Saturday, June 27, 2009

Kuma's Corner

Had Kuma's Corner in Chicago today. Everyone here raves about them and for good reason. They have some of the best (and most interesting) burgers I have ever had (in addition to a pretty good craft beer selection including some Belgian). If they were in the LA area they would definitely rank at #2 just below Fathers Office in burger awesomeness, with an extra bonus for great BBQ pork fries and a very wide range of burger flavors. All of their burgers (except The Slayer apparently) are topped with amazingly delicious 'pretzel buns'. Pretzel bread seems to be fairly common in Chicago (though Kuma's are better than any others I tried there), it is basically a cross between soft pretzel dough and bread, wish I could find some around here!

I had the 'High On Fire' which is topped with: Siracha, Prosciutto, Roasted Red Pepper, Grilled Pineapple, and Sweet Chili Paste. It was really excellent, and not just the stuff on top, the burger was of good quality as well. I added some extra Siracha (they had bottles you could use) as it didn't come with quite enough for my taste (mmm siracha!):




Also tried the Pentagram:


I don't quite remember what was in this one, the sauce may have been a reduction of red wine, craft beer and possibly some kind of duck fat (though I believe Foie Gras is illegal in Chicago) and was REALLY good! This one was a 2-day special because the band pentagram was in town (they had eaten there the night before) so it is not on their menu, but probably my 2nd favorite behind the High on fire.

The 3rd one tried was the Slayer, described as: Pile of fries topped with a ½ lb. Burger, Chili, Cherry Peppers, Andouille, Onions, Jack Cheese, and Anger. We asked the waitress about the 'Anger' part and she said it means she kicks the chef when she puts in the order. As you can see, this one was ridiculous, basically a giant pile of meat and fries and cheese. Missing the pretzel bun here which is unfortunate, it is also a HUGE amount of food lol. Definitely my least favorite of the bunch (all the meat covered up the taste of the burger), and while decent comfort food/drunk food, not as good as the rest of the burgers we tried:




I don't quite remember the name of the 4th one I tried, it was also a special, Jamaican Jerk or something like that. It had at least pulled pork and mango on it, not sure what else, also excellent:

Monday, June 22, 2009

Is your food still good?

Came across a cool site that helps you decide of the food in your fridge or pantry is still good to eat: http://www.stilltasty.com. Enjoy!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Chicago

Trying to come up with a list of places to check out for my trip to Chicago at the end of the month, this is what I am looking at so far, haven't decided on anything yet (I will update as I find more):

http://www.hotdougs.com/
http://www.chicagofoodplanet.com/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kumas-corner-chicago


Any good suggestions?