August 8, 2011

Tonight I thought we’d have a dinner and a movie here at MAD. I didn’t get a cheeseburger last night, so I thought I’d cook one at home and have a nice stay at home Sunday dinner. And I got a movie from a friend of mine at work called, “Captured.” It’s a documentary about photographer Clayton Patterson who has been documenting the Lower East Side  in pictures and video since 1979. It’s a great film with wonderful New York imagery and I’ll post a link to where you can watch the film in its entirity for free. But first...it’s time to eat! Well, I have to cook it all first.

Here's all the ingredients for tonight's Sunday dinner.

Instead of a bun, I thought I'd have an English Muffin to house the burger. Before I cheese them up, i'm going to toast them in the toaster oven. Away you go.

I'm grilling a chopped up onion in the electric skillet.

Okay, the muffin nice and toasty brown, so it's time to add cheese to them. And tonight we're using two cheeses, Velveeta on the right and Provolone on the left. Okay back into the toaster oven you go!

Okay, now I've added some pre-cooked bacon to the onion mix. You can buy cooked bacon at the store now, I never knew! Oh the miracles of modern foodism.

Okay, the onion/bacon topping is done, so I've put that off to the side and thrown the burger into the skillet. I've seasoned it with pepper and mustard powder.

We'll cover it and have an appetizer while everything cooks.

I was inspired to cook at home tonight after reading Britta's latest Justice Girl post at her blog. She had a photo of popcorn dusted with chili powder, so I thought I'd try that myself and here it is!

And of course whenever you have popcorn, you have to have a beer or four. And look, a lone bottle of tea has snuck into my refrigerator. How did that happen?

And now a little intermission time as we enjoy the beer and popcorn.

Okay, back to the dinner. The muffins are properly cheesed off.

And the burger is all done. I've melted a slice of Velveeta on top of it. This is going to be one cheesy burger!

Okay, time to put it all together. The burger's on the muffin and a dollop of mustard is added, much to Kari and Britta's delight!

And it's topped off with the bacon and onion mixture.

And here's the meal with some of the chili powder popcorn as a side dish.

That is a tasty burger! And now for the movie portion, just click here and you can watch the entire movie, "Captured" for free. Enjoy and see you tomorrow after dark.

Further reading: The Fader, The Villager, Brooklyn Rail and food•in•mouth.

You Might Also Like: Eclairs, e e cummings and esquared.

Four Cheesy Chefs
Rachel Ray
Guy Fieri
Emeril Lagasse
Chef Boy-Ar-Dee

I hope that you're happy now like you're supposed to be,
And I know that this will hurt you more than it hurts me.

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(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you!)

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Bonus Cardboard Box Man Sightings!

Gene sent in this TV CBBM sighting and writes, "Look who has been spotted in a Sonic commercial UFB!

And Kate, from One More Folded Sunset sent in CBBM mutated as a door at The Commonwealth Bar in Brooklyn. Aaaah!

June 19, 2011

Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring brgr and featuring the ready for Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a hand to brgr!

Okay, I had to go back to work because I left my phone there after last night's monster shift. There's a cheeseburger joint nearby where I work called brgr, and I've always been curious about it, but have avoided it because I thought they didn't serve beer. But I checked out their menu and it turns out they do indeed have bottled beer. So that's tonight's cheeseburger destination.

Sheesh, this wig store window always gives me the creeps. I've probably passed by it hundreds of times and it still sends a chill down my spine.

And here we are at brgr. I like their logo and sign.

The restaurant is long and narrow with wooden and brick walls. It's got a nice, casual feel to it.

You place your order here.

I thought I'd start out with a beer and the lovely Nicole happily serves up a Stella.

There's tables up front...

But I chose to sit at the counter in the back.

This is where all the action is.

I checked out the menu and decided on the "Down On The Farm Brgr" which is a cheddar cheese burger with bacon, horseradish sauce, onion, lettuce, tomato and pickles. Sounds good!

The view from my perch at the counter.

There's tables opposite the counter to sit at in the back as well.

A Heinz ebony and ivory shot.

And here's Dwight with tonight's cheeseburger meal!

The cheeseburger was fantastic and I got a side of the onion hay, which was also delicious. A great meal.

And for dessert Nicole serves up a shake shot, which is 5 ounces of one of their famous and award winning milkshakes.

I got the black and white shake.

And yes, it lives up to its title that New York magazine gave it back in 2007.

Evan was seated next to me and told me he's been coming here for the burgers for the last four years. Evan's a comedic actor who participates in shows at both the Magnet Theater and Upright Citizen's Brigade.

