Piper's Tavern - maybe it was the holiday

On this fine day, we found ourselves searching for a restaurant on the early side. C-Monster was slinging bells and belting out the low notes at our church's early Christmas Eve service, so following that we rolled over with my parents and grandfather in search of some holiday grub. A quick search of the local establishments that were open found us visiting The Piper's Tavern, a popular Irish themed sports bar and restaurant in the North Raleigh area. We have been to this restaurant before, but I don't ever remember getting the burger here before. They have a fantastic brunch buffet that we have visited numerous times, but not sure if we have visited for dinner before. We arrived on the early side, but my mom has recently retired so we were just preparing her for future blue plate specials before bingo games. Is there a Bob's Big Boy in Cary, Ma? We were seated quickly, but this was also a combination of us getting there at 4:00 and the fact that it was Christmas Eve. I can't honestly say what the wait might be for dinner, but it is a smaller establishment so I would imagine getting seated immediately is not the norm.

The menu at The Piper's is about what you'd expect at a bar and grill. Normal appetizers like wings and dip and things like that, steaks, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, etc. They do have a few Irish related things like Shepherd's Pie, but we all know what I was leaning towards. If you are here for the burgers like I was, they have several to choose from, and half of our group opted to follow my lead. The beautiful and lovely K, along with my Pop-Pop, decided to go with the Smokehouse burger, which came with bacon, jack & cheddar cheese, chipotle BBQ and fried onion straws. The J-train went with his age and ordered a cheeseburger off of the kids menu.  I decided to go with the Black Forest Burger, pushing my luck again with thinly sliced ham on my burger. This burger also came with Meunster cheese, caramelized onions, pickles and brown mustard served on a pretzel roll. I was sold at the Muenster cheese, which is quite tasty but also fun to say. Is it Munster, or is it Meuwnster? Who knows, I always chose the latter. Once again, I ordered my burger medium, a little pink inside. Filling out our dinner dream team was C-Monster who went with the bacon pizza, Daddyo who went vegetarian (actual vegetarian, not turkey vegetarian) with the Portobello sandwich, Ma who went with the Reuben, and Brother D went with the fish and chips.

Our food all came out fairly promptly, soups and salads came out early for those who ordered them, then the entrees came out. All of our orders were correct, and they all looked quite delicious. Deceivingly delicious. OK, so maybe that is a bit of an overstatement. K summed it up best when she said her burger was "not bad, but really not terribly good." My burger was, once again, overcooked. My medium burger was cooked well done, not a speck of red on it. Pop-Pop had ordered his burger rare, and I jealously noticed his burger was cooked a perfect medium. Maybe he has gotten the hang of this burger ordering thing more than me. His burger was also acceptable to him, and I know this because if it was bad, he would have definitely let them know it.  The best part of my burger was the bun. The pretzel bun was fantastic, and Brother D suggested I might start a bun blog after saying how good it was. We decided that telling people I write about buns online would just be weird, so we scrapped that idea quickly. I had some friends who complained they didn't like it when I used the word moist to describe the bun on a burger. I will not say that this bun was moist, I'll say it was perfectly hydrated. See that, didn't use moist at all to describe it. Not at all. The meuwnster muenster cheese was, predictably, delicious and the ham was actually cooked perfectly and was not tough at all. Another big disappointment was the condiments on the burger. Both my brown mustard and K's chipotle BBQ were scarce on the burgers. You know how when you get to the end of a bottle of ketchup and you shake it around and try to get every last drop out, causing unfortunate noises that you have to explain to every one around you? It was the ketchup bottle, I swear! That's about like this, it was just a splatter of sauce, barely enough to taste really.

So the final verdict? Not impressed, unfortunately. Now, I almost hate to say this because it was a holiday and they were working with a smaller crew from the looks of it. There was much potential in the burger though, and I honestly would consider giving them another try if I found myself here. But for now though, I just can't give this burger a good rating. I'm going to have to drop this one as a 2 Angus Barn Burger. This one gets a solid "meh" for me, sorry Piper's. Please don't spit in my brunch buffet!

