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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I must have walked by this joint a hundred times and never noticed it. Went there today because I am working my way thru other people’s burger reviews on Yelp and Urban Spoon, see if I agree or disagree. One review calls this “a fake British pub.”  I don’t know about that, it is what it is, typical of  Portland, or anywehre, a mish-mash of theme and localization.  And that’s fine.

The Thirsty Lion offers a number of burgers, (a bunch of sausages, too – for another day) which come with fries, “pub chips” or slaw. I went with the Tavern Burger, a 1/2 lb. patty grilled with black forest ham, cheddar cheese, and onion ring(s). It is offered with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, which I suggested they leave in the kitchen. I selected the pub chips as my side, after an explanation of what they were (house made thick potato chips, like you get at the Palm).

It didn’t take long for my order, it was about 12:30 and there weren’t that many customers. Many were men watching futbol (ahem, soccer) on the raft of big screen tvs.

The burger looked outstanding when it arrived, juice trickling from the side, flour-dusted bakery roll, steak knife impaled thru the burger in case you were mad at your server. The menu touts “eat local”, and they mention the various local brands they buy, including Beaverton Mustards, which were on the table in a variety of styles.

The patty, dissected, was done just a hair past medium rare. It is quality meat, and I was delighted with the black forest ham, that it was “real” and not some pressed, chopped and formed lunch meat. There was one onion ring atop the burger, and it was pretty fair, as well. I like to find a “ham” burger once and awhile, I them as much as bacons. Maybe more.

The chips, I loved.

This is a great burger, and a great value. It’s not a Violetta, but it could sit proudly right up next to one.

The complete menu is online here, and the burger portion of the menu is below.

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Thirsty Lion at Urban Spoon

Stopping by my two neighborhood stores, I have a choice between the nice Korean family at the independent market on one side of the street, or the new owner of the 7-Eleven, a nice Iranian family.  I generally favor the Koreans, for no particular reason, I guess, other than consistency, because the prices are about the same at both stores.  With the Koreans, there is always a smiling family member behind the counter, and with the Iranians, they have a lot of part-time employees, so friendliness can be hit and miss.  Whatever, I’m just sayin’.

I talked about this pre-cooked burger early on, in this post. This is an 8.5 ounce vending/food service product from Pierre Foods in Ohio, which furnishes product to school, vending, stores, the military, and so on.

Why I decided to pick up another one of these today, was new packaging and a new name caught my eye. Previously packaged in white freezer paper with the name “Big Az”, the sandwich is now in clear cello with a name change that has dropped the “Z”, it’s now the “Big A Angus Charbroil with Cheese”.  It’s interesting they went with clear, when the trend among consumers seems to be vibrant photos/graphics on a solid color package.  But this is probably less expensive, for sure.

So be it.

The instructions on my package suffered from smeared ink, so I’m gonna just punt on the microwave deal. Last time, I pronounced this better than most fast food burgers, we’ll see if they changed the formulation along with the packaging.

The unwrapped frozen burger exhibits no frills; sesame bun, burger patty, cheese slice on top, cheese slice underneath. (Tho one cheese slice is half the size of the other, not sure if that is intentional).

This is a refrigerated product, so it’s mostly thawed.  As such, like I do the home version of White Castles, I separated the meat and bun for heating.

I decided to go with 45 seconds or whenever the cheese was fully melted, for the patty.   And that reaction happened exactly at 45 seconds, so good guess, BurgerDogBoy.  I threw the bun in for 15 seconds, removed, assembled, dressed (onion, pickle, mustard), and voila!

Was it as good as I remembered?  Yes.  Have they changed anything besides the packaging?  Doesn’t seem so.   Do I still think this is better than most run-of-the-mill fast food burgers?  Yes for flavor, but no for value (it’s $3.69 at my neighborhood 7-Eleven.)

I like the flavor, has some smoke added to be more “grilled-like”, the grind is ok, probably a bit finer than I usually prefer, but OK, nonetheless.

Maybe it’s less of a big deal, than I am making it out.  Unlike BK and McD, this burger isn’t overwhelmed by the flavor and quantity of ketchup, which I loathe on my burgers.  It might just be that simple.

