35 years ago, the Green Mill, ensconced in St. Paul’s oldest, licensed bar, a tiny hole on Hamline Avenue in St. Paul, was the “go-to” place for fancy pizza in the Twin Cities. A variation of Chicago deep dish, the pie was known for its quality ingredients, and for taking (by those day’s standards) too damned long to bake, at least if you were like me, and sneaking out on your lunch break from your job at a Twin Cities tv station. A few years later, “Green Mill Too”, was spawned on S. Hennepin in Minneapolis, which was larger, fancier, and had a full menu in addition to their extraordinary pizzas ( at that time, I had not developed my snobbish preference to thin crust pies).

I seem to recall we had a group dinner there prior to my first wedding. Today, Green Mills are spread across half a dozen states in the Upper Midwest, including an outlet in Canal Park, the tourist sector of Duluth, Minnesota.

And that’s where Minnesota Burger Reporter Kawikamedia when in pursuit of his quest to find Minnesota’s best pepper cheeseburger. The usual local version of this is a ground beef patty, breaded, deep-fried, with pepper cheese adorning the top. Pepper cheese, in this instance, is usually a mild soft Monterrey Jack with flecks of various peppers inside. Some variations can be found using specific peppers (i.e. Habanero Pepper Jack, et al).

The usual version of the pepper cheese burger does not appear on the Green Mill menu, however, they offer a wide variety of choices via their “build your own burger” selection. One could, for example, should they be so inclined, have a black Angus on a ciabatta with chipotle and buffalo sauce, goat, feta, and blue cheese, onion rings, black olives, and adorned with another meat, like pulled pork and buffalo shrimp. Hey, I’m just saying.

Kawikamedia reported the burger to be up to his standards, and it came with tasty waffle fries. He did not mention whether it was a contender for “best of the best” however. And he would have, if it were.

The complete Green Mill menu and locations can be found online, and Green Mill pizzas can be found in the frozen foods sections of many Upper Midwest groceries (pictured above).

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We were at the Jantzen Beach location, but the map below shows all locations of Stanford’s.(Ed. note, had a GPS #fail getting to this location, the map showed I had arrived about a quarter mile earlier than the actual location, which is in the outlet of the shopping center, in front of Target.)

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Asian Burger Reporter Kayoumin checks in today from Taipei, where he sampled the heat and eat burger at his local 7-Eleven. He was out seeking a pre-dinner nosh, and along with a shot of Chinese alcohol, discovered this burger was the perfect thing to quell his peckishness.

He said it “really wasn’t that bad,” which is exactly what I have said about the domestic versions of 7-Eleven heat and eat burgers.

7-Elevens in Taipei. Holy Crap!

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Pix:

The Come-on

Pretty Little Burgers All in a Row

Burger, Prepare to Meet Thy Heater!

Gives New Meaning to “Thumbnail” Pic

There’s a new Chicago hot dog in town, and it’s a real “wiener!” (Oh, I know, “groan.”). Chicago hot dogs aren’t all that easy to come by in Portland, and Chicago Italian Beef & Sausage combo sandwiches are even rarer. Yes, there is that place across the river run by that cantankerous old coot, but the differences are elementary. Windy City buys all their product from Vienna Beef, the preeminent Chicago vendor, and the “other guy” makes his own.

One could argue the advantage of either method, but if you’ve been to Chicago, or lived there twice, like I have, you get a craving for the “real thing”, and Windy City fills the bill, seemingly ordering all of their provisions (and decorations) from Vienna.

Windy City’s menu (below) covers the full range of Chicago style foods, from the loaded up Vienna hot dog (mustard, relish, chopped onion, tomato, pickle, sport peppers, celery salt on a poppy seed bun), to Italian Beef (with giardiniera or sweet peppers), the Maxwell Street Polish, and sides like cheese fries or chili cheese fries.

Windy City also has burgers on the menu, I’ll have to get back there to sample those, and I’m interested in chowing down on the “Rush Street Lunch”, chili cheese fries topped with a chopped polish and bacon.

Kid’s menu, a couple of beers, and meatball and pastrami sandwiches to boot!

Both the dog and the combo were spot on, exactly as one would experience in Chicago. For my money, (and that’s all that counts with me), Windy City’s Italian Beef is better than the other guys, because it is the familiar Vienna texture and seasoning.

Windy City is at 8680 SW Canyon Rd., call 208-3031 if you’re inclined to place your order ahead of time, or for carry out. Open 11-7 six days.

If you’re so inclined to order Vienna products by the dozen, to party at home, you can buy direct from the manufacturer.

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French Burger Reporter Kayoumin, living the high life in Taipei these days, reported from the night market where they were serving saucisson (sausage)on a hamburger bun with lots of mustard. “Good stuff,” he says.

Sometime Saturday, Mrs Burgerdogboy announced she needed ribs this weekend, and I was designated to make them. Now I don’t care for ribs or wings, two of her favorite consumables, but for some reason I have the ability to whip up pretty good batches of either. I am surpised my ribs measure up for her, because we have been to the rib capital of the world, Lockhart, TX, and had the best the US has had to offer. (If you haven’t been to Lockhhart, and love BBQ, it’s worth the trek!)