The Piper's Tavern & Restaurant
8304 Falls of Neuse Road
Raleigh, NC 27615
919-676-7413
http://www.thepiperstavern.com/

Five Guys - fast food without the stigma

So in celebration of the last day of work and school before Christmas, we decided to have a nice meal out. By nice meal out, I mean going out to eat somewhere our kids can be just as loud as the other kids and no one will notice. C-Monster and J-train were begging me to take them out for cheeseburgers, and requested a family trip to Five Guys. This restaurant is another place that we frequent, so I already know the quality of these burgers. Full disclosure there. Five Guys is a fun restaurant that borders on fast food. The reason I say that is because the food is not terribly fast, but fast enough that you could bounce over there for lunch and not miss too much work. If you care about that sort of thing. Their menu is pretty basic - burgers, hot dogs and a few sandwich choices. Burgers come in two varieties; the little cheeseburger which about the size of a normal burger, and the cheeseburger which is too large for any normal human who cares about being healthy. Basically you just go up there, say what size burger you want and then start rattling off the toppings you want from their list. I am pretty sure you could get them to put almost anything on there with how many options they have. "Yes, I'd like the cheeseburger with mustard, catchup, lettuce and a couple of hair nets. My wife would like the same but can you find some old toothbrushes to drop on there? Thanks." They'd probably do it, or at least not be surprised at the notion.  Their hot dogs are good quality beef hot dogs, which I have only ever seen one person order in as many times as I have been to Five Guys. That person was C-Monster and he hated it because it was real beef and not made from chicken hooves. I did eat it that time, and it was delicious. The sandwiches they offer are just burgers without the meat. Grilled cheese, BLT, and a veggie sandwich which is really just a fully loaded burger without the meat.

Last night though, we got there right before the rush hit. We managed to get to the front of the line quickly, but shortly after a big line formed and I think it overwhelmed the staff there. It did take a while for us to get our burgers, but there were people waiting a lot longer than us. This is not normal, but it must happen from time to time. The C-monster, J-train and the beautiful and lovely K all ordered little bacon cheeseburgers with their selected appurtenances, and I of course got the bacon cheeseburger with a full load of condiments and vegetables on there. We also ordered a large fry, which is plenty for a family of four. I once made an attempt to eat an entire large fry from Five Guys, it ended in heartbreak and stomachache. Don't do it. They pretty much just take a large drink cup full of fries and drop it in your bag, and then just throw a whole bunch more in there. It's like they do fries by weight rather than size.

We happily sat eating the peanuts that they have for you while you wait, which did take a while but not terribly long. Once our order came we realized that we somehow had ordered an extra hamburger. We knew right away that this was an error because no one in this family would have one without cheese, but the people at Five Guys were very nice and gave us our money back and let us keep the burger. The J-train also had a little mix-up on his burger and they missed the bacon. With the massive amount of customers they had in there, I am surprised it wasn't messed up more. My burger was, as expected, quite delicious. Now, Five Guys cooks all of their burgers "juicy and well done" so I didn't get to try my normal "medium" cooking on them. They were definitely cooked through and still juicy though. The patties were very well made and juicy, the bread was moist and tasty, and all of the veggies and condiments were just right. My only real complaint was that it was not quite as good as it is normally. The cheese itself was a little cold and not very melted, which made the entire burger a little less warm that usual. This is no doubt because of the influx of customers right around the time we ordered. I still prefer my cheese much more melty. K also reinforced this statement. The boys both devoured their burgers and C-monster requested a second burger. These guys are getting big, that statement struck fear in our hearts and our wallets. We told him he could eat a banana when he got home. He declined. Crisis averted. Our dog did quite enjoy the hamburger later as well, but I did not get a good statement from her. Because she's a dog.