I have previously written about 7-Eleven adding more hot food items, round-the-clock, including pizza, both whole and sliced. A whole pepperoni retails for 9.99.

The program of adding ready-cooked foods reflects changing consumer habits – for one thing, 7-Eleven has to make up for the rapidly decreasing income from tobacco sales. Plus they have moved towards more in-house branding (“Select”), undoubtedly to boost margins. Very shrewd.

My previous review of take-out slices is here.

Today, I walked into my neighborhood 7-Eleven (which doesn’t offer the cooked pizzas or slices) and I noticed a stack of frozen 7-Eleven “Self Rising Crust Pizzas” in the freezer section.

The pepperoni one weighs in at 27 oz, which is good weight for a frozen pizza. Price point is $5.99. Which means they are going to charge you an additional $4 per pie, if you are buying a whole cooked one at some other outlet. This seems fair, as usually retail prices are double wholesale, so they are paying roughly $3 a pie, and prepared food costs are generally 3x wholesale, so that multiple is correct too.

I say it’s fair, because if your 7-Eleven is selling the baked pies, that means they shelled out $5,000+ for the Turbo Chef oven.

There are two descriptors on the front of the box. “Made with real cheese”, and “topped with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, parmesan and romano cheeses, and a blend of spices.

An examination of the ingredients proves this out; the cheese are indeed real, as is the pepperoni (beef & pork; garlic and dried oregano are the final two ingredients on the panel.

There’s no indication of who is making these for 7-Eleven, and I could not find a reference to that online; however there is no shortage of contract frozen pizza manufacturers in the U.S., could be someone like Schwans, in Minnesota, or Palermo’s in Milwaukee. I suppose even Kraft cranks out a few. No matter.

Instructions call for direct on center rack, 425, 20-25 minutes, and when I do these tests, I follow the instructions explicitly, and don’t add any additional toppings; I don’t ‘relocate’ any of the toppings. I want to see what the product is exactly the way they intended it.

I don’t much give a damn for rising crusts, as you well know if you read me occasionally. Set the timer for 20 minutes, and out it came, just on the cusp of being overcooked. No, my oven doesn’t run hot. Anyway, I much prefer an overcooked pizza to an undercooked, limp one.

Taste, aesthetic, and texture-wise, this pizza is just fine for what it is, and a terrific value calculating weight versus price. The outer crust is crispy and chewy, the inner crust doughy and chewy, which I am sure is what they intended. Sauce is flavorful without being annoying, and you can always tell the difference when real cheese is used. The pepperoni is good, didn’t cup or char, there could be more, but 7-Eleven does include more slices than most frozen pizzas.

Will I buy it again? Sure, it’s a couple hundred feet from my house, and I don’t have to order ahead of time. They also offer a cheese and supreme variety; I’d like to see an Italian sausage, with big pieces of bulk sausage amply sprinkled across the top.

As I wrote when I sampled the take-out slices before, I’ve had this pizza previously, and it didn’t have the 7-Eleven label on it.   Can’t quite place it, but it will come to me eventually.  The ultimate test for me, as it is for all pizza, is how good this the next morning, after sitting on the counter all night.

But in the meantime, to quote a cliche. “Oh thank heaven, for 7-Eleven.”

Asian Burger Reporter Kayoumin checked in from Taipei today, where he visited “Burgerhood,” and pronounced the bacon/cheese burger as good as any in the US (we did a burger tour of the Southwest some years ago where his favorites were Whataburger and In N Out.)

He had no idea why the German flag was planted in the burger.    I looked for other descriptions/reviews online and found one in Mandarin, which machine translation puked out this version in English.  If you’ve lived or traveled in China, you know this makes perfect (non) sense!

The fries just exploded the loose rosin fragrant fries primary taste not too many processing quantities, although not many, but very delicious here draws a city, in has in the victory and defeat situation to look that mutually which style decoration you did like with the atmosphere Bravo comparison.

BTW, check out Kayoumin’s website if you’re looking for a French National Entertainer who sings love songs in Mandarin!  (And who isn’t?)

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