I thought you might post the episode of Dirty Jobs where they go into a rendering plant.

I knew someone who was a travel agent for a large meat processing plant here in Milwaukee, her window looked out on the trucks arriving with the animals. As a quasi-employee of the plant she got the same benefits as the workers - which included free lunches. Meat, of course.

You had to dig this one out didn't ya!

Anybody have Five Guy's? I had a dry burger the other week and complained. Plus, it should have taken 5-7 minutes to cook, it took less than a minute thirty. The manager gave me my money back and a coupon for a free complete meal, any size I wanted. I'll take my son next time and he can have the meal.

http://www.fiveguys.com/menu.aspx

LOL:) You can spell sashimi, torisashi, basashi, and gyuasashi correctly but you can't spell SQUEAMISH

Just kidding... LOL:) Later! OL JR :)

https://www.flipburgerboutique.com/

'nuf said.

I'm headed to Santa Ana, CA tomorrow. First stop will be In-N-Out Burger. The burgers are not spectacular, but the FRESH CUT FRIES-------------------FUGGETABOTTIT!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/fat-smittys-port-townsend-2

Yummm!!!!

And it less than a mile from our launch site so it's a Win-Win

I ate plenty of raw beef and onions at Christmas over the years with nary a burp.

This is what I had to eat on Sunday. It's called the Brunch Burger. You can get this and other great burgers at Sobelman's. This burger consists of a 1/3lb burger patty, bacon, Canadian bacon, cheddar cheese, onions, hash browns and an egg!

I leave for LA on Thursday, driving via Rt. 66 from St. Louis onward. In-N-Out is on my short list of things to try while I'm on the road. Looking forward to it.

Wow, what a burger, 'er, meal! That's quite a compilation. Obviously, you do not labor under any restrictive cholesterol orders from your doctor. ;)

Earl

In-n-Out's "range" is limited by the fact that its fresh ingredients come from a limited number of distribution sites.

As far as I know, the farthest one north is in Redding, CA. I had a couple, plus fries and a shake, there last year. I ate them on the patio outside, on a beautiful sun-setting-over-the-mountains evening.

I wish In-n-Out would open a distribution hub in Oregon. Then they could open restaurants in Seattle, Portland and in between.

We have Burgertown in Oregon. Very good local ingredients, but for some reason their burgers aren't as snappy as In-n-Out's.

* * *
I am drastically limiting my meat and fat and salt intake. When I indulge, I want really good stuff. so no fast food burgers unless I'm on the road. I make nice thick burgers on a George Foreman grill, using quality beef and a good toasted buttered roll. Grilled onion.

And the drink?

What is it?

It's green! :chuckle:

Star Trek:TOS, ST:TNG

I'm leaving for work today!

I'm having Taco's tonight. :rolleyes:

Margaritas or Bloody Mary's when at Sobelman's.

Woof. There's a sammich.

I've been looking for Justin Wilson's (I gay-ron-tee!) burger with an egg recipe. I saw him make it once on his cooking show many years ago and have forgotten all the details as it's been quite some time ago. I've come up empty on the inter webs.

I know I could just flip an egg an' bacon on a burger, but there has to be some subtleties—spices and such/cooking method, something—that help it out, otherwise I can't see him devoting a half-hour show to it.

I swear you must get paid by Sobelman's considering 75% of your FB posts are about them.

Hopefully they have a frequent buyer's card ;)

Five Guys SUCKS !
Mediocre small double cheese burger, WAY too many fries, and a 20oz drink was over $10 !
What a joke.

A great burger chain that is mostly West-Coast is Fatburger. They are AWESOME tasting HUGE burgers. Their biggest is a 2-pounder.
We had two here in Michigan (Southfield and Ann Arbor) but they only lasted about a year back in like 2008 or 2009.
I have actually ate at the Las Vegas location on the strip more than the ones in Michigan.

What-A-Burger, In-N-Out, and Rally's/Checkers are all good.

Rally's/Checkers used to have really good prices but they are now getting out-of-hand. The last time I was there I ordered two Big Bufords With GREEN Olives, and a Double Champ Burger with Olives. The bill was almost $10. The cost 6 months prior was under 7 bucks. I asked about it and they said they increased the size of their burgers. Total load of BS. Did not look like the burgers were any bigger, but the price went up about 40%. The location used to be lined up to the street during lunch by my workplace. Now there is rarely over 2-3 cars in there total across both lines.