So where does this burger rank on the scale? This burger is more of a lunch burger than a dinner burger, I would say. It is a basic burger, nothing really special, churned out as fast as they can. Five Guys is definitely not a place you would bring a date. If you are taking a girl out for a first or even second date, you definitely don't want to have her feeling stuffed and having to dry clean her dress to get the grease smell out. There would be no third date. If you are past the point of trying to impress each other though, head on over. But how does this rate as a tasty lunch burger? I give it a 2-1/2 Angus Barn burger rating. Solid quality lunch burger, but not the quality of a dinner burger that would get it into the 3+ range. Don't change anything Five Guys, but maybe melt my cheese a little next time.






Five Guys Burgers & Fries
8107 Creedmoor Rd
Raleigh, NC 27613
(many other locations as well)
www.fiveguys.com

Bad Daddy's Burger Bar - too good to be bad

So apparently, some people seem to have been reading my blog, and apparently they like it enough to give me recommendations so that I can write further drivel about burgers! Now, I am not a person that takes recommendations without a bit of hesitation. Ever since my mom tried to set me up with that girl who she thought I would like because she was "athletic" and I was into sports, I've been wary of recommendations. Special thanks to my dad for assuring me my mom would never try that again. The recommendation for this burger place came from one of C-monster's favorite teachers however, so I figured it was a viable source and worth investigation. This place is known as Bad Daddy's Burger Bar, and unlike the name it was actually quite good.

Tonight the beautiful and lovely K and I found ourselves without children and decided to take some time to have a little dinner. Our search for some burgerage found us within an onion ring's throw of Bad Daddy's. Another stroke of luck found my sister, FB, and her husband also in search of some fine red meat, so they met up with us for a fine evening sans offspring. We all met up at Bad Daddy's and after a little wait we found our seats. The atmosphere of this place is a sports bar of sorts, with a small bar in the front and seating throughout. There were TVs playing sports games and drink specials almost every night. Speaking of drink specials, my brother-in-law will henceforth be known as the Mathematician because he realized it was cheaper per ounce to buy 16oz beers than it was to buy 20oz beers. My sister married a winner for sure. The Mathematician and I ordered our 16oz beers and moved on to the food search. We scanned the menu and decided to bypass the appetizers for tonight, although their selections seemed quite appetizing. The restaurant came highly recommended so we decided to save our stomach space for the burger. You hate to get into a good burger only to find out you don't have the space to finish it. Ah, who am I kidding. I would finish a bad burger, much as I just can't change the channel on a bad Hallmark Christmas movie even after K falls asleep. You just need to get to the end. We looked at the menu for burgers since after all, that's what we came here for. On top of burgers, they have many other selections like chicken and salads and the like. Burgers are their specialty though, it's right there in the name.

I had a very hard time deciding on what to order, there were so many delicious burgers, but ultimately could not break away from my love of a fried egg on my burger. I went with the Sam I Am Burger, which comes with a fried egg and ham with pesto on the bun. K went with her heritage and ordered the Classic Southern Burger which comes with chili, relish, and slaw. The Mathematician went with the Nick's Patty Melt after briefly contemplating going vegetarian and ordering a turkey burger. FB decided to build her own burger, which is an option Bad Daddy's offers. Rather than take a normal menu item and tailor it to her liking, inevitably angering the chef, she decided to forgo the added kitchen spit surprise and get it just the way she liked it, One of the other great things about Bad Daddy's is that they offer several sides to choose from, and they have many different sauces that they offer for dipping those sides at no additional cost. I even got a pimento cheese dipping sauce for my homemade chips. Don't forget to ask for the sauce options!

Unlike the painful wait for the inevitably predictable movie ending, our food came quickly and was absolutely fantastic. Per the usual, I ordered my burger medium and it came out exactly medium. Perfectly cooked. The bread was fresh and moist, the lettuce was crisp, and the burger was juicy and fantastic. They got our order perfect, every one of our burgers was cooked to perfection and as delicious as we hoped. I had feared the ham on the burger was going to be overcooked, as many times thin ham gets cooked to the same consistency as the sole of an old flip-flop, but this was moist and soft and delicious. The egg was cooked great, everything was exactly as I would have wanted. K's burger was equally delicious, although terribly messy. Her plate looked like she did battle with some form of tiny chili monster, but luckily she won. She did give me a taste and it was also cooked to her perfect liking and absolutely delicious.