Obligatory bathroom mirror shot with an upside down Gumby and this night is over. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

My Meal
As stated above, my cheeseburger was delicious and the vibe in here is casual and very friendly. Dwight told me once you come in here you are treated as family and it certainly felt that way. The menu here is simple with over ten types of burgers, a hot dog for non-burger eaters and sides including: onion hay, Russert potato fries and sweet potato fries. They also have beer and wine and you have to try the award-winning milkshake.

Cheeseburger Rating—Three Cheeseburgers, Very Good!

brgr
287 Seventh Ave.(Near 26th St.)
212-488-7500

Further reading: New York Magazine, Menu Pages, NY City Search and A Hamburger Today.

You also might like: Punch and Judy.

Five Other Buns
Hot Cross Buns
Georgia Peach Buns
Hair Buns
Bun
Buns of Steel

And she’ll always be there,
My love don’t care about time.

ARCHIVES

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April 17, 2011

Live from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Molly’s Pub and featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. With special guest stars, two-thirds of the BBC (Baltimore Bar Crawlers), Gene Rubbico and Smoopy (hurry back, Terry!) And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s snack time and then on to Molly’s Pub!

Okay, tonight we have two special guest stars appearing, Gene and Smoopy, two thirds of the BBC. Terry couldn't make it because he's in rehab he had other plans for the weekend. Gene and Smoopy are coming over to my place, so I thought I'd make up a snack mix to enjoy. I'm a board-certified snackologist and here are the ingredients for tonight's snack mix: Two styles of popcorn, jalapeno and red chili; pretzel crisps; cashews and the all important spicy cajun trail mix.

First you have to get your board-certified snackologist bowl out.

Then you slowly add the ingredients in small batches at board-certified times. If you haven't been trained as a board-certified snackologist, please don't try this at home. Horrible things could happen.

After hours of careful additions, pruning, trimming and careful shaking, the snack mix is ready for serving. Now where's Gene and Smoopy?

And like magic, here they are, two thirds of the BBC, Gene and Smoopy! They were a little late, they had stopped at 3,679 bars and had had a little over 4,769 drinks between the two of them. I'm glad I had prepared the snack mix to soak up some of the booze so we could make it over to Molly's for a cheeseburger. I was starvin' like Marvin at this point.

After snack time, Gene took a picture of my furious little monkey and it was time to hit the road.

It was a cold and rainy night outside so...

We hailed a taxi to escape the nasty outside elements.

And here we are at Molly's Pub, the bar where I first met the BBC last year on the bar crawl.

Despite the rotten weather, it was crowded inside, but we managed to snag a booth.

And here's Gene and Smoopy settled in at the booth.

Here's our lovely waitress Joanne delivering me an ice-cold Budweiser.

These guys were seated next to us.

A long shot of the wooden bar at Molly's.

The floor is covered in sawdust. Hmmm, did they know we were coming?

Fire!

And when I returned to the booth, dinner was served. Perfect! Here's Smoopy's cheeseburger. That's either provolone or swiss cheese on top.

And Gene, being the rebel that he is got a cheese-less buffalo burger on Cheeseburger Saturday Night.

I got the cheddar burger and onion rings.

Delicious!

Burp!

And before you know it, we're back out in the rain. Smoopy leads the way to the next bar, umbrella in hand.

And luckily, just a half a block away we found the Pizza Pub. Memories!

Yam was bartending, just like on my last visit. And just like that visit, she didn't want her picture taken. She did however pour shots for us from her patented Yameson bottle.

Cheers!

And we ended up having a nightcap at Old Town Bar. More memories! We were reunited with America's cutest couple, Patrick and Colleen! Goodnight everybody adn see you tomorrow after dark!

My Meal
I got the cheddar burger with onion rings. While the cheddar burger was very tasty and huge, the onion rings stole the show for me. They had a really light and flaky crust and were cooked perfectly. The onions inside had a slightly sweet flavor and were the perfect accompaniment for the flaky savory batter on the outside.

Cheeseburger Rating
3 out of 4 Wimpy’s.

Molly's Pub
287 Third Ave. (Near 22nd St.)
212-889-3361

Further reading: New York Magazine, NY Times, NY Citysearch and NY Eater.

You might also like: Cracking Your Knuckles, Cracking Your Head Open and Crack.

Three Other BBC’s
BBC-UK
BBC-Urdu
BBC-Twitter

How does it feel to be better?
How does it feel to be on your own?

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