Drew's On the River

If you have never been to Drew's on the River you are probably one of those east side people who won't travel west. Drew's is something of a Delhi institution. It only opened in 2004 but it has withstood some high water from the river and kept coming back strong. Located at 4333 River Rd. in Delhi and on the web at http://www.drewsontheriver.com/ Drew's is exactly what you would expect in a fun pub on the river.

Featuring a menu that relies on bar food and sandwiches, Drew's offers up regular entertainment every weekend. There are daily lunch specials and you can even pull up in your boat at their dock and stop by for a meal.

Burgers

We ordered up the Anchor Cheese Burger, a half pound of Angus beef that is nicely seasoned and grilled just right. Let's cut to the chase: this is a pretty good burger. Everything about it was fresh. Our service was good and friendly. As we sat wiping the juices from our chins we realized that this was one of the better burgers we'd had recently for this blog. We aren't sure if it ranks up there with our favorite burgers in the area. We will have to go back and chow down a few more times just to make sure. Maybe we'll see you there, even if like us, you live on the east side of town.

McWendy King's

It's surprising to us how often people will comment on the fact that we do this little burger blog. We don't have very many readers but that was never our intention. We do find a couple of things odd, though. One is where our audience comes from. For example, this past week we have gotten almost as many hits from Russia as from the USA. (Hey, if you live in Russian, or anywhere for that matter, drop us a line and say hi at turnerbudds@yahoo.com).

The other thing that surprises us is how often people will defend their favorite burgers. We have taken a bunch of heat for our lukewarm review of Carvers. We're sorry, the burgers we got just weren't that good.

Now we honestly don't really pan many places. Let's be honest, if you use decent ingredients it's pretty difficult to mess up a burger. Remember, we don't go after the exotic burgers on the menu just the basic number with meat, cheese and our choice of condiments and garden.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to us is how often we've had people tell us that they actually like a fast food burger from one of the Big Three. Nothing wrong with that. We've both eaten our share of McWendy King products. Josh, being a college student, still does. Mark, on the other hand, prefers real food.

But, to be fair and being prompted by some "new" claims about certain burgers, we decided to suffer the public humiliation and rank the Big Three in order of our preference. We tested each restaurant's standard burger. At McDonald's it was the Quarter Pounder, at Wendy's it was the Double, and at Burger King it was the Whopper. Of course we ordered fries with each and are rating those as well.

Burgers

We both agreed that Burger King had the best of the three burgers. "At least they pretend to cook it over a real flame," is how Josh summed it up. Yes, they send the meat through their flame broiling conveyor belt like something out of a 1920's German movie and then let it sit around until it is time to pop it in the microwave to heat up for a customer. Still, the flavor of the actual flame (and we've read that the flavor is added to the meat prior to cooking) makes the Whopper the best tasting burger.

For the second place burger we differed. Mark preferred Wendy's offering as the meat tasted fresher and it seemed as though the burger wasn't actually sitting around for very long. Josh admitted to being a fan of the Quarter Pounder, liking the consistency and the flavor. For Mark the consistency of the Quarter Pounder is a bit strange. It doesn't seem like real meat and that, for him, was a problem.

Fries

This was a no brainer. Number one is without a doubt McDonald's. They absolutely know how to make a French fry. Because everything at every McDonald's is consistent you are sure to get crispy fries that actually taste like potatoes.

Second best went to Wendy's. These are you basic fries with nothing special about them. They are cooked right but are just like every other frozen food service fry in the world.

The worst fries come from Burger King. Though the fries are better than they were before their recent change, they are still coated and seasoned in such a way that gives them the consistency of cardboard and makes than almost uneatable. 

That's our opinion. Do your own three way taste test and decide which, if any, of these places you want to head to for a fast food lunch.

Second Chance: Culvers

Back in 2011, Mark was out of town and some friends took him to Culver's. We had heard about Culver's from a number of people. Founded in Wisconsin in 1984 the chain is now in 19 states. Everyone we talked to had raved about the food except when Mark went, it wasn't really rave worthy (http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/culvers.html). Even the friends he went with admitted that the burgers weren't very good.

But because of how many people commented on the review, we decided to give it another go. So here is a rare second chance for Culver's.

Burgers

Stopping in on one of the local Culver's locations (see their web site for one near you: http://www.culvers.com/). 