If you are looking for a place to get a drink and an absolutely delicious dinner burger, I highly recommend Bad Daddy's. So far this is the closest we have found to an Angus Barn burger. Of course, we have only rated two other places, but it is still high up there on the list. We happily give this burger joint a 4 Angus Barn Burger rating. Try this place out, you won't be disappointed!






Bad Daddy's Burger Bar
3300 Village Market Place
Morrisville, NC 27560
919-297-0953
http://www.baddaddysburgerbar.com/
(also location in Raleigh, address on website)

Shorty's - old time greasy

Our last burger experience took us to the highfalutin Glenwood South area, dropping coin on a sad little cheeseburger at Sullivan's Steakhouse. Granted the rest of the food was great, but this is a burger blog folks so stay focused! On this crisp night my partner in crime the beautiful and lovely K and I decided to take our boys down to our hometown downtown to do a little holidaying with the lighting of the Wake Forest Christmas tree. After doing our best Whoville impression while the mayor plugged in the tree, we decided to find ourselves some grub before taking the visit to see jolly ol' Saint Nick. Just a short walk from town hall and we found ourselves at an old timey restaurant that looked straight out of the post WWII era. Shorty's World Famous Hot Dogs was the name of the place, but don't let the name fool you, they serve burgers and fries too! I'm not exactly sure who Shorty is, but he definitely doesn't work there any more. This restaurant is celebrating its 100th anniversary next year, so simple math will tell you that he is no longer the proprietor.

One thing to remember when visiting Shorty's is that you need to order at the counter. They do not have waiters, just order takers and cooks. The first time we visited Shorty's it threw us for a little loop when we thought the service was terrible before realizing that there were no waiters. Save yourself the trouble, just go to the counter. The menu is the basic fare. Burgers, dogs, fries, your normal small town burger joint items. We ordered up some, you guessed it, burgers and hotdogs and even splurged for some chili cheese fries. The place was packed but our food came promptly, served on sheets of wax paper rather than plates. K and our youngest, J-Train, got cheeseburgers while I opted for the double cheeseburger. Filling out our family was our older boy C-Monster, who decided against the burger and went with a pair of hot dogs.

Now, I'll start this off by saying that this was a very tough comparison. I mean, this is a whole different breed of cheeseburger. At a restaurant like the Angus Barn or some of the other nicer
restaurants you get a big cheeseburger cooked just how you want it with different presentations for different burgers, places like Shorty's are just cranked out and everyone's the same except for differing condiments. So how did I enjoy this burger? I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unlike the toasted communion wafer that was the Sullivan's burger, this cheeseburger was dripping in grease. There was no shortage of juiciness. It even somehow found a way to soak through the wax paper. How is that even possible? I don't know, but it definitely did. My double was optioned with relish, chili, and ketchup so I'm sure that added to the liquidity of it, but I think just plain this thing would be dripping wet with artery stoppage. Then on to the chili cheese fries, which were an equal level of deliciousness. Covered in melted cheese and an equivalent amount of greasy chili as the burger, the fries were little more than saturated potatoes in a grease and cheese soup. Not that this is a bad thing, although even my iron stomach was a little beat up from all this grease. The rest of the family also enjoyed their meals, although Shorty's "world famous hot dogs" are little more than the red Brightleaf hot dogs that every single restaurant in the South serves. Still tasty though and C-Monster promptly gobbled them down. The J-Train did not finish his meal because he said he was full. I initially thought all of the grease might have made his stomach hurt until he informed me that he was "full for this food" but had "plenty of taste buds for hot chocolate." A likely story.

So what is the final verdict on this century old small town joint? As much as I enjoyed this burger, and would highly recommend visiting this place , I can only give it 2 Angus Barn burger rating. The burgers were awesome, but they were not the same level of burger. It is hard to explain, but it is kind of like the difference in a "lunch burger" versus a "dinner burger." If you are in a hurry and want a great burger fast, this is the place to go. For a night out, where you want something a little nicer, you'll be looking for a different place. Plenty of flavor, juicy, and very enjoyable, but a different food experience than we were going for with an Angus Barn burger challenger. If you ever find yourself in downtown Wake Forest for lunch though, this is a place you should definitely stop by. We highly recommend it and will be visiting again.





