The 2009 Best Burger Search

The fam and I are doing a little contest this summer. We are a red meat eating kind of family and after having a burger one day, we decided to search the Bay Area for the Best Burger.
We made a list of 10 spots that we had tried or heard good things about and hope to try them all and rate them over the next couple of months. The funny thing is that once I had let people know what we were doing, we received another 10 places we should try! At this rate, I will be eating burgers everyday...not that I'm complaining!

To aid in our scoring, we made a score sheet that judges things such as: taste, freshness of ingredients, appearance and how well the burger holds together (nothing worse than having the bun fall apart on you!). We have also added a section for fries and onion rings but its not as detailed. My boys are taking this pretty seriously.

Last Wednesday, we tried our first burger. It's a place in San Mateo called Jack's Prime. I had heard about this place from my sister and a couple of people on facebook had also commented about it. Seeing how it was not too far from our place, we decided to try it.
To me, Jack's was nothing special and I was not impressed. I ordered their "Classic Cheeseburger" with pepper jack cheese. None of us were asked how we wanted it cooked and nowhere on the menu did it state how it came cooked. It came well-done. I prefer mine a little pink. My bun was a little over toasted on the edges. Not a big deal really but if Im rating the burger I'm going to call it like I see it. When I took a bite, I tasted their "special" sauce more than the burger. I don't know about you but when I bite a burger, I want to taste meat. The burger itself wasn't too juicy. It was not dry, but it wasn't juicy either.
To sum it up, Jack's was pretty ordinary. And.....the service sucked.
I'm willing to give Jack's another try, maybe they just had an off night...but, I'm not expecting much.

Easy Kabobs.

 

5 Spice Beef Kabob

from Licence to Grill IVEpisode: Chinese Food BBQ

Ingredients

1. 5 Spice Beef Kabob
2. - 3 lb. sirloin steak cut into 1 inch cubes
3. Marinade
4. - 3 tsp sesame seeds, toasted (45ml)
5. - 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
6. - 1 tsp dry chilli flakes (5ml)
7. - 2 tsp fresh ginger, grated (10ml)
8. - 1/3 cup light soy sauce (80ml)
9. - 1/4 cup white sugar (60ml)
10. - 1/4 cup dry sherry (60ml)
11. - 2 tsp 5 spice powder (10ml)
12. - 2 tbsp peanut oil (30ml)

Directions

1. bamboo skewers or disposable wooden chop sticks soaked in cool water for 1 hour
2. Mix together marinade ingredients. Set aside ¼ cup (60ml) of marinade for basting. Pour the remaining marinade over cubed beef and refrigerate for 5 hours.
3. Remove beef from marinade and thread beef on skewers, 4 pieces of beef per skewer.
4. Preheat barbeque grill to 375°F/190°C or medium-high heat.
5. Place beef on well oiled grill.
6. Grill beef for approximately 2 minutes per side (for medium rare) or until desired doneness.
7. Remove from grill and lightly tent with foil. Allow meat to rest 5 minutes.

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Baseball...

Today starts the second half of the season for my beloved Gigantes. As it stands, the Giants are currently in second place in the NL West, 7 games behind the dreaded Dodgers. In addition, if the season ended today, the Giants would make the playoffs via the "Wild Card" spot. I must say, the Giants are looking to be in a good position at the moment...HOWEVER....
They still need a bat.
Pitching has been a strength all season. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are the anchors and doing what is eppected. Randy Johnson has been ok but is currently sidelined. Barry Zito has even managed to win a few games but has also looked pretty bad at times. The Giants got a couple of good outings from a rookie as well and it came a great time. The one spot in the rotation that in my opinion is key, has been the fifth spot. This is where the rookie stepped in for Jonathan Sanchez when he was demoted. Sanchez has talent and has looked brilliant at times. He has looked pretty bad as well. That is why he was sent to the bullpen. But a funny thing happened....Randy Johnson got hurt and Sanchez was forced to make a start. Guess what happened? The fucker pitched a no-hitter!! Can you believe that?
Sanchez was focused. Sanchez was efficient. Sanchez had all his pitches going that night. He was an animal. I do not know if his demotion lit a fire up his proverbial ass or if he was just on, or if he made a deal with the Devil himself...but whatever it was, it was beautiful.
If Sanchez can be half as dominant as he was that night, and this fan believes he can be, than I think the Giants, if the pick up a bat in a trade, will do quite well the rest of the season and into the playoffs. Now, its not entirely upto Sanchez, the team needs to play well behind him and all the pitchers but it would definitely look better for the boys in orange and black.
Go Giants.

Long time no write..

Well, to my 3 followers out there...sorry I haven't written. I am not going to write much here today other than to say hello and let you know that I am still alive and kicking.
Topics to look forward to soon..
A review of my new netbook. I love gadgets.
My breakdown of the SF Giants first half of the season.
Corn. Is it a vegetable or is it a grain?
Stay tuned