Crave Real Burgers, Colorado Springs, CO

The first thing I did upon learning I would be moving to Colorado Springs was research the food.  Well, that and how much sales tax would be (2.9% in case anybody is wondering).  In my first barrage of asking friends, relatives, random people at running events, and good ol' Google I came across a little burger joint know as Crave Real Burger.  A few minutes later I was searching for a website and what I found filled me with a warm feeling inside both my heart and my gut.  Images of large messy, and quite creative burgers.  It may sound strange but at that moment I knew that after moving to Colorado everything would be all right.

My wife and I finally managed to make it to Crave a few days after landing in Colorado Springs.  It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when we parked at the strip mall that Crave was located.  Walking in we were met by a pleasant server that quickly directed us to our seat.  After sitting down I took a look around.  The place had a nice feel to it, not upscale but also not fast food.  It leaned more the towards the diner experience.  Clean booths lined the walls, menus stacked against the wall at each booth, a la Islands.  We could see the kitchen off in the distance and hear the rattle and shake of cooks flipping burgers and preparing food.  The sound was actually quite soothing.

Our server appeared quickly and greeted us with a smile.  We ordered our drinks and took a long look at the menu.  The beauty of Crave is in the creation of the burgers.  Of course you can design your own burger, but I find the creations on the menu to be so alluring that it makes you want to try them.  For example there is one burger called the Popper, which I cam very close to getting.  It has beer battered cream cheese and jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, onion, chipotle may and avocado.  Something about the combination pushes beyond the whole novelty factor of "let's see what we can get people to eat" and enters the territory of a well thought out burger.    That is probably what attracted me to Crave in the first place, the burgers aren't aimed at the hipster, new sensation, experimental crowd but you can't call them the "average" burger.  They are not burgers a person dares to eat, they are burgers a person actually wants to eat.

After much consideration my wife settled on an Italian themed burger named the Wise Guy with a side order of Garlic Parmesan Fries (with roasted garlic mayo), and I ordered the Love Stinks with a side of Das Fries (beer cheese, cheddar, bacon and jalapenos).  Then we sat back and passed the time examining the list of milkshakes.  Some had a few interesting ingredients, such as cheesecake, and Reese's Pieces, but all of them sounded pretty good.  Then there was another section of "Adult Shakes" with various alcoholic additions, such as Kahlua and Vodka just to name a few.  These too sounded pretty tasty but today I was there for the burger.

Less than twenty minutes later our burgers showed up.  I looked down with glee upon the Love Stinks.  It contained pretty much everything I loved to put on a burger (garlic cream cheese, crispy onion strings, candied bacon, roasted red pepper, onion, garlic mayo and red pepper aioli).  To say the least it was delicious.  The flavors really melded well together, and the burger was cooked perfectly.  The only drawback was that it didn't feel, for lack of better words, "Stinky."  It felt like a burger with  bunch of ingredients that were designed to give bad breath.  I've had burgers before where you felt the onion and garlic as you ate it and you knew that your breath would fairly reek afterwards.  It just didn't get that feeling from this burger.  Not a bad burger at all, but not the intense flavor I was expecting.  The Das Fries on the other hand were exactly what I was expecting.  The beer cheese had tons of flavor and the bacon and jalapenos added just the right kick to the fries.  It was so good that I ended up stealing a few fries from my wife so that I could sop up some of the beer cheese sauce.

My wife did let me steal a few bites from her burger.  Now when my wife asked our server about the burger the server told her that it tasted very Italian.  In the first bite I knew exactly what she meant.  My wife's burger had crispy mozzarella (a flat chunk of it that managed to be both crispy and gooey), prosciutto, fresh basil, tomato and onion drizzled with balsamic, olive oil and pesto.  It was exquisitely Italian.  You could taste every ingredient in it and they all just worked together perfectly.  I've had Italian themed burgers before, usually brought about by adding deep fried mozzarella sticks and a heaping amount of red sauce, this was nothing like that.  This is what an Italian burger should taste like.  I also tried the Garlic Parmesan Fries.  At first I thought they were not bad, but then I dipped one into the roasted garlic mayo, and then the flavor hit me.  It was a great addition to the Italian burger.

Would I go back to Crave Real Burgers?  I'm already planning on going back there this weekend.  Not only that, I am aiming to try every burger they have on the menu, and not just because they give you a free T-Shirt when you have had one of each.  Everything on the menu looks delicious.  There is pretty much nothing I would not eat there.  A burger, maybe with an "Adult Shake", and I'm a happy man.

Big Bad Wolf Challange, Winners Board

Crave Real Burger
7465 N. Academy Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
(719) 264-7919
http://craverealburgers.com/

Big Kahuna's, Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA

Big Kahuna Cheese Balls, so good almost forgot to take a picture.

I rarely go to a restaurant based on advertisement or publicity.  For me it is all about taste.  Well there was one place that had this pop up where they had a slow jazz song about their chocolate cake, but that is the exception rather than the rule.  Let's say I rarely go to a restaurant based on publicity, but I guess I had to make a an exception this once.  After all if Samuel L. Jackson says "Mmmm-mmmm, that is a tasty burger" in Pulp Fiction, well I've got to give it a try myself.  Which is how I found myself stepping into Big Kahuna's.  (Disclaimer: It isn't really the same place as in the movie, but that didn't stop them from putting a sound bite from it into their web page.)

Basket of Fries

It was Sunday a little before noon and I was feeling the need for something simple but tasty.  The wife and I had been to Big Kahuna's once before.  I'd been looking for something a little more authentic Hawaiian and was really not impressed by what they had served me, but I wanted to give this place a second chance.  I decided I'd go with something they were known for this time, their burgers.  We were greeted warmly and told to take a seat anywhere.  We chose a seat near a window and started parusing the menu.  I already knew what I wanted but after looking through the menu I thought we'd try an order of Big Kahuna's Balls too.  I wasn't too impressed with the name but anything with garlic, butter and cheese baked onto it can't be all bad.

Big Kahuna Burger

The balls came out first and on my first bite I knew I was going to love them.  We only ordered six of them but despite not being that hungry I had to stop myself from finishing them all off before our burgers came out.  I was amazed these little balls of dough packed such amazing flavor.  As I was finishing off my third ball our burger's came out.  I had opted for the Big Kahuna Burger.  It was a one and a half pound burger with Monterey Jack, Chedder Cheese, tommato, red onions, cabbage (which was a nice change from lettuce), Mayo, Ketchup, and Mustard.  Despite the size I wouldn't say it was the biggest burger in town (as noted on their website), but it was no small fry either.  In addtion I ordered fries and they brought out a large basket of them, more than enough for my wife and I to share.  The first bite of my burger completely redeemed Big Kahuna's for me.  The burger was cooked perfectly to order, the ingredients were fresh, and it was full of flavor.  The soft toasted bun is what pushed it over from very good to great for me.  My wife ordered the Teriyaki Pineapple Burger.  I managed to snag a bite and found it to be one of the better Terryiaki burgers I've had.  Again, a good melody of flavors, and none of that cloying Terryiaki aftertaste that keeps me away from those types of burgers.

I was pleasantly surprised on my second trip to Big Kahuna's.  The next time I feel the need for a quiet, well relatively quiet, restaurant to enjoy one "tasty burger" Big Kahuna's will definetly be at the top of the list.

Big Kahuna's
3780 Ingraham Street
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 270-9200
http://bigkahunaspb.com/

Crazee Burger, North Park, San Diego, CA

So it's the 4th of July, and neither my wife nor I really feel like cooking lunch.  After some discussion we find ourselves on the road with one though in our mind, we need a burger, a really