But it’s my job to please,and especially after the repast she concocted Saturday nite, a basil-cream-garlic-butter sauce over prosciutto ravioli!

So I made a simple dry rub:

2 T salt
2 T paprika
2 T ground black pepper
1 T garlic powder
1/4 C brown sugar

Since it was my intent to slow roast the ribs in the oven, I threw in the tiniest (less than 1/8 ounce) of Lem’s Liquid Smoke, and liberally rubbed the whole mess into both sides of the rack, left it in a baggie in the frig overnite. This liquid smoke is potent stuff, as the directions on the bottle say 1/2 t per 5 pounds of meat.

Since I wasn’t going to eat the ribs, it was experimental burger day, so I massaged the same dry rub into a couple of burger patties and left them to their own devices overnight. (I am prepared NOT to like these when they are cooked, can’t imagine the brown sugar going well with the hamburger flavor I so adore!)

Of no relevance to the burger, but apparently important to the rib eater, I whipped up a batch of pinto beans, as well.  The ribs went into a 275 degree oven for nearly four hours, and were finished up for 15 minutes on my burger grill.

The burger elements (except for the rub) were all Fred Meyer.  80/20 ground beef in a chub, bakery hard rolls, deli cole slaw, purple onion.   The hard rolls could be harder on the outside (tho many people will like their softness), and the cole slaw lacks any distinguishable flavor, it could be from anywhere, very reminiscent of KFC’s.   I have no bone to pick with the 80/20 ground beef, cooks up nicely on the grill.

The patty was done over medium regular Kingsford coals (20 minutes after lighting), 6minutes on one side, four on the other, for just past medium rare.  I added the cole slaw because of the bbq flavor from the rub, ala eating pulled pork in the Southeast.  The rub produced a slight crust on the patty, much like if you were doing a blackened seasoned burger, the sugar in the rub makes the exterior slightly carmeleized, which seals in some of the juices, and I liked that.   Overall, it did not seem doing the rub the night before had much of an added effect on the burger, I think it would have turned out the same if I added the rub right before grilling.  Nice flavor overall.  The 80/20 grind is my preferred size, and the chub is Fred Meyer’s least expensive non-sale ground beef offering.

I had been here once before, albeit only for appetizers, which were more than satisfactory. Today it was a convenient location to meet up with Mr Portland Deal-Maker Attorney Extraordinaire, and try out the burgers, which are intermittently touted highly on various online sites.

The joint is on Morrison, w/i spitting distance of the Max stop, and not far from where the “Dump Sam Adams” campaign was recently evicted from their City of Portland landlord owned digs.

I like places that offer a wide variety of burger toppings of all ilks, and AJs is no exception. In addition to the usual condiments and add-ons, at AJs you can get your burger patty topped with such diverse items as a sausage or fish filet. Well, the latter might appeal to someone, I suspect, perhaps those tipping their hats to a Friday Lenten Lunch, but not willing to commit 100%?

You can find the mostly complete menu online at Urban Spoon, tho they have cut off the burger toppings portion.

In any case, we both ordered cheeseburgers, and there is a fairly broad selection of cheeses to choose from, one of which was AJs “Three Cheese Sauce” which I thought I would give a try, and confused the waiter by asking for same. I clearly meant (in my own demented mind, at least) that the sauce was my burger-topping cheese choice, but he didn’t ask me that, and instead brought a small ramekin of it on the side, w/ my burger topped w/ cheddar.

We both ordered tots as our side choice, and both agreed they are over the top tots, which is what I thought the time I had them on a previous visit.

The patties are clearly hand-formed, lean, cooked to medium (server didn’t ask our preference), and delivered on a fresh, soft bakery roll.

A number of people in other reviews have talked about the burger’s seasoning, which is clearly evident, but makes for some difficulty in ascertaining the pure taste of the grind. My unsophisticated palate found the taste of the seasoning familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

Mr. PDMAE cleared this up for me brilliantly but stating “the hamburger tastes like a hot dog,” and that’s exactly what it was, hints of onion, coriander, maybe mace, ground mustard, paprika, at least that’s what I use when I stuff weenies at home, and this flavor was, indeed, very reminiscent of that. We debated whether the flavoring was on the patty itself or the bun, but did not come to any conclusions.

If I was in the mood to implement my favorite selection out of the seven deadly sins, and opted for gluttony today, I would have constructed my own burger topped with a couple of cheeses, ham, bacon, a fried egg, olives, and maybe the sausage. Not brave enough to add the fish filet, however.

The prices of the extras seemed reasonable, however I take exception to places that charge for condiments that fall into the vegetable variety, and AJs does that, nicking you for extra pickles, onions, peppers, olives and the like. I did not test the limits of their tolerance for not doing this.