This time the restaurant wasn't as crowded as when Mark first visited. That seemed to help. Maybe the kitchen wasn't dashing through the burgers as fast because, while the meat of the "famous" Butterburgers we ordered were seared, they weren't pancake flat chunks of char. Still, the two one eighth pound patties weren't as flavorful as, say, a Steak and Shake which does a similar style burger. The patties had shrunk considerable and that can only mean a high fat content. But generally with a high fat content there is more flavor so somewhere in the wilds of Wisconsin they have discovered a burger paradox.

While the meat wasn't a highlight, what made the burger was the bun and the very delicious Wisconsin cheddar cheese. To say they were both well above average would be an understatement. Perhaps the fact that they are so tasty actually detracts from the quality of the meat. Or maybe they are designed that way to help cover the quality of the meat. Who knows.

Last time Mark commented on how bland the fries were. They really weren't better and needed to be dunked in considerable ketchup in order to enjoy.

Overall we were disappointed with Culver's. So many people have told us how good they are and how much they like them but in our opinion a place like Steak and Shake is doing the same thing only better. And if you want to take a step up, head to Eastgate and check out Hwy 55. 

More Inside Out Burger: Full of Surprises

Quite a while back I posted a piece about one of our favorite ways to fix a burger at home. Of course it involved grilling. We grill just about everything at our house. If I am able to get outside and start a fire we will put dinner on the grill. I even grill the Thanksgiving turkey each November.

So grilling burgers is an absolute natural for us. Back then I had posted our take on the somewhat famous Juicy Lucy (http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/inside-out-burger.html) that we had been doing for quite a while. We refer to it as an inside out burger because you put what are traditionally considered the toppings inside. We keep playing around and trying new things and recently we found an absolutely delicious combination.

Now this takes a little more prep work than the typical burger but it's worth it. You start by frying up some bacon and then use the bacon grease to saute some green peppers and mushrooms. You could add onion if you like. In fact, you can use just about anything that sounds delicious. When you have them cooked, you want to finely chop everything up, including the bacon. Then mix it all together.

Next, put the meat in a large mixing bowl and season it with salt and pepper. You want to start with good quality meat. I prefer ground Angus sirloin that is 80/20. Remember, you want some fat content because that's where a lot of the juicy flavor comes from but too much will just cook away on the grill.

Pour some of your favorite steak sauce on the meat. For close to two pounds of meat we used two tablespoons but you might want to adjust this depending on what you like.

Stick your hands in and mix it up good. You want the spices and the sauce equally distributed.

Now you want to make the patties. Keep in mind that two patties are actually going to go together to make one burger so be sure to make them fairly thin. Also, because two go together you may want to limit the size. But also remember that you are going to need some size to put the goodies inside so this might take a little trial and error.

Once you have the patties ready, put a slice of your favorite cheese down on one of them. On this occasion we used Provolone. Next, spread the chopped peppers, mushrooms and bacon on top of the cheese. When you feel you have enough then put another piece of cheese on top of that and finish it off with another patty.

The two slices of cheese are going to do a couple of things. First off, they're going to take great but they are also going to help hold everything together.

Now you want to put your burgers on the grill. I always cook with charcoal and wood. For a burger I use hickory wood or a blend of hickory and mesquite. Then you want to grill the burgers how you like them.

When you bite into this burger you will a ton of flavor from the green peppers, the mushrooms, the bacon and the cheese.

Try out different items for the middle of this kind of burger. There are some amazing combinations that we've been playing with and more that we're going to find in the future. Enjoy.

Uncle T's Eatery

Traveling through Owensville you really don't expect to find much in the way of restaurants. But right there in what can only be considered the heart of town is Uncle T's Eatery. We had been there before during the annual Pumpkin Run Nationals and on a pretty July day we decided to head east and do an official blog visit.

This place is just about what you would expect to find in a small town. It is quaint and homey and not too big. It's one of those places where the folks who work there probably live down the street from the folks who frequent the place.

Their menu is fairly eclectic in a down home, small town way. They offer up everything from wings and other bar food appetizers to burgers and daily comfort food specials. They are heavy on the pizza and hoagies which is what we had tried in the past. But not this time.

Burgers

This time we stopped in around lunch time for the burgers. There is a lunch special where you can get a quarter pound cheeseburger, fries and a drink for $4. Good deal. But we were hungry and wanted to try their steakburgers. The steakburgers come in two sizes: a third pound and a half pound. We stuck with the third pound versions. While Uncle T's offers up the usual garden they have six different cheeses including pepper jack.

