Meatballs! (A Pin a Day #5)

My family loves meat. We are 100% total meat eaters and you would be hard pressed to find another family who loves meat as much as we do. Half of us also love fruits and veggies, so I think it evens it out. In fact! Charlie can not even fathom a meal without meat, he even puts bacon on his grilled cheese (which is really good BTW). I am always on the look out for different ways to prepare the same old chub'o'burger that I buy at the store and always have on hand in the freezer at a moments notice (that reminds me, add chub'o'burger to my shopping list...)

I came across this meal while trying to figure out what I would make for dinner for the #5 blog post. These meatballs looked too delicious to pass up, and trust me, I looked through A LOT of meatball pins...

Burger Bar Las Vegas

So much stuff has been happening lately that I've hardly found the time to blog. Lots of changes in the personal life of me.

This past weekend I went to Las Vegas for a wedding with Charlie to see our friends Christina and Eric bite the dust tie the knot at the LOVELY Mandalay Bay Casino. Food is always a huge part of our outings, which is probably why we mesh so well together, and Vegas was no exception. After a weekend of hoity-toity food and drink, we were happy to find this little gem.

Burger Bar, is the brainchild of Uber Chef Hubert Keller. Burgers are our life.

Burger Bar is set up like a super fancy Burger Subway where you start with the bun and pick everything you want to build the most epic burger of all time.

I opted for the Black Angus Burger, with caramelized onions, peppered bacon, whole grain mustard and peppered jack cheese with buttermilk zucchini fries as my side.

Charlie opted for a plain burger, well done, with cheddar and peppercorn sauce on the side and fat fries.

Don't bother the man with petty pictures when he's eating.

The cool thing about Burger Bar is they have loads of awesome toppings, some basic and some very gourmet. In fact they have a $60 kobe burger on their menu that is topped with shaved black truffles and sauteed foie gras, which if you're into that is awesome, but I'm more of a extra pickles kind of girl.

Charlie snapped a few pictures as I attempted to fit the burger in my mouth. This one is my favorite.

Burger Bar has an awesome Sweet Burger Menu filled with amazingly delicious looking treats, which we didn't order, and also some Beer Floats which I was tempted to order, but we had to be hitting the road.

Cooked perfectly pink and juicy.

All in all it was a great experience that we both loved and still talk about to this day. The only downside is you're going to have to be ok with spending at least $20 for a burger and side, but I think it was more than worth it.

FREE BURGERS!!

Hey San Diegans! Burger Lounge will be giving away free Burgers on Tuesday, September 8th, from 3-9pm for all their Twitter followers. Just show a print out, screen shot, or if you've got one of those fancy fandangled phones you can show them that too, to prove you are a loyal follower.

Winner of the "Best Local Hamburger Joint" by San Diego Magazine in 2009, they offer TallGrass (r) grass fed beef, turkey, and quinoa veggie burgers.

You can find their menu here, and follow them on Twitter here.

For all you anti-Twitter people who want to go and tag along with your free burger receiving friends, have no fear, a burger will run you just under $8.

Kono's

My favorite burger in all of San Diego is at this tiny lil' hole in the wall at the end of Garnet Ave, just before you walk down Crystal Pier and into the ocean.



Kono's has been a staple of my families diet since I was a kid. There was a time, in fact, that for about a year in High School I was a vegetarian. It was the hip thing to do I guess. The day I walked by Kono's, was the day I crossed back over to the meat side and never looked back. I suppose it says something about the quality of the burgers here.

Breakfast is served all day and a favorite of the patrons, but I've never had it. I prefer the Cheeseburger and fries. Luckily today it was on special.

Once you snake yourself through the line outside, you'll enter to find a very easy menu. Breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, fries. It's easy to figure out what you want. Everything here is delicious.

The "Quote of the Week" blackboard is one of my favorites. I just love landlocked tourists.

They have seating inside, but one would be foolish to pass up the "secret" outdoor patio. Just outside to the left, past what used to be the shell shop, you'll find a great little seating area with an amazing view.

I've always loved Kono's because they just do good burgers, well. There isn't anything fancy schmancy about these burgers, just nice big hand packed meat patties, grilled and piled high with condiments. I got my burger pretty plain; ketchup, mustard, pickles and grilled onions.

My friend got the works, with bacon and avocado added.

We shared a HUGE order of hot crispy steak fries.

Pair the view with a Kono's burger and some of the best steak fries ever had, a beautiful 75* San Diego day, and you've got a perfect afternoon.

Father's Office.

So for years I have been hearing about the "Best Burger" East Coast/West Coast battles. Those rivalries extend past rappers, and into food you know. And since then I have also been on my own quest for the best burger ever. It's hard to decide what exactly makes a burger the best, and even then my tastes will differ from the next. All I know is I want some medium cooked juicy hamburger, some amazing toppings, and the satisfaction that I must have this again soon. I got that last night with Melissa at Father's Office. Let me share it with you.