Shorty's Famous Hot Dogs
214 S White St, Wake Forest, NC 27587
For more info - Shorty's Facebook page

Sullivan's Steakhouse, eating from the kids menu

So in my quest for a burger rivaling the Angus Barn, why not start with another nice expensive steakhouse? On a recent weekend my wife and partner in crime, the lovely and beautiful K, decided to visit Sullivan's Steakhouse with a few friends for a night out. It shall be noted, that over a few glasses of wine that my good friend D convinced me to start this blog. It can also be noted that D and I scheme a lot so it is good that the only thing that came out of the dinner was a blog and not some strange contraption that our wives would be scared of. They actually thought this was a good idea. Score one for us. Anyway, I digress. Back to the burgers.

We arrived at Sullivan's for our 8:00 reservation right on time. Sullivan's has a great atmosphere, based off of a turn of the century boxing theme. The name, I can only assume based off of all the photos and championship belt on the wall, comes from the boxer John L. Sullivan who was the last bare-knuckle heavyweight boxing champion. So does this boxing themed restaurant have what it takes to knockout the Angus Barn from the title of Triangle burger champ? Let's find out.

We had a party of 6, which wouldn't seem to be that big of a party, but it was a busy Saturday night so it took a little while to get our table ready. A little over 20 minutes, but at least we were in good company. Might have seemed a lot longer if you were on a bad date, but if you were on a bad date you probably wouldn't be waiting in line at an expensive restaurant now would you? We took our seats and our waitress came over and explained all the options and gave us our menus. Two of our friends are wine connoisseurs, so they brought three bottles of wine with them. Sullivan's allows this, but charges you a "corking fee". They take your wine and put it in a decanter, or a canter, or whatever you do with wine. I don't really know, all I know is that they charged each couple $25 for this service. I am not positive that this is a flat fee or if it is per bottle or what. We drank three bottles of the wine, so maybe it is $25 per bottle. I looked at their website and couldn't find any info on this. All I know is that K and I normally drink $8 bottles of Pinot Grigio at the house, but our friends brought the wine so we were fine with it. Thanks guys! We definitely won't be bringing our own bottles of Sutter Home with us if we come again, that is for sure. Sullivan's is definitely on top of things though, they handled the wine great, made sure we had fresh glasses for the different wines, swapped out clean plates and silverware, and just generally gave us great service. K and I also realized that we actually like red wine as long as it isn't the cheap stuff that we normally buy. Who knew?

So on to the menu. Sullivan's has an extensive menu, with several different items to choose from - salads, steaks, seafood, and many appetizers. K chose to go with what Sullivan's calls "The Sure Thing" which includes an appetizer, salad, and an entrée. She went with the Crispy Shanghai Calamari, Caesar salad, and the 6oz Filet Mignon with a baked potato. I, of course, ordered the American Burger. My friend D also got the American Burger once we verified that we would go down together if we were going to do this thing. I got fries with mine. He may have gotten vegetables. I am not positive, but I know he asked about them, feigning some form of healthiness I guess. The calamari arrived first and K shared hers with me. It was quite delicious, very similar to the Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish Grille. Sometimes calamari has the tendency to be rubbery, but this was cooked perfectly and it had a little spicy kick along with the sweet fried sauce. Definitely recommend this starter menu item. Afterwards they brought out the salads for those who ordered them. D and I did not get them, as we were the lone burger eaters in the group. K did, however, give me a taste of her salad and it was also quite delicious. Only complaint I would have is that the croutons were about the hardest crouton I have ever eaten. I was half questioning if they accidentally left one of the display croutons on the salad or something. It was like I was chewing stale sourdough. Maybe that is trendy, and I am definitely not. I just know I didn't like them.