We settled on our toppings and waited. And waited. We could hear things sizzling on the flat top grill but for as slow as the place was it seemed to take a long time to get to our order. It came out hot and cooked to taste. The beef was well seasoned and had just enough fat content to really make it juicy. But the seasoning and the fat still didn't make the burgers pop. They were actually pretty bland. Part of that might have been the fault of the not so fresh buns.

Each of us had ordered fries and they were nothing special. Except like in the vast majority of restaurants where fries or chips are built into the cost, these were extra. We didn't realize this until we got the check. So what we thought were just $4.59 burgers with a $2.29 drink had an added $2.79 each for the fries. That was a little steep for what we were getting.

You can find Uncle T's Eatery at 308 W. Main St. in Owensville or on line at http://www.uncle-ts.com/. If you find yourself out in Owensville there really isn't much else in the way of restaurants. If we eat there again we'll go back to the pizza.

Sky Galley

Since 1925 there has been an airfield near the banks of the Ohio River on the eastern side of Cincinnati. Lunken Field wasn't officially dedicated as an airport until 1930 but it had been the home of flying lessons, one of the first firms to get a contract to deliver airmail and even Charles Lindburgh stopped in a couple of times to refuel on trips between St. Louis and New York. Later, in the 1940s, American Airlines would be born there.

Throughout its history there had been small restaurants attached to the airport, most notably one called Wings Restaurant but in 1999 the space was expanded and re-dubbed the Sky Galley. Located at 262 Wilmer Ave. and on line at http://skygalley.net/index.html, the Sky Galley serves up a varied menu for both lunch and dinner.

Now a bit of full disclosure: a good friend of Mark's oldest son and Josh's older brother used to work there as a chef. In fact that was the restaurant where he first started when he graduated from culinary school. While he had spent a great deal of time during high school and college at our house, the fact that he worked there may have drawn us down on more than one occasion but it has never clouded our taste buds.

The Burger

For our visit this time we chose up the traditional Lunken Cheeseburger which is eight ounces of fresh prime cut ground beef cooked to order. We each decided on provolone cheese and, along with our choice of garden soon found a warm, juicy burger in front of us. Though burgers aren't the specialty at the Sky Galley (we each have our favorites), it is well prepared with fresh ingredients. It is juicy and thick, a full half pound of beef that was fried up perfectly on a well seasoned flattop grill.

While this is a good burger we both wished it had a little more seasoning. The flavor of the beef came through but whoever was putting these patties together was a little light on the salt and pepper. Remember, you use those for a reason because they will enhance the food and bring out the best flavors.

The other slight downside was the fact that, because the burgers was good and juicy, the buns tended to disintegrate. Not that that's a bad thing. It just means that there comes a point where you can't set the burger down or else you will end up having to finish it with a fork.

Burgers come served with fries and these were pretty standard frozen restaurant fare. They were nicely deep fried but nothing to really celebrate.

Overall we enjoy the Sky Galley each time we visit and they do serve up a pretty good burger that is worth checking out. If you are in the area or just want to play a little golf or baseball at Lunken Field, perhaps walk or ride your bike around their paved path or simply want to see some small planes take off and land, we recommend that you head down to the Sky Galley.

The Village Diner

While Josh was recovering from having all four wisdom teeth pulled I found myself chasing down a car show up near Maineville and pulled into the Village Diner to grab a burger. Located at 8133 S. St. Rt. 48 in Maineville, the Village Diner doubles as a pizza joint but offers up other menu items as well.

This is the kind of place that harkens back to the days of a small town joint. There is very limited seating and while it seemed everyone knew each other on the day I wandered in, I wasn't made to feel the least bit like an outsider. In fact, the server was as friendly and nice to me as to the people she called by their first names. And even those folks smiled and nodded my way. They were probably wondering what this stranger was doing in their corner joint.

While the atmosphere was warm and cozy the fact that they only had one television in the place and it was tuned to a cable news channel (not FOX) rather than a sports station was a pleasant difference from all of the overblown, wall to wall flat screens seen at so many other places.

The service was fast but not rushed. It seemed the right pace for a sit down country place and gave me time to relax a little. When my quarter pound burger arrived it was pretty much what I expected. An all-beef patty fried up on a flat top. The problem was that the all-beef patty had been frozen so it lacked the true freshness that I would have greatly preferred. The bun was fairly generic and the garden was fresh. At least it wasn't a fast food burger, though.

Like the burger the fries were right out of the freezer and though they were nicely cooked they were pretty bland and in need of some spicing up.

Overall I wouldn't make a special trip out to Maineville to order up one of these burgers. If by some strange chance you just happen to be out that way then it's worth it to stop in for the small town atmosphere.