Santa Monica Location
1018 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 736-2224

We started off with some beers. Father's Office has a at any given time at least 35 awesome craftsman beers on tap, Melissa go the Maredsous 10.

I had an Old Speckled Hen. It was nice and light, and heavenly creamy.

One of the main problems of Father's Office that I've heard and the main reason (besides laziness) that I've stayed away is the crowd partnered with the Soup Nazi style of ordering. This isn't the kind of place you would want to go on a first or second date to, in fact let's keep this place for something more along the lines of a 6th or more date.

You wait outside in an astonishingly long line, only to be slowly trickled in by the doorman into a tiny hole in the wall sized room, lined with tables, with a bar at the far end. Mozy up to the bar and wait to place your order, and don't even worry about finding a place to sit yet. Grab a beer, and just wait.

FO's is famous for its burger envisioned by Sang Yoon, a self proclaimed "chef and a beer sommelier", and what we both ordered. It comes stacked high with arugula, soft tender onions caramelized in bacon, and a blend of melted blue and gruyere cheeses piled on big burger cooked to order (anything cooked longer than medium is blaspheme.) on a soft roll. For a bit more add an order of shoestring fries with parsley garlic aioli. Don't even think about substituting anything because, well, you can't. It comes as is.

After we ordered, it only took about 5 minutes to find a place to sit, and another 10 to get our burgers despite the large crowd on a Thursday night. My burger was cooked medium, juicy and AMAZING. I'm usually a burger purist and just dig meat on some bread with light condiments, but wowee was this burger worth it. The onions were quite possibly the best thing I've ever tasted on a burger, ever. The fries were thin, crispy and tasty with the aforementioned parsley garlic aioli, which tasted like fancy ranch. I think what made Melissa the most happy is, you will not find a drop of ketchup in this place, so don't even bother to ask.

The Father's Office burger definitely ranks up there in my top 10 burgers of all time, and I will be enjoying another one very soon.

Carey Burgers

This is Charlie. He belongs to my brother Carey and his wife Dana. He's super cute and amazing and I love his little face. He was watching us as I took pictures and I made Carey make me his famous stuffed bunless burgers, and I know he doesn't read this so I can say whatever I want! HA!

Carey was ever so kind as to show me how to make these puppies (omg puppies).

You just start with some basics;

Hamburger
Salsa
Mexican Cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Start by really working the meat into some nice patties. Carey made 2 huge patties for us cuz his wife was at work. Make a medium sized "hole" in the center to create a lil meat bowl.

Next put a few spoonfuls of salsa into it, and add cheese.

The next part is the "tricky part" as he calls it. Basically now you mold the meat around the cheese and salsa so its inside the patty. He warns to be careful to make no holes because everything will ooze out when you cook it if you do.

Cook them in a pan until nice and brown. We had homefries and corn as a side.

Top with more cheese and salsa and dig in.

Joxer Daly's

So this past weekend I was up in LA working, and hung out with my good friend, Ashley. She wanted to get some drinks and some pub food, and so she suggested we go somewhere I've never been, Joxer Daly's in Culver City.


Joxer Daly's is an Irish pub located on Washington Blvd in Culver City. For a bar, it has a nice, friendly atmosphere. Ash and I got a few beers and ordered burgers.

I started with a Guinness. I can never go to an Irish Pub without ordering one, it's like tradition for me.

For a burger in a pub, it was pretty standard, nothing exceptionally over the top, but just good. There have been so many times I've ordered a burger at a bar and gotten a charred mess of meat on a plain bun, but Joxer Daly's burger, by those standards, was a nice change. Their fries actually were my favorite part. I LOVE steak fries by all accounts, and here you can order them as such, or get the skinny ones instead. I always like a nice choice of fries, and even though I think most fries taste the same, steak fries are by far my favorite cut. They were nice and crispy on the outside with a soft powdery inside.

They even make their own housemade ranch, so we just had to try it out. It was pretty epic, I'm not gonna lie.


Ash and I finished up the night with some Bud Light and Corona, respectivly.

Rush Street Part Deux

So, I wrote about Rush Street a month or so ago. For a quick refresher, it's this uber yummy Gastro Pub in Culver City with amazing food and awesome menu items. I follow them on Twitter, and they often have cool deals and prizes for us loyal customers. I received a $30 gift card from them, and so I headed down there with Melissa to right by them.

Of course, on a Friday night, with a Lakers Game (We WON BTW!) Rush Street was a big huge crowd of wait. Reservations could have helped in this instance. So, while we waited for our table, we went over to the Culver Hotel for drinks.

