Five Guys Burgers & Fries - Burgers & French Fries - Reisterstown, MD

It's no secret that I've been a burger lover for a long, long time. A good, juicy burger really holds a special place in my heart. So simple, yet so satisfying. Knowing that, my friends back in Baltimore have been dying to take me to a new burger joint that opened up a little after my wife and I made the move out West. We've been back to visit several times since we moved, but the trips have always been very short (usually a long weekend) and it just wasn't in the cards to make it to everywhere I wanted to eat while we were there. Luckily, during our most recent trip back for Christmas, we had some spare time (took a week off from work) to dedicate to foodie endeavors. Five Guys Burgers and Fries was a must-have stop so I could try what my friends had all been calling, "The Best Burger in Baltimore" for the past year or so.

A quick look at the Five Guys website reveals several of the reviews of the Five Guys burger. Phrases such as "Voted #1 Burger" and "Reader's choice burger" seem to be quite popular in the short list of reviews, etc. Interesting. Honestly, I don't really trust the reviews of the magazines and so-called experts so i'll be the judge of that.

The menu is pretty simple (a good thing). You have your choice from a short list of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and hot dogs with various toppings. I ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger(medium rare of course!) on the recommendation of a friend. He swears they have the best bacon. I also got a side of Five Guys Fries and a drink (Barq's Rootbeer). After a short wait, my number was called and I was ready to sink my teeth into "Baltimore's Best Burger". The first bite was greeted with a nice healthy "crunch" after my teeth broke through the bun. It wasn't the crunch from some crisp lettuce, it was the crunch that can only come from some nice, thick and crispy bacon. Mmm...Bacon. The meat was pretty juicy and tender, but what really made it for me was, as my friend had predicted, the Bacon. This was the bacon of all bacon for cheeseburger joints. For some reason though, the bacon didn't show up in my crappy, taken with my phone, pics. This is just affirmation of my need for a nice Digital SLR for my foodie adventures!

So was it Baltimore's Best Burger? Well, living in SoCal, I'm a little out of the loop with burgers in Baltimore but based on my previous experience with burger joints in Baltimore (and I've eaten A LOT of burgers over the years) i'd have to agree. Was it the best burger i've ever had? Definitely not. For now, that title goes to Teddy's Bigger Burgers in Honolulu, Hawaii but unfortunately that was before I started this blog and started taking pics of all my food adventures. Oh well, I guess i'll just have to make another trip out for some surf and burgers just for the sake of writing a blog post (now THAT'S a good excuse for a trip!).
Anyway, if you happen to be near a Five Guys Burgers and Fries definitely give it a try. I'd highly recommend the Bacon Cheeseburger just for the bacon alone. Can't go wrong with thick, crispy bacon!

Five Guys Burgers & Fries
11708 Reisterstown Road
Reisterstown, MD 21136
410-526-8975
http://www.fiveguys.com

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Joe's Pizza of Bleecker Street NYC - New York Style Pizza - Santa Monica, CA

Being a native East Coaster, I have come to notice that there are certain city specific foods that just aren't available here on the left coast. Well, it's not that they're not represented at all; it's that they're just not represented well. The first things that come to mind are Philadelphia Cheesesteaks (Pat's is KING in my book!), Buffalo Wings, and of course New York Style Pizza. In the 2 years that i've lived in SoCal i've tried several places that advertise that they make an authentic New York Style Pizza but they've all fallen short, despite having owners that were themselves Native New Yorkers. What's up with that? I had all but given up on the idea of finding an authentic slice of New York Style Pizza here in California and was starting to think that maybe there really was something in the water that just made everything taste different here. That is, until Joe's Pizza of Bleecker Street opened up shop in Santa Monica.

In my younger years, I spent many a late night out and about in New York City. While hangin out with the P.I.C. boys after a great show at Arlene's Grocery on the Lower East Side, there's nothing that satisfies that late night, drunken hunger like a good slice of New York Pizza. What really differentiates New York Pizza from other pizzas is the thin and crispy crust and the large, foldable slices. You can usually get toppings if you wish, but for me the true NY pizza experience is had with the "plain" version...just straight sauce and cheese. I've tried it with toppings added (and I usually LOVE toppings on pizza, especially the meats) but for NY Pizza plain is the way to go. There's something about the purity of just sauce and cheese that fits perfectly with the NY style crust. I think it's the fact that the crust is thin, and adding toppings has a tendency of overpowering the flavor of the crust. It's all about balance, really.

