When my youngest son, Josh, was learning how to drive, he and I would jump in the car with the idea of logging some time for him behind the wheel. But just driving aimlessly around in order to meet the state requirements and give him the experience he needed seemed like a limited use of our time together. Since both of us love burgers I came up with the idea that each time we got in the car, time permitting, we would find a burger joint to visit and sample.
Of course my ulterior motive was obvious. I wanted to go out and wallow in the beauty that is a good burger. Right there, that was the key; I wanted to find good burger joints. There would be no fast food and very few chains. I wanted authentic local restaurants serving America’s most wonderful treat.
We chose the restaurants we would visit in a couple of different ways. First off were the places I already knew about and liked. There were quite a few of those. But being adventurous I wanted to find places that I’d never visited before and dive into new and uncharted burger bliss. For that I first started asking everyone I knew for their favorite local burger place. Then Josh and I started searching on line to see what others said about the local establishments.
Finding new places led to a decision to treat every restaurant as if we didn’t know where it was. Josh would look up the restaurant and map out how to get there. I would navigate but he was responsible for getting us there and back. You can really learn a lot about driving is you need to follow directions in order to eat lunch.
My love affair with burgers goes all the way back to my childhood. Let’s say early childhood. As a kid I recall pulling into Frisch’s Big Boy and having a burger, fries and a Coke while sitting in the car. I remember in the 1960s when the first Burger King opened up on Colerain Ave. and we would make the drive to get that novelty. Yes, I had a Burger King burger before I ever tasted a McDonald’s.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not equating McDonald’s or Burger King or even those lovely Frisch’s Big Boys with top of the line burger ecstasy. Far from it; for there were also a number of smaller more local places where I enjoyed that all beef paradise.
As I grew older I became a connoisseur of ground beef patties between two pieces of bread. I tried all kinds. Many I liked and many I disliked. As my palette sharpened I began to realize all of what separates a good burger from a not so good one.
When I lived in Los Angeles I became a fan of In-And-Out Burgers. In my opinion the best chain burger in the world. There are others that are good, others that come close, but none that match it. In fact, for me an In-And –Out burger can match up to many of the top local, independent burger specialty shops.
Back in Cincinnati, my home town, raising my family, we started going to a little hole in the wall joint not far from home called the Anderson Township Pub. The ATP would always serve up excellent burgers, freshly cut fries, the greatest servers in Mary and Karen and the perfect pub atmosphere. This is the place where Josh really cut his teeth on real burgers. For him this has to be the standard against which all other burgers are judged.
About a month ago as I write this, Josh, now 17, said that he and I should start a burger blog. We have continued to head out to various places and events, particularly car shows in the spring through fall, with a stop in a burger place always on the agenda.
We started by making a list of places about which we want to blog. We’ll visit them and review them when we get the chance. Which one we stop in will depend on where we’re going, what we’re doing and how much time we have. Sometimes the burger may be the destination, it may be a side track to the trip, and sometimes it just may be the reward.
Deciding how we were going to rate the various places actually didn’t take very long at all. We agreed first and foremost to look at the quality of the beef. So with that in mind we have decided to stick to the basic cheeseburger without a lot of fancy toppings. In addition we are looking at the quality of the garden (since we both like lettuce and tomato and I’m a fan of pickles), the cheese (this is where we will change it up depending on our mood) and, because we practice safe burger eating, we’ll rate the condiments. Also getting consideration will be the service, the price and the atmosphere of the restaurant. Keep in mind that I’m a huge fan of the local hole in the wall type joint but a good burger trumps décor any time.
So there you have it, the groundwork for our burger blog. For anyone who is reading this feel free to agree or disagree as you see fit. Feel free to add comments or suggestions. Remember, this is just the opinion of two guys who love burgers. It’s what tastes good to us.
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