After this delicious appetizer and salad, I must admit I had some high hopes for this burger. Maybe that set me up for failure. Or maybe the burger just failed. I think it is the latter. They brought out our entrees, and everyone's looked quite tasty. D an I got ours, and it was just a basic burger on a normal looking bun with some fries in a little metal cup and a little tub of ketchup. No real fancy display, but what do you expect, you just ordered a burger in a steak restaurant. I lathered some ketchup on my bun because I like condiments on my burger. I know what some of you so called "burger connoisseurs" are saying - "ketchup on a burger? Travesty!" but I like a little bit of something on there like the normal population. I am glad I did too, because the bun was drier than a Depression era wheat field. It was like they toasted the bread in the oven, forgot about it, then scraped off the burnt and used it. Guess what I am saying is, the bread was NOT GOOD. D backed me up on this, as his bun was dehydrated equally. I also removed my tomato and onions, the tomato because I just don't like them and the onion so K would want to kiss me later in the night. The burger itself was unimpressive. I normally order my burgers medium, a little pink in the middle, even a little bloodiness is ok with me. This was well done. Not overdone, but there was definitely no pink. Not medium at all. This is a usual occurrence and I'm not sure why I don't just order them medium rare, but that is my mistake. It did have enough juice to make the bun seem less dry, so that was a good thing. K asked me how the burger was and I told her that it was ok. I gave her a little bit and she responded that she wasn't sure why I said it was ok, because it was just not good. I agreed and said I was just trying to not be negative. D promptly responded that we were eating off of the kids menu. That is exactly what this burger was like. Totally unimpressive and something that was hastily thrown together for some kid to eat a quarter of, so that the other three quarters could be taken home and fed to the dog after sitting in the fridge for three days. The fries go along with that, they were overcooked and equally unimpressive. Just for comparison though, K did give me some of her steak and baked potato and it was fantastic. I would definitely highly recommend this restaurant for the steak, which quite honestly would be the normal sane person's real reason to come here.

So final conclusion? Sullivan's has a fun atmosphere and great food. Other than the burger. Would I recommend Sullivan's? Absolutely, just not the burger. See a trend here?

So on a scale of 1-5 Angus Barn Burgers........I unfortunately have to give Sullivan's a ONE Angus Barn Burger rating. Just not good. Sorry guys, stick to those delicious steaks!

Sullivan's Steakhouse
410 Glenwood Ave Ste. 100
Raleigh, NC 27603
For more info - Sullivan's website

It all begins

Who is this burger loving fool and why does he feel the need to blog about it? Those are definite questions that do not necessarily need answers. Too bad, you are going to get answers anyway. I came to the realization the other day that I find myself to be something of a burger connoisseur. Much as a normal sane person might be into different wines or beers, I find myself rating different burgers when eating out. Every time I am at a restaurant my first order of business is to look straight for the burger menu to peruse their options. Over the years I have had many delicious burgers, and also many burgers that have let me down. After all these burger experiences I feel like I have a good grasp on appropriate burgeryness that will allow me to give you a very good review on restaurants and their burgers. I am local to the Raleigh/Durham area in North Carolina, but do make occasional trips around and will review those as well. Any chance to eat a burger, I will take that opportunity, and fill you in on the details whether you care or not. What is my best burger to date? That would be, without a doubt the cheeseburger at the Angus Barn in Raleigh. Now, I don't exactly know what the menu name of this is, and I am not even sure that it is on the menu, but if you ask the waiter for "the cheeseburger" I'm pretty sure they will know what you mean. After all, this is a very nice expensive steakhouse, there is only one cheeseburger because normal human beings prefer their steakhouse steaks cooked like normal steaks and not ground up on a bun with cheese. I, however, am not a normal human being. Look for a complete review on this plate of yummy deliciousness in the next month or so, as I will be going back for the holidays and will give a thorough review. Just know this - it is the basis for all my reviews, and I will give burgers ratings based off of this. So read on if you'd like, I hope this blog may lead you in the right direction in the quest for the best burger in the area.