Burger Mania!!

It's been a long weekend of great eats in my world. Not the least of which is because I went to two of the best burger joints St. Pete has to offer in the span of three days.
First up was hands down my favorite to date, El Cap. This place is about 2 miles from house, and has been serving up nothing but the best down and dirty burgers for decades. It's a family run business and consistently tops everyone's lists of "Best Of"... I tend to go for the "Double" (2 patties), but the award-winner is the "World Champ," which is no more and no less your basic burger, no frills. At El Cap, you order the way you want it, and that includes, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and any other toppings you crave. They serve corn-fed Midwestern beef, and while I've been staunchly on the grass-fed beef bandwagon for a while now, it's hard to argue with this quality... I scarfed down mine, only to be outdone by my 5-year-old daughter and he friend, who each crushed a cheeseburger themselves!

Then I indulged myself and my 3 kids on Sunday with a trip to Dairy Inn. (http://www.dairyinn.com/) This place is also a few short minutes from my house (I bought my real estate strategically to be within a few miles drive of burgers, ice cream, beer and wine!), and while we didn't eat lunch, we did enjoy their signature milkshakes. Dairy Inn was one of the nation's first Dairy Queen franchises, back in the '50s, but it dropped the franchise tag and kept the good eats and drinks. They do it all at this place, but they specialize in burgers and shakes for sure. I will report back as soon as I get the chance to sample a burger there... and that will be ASAP! Regardless, the Chocolate Marshmallow Shake I slurped (with a little help from my 1-year-old son) was reason enough to keep me coming back...

And finally, a quick mention of a new blog I was turned on to just today. It comes from a fellow burger lover and blogspotter. Check out http://www.burgerconquest.blogspot.com/ for the lowdown on all things Burger... this dude Rev is a respected aficionado and his site is a wealth of entertaining information about the topic. If you wanna know the best places to grab a burger...he's your man!

Dinner with Schm...

...no, it was with the Millers, actually. A celebratory night out with our good friends, and we hit up what is now St. Pete Brasserie. This space used to be Table, one of our favorite spots, and this was the first time we're back since the name -- and menu -- change...

It is a classic, Euro brasserie-style menu, with a lot of French-inspired dishes. Mussels. Burgers. Pomme Frittes. Short Ribs. I ended up deciding on three of those four!

I started with the Caesar Salad, and it would've been a winner had it not been drowned in dressing. I like my Romaine crispy, and this was on the soggy side. The taste was there, there was just a bit too much of it. We all shared the steamed mussels, served with a heaping side of pomme frittes (gotta love a brasserie's devotion to the French Fry!). The mussels were a smaller variety, and very tasty, bathing in a garlic, wine, and tomato broth. I went with the traditional burger after that -- it came with melted swiss, and sauteed mushrooms. It was juicy and flavorful. The meat served @ St. Pete Brasserie is purely grass-fed, and grass-fed beef is my new food crush. I've been exposed to it before,but came to truly appreciate and understand its significance and quality last month in Decatur @ Farm Burger (which I blogged about). The meat is tastier, a bit gamier, with more texture than other classifications.

My wife ordered the cod, which was surprisingly light and restrained, and the paella got a thumbs up, as well...

We passed on dessert, but the table next to us had a molten chocolate cake, who's scent drifted coyly over to our table, and smelled positively decadent. There's always next time...