I definitely like In-N-Out.

And Whataburger originated here in Texas - we have lots of them. What I like most about them is that I can get sauteed jalapenos and onions on a burger - you don't see that in many fast food joints.

Doug...getting hungry just thinking about it :)

.

I actually agree with GH about 5 GUYS. Mediocre, over-cooked, dry burgers and enough GAR-EEZY potatoes to choke 10 Irishmen (being Irish myself I can say that.)

The best thing at 5 GUYS? The peanuts. What a trajedy!

After my last visit, I agree with both of you. YUCK!

Five Guys is entirely dependent on the individual franchise. When they're good, they're pretty tasty. When they're not good, they can be pretty rough. Our local 5G started out great. I took my parents there and they enjoyed it, bought gift cards for my employees with the stipulation that they go when it's warm and eat at one of the outdoor tables, and took the wife and kids there on occasion. They started with a gung-ho crew, but the gung-ho was sorely lacking the last time when my son and I ate there. I didn't mean for it to be my last trip, but it turned out that way. In a pinch I might give them another chance, but they're off the radar at the moment.
Fatburger hit here around the same time you had them. Disappeared without a trace very quickly, before I even got a chance to see one open.

Just happened to be posting while experiencing wetware glitches (extended uptime w/ a few missed sleep cycles. Not a good sign when memory log appears to have "discontinuities" in timelog of recorded events.).

If you read up on FG, they get a monthly $1,000.00 bonus they split if the restaurant passes the surprise inspection. I guess they didn't pass inspection.
If they failed, the person(s) gets a potato up the tail pipe and the car is TP'ed. :chuckle:

I'm the opposite of Stefanj; I drastically DO NOT limit my Meat and Salt intake....no joke.
My idea of 'healthy eating' is defined by keeping my TASTE BUDS happy.

Normally a basic 80% lean all beef burger cooked over fire or charcoal, cooked medium well with some fresh black pepper and a pinch of salt, topped with just a small amount of ketchup, good amount of mustard, and a few dill pickles on a butter basted bun toasted on the griddle or frying pan so it is just a bit crispy and yet still a hint of greasy. Perfect All American Burger.

When traveling, for lunch, Smashburger can usually provide exactly this.

BUT.

Then there is this:

Hangover Burger @ Rehab Burger Therapy:
Reach a rehabilitated state with every bite. A sure cure for every tummy tainted from the night before. Fried Egg, Bacon, Colby Jack Cheese and Hatch Green Chili... On a pretzel bun with a side of deep fried corn on the cobb and a PBR in the can. If you are ever in Scottsdale, this place needs to be on your list.

https://www.facebook.com/REHABBURGE...?type=1&theater

Chr$, that's one heck of a post.

Made my mouth water with the first paragraph (you write ad copy?) and gave me some good ideas with the second.

Cheers!

I do the marketing for my company, but it is boring techobabble. I can really get behind a good hamburger. I prefer a good hamburger to a steak any day.

Oh, the description for the hangover burger is ganked from the restaurant's website up to the word chili...

We just got a Smashburger here in Michigan within about 5 miles of my workplace. A little too far to drive for lunch, but can pass by it on my way home.
Going to have to give it a try.

Go for it. Just had lunch there today. Ask for the sin city burger. Not always on the menu but they will make it.

I've got a 5 Guys near my house, and the burgers are usually great. Very rich. The fries are nothing to shout about, though; they're usually cold and limp by the time I get them home. The peanuts often taste chemically-treated instead of rancid (tasting rancid would be an improvement here).

I worked for a restaurant supply house back when Checkers was just getting started here in Mobile. This was mid-to-late 80's. They had good basic burgers when they first opened, but over time all of them went in the toilet. A few of the stores have already closed up and disappeared. Last Checkers burgers I bought was at least two years ago, and I won't be going back.

Whataburger has good food, if a bit salty and pricey. Always hot when they bring it out to the table.

McDonalds. Best main-item thing they have on the menu is the Sweet Chili Chicken wrap. Also have to admit, their fries are better than anyone else's around here.

Burger King. Avoid if you're in a hurry, because they're not.

I'm with Wallyum on the "individual franchise" thing. That 5G here has changed staff so many times just in the past year, I've lost count. But the manager is the same. Nice fellow. Maybe the rapid changing-of-the-guard is an indication he's keeping a resemblance of control over the place.

