So yesterday I sent out a message about my idea for a burger and dessert tour. Here’s what i said: A while back I wrote a poem about living–actually enjoying life on my terms–doing things I love, finding love and all that. I’ve been doing some things differently and it’s working. But today I start my world food tour. Yep, I decided I will sample burgers and desserts everywhere in search of the best. Why? Well, why not?
Burgers are (or should be) created artfully, with color and texture and signature ingredients and such. I want to experience artful expressions like that everywhere. And it’s not CHICKEN. Dessert makes me feel good. It’s like the anticipation of sex for me, in an endorphin release kind of way. It’s actually better than some of the sex I’ve had, but that’s another matter altogether. I just love how dessert makes me feel. I figure it’s easy to find those two, so I’ll start with those.
If you know where they make good ones, let me know. I’ll add other items to my tour if you send me intriguing ideas I can find without too much trouble. Food is my friend. We go way back. As good friends, we should spend quality time together, so tour it is. Wanna join me? Let’s go.
So yeah, I am looking for suggestions on where to find the best burgers and desserts around, and I plan to try them all, over time, wherever I go. When I post my comments, I’ll use a picture with the appropriate facial expression to let you know how well, or how poorly it went. Now look at my face. Last night, I began my quest at Ruby Tuesday near my house. My son and I were weak from hunger, and he suggested Five Guys. I said no, we had to go where they would hand craft the burgers, with seasonings and art and stuff. More than salt and pepper. So we passed and sat down in this restaurant instead. Well, I should’ve listened to him.
The burger menu was kind of impressive, with their descriptions of handcrafted love, select beef, pretzel buns, different cheeses and such. I never had a pretzel sandwich, so I ordered the portobella burger with onion straws on a pretzel bun. I had no intention of eating the straws, but wanted to see how they artfully arranged the thing in its unaltered, non-special order state. And then it came to the table, with lots of fries, that were limp. It was lackluster.
I took pictures, but of course the image size is too big for this blog site, so I have to work on that. But suffice it to say I was unimpressed. There was ample mushroom presence, good cheese flow and consistency, and the burger looked nicely-charred with a soft kiss from a flame, but it started to fall apart when I turned it over to investigate. So I had to put it all back together, and that didn’t go well on account of the bun.
The pretzel bun advertisers want us to crave was really thick. But a good burger bun must be thick AND able to stand on its own after absorbing some of the burger juices, and meld with the other ingredients. It can’t stay separate and apart like…bread. The love just wasn’t there, and then there were only a few crisp onion straws present, nothing like the picture. The lettuce and tomato looked fresh though. And the actual meat, though unseasoned, was juicy. They forgot my pickle too. #dead
I ordered the white chocolate cherry cheesecake dessert because I just had to. Now that was sweet and tart and lovely the whole way through. The chunks of chocolate in the smooth, creamy, perfectly-constructed cake, with that bittersweet drizzle of cherry sauce, and the semi-sweet, chocolaty shell on top, crunchy cookie crust beneath…excellent. It didn’t look perfect when it arrived, but it was a pleasant surprise. I would go there just to pick up one of those on occasion. Nice.
So there you have it. My initial tour date was not a huge success, but not a total failure either. I’m looking forward to my next engagement. Stay tuned.
From the Mind of:
Tonya D. Floyd, Author/Host
www.tonyadfloyd.com