When my wife told me another NY Pizza joint had opened up shop in Santa Monica, I was a bit apprehensive. Many have tried, and so far all have failed at making an authentic NY Style Pizza here in California so what would make this place any different? One fine SoCal afternoon, I pushed the apprehension aside and my wife and I made the small trek up to Santa Monica from the South Bay to meet one of our foodie friends (who happens to be a native East Coaster as well) at Joe's Pizza. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised and the short trip was well worth it. We ordered a large pie (plain of course!) and some drinks. The smell in the place was fantastic, and the pizza definitely didn't disappoint. The hand-tossed crust was thin and perfectly crispy. The slices were nicely sized an the sauce and cheese tasted fresh and tasty. I wouldn't say it's 100% authentic to the pizza found on the streets of New York City but it's close, damn close. Probably as close as you're ever going to get being over 3000 miles away from the real deal. So, to any of you transplanted Native New Yorkers looking for a taste of home, or any one else looking for a taste of the Big Apple, check out Joe's Pizza. It's worth a try.

Now, for the negatives. Being in the touristy part of Santa Monica, parking is limited. The place is also really small and definitely fits the description of a "joint". There's only a few inside and outside tables so pray that when you go it's not busy. Or, you can order a pie and take it to go but honestly the pizza is best eaten when fresh out of the oven so you might lose a little something if you take it to go.

Joe's Pizza of Bleecker Street NYC
111 Ocean Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310-395-9222
http://www.joespizza.com

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Philippe - French Dipped Sandwiches - Los Angeles, CA

Aaahhh...the French Dipped Sandwich. How could you not love a sandwich filled with hot roast beef and cheese and dipped in salty, beef flavored au jus? I've always been a fan of the French Dip but had never known that it's origin was based in LA until moving to the LA area. Here in LA there are 2 establishments that hotly debate over who is the originator of the French Dip; the first of which is Philippe's.

According to Philippe's website, Philippe's was established in 1908 by a French immigrant by the name of Philippe Mathieu. Legend has it that one day in 1918 Philippe was preparing a sandwich for a policeman and mistakenly dropped the french roll for the sandwich into the roasting pan drippings. Apparently the policeman liked the sandwich so much that he came back the next day and brought along friends to try the sandwich "dipped in the meat pan". And hence, the French Dip was born; allegedly so named because of Philippe's French heritage, because it is served on a "French" roll, or because the Police Officer's name happened to be (unbelievably) Officer French. Regardless of the history of the sandwich, I had to give this alleged originator a taste to see what all the hubub was about and to compare the real deal to what I had come to know as the French Dip.

My wife and I met our usual foodie buddies over at Philippe's in LA on a fine SoCal afternoon. The menu is pretty simple with French Dipped sandwiches being offered with a choice of 5 different meats (Beef, Pork, Lamb, Ham or Oven Roasted Turkey). You can add your choice of cheese (Swiss, American, Monterey Jack or Bleu Cheese) and choose between having it single or double-dipped in au jus. I ordered the Beef French Dipped sandwich with Swiss for myself and a Lamb for my wife; both double dipped. We also got a macaroni salad side order, a Chocolate Creme Pie for dessert, and some Lemonade to wash it all down.

My Beef French Dip was good...really good...perfectly soaked with tasty Au Jus. My only complaint is that I wish it came with a side of Au Jus for you to dip in for added flavor as I felt at times that it definitely needed it despite being double-dipped. My wife's Lamb was pretty good too, but the beef was better. The problem I found with the Lamb was that some of the meat was a bit on the dry side. Both my wife and I agreed that next time around we'll just be getting the Beef. As for the sides and desserts, they were decent too but let's be honest...that's not what people go to Philippe's for. People flock from all over the LA area for their French Dipped Sandwiches and in my opinion, It's well worth the drive regardless of where you're driving from. I guess next i'll have to try out the other alleged originator of the "French Dip" for a comparison. PE Cole's Buffet here I come! Stay Tuned!