I miss the private (non-chain) burger joints and dives. Each had their own characteristics, style of service, presentation, etc., not to mention flavor.

Oak Hill Diner, which wasn't a diner at all—just an unfancy, small, local restaurant. Popular for hunters breakfast. The going joke was the waitresses (they were big'uns) made the patties by flattening a wad 'burger in their arm pits. Slightly greasy, but good. They got made when you ordered 'em. One of, if not thee, best burger in town.

The H&G Restaurant was similar to the Oak Hill, above. Both were "down home" cooking joints before there was such a connotation. As close to eating at your Grandmother's as you were likely to get.

Busy Bee Café, Waitresses were all the larger variety of senior citizens. Pleasant sunny, airy atmosphere, with lots of thin, linen curtains. Lots of yellow paint inside. They made the best cheeseburger sub anywhere. And my particular favorite—crinkle-cut fries with a sprinkle of Season All or Old Bay. Depended on who was grilling that day. Cokes came in a genuine Coca-Cola glass. It was a treat to stop at the barber shop and then go next door to the Busy Bee for lunch.

Stephano's, thin, flat, pre-made frozen patties. A bit greasy and not as aesthetically pleasing as others, but they grilled the bun and spiced the heck out of the patty. You could pick out a Stephano's burger blind folded by the smell and taste alone.

There were others, but none stood out to me as those did.

Nowadays, if you want a burger that might come close to tasting like you made it, you have to seek out the pubs and bars around town. Some are better than others—but they're all better than anything on 'Burger Alley (Rt. 50 runs by town. It's where most of the chain joints live).

When I really have a craving (which is often) I either find some 80-85% or buy some short ribs, brisket and sirloin (or similar combo—it depends on my whim) and grind it myself. Man, I love a good burger. Or any burger for that matter. I can't recall ever turning one down. I'm with Chr$, I like a good burger better than steak.

I'm thinking somebody should pull the old "grill a 'gaines burger' gag" and try to get someone to eat it. About 10 years back, the wife of a college buddy of mine did just that. She got sick of him bringing his drunken buddies home at 2am from the bar, waking her up and demanding she cook for them. One night she cooked up an 8pak of Gaines burgers (processed DOG FOOD patties) and served them to the clowns on buns. They all got ate too. She left the empty box on the counter for them to see the next morning after they woke from their stupors. They never pulled that crap again...they went to White Castle instead.
Wisely she is no longer married to that clown. I never talk to the idiot from college anymore but hear from her maybe once/twice a year.

Most hamburgers, no matter how good, eventually wind up there...

My family was in the restaurant business. There is a joke in the business that "Doctors have to bury their mistakes; we get to eat ours." My uncle and I shared a better one: "Everything we do eventually turns to crap."


Bill

GAINES BURGERS is where it's at ! Try one...you'll never forget it.

Ummmmmm! Yummy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuK6UX1oz00 I'll bet this **** would make one heck of an Upper-Dekker!

It Sure as $**t would make for a MEAN upper-dekker !

I loved Gaines Burgers as a kid.

All kidding aside, the absolute best hamburger I ever tasted was made at Cook's Restaurant either in Girard or Virden, Illinois back in the late 1950's. My folks had a lake lot at Sunset Lake in Macoupin County and whenever we'd head home to nurse our sunburns after a weekend of camping, fishing and swimming we'd stop at Cook's for a Sunday dinner of fried chicken, also the best ever! It was a family business and it showed. They ground their own beef and it was cranberry red...never grey. And they used real American cheese on their cheeseburgers which melted down over the edges of the meat. Makes my mouth water just to remember!

Sunset Lake is still there but Cook's is long gone. I really miss places like that.

Fresh meat is red; it becomes grey as it ages.

We had a meat grinder and a slicer. For the longest time, we ground our own beef and sliced American cheese from a long blank, not sure what the official term for that was. Toward the later years, it may have become cheaper to buy preground beef and presliced cheese. I know ground beef was cheap because it was effectively a dumping ground for meat which otherwise would not sell.


Bill

There's no problem with the meat used in ground beef being cut-offs or trimmings, that's the point. But if it is "bad" in a way that it would not otherwise sell then that's wrong. When you buy regular ground beef that meat could come from anywhere. Not wrong, just how it is.

The difference between a good butcher and a bad butcher is how much ground beef they end up with ;)