an order of fries and extra of their incredible garlic aioli sauce!!!

Day two they have the Atomic Hot Pepper burger from Dumb & Dumber. I was a bit worried about this one, sounds SUPER spicy!!! It has a HUGE cheddar-filled jalapeño popper, marinated red peppers, housemade chorizo nacho cheese, chipotle-garlic aioli, shredded lettuce, chopped onion and tomato. The first few bites I managed to avoid the popper, and it wasn't prohibitively spicy, actually VERY tasty. Finally, I bit the bullet & bit into the jalapeño popper... Nope!!! My mouth is on FIRE!!! I had to tap out and remove it to finish that burger, so I fudged a little on eating every burger in it's entirety. My wife, however, is a fiend for spicy, so she ate all of hers... which ended up being her undoing. The next day she had a doctor's appointment, and he advised her to cut out a lot of the bread in her diet to help lower her blood sugar, and the jalapeño had made her sick to her stomach all day. She bowed out after the second day, making it so I could head over directly from work and not be eating quite so late at night.

Day three has Bet it all on Black Garlic from Bob's Burgers. Black garlic cream cheese, black garlic aioli, onion and mixed baby greens on a black garlic butter-toasted black burger bun. You know how I feel about garlic!!! Not only was this possibly the most visually stunning of the week, I think it may have been my favorite. Without my wife along, I ended up taking my younger son, so didn't save any time getting over there. He's not much of an adventurous eater, but he'll have one of their pulled pork sandwiches, albeit without the purple slaw on it. He loves his chili fries, so we got an order of those, a first for me. Why would I deviate from their Belgian fries & garlic aioli???

Day four has the Ulti-Meatum from The Regular Show, one of my favorite shows. This sounded like it was going to be one of my top favorites in burgers, too. On this burger there's pastrami, pulled pork, Swiss cheese, blue cheese cole slaw and Himalayan ketchup. Don't even know what Himalayan ketchup is!!! It was pretty good, but it didn't wow me like I thought it would. DId I over hype it in my mind??? Maybe. This time I picked up some of their Piggy fries, kind of like In-N-Out's animal fries, only better.

Day five was a pair of Red Castle Sliders from Harold & Kumar go to White Castle. OK, like the movie, and it's a decent concept, but in my opinion it was about the most pedestrian burger of the week. Also, it was the best price of Burger Week. This was my day off, and my wife accompanied me on this run again. She opted for their Chinese chicken salad, and declared it great.

Day six was the Big Kahuna burger from Pulp Fiction. It had charred pineapple, kalbi-marinated Spam, kimchi pickles, green curry mayo and teriyaki sauce, and it was delicious!!! I'd thought they would have gone with the Royale with cheese, since that is mentioned in that movie in a few places, but they've already got a Royale on their menu, and I think it would exceed the one described in the movie. Also thought they should have done a promo shake that day, the "I've like to know what a five dollar shake tastes like" shake.

For the final day, they had the Krabby Patty from SpongeBob Squarepants. It has a crab AND shrimp patty and cocktail and tartar sauce, butter lettuce and tomato. My wife also got in on that one, too, against her doctor's advice.

And there's my wrist full of wristbands, reflected in their window (while waiting in line) on the last day.

Also got their Burger Week cupcake on the last day. Pretty visual, and tasty, too. Quite a bit like a twinkie in flavor.

A shot of the Piggy Fries. Tasty, but I think I'll stick with the Belgian fries & garlic aioli!!!

So I ate seven days worth of burger week, spent something like $95, and all I got was this freakin' awesome shirt!!! Well, that's not all, I got a belly full of tasty food every night, and, as I always appreciate, a good story to go with it!!!

50 50 Finally!!!

Here it FINALLY is, the pics & my take on Slater's 50/50 Burger!!! The pictures were from just over a year back, which was the last time I was there. Stacked, I'd been to more recently, but it's closer (more on that later) and the wait is usually less.

First food shot is their vampire dip, which is amazing. Roasted garlic, cheese & artichoke dip! Served in a sourdough bread bowl with fried pita chips, cut & pasted from their website (the description, not the photo). Damn, now I want some!!! Probably shouldn't be doing a food post when I'm hungry!!!

Next shot is my first born's creation. Sloppy!!! Almost always translates to delicious, and this was no exception.

And there's the wife with the younger, and her creation.

It's been more than a year, so I don't remember most of it, but I think it was their featured Cinco de Mayo burger, I want to say with chorizo instead of bacon in the 50/50 blend, but don't quote me. Probably jalapenos and it sure looks like black bean and corn salsa.

There I am, with my creation. Don't know what all it had for sure, but I know this: bleu cheese, garlic aioli (which spell check doesn't seem to recognize,but suggests ravioli, which might be pretty good!!!), and grilled onions were in there!!!