Two cheeseburgers with tots, two glasses of water, $18 including tip. Not so bad, not so grand. I would go back on a more weather-hospitable day like my first visit, they have some outside tables and its a good place to have a beer and snack on the sidewalk and people watch, whether your choice for that activity leans towards lurking, or feeling sorry for the aspiring chefs coming out of the nearby cooking school – wondering what small percentage of them will achieve some modicum of success in their careers, and how many will end up flipping burgers at places like AJs?

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I’ve known about Palermo’s for a number of years, but my knowledge of them was limited to their contract / private label business. They make a lot of other brands retail frozen and deli pizzas. An offshoot of a family-owned restaurant in Milwaukee, started in the 60s, Palermo’s has grown to be one of the top frozen pizza manufacturers nationwide, selling under their own band name, with lines including “Primo Thin”, “Rustica” ( a thick crust) “Hearth Italia,” (marble-hearth fired) and “Classics,” in both traditional thin and rising crusts. They also make a frozen breakfast pizza (cheddar sauce, scrambled egg, bacon and Italian sausage).

I’ve had a hard time finding them, and wasn’t inclined to spend $50 for overnight shipping (you can order from their website here).

You can tour the factory if you are planning to be in Milwaukee. I might just have to add that to my text burger/dog/pizza tour!

So anyway, I am out today, stop into my local Albertson’s for something else, and there in the freezer section is a variety of choices of Palermo’s. I would have liked to get their all-meat one, but that wasn’t in stock, so I picked up the Primo Thin Supreme, mozzarella, parmesan and romano cheeses, with sausage, pepperoni, peppers, onions and black olives – for $5.99, about the same average price I pay for California Pizza Kitchen Sicilian, my usual choice. (They are $8.49 online, plus hefty shipping). Before I forget, here’s a locator if you want to find them near you.

Notes on the box: “All Natural Crust.” “Do Not Eat Pizza w/o Cooking.” “Old World Family Recipe.” “USA Gold Taste Award – American Academy of Taste.”

“All Natural Crust” is defined on the box as “minimally processed. No artificial ingredients.” I am not sure about the upside of one component of a food item being “all natural”, but the other components contain dextrose, nitrites, flavorings, etc. Now I am not picky about these things myself, but I imagine “all natural” types would be. Or maybe not, no matter.

Instructions were straight-forward as usual, ( 450, center rack, 10-15 minutes)and here’s what the uncooked pie looks like straight from the box. More toppings than many brands, w/ the exception of the black olives are kind of skimpy (another caution on box: “Due to the nature of olives, this product may contain olive pits.”)

I absconded w/ one slice of pepperoni pre-baking, and it didn’t have a very robust flavor, and may have had a slight freezer burn taste. We’ll see how it cooks up. Into the oven!

After the first eight and a half minutes of the suggested cooking time, this puppy was done. It had taken on the characteristics stated on the box (browned edges, may be slightly curled, and melted cheese).

I let it rest a minute or two, cut it, and took my first bite. The 100% real cheese is evident. The sauce is present but not overwhelming or distinctive. The pepperoni has a nice flavor, and one wouldn’t know that peppers and onions were present save for their color poking thru the melted cheese.

The crust? Well, I’d still have to say CPK is better, to my standards for a thin crust. This one is crispy and chewy at the same time, if that makes any sense to you. It’s almost similiar to fresh matzoh.

This is pretty good, as frozens go, in my top five anyway. I’ll reserve final judgment until I can find one of the sausage-laden variety.

Man, I love Italian Beef.  Especially served as a combo, with Italian Sausage, Beef, and juice both.  They should fit into some category here.   Chicago is da place to get da sandwiches, but now you can find one close to home by checking out this directory.

Pic: Michael’s beef /sausage combo (half).

What the heck does that mean, anyway, Baconator? I suppose it’s a riff on “Terminator”, but it could be taken as “bacon & tator” couldn’t it? Yeah, ok, I was reaching with that one.

News came this week Wendy’s has rolled out the Bacon & Blue burger chain-wide. We sampled it when it was in test, and wrote about it here

It is cold and rainy today (what’s new for Portland) and I didn’t feel like venturing too far from home for lunch. Mrs. BDB was working with a client upstairs, so the kitchen was off limits. I don’t have a frig in the man cave, and boy, I need one.

Anyway, so I rolled down the hill to fast food lane, and Wendy’s seemed the least offensive today. Went w/ the Baconator combo, and got some of the Sweet & Sour “boneless wings” for Mrs. BDB.

Wendy’s burgers are ok, for what they are. Do they still push the “fresh never frozen” thing?

One thing I do appreciate about Wendy’s is you can personalize your burgers and most every time they get it right. (mustard, onion, and bug snot only, please!).

The fries? Awful. I would swear they are an extruded product (potato slurry pushed out of mold in the shape of fries), but they DO appear to have bits of tater skin on some of them. The texture is non-potato like, and these were undercooked, adding to my dislike of them.

But they did get my custom toppings correct, and the Baconator comes in a box, so little danger of the squished bun effect fast food so often seems to inflict.

Would Dave Thomas be pleased? Who knows? Right now he and Ray Kroc are yukking it up in burger heaven somewhere.

Picture:  Baconator with its top off.

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