I Heart San Francisco

Always the most highly anticipated part of a media tour, coming to my wannabe adopted home of San Francisco. My mind hums and buzzes upon arrival, concocting a culinary game plan for my abbreviated stay. Thanks to my 'local' friend, and co-host of "View From the Bay," Janelle Wang (the show I am to appear on), my first night's dinner is spent at Hubert Keller's Burger Bar. It is a growing trend, this 'comfort-food-cum-haute-cusine' movement (if you can call it a movement), but it is right in my stomach's wheelhouse. http://www.hubertkeller.com/
My meal consisted of an Abita Amber beer, and Abita has now vaulted to the upper echelon of boutique beer labels for me. Native to Louisiana, it was so well-balanced, the somewhat contradictory way I'd describe it is "simply complex." Didn't want to push it with another one, but it goes without saying I will be seeking out their top-seller, Purple Haze, stat. http://www.abita.com/
Now for the eats: I went with the eponymous Hubert Keller Burger: a buffalo burger with sauteed spinach, caramelized onions, and bleu cheese on a toasted (and more importantly, lightly buttered) ciabatta. A side of perfectly crispy-outside/tender-inside sweet potato fries with aioli complemented the burger to perfection. I left off the top half of the bun; there simply was no need for it. I dove in with a fork and knife and gusto to spare.
Let me tell you, if you haven't yet tried a buffalo burger, you are missing out. Slightly different (crumblier) texture than your standard fare; a bit gamier to the taste. There's also a slight hint of sweetness to the meat. Something about a quality bison burger leaves me with an undeniable feeling that I just ingested something more... authentic.
I indulged myself (shock of shocks) with an order from Keller's inspired milkshake menu of desserts: the Twinkie Milkshake...
NEED I SAY MORE?!?! A freakin' half a Twinkie perched tantalizingly atop a lofty mount of thick whipped cream, which gives way to the shake itself, all vanilla and cream and big bits of (the remaining half of) Twinkie, the further you slurp.
As far as "Last Meal" requests go, this one, in it's totality, has to rank right up there for me...

Sunlight comes, and thankfully, the "View From the Bay" airs at 3pm local time, giving me the morning to a) work off my meal from the night before, and b) rev up the engines for a great SF breakfast...
Gotta love the internet (esp. on a Smart Phone), because, concierge be damned, all I do is type in 'San Francisco Breakfast' into my BlackBerry, and the restaurant that jumps off the screen and calls to me is Dottie's True Blue Cafe.
A real hole in the wall (in the most endearing sense of the term), there is little or no elbow room at the counter, what with all the patrons and the bricabrac on the counter. The place is just starting to buzz at 7am, and I count myself as fortunate to have gotten there and staked out my postage stamp of real estate when I did, because almost immediately after, a line snaked out the door and onto Jones St. (off Geary).
I ordered 2 scrambled eggs with chicken-apple sausage and their homemade toasted wheat bread, forgoing the breakfast potatoes in lieu of fresh fruit (see... even I can show restraint sometimes!). OK, so I can't break my arm patting myself on the back -- I had to order a stand-alone blueberry cornmeal pancake on the side... chalk it up (read: rationalize it) to research.
I marveled at the man working the griddle and burners so fluidly, like a musician, really. A scrape of the spatula here; a shake and jiggle of the fry pan there... needless to say, my eggs were tender and buttery soft, the sausage was sweet and fragrant, and the bread was hearty and oh so fresh. But it was the pancake that stole the spotlight. I fell hard for cornmeal pancakes in Albuquerque (where they favor blue corn), but this was next-level stuff. The cornmeal batter gives a pancake a denser texture, but this one still managed to be light-tasting, and the blueberries were perfectly nestled inside and all over... what a great way to start a day!

My TV segment went swimmingly. I love coming to this station: live audience, dedicated set, real pros in front of and behind the camera. Today was a special treat, because I got to meet the HOFF. Yes, Mr. Baywatch Knight Rider was in the house, spreading joy to all who came into his view. He was pimping his upcoming reality series as well as a concert (!) at a nearby casino.

Lucky for me Postrio was just a couple of turns away from the station. http://www.postrio.com/
I've always wanted to try it, mostly because I remain an unabashed fan of Wolfgang Puck, but also because it still has a solid rep in a cutthroat-competitive food city, and has remained staunchly ingrained in this town since 1989.
They only offered up their Cafe Menu, because the main dining room is under renovation, but that was no loss for me. I ordered the Pork Belly Yakitori, which was small (as I suspected), with only 3 cubes on a skewer, but the taste more than made up for it. If you've never tasted pork belly, think: the very best, most succulent part of your favorite spare ribs at a Chinese restaurant, and you're almost there. The semi-thick sauce/glaze and a wedge of orange were a nice touch, adding both sweetness and some citrus to each bite.
My entree was Wolfgang's Prosciutto-Fig Pizza. Simply otherwordly. No matter what else he puts on a menu, I can't escape the pull of a Puck Pizza! The dough is crispy throughout, yet chewy at the outer ring of crust. Layered with marscapone, generous slices of prosciutto, chunks of fig, together with slivers of red onion, a tangy balsamic glaze, a touch of truffle oil, and topped with fresh shards of Parmigiana-Reggiano. Heaven on Post Street...

I leave San Francisco post haste tomorrow, dreaming and planning for my next visit...