Next shot reveals that dill pickle and tomato were also involved, which sounds like what I'd get!!! Probably more than that, in sauces, as baconnaise is also on the menu. In the background is the first born's again, and in the center was the subject of that particular shot, a little sample of their chili!!! It sounded too much to have on the burger with all the other deliciousness involved, but almost every time I go to a place with chili, I want to see how they've done. I think my consensus was fairly tasty but nothing that would put it over the top. In other words, nothing like mine or Tommy Burgers!!! Good of them to let me try a taste, tho!!!

Funny thing, though, for all the bacon included in the burger patty, I really don't taste it that much... kinda defeats the purpose!!!

And the younger, what does he get??? Grilled cheese!!! Not a bigly adventurous eater (although I'm pretty sure he had some vampire dip, and probably ate of the bread bowl containing it), but look at how he's attacking his food!!! Probably had more to do with the 45 minute drive to get there and the two hour wait once you're there!!! But hey, the burgers are made with 50% sirloin and 50% bacon!!!

So why now do I finally do a post on Slater's 50/50 Burger??? Because I recently found out about another build-a-burger spot nearby, The Counter. WAY closer to home for me than either 50/50 or Stacked, and when we made it there yesterday, there was no waiting for a table!!! Looking at 50/50's website so I could link to it in this post, however, and I see there's now another location, probably a mile closer than The Counter!!! Of course, it's in Old Town Pasadena, where it's going to cost you to park, and if it's like the other ones I've been to, there's the wait. Also, I think that The Counter ended up being just a tad less pricey than Stacked, and a fair amount less than 50/50. Probably the next time I visit The Counter I'll bring along my camera and feature it!!!

But, oh, that vampire dip!!!

Get Stacked!!!

So, for today's post, I was going to post some more pictures from the Youth Expo we went to a couple weeks back, when I discovered the folder from the last time we visited Stacked.

One of my two favorite places I've recently discovered. You can see from the outside, it has multi colored glass walls, giving the interior an orangish hue.

Their gimmick is that you order via an Ipad, choosing what toppings, buns and cheese you'd like on you burger, pizza, hot dog and even ice cream sandwich!!!

Of course, doing so, you come up with an amazing, epic burger!!!

This was only the second time we've gone there, it's not exactly cheap, especially if you put a lot of extras on your burger or pizza, or must have an ice cream sandwich at the end. Of course, all these things are what make the place so awesome!!! To help in the cost area, you can go during happy hour, from 3 to 6 I believe, when everything is discounted.

And, it's not really that close to our house. This particular visit my parents wanted to get together somewhere, so there we went!!! It was their first visit. They both got pulled pork sandwiches, which I always see and think would be tasty, but never get because you can do so much with the burgers.

Every time I go to a build your own burger place, I almost always get bleu cheese and sauteed onions. MMMMMMMM!!! I wants some NOW!!!

The other place which is on my top two these days is Slater's 50/50 burger. Same idea, design your own, only via a notepad checklist. Their gimmick??? Burger patties made of 50% sirloin, 50% ground bacon!!! Enough said... My firstborn ordered a hugely optioned burger, then when it came and it was too tall for his mouth, he sat there holding it muttering "How do???" over and over. I must return, next time with my camera. last time we went there, it was a two hour wait, and worth every minute!!!

OM NOM NOM Every Day!!!

Here it is, almost a month after our vacation & I haven't posted any follow ups yet!!! Just tonight I finally copied all the pictures off my old camera, which my son has inherited.



One thing he did on a fairly regular basis while we were on vacation was to take pictures of what we ate. Just yesterday I got the charge card statement with almost $700 worth of meal charges on it, and this reminded me. Also, the interwebs were out tonight, so it gave me something to do. Never never NEVER get AT&T for a broadband provider, they SUCK ASS!!!






The first & third shots are of the Awesome Burger from Coyote Joe's right off the main drag in Avalon. It consists of three 1/3 pound angus burgers (LOL spellcheck wants to change angus to anus, hehehe). See his eyes glazed over??? He was running out of steam towards the end, but he triumphed.




The next couple of shots are from Antonio's right on the harbor in Avalon. Oh, it was good!!! Everything over there was rather spendy, but I was never disappointed.



Good thing he was taking pictures, I couldn't remember everything we had... We had a bucket of onion strings for appetizer there.







The next three shots are from the Descanso Beach Club, after we'd done the zip line tour. I'd seen a place right by the Casio that had Nathan's hot dogs, and had been wanting to try, but they turned out to have them there. If I'm not mistaken, we had nachos at four different places!!!



The Descanso Beach Club, it's AMAZING!!! There had been talk of building another five star resort on the property, but for now they've got the zip line there. The rest of the property is five star caliber. One of those places where, when we'd arrived, I kept expecting someone to come up and tell us "Excuse me, I don't believe you belong here".



The last couple of shots are the only mainland shots. This was near to the site of our breakdown, Joe's Crab Shack. Excellent food all around!!!



At our last hotel (actually, it bills itself as a resort, but I couldn't bring myself to type "last resort") the night we got there, they had happy hour going on there, and we were able to get four or five appetizers (more nachos!!!) at half price, probably the best deal on high end food we got the whole trip.

My boy was talking of starting a food blog. I either beat him to it, or have given him a template to copy with this post!!!