Be Careful What You Read (or The Search for the Best Burger)

My brother went to New England Culinary Institute and has had an interesting string of jobs:

• fine dining in Chicago where he got to shop for fresh ingredients and determine what the nightly special would be
• worked at a Alzheimer's center where he managed his budget so well that he hired another person, bought new stuff for the kitchen AND in a place where the residents were chronically underweight he was praised for making food so good that they actually ate and gained weight (it's a funny world where you  hear "congrats - your residents are getting fatter!!!")
• wine store manager - my personal favorite since this was in town and I frequently got great tips on wine selections, samples, etc.  I should write about the time I asked the wine store clerk to go to Rome with me...but that's for another day.

At any rate, my brother, Henry, has always been more interested in reading nonfiction while I almost always prefer fiction.  It's one of the many ways we're different.  When he moved Colorado and I was trying to reconnect with him after not really seeing him in years, I asked what his favorite book was at the moment.  As kids we used to read a lot -- it was an easy way to entertain ourselves with all the road trips and on those days where you just weren't up to trying to communicate with the neighbor kids that didn't speak the same language as you.  And I've always felt that what a person reads tells me a lot about them.  Sorta like a horoscope or palm reading for the bibliophile (and just as accurate -- haha).

He gave me a copy of The Best Food Writing for the previous year by Holly Hughes.  I kinda perused the table of contents, saw that it was a collection of articles from various sources, and asked him if he had a recommendation of where to start.  (I rarely read books like that in any sort of conventional order.)  In his typical enigmatic way, he shrugged and said "I thought this was one of the better years, so any place is good."

I'm a fan of hamburgers and fries, so the first article I read was on some author's search for the best burger ever.  This was a terrible idea.  It got me thinking about what I liked and sorta changed my outlook.  No longer was I interested in fast-food burgers -- maybe that's not so bad, but wait.  I kept thinking about the burgers I really liked:  Chili's Ground Peppercorn Burger, Red Robin's Banzai Burger, etc.  The article's author talked about several "high-end restaurant" burgers and what goes into a burger and quality of meat and other ingredients.  I was craving burgers.  I went to Red Robin.  That didn't help.  The next day I went to Chili's.  That didn't help.

The next day I caught up with my brother and told him about the article and that it had me on this odd, insatiable quest for a supreme burger.  He smirked.  Clearly I was highly suggestible and an amateur at what was a occupational hazard for him (as a chef he must read tons of articles on food and preparation).  How is he not like 300lbs?  He's tall (6-foot, plus or minus), thin, with the teeniest hit of a belly.  I found out later that after cooking all day, he's sick of it.  His pantry is stocked with cereal and his frig holds a couple sodas and some milk.  His wife won him over by making him a dinner of macaroni and cheese (presumably from a box) -- she's quite proud of this and I love her for it.

"Maybe just read the next article -- and you'll be onto another quest," quipped Henry.  Brilliant.  Frustrating.  I had the urge to stand on his feet and pull his hair again like I did when we were kids.  Except he's a lot taller than me now and that probably wasn't the way to get to know him again.

It didn't work, by the way.  I'm still looking for great burgers.  Which is why when I saw (via facebook) a list of the restaurants that are in some local Denver burger contest later this year, those restaurants moved to the top of my dining out adventures list.

The first one we tried was Argyll.  It's a "gastropub".  ...? I had to look that up -- basically it seems to me that it's pub food "kicked up a notch" as Emeril would say.  It seemed like a Scottish pub in my completely inexpert opinion -- on the lower level of a small shopping block, dark, a little noisy, bottles of wine on the wall (I'm always tempted to order one just to see the guy take it off the wall), our waiter was wearing a plaid newsboy hat, there was a framed kilt next to our table... 

Here's what I was after -- and why Argyll made it to the top of my list in my current burger quest.

The Argyll Burger Ground Lamb and Beef Patty on a Potato Bun w/ Harssa Aioli & Hand Cut Fries. Optional toppers:  avocado, fried egg, bacon, Cheeses:  English Cheddar, Stilton Bleu, Gruyere, Haystack Goat

When I ordered their signature burger, I said to the waiter "I'm having trouble deciding if I should get cheese on it -- what do you recommend? Cheddar?"  The waiter said, "Whoa! Let me stop you right there.  Since you can get a fried egg, bacon and goat cheese on it, most people do that -- it's like having 5 animals at once!"

Holy cow.

I didn't do it; I'm not that brave.  It was a great burger though.  But I can't say it's the best -- I have 9 more restaurants to try first -- but the bar is set pretty high now!


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Postscript -- to complete the dinner review, here's the rest of what we tried:

Olives - Olives Marinated w/ Pepper Flakes, Anise and Orange Zest served with Feta and Garlic Confit
Fried Oysters 3 Fried Oysters w/ Horseradish, Ginger, Pickled Apples, Fennel & Watercress
Shephard’s Pie Layers of Stewed Lamb & Beef w/ Vegetables, Topped w/ Mashed Potatoes & Herbed Horseradish Croutons
Lemon Tart topped with blackberries and fried basil

The Olives were interesting -- temperature warm and a teeny bit spicy from the pepper flakes.  I like the Fried Oysters -- except that the fennel stayed with me throughout the entire meal (and even later!).  Iggy loved the Shephard's Pie (that's the spelling copied and pasted from their web site...not mine...maybe it's the Scottish spelling or maybe my spell checker is on the fritz) and he is going to try making it at home (yay!).  The only down side was being so full -- even an hour later when we got home I still felt really full.

 This was the only non-Scottish or non-food-themed thing I saw while there.  Is there a link between Scotland and Japan that I missed?