picaman

Thanks for stepping up! It all sounds good to me. Jamie

"The Burger Club" Five disparate teenagers (a bitch, a weirdo, a jock, a punk and a geek) are forced to spend their bi-weekly Saturday school detention in an existential search for the ultimate burger. Jamie

I got the idea for trying it from Mister Cutlets: Mister Cutlets on Peter Luger The exact line that inspired me is "Few people today have the constitution to order the lamb chops as their appetizer, as Mr. Cutlet's sainted father used to." I've quoted that on a couple of other threads; it's a marvel of a sentence, and definitely inspirational. Jamie

That's about right...walking back over the Williamsburg Bridge is my perfect antidote to excesses of bacon, steak, and schlag (and on my next visit, lambchops, steak and schlag!) Jamie

Sounds like a bit of a rationalization to me. You didn't give the restaurant the opportunity to correct what you perceived as a mistake. If you had done so, and they had then failed to follow through, your assessment might hold more weight in my view. Jamie Edit: spelling

I think it would be reasonably safe to walk the short distance to Luger's from the subway. When I lived in Greenpoint, my partner and I would make the half-hourish walk to Luger's and back at various times of the day and night without incident. If you drive yourself, the parking lot is nearly as far away as the subway, and I'd imagine that people make that walk regularly. Jamie

I'll second L'Oulette--had a great meal of scorpion fish for lunch a couple of years ago. I don't think it's very close to where you are staying, although it is in the 12th. L'Oulette and Le Train Bleu are the two area restaurants I have experience with, although there are several good options in the Bastille area which is not too far away if you are interested. Jamie

We're going to Paris for a week at the end of March/beginning of April, so I guess I'm going to compensate by trying to save more money between now and then. It's definitely depressing to do the math, but I'm not letting it stop me. Jamie

This isn't exactly the answer to your question, as the prices are somewhat higher than your given range, but I've had two very memorable meals at Le Train Bleu, which is actually in the Gare de Lyon itself. I've always thought it was one of the most romantic places in Paris to eat. Here's a site with a few pictures of the interior of the restaurant. I'm sure some of the regulars will have suggestions that are more on-target. Jamie

Excellent! Count Kirk and me in. Jamie

The fare for my next Peter Luger's visit has been inspired by one of the most memorable sentences I've read in recent memory. It's from Mister Cutlet's piece on Luger's; for some reason it just struck a chord with me. "Few people today have the constitution to order the lamb chops as their appetizer, as Mr. Cutlet's sainted father used to." Now is that a gauntlet thrown down, or what? Jamie Edit: spelling

Always up for a beer or two...count me in, and Kirk as well. So, Beer Bitch, when and where? Jamie

This sounds like a reasonable idea. Blue Smoke in January. Nothing like antici... pation. In the meantime, I promise to report on any burgers I encounter. Jamie

Just wait until we get you to Peter Luger. We'll see how minimalist you really are. Jamie

I know about larb Spatchcock, Wine Clip, toaster bags Thanks to eGullet Aged steak medium rare Same way for a hundred years Peter Luger rules P.S. -- medium is two syllables Jamie

Very cool retro neon sign: Here's a picture of our tray of food--total for 4 people was $17.78: Here's a picture of the menu: First off, I was momentarily confused when the menu listed no sloppy joes, only "BBQ sandwiches." Very deceptive, this--apparently that's what sloppy joes are called here. The locals set me right on this nomenclature. I have no idea what they call an actual BBQ sandwich. I have to say that, while the sloppy joe itself was very tasty, there wasn't much to it. I opted for the plain meat-on-bun; both raw onions and relish were popular toppings. My sloppy joe was pretty small with a not-very-generous amount of "BBQ"; the seedless bun was about the size of a McDonalds regular hamburger. I like for there to be so much meat and sauce that you a) have to eat it with a fork, or at least, b) have to eat what falls out with a fork. Sadly, there was no slop in this sloppy joe. It was, however, mushy to perfection. There was practically no texture in either the bun or the meat, just as it should be. In the future, I'd view this sloppy joe as a relatively expensive "Krystal burger." I'd get three or four of the buggers, maybe a hot dog with the sloppy joe meat as a topping, skip the fries, and get a drink and be very happy. Holly, thanks for the heads-up on this place. Definitely glad I went! Jamie