I had never been to the Culver Hotel, but I've walked past it at least 20 times. It's that weird triangle shaped hotel on the corner by the movie theater. You know the one.

They have a small hotel bar, with pretty ridiculously expensive drinks, but I figured one couldn't hurt. Melissa and I both got a Caipirinha, which were really delicious, despite the $12 price tag.

When we mozied on over back to Rush Street our table was ready and we got a nice spot outside under a heat lamp.

Last time I really enjoyed their hummus, so Melissa and I split it. I also learned something pretty cool. Rush Street changes their menu with the seasons, so the stuff they use is always in season, and ripe and fresh and tasting as best as possible. Last time the hummus was eggplant, and this time it was Sun-Dried tomato.

For dinner, I chose the nightly special of a Prime Strip Steak, with the most amazing mashed potatoes I've probably ever had, and broccolini, drizzled with an amazing peppercorn sauce.

The steak was cooked to a nice medium rare, a nice warm pink center, and tender beyond belief. Melissa, being probably the most indecisive person ever, couldn't pick between her safe standard Turkey Burger, or pretty much anything else, and went with the burger. I had a bite, it was insanely nummy, so I think her pick was warranted. BTW, their pickles are house made and marinated in GINGER! They are sweet and spicy, and unlike anything you have probably ever had. I also maybe tasted some cardamon but I wasn't sure. Be sure to try them if you go.

She also upgraded her shoestring fries to the uber amazing truffle fries with asiago cheese. Try these for sure if you're any kind of french fry connoisseur.

She was very happy with her choices.

As was I.


The night ended without dessert, although I'm sure both of us secretly wanted to devour everything on the menu.

So thank you Rush Street, AGAIN, for an amazingly awesome meal, and just all around foodie experience. I heart you!

Rush Street

I have about a million things to blog, and I'm home relaxing after a particularly long day at the dentist, getting a cleaning and a chipped veneer fixed, so I figured, no time like the present.

Last weekend while I was in LA, I met up with Chaz, a Foodie friend of mine for dinner. Chaz is such a foodie, he was actually in a commercial where he IS the food. (Insert Shameless Promotion here.) He hasn't been in the blog yet just because we haven't really hung out in forever, so we had to make up for it by going to somewhere super awesome. Plus he read my blog about the crazy Chinese restaurant and figured this would be a nice change of pace.


We had reservations at 6:45, at Rush Street in Culver City, a new Gastropub, which basically means a bar that serves "fancy food". If you want to, you can follow them on Twitter, they offer really awesome deals and discounts, plus lots of food porn twitpics to gander at.


They have a great beer list, with tons of awesome stuff I'd never even heard of. I'm not the hugest beer drinker, so I just got a Corona, but Chaz opted for the Old Speckle Hen. Here he is showing you the lovely cascade.


Chaz started off with the Tataki Nachos.


Wonton "Chips" topped with Asian Cabbage Slaw, Avocado and Seared Ahi. I am allergic to most seafoods and usually just stay clear, but Chaz seemed to enjoy these very much.


I decided to start with their Eggplant Hummus.

It was a much smaller portion of any hummus I've ever gotten, but it was so unbelievably insane and tasty, it didn't even matter. It came topped with a sweet pomegranate molasses and toasted pine nuts. The hummus itself was smooth and creamy, with a surprising spiciness, yet the interesting combination of the molasses calmed it a bit and made it very enjoyable. The "pita chips" it came with were flash fried, so they were crispy on the outside with enough firmness for dipping, yet soft in the middle. An instant favorite and worth the trip alone.

For our meals, Chaz went with the Lamb Shank, served on top a bed of cous cous.


I got a little bite, and the meat was fall off the bone tender, juicy, and very flavorful.


I have an affinity for fancy burgers, so I decided to try their Dry Aged Burger, cooked medium, served with the cutest shoestring fries and topped with Applewood smoked bacon, arugula, cheddar, shoestring onions and confire sauce. Usually I get all bratty and special order the hell out of it, but I figured what the hell this time and got it as is. Very Good!

On the side were these house made pickles that we're too sour, or briny, but just enough to give it some kick. They reminded me a lot of the juniper marinated onions at Absinthe.

Being the gluttons we are, Chaz and I decided to check out the dessert menu, and then order the Red Velvet Cake off of it.

It's got White and Dark Chocolate Ganache in between layers of the freaking thickest cake I think I've ever had. It was decadent and sinful and we didn't finish it at all, but oh man was it good.

For all of you out there in Southern California, make sure you follow these guys on Twitter. Right now if you can find Patrick, one of their oldest bussers (hes the guy with the cute white mustache) and take a picture of him, then twitpic it, they will send you a $30 giftcard! Seeing as my meal was $38, that's a pretty sweet deal.