Philippe
The Original French Dipped Sandwiches
1001 North Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-628-3781
http://www.philippes.com

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Lawry's The Prime Rib - Prime Rib Steakhouse - Beverly Hills, CA

If it wasn't for the part of my brain that thinks I should eat somewhat "healthy" (whatever that means, anyway) from time to time, I would probably be as close to a full fledged carnivore as a human can possibly get. No, not an omnivore that east everything, but a full fledged, practically meat only carnivore...well, with the exception of a side of rice or potatoes or some kind of starch to wash it all down. Being a meat-eating maniac, for some reason i've never been a big fan of prime rib. Not that I dislike prime rib or anything...it just has never been my favorite cut and I'm not exactly sure why. Prime rib to me has always been a very tender cut, but for one reason or another I have always thought that prime rib lacked some of the flavor found in some of the other cuts. That is, until I tried a proper prime rib...

Some good friends from back east were in town last week for work related training. Needing a break from their hectic training schedule, a good meat-centric dinner was in order and Lawry's seemed like the perfect place. With my wife and I in the South Bay and our friends coming from Woodland Hills, Beverly Hills seemed like an ideal meeting place...being somewhat centrally located between our two areas. Now, I must take a moment here to voice one of my gripes with the LA area...the figgin ridiculous traffic. We made the mistake of taking the 405 to the 10 to get to the restaurant, and what should have been a 25 to 30 minute drive ended up taking us almost an hour and a half. Technically, I believe it is only about 20 miles door to door so anything over an hour is absolutely ridiculous. Aaahh...now I remember why I live 2.5 non-freeway miles from work...

By the time we got to the restaurant, I was a little grumpy from the drive (if you can call sitting in traffic driving) but luckily not feeling extremely hungry. Or so I thought. When we got escorted from the lobby into the dining area that all changed...drastically. The second I stepped into the dining room, the smell of superbly cooked meat assaulted my senses and vigorously stirred the beast that lurked within. By the time we arrived at our table, I had gone from feeling moderately hungry to feeling completely famished. It's amazing how strongly the sense of smell is tied to the stomach and the desire to feed. Time to tame the beast.

Lawry's specializes in USDA certified, rock salt roasted cuts of prime rib beef. There are 5 different "cuts" available...differing only in size from one to the other. Every dinner comes with Lawry's spinning bowl salad, yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, and their famous whipped cream horseradish. They also have a selection of additional sides like sauteed mushrooms and creamed corn that you can order with your dinner. After much taunting from my fellow tablemates to order the Beef Bowl cut (their largest cut), I settled on the Lawry's Cut...their original (since 1938) generously sized cut that measures approximately 10 ounces without the bone, cooked medium rare. For accompaniment, I ordered the creamed corn as well as an order of the sauteed mushrooms for the table. After a short wait, and some scintillating conversation the prime rib chef made a visit to our table with his shiny, apparently world famous, prime rib cart chock full of perfectly roasted prime rib.

Like I said previously, I ordered the Lawry's Cut. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take pictures of my dinner as I was completely and utterly distracted. What was I distracted by? No, it wasn't the insane hunger that seethed through my being. It wasn't the enjoyment of being around old friends. Instead, I was distracted by the fact that one of my tablemates ordered the Beef Bowl Cut (the pictures contained herein are of said Beef Bowl Cut). Like I mentioned earlier, the Beef Bowl Cut is the largest cut that Lawry's has on the menu. According to our waitress, it measures about 22 ounces without the bone. That, by itself, isn't distractingly amazing but then you have to take into account that the tablemate that ordered said Beef Bowl is of the feminine persuasion. Not only is she female, but she is a very small, petite female. And she finished most of it too...save for a good amount of meat surrounding the bone. Impressive. I have an appetite of legend amongst my friends and I have to admit, watching her eat that Beef Bowl kinda made me glad I didn't order it as well as I would have been forced to finish it for fear of looking like a pansy.

Anyway, everything on the menu was good. The Prime Rib....fantastically rare...just the way I like it with loads of flavor that seems to be lacking at most other prime rib places. Why is that? Could it be the special Lawry's seasoning salt? Could it be that they sprinkle crack on as a special seasoning prior to cooking? Who knows!, but whatever it is they're doing at Lawry's that's different from the other places definitely makes a difference. I'm not saying that i've been converted to prime rib as my personal favorite cut but it definitely has jumped up several notches...all thanks to Lawry's.

Lawry's The Prime Rib
100 N. La Cienega Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 652-2827
http://www.lawrysonline.com

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