Link to the Burger Club evaluation form There were a couple of good suggestions made over the last couple of Burger Clubs that I need to incorporate. One is putting a ruler down the side so we can measure our burgers. Another was to improve the layout of the toppings checkboxes. I'm going to try to get to these items this weekend. If anyone has any other suggestions, post them here! Jamie

Turkey dinner chat Breakfast: pancakes or waffles? Pennsylvania Dutch And with that, I'm off to Reading, PA for Thanksgiving dinner. Jamie

The guys at the Parker Meridien were hysterical. You'd order a milkshake, and they'd draw a beer. When you told them you'd ordered a milkshake, they'd make you one and drink the beer. Fries flying and burgers sizzling. Great music and a fun atmosphere. Pickle in a cup. And cheap to boot. I can hardly wait to go back. Jamie

Evaluation summary for Landmark Tavern I'm pretty sure the server got ~18% of the inflated price; considering the service we received that was, in my opinion, a gift. I'm usually not very critical of service under those conditions (being a former server myself) but last night's was dismal. tommy, alacarte, in response to your valid points I'd just say Parker Meridien, which in most people's estimation stood up to whatever errant anomalies (large group, drunk cook, etc.) were thrown at the burger. Jamie

No shoulda, woulda, couldas for me...only onward and upward Blue Smoke sounds like the perfect Landmark Tavern antidote. Jamie

I'm going to try to steal time at work today to get the evals compiled and posted, before I leave for my Thanksgiving turkey, sloppy joe, and Pennsylvania Dutch starch extravaganza I think one problem was the inconsistency. I saw some very attractive burgers around the table, but mine wasn't one of them. The buns were all identical, but what was between them varied greatly from burger to burger. My burger was barely mediocre--my biggest complaint was that the burger was dwarfed by the bun--far too much bread around the perimeter. The meat quality and flavor was slightly below average. It was cooked medium rare as per my request. The bun looked great, but was a bit on the stale side. As I said at one point last night, there was a dryness that could not be accounted for by the toasting. As far as the pricing goes, I had already collected the forms when the bill arrived, which means that everyone's evaluation for value is greatly skewed. I'm going to decrease the overall value score by the percentage that the price increased, unless anyone has objections. Jamie

No, it was a spontaneous "I'm at Fairway at 2:30 and I haven't had lunch" event. By the way, forgot to mention that Ed Koch was there...didn't see him until he was leaving so didn't see what he had to eat. Jamie

Kirk and I had Fairway burgers today as a tune-up for Tuesday Burger Club. For $8, you get a burger, fries, and cole slaw. I liked the size of the burger--I'd estimate it at 8 oz. but it was very thick and the same circumference as the smallish seedless food service bun it sat on. This put the emphasis on the taste of the meat, which was good. The meat, though nicely charred, was somewhat flavorless to me; it was reminiscent of Molly's in that respect. Cheese came melted on the burger. Topping options included ketchup, tomato and onion (all on the side.) The fries, to me, were better than any others I've had in Burger Club including Tavern on Jane. Twice-fried, out piping hot and with a perfect sprinkling of crunchy salt chunks. The cole slaw was pretty good as well; roughly-cut purple and green cabbage along with finely shredded carrot and slightly-too-salty "cole slaw juice." Apparently atypically, from the reports I've heard, we had friendly and attentive service. With sodas we were out for under $20 excluding tip. Though the fries and cole slaw were great, at the end of the day it's all about the burger; to me there was nothing outstanding enough about this burger to recommend it. Not even in the ballpark with the Parker Meridien. Jamie

Amazingly, not yet. I'm dying to, though. As soon as I do, you'll be the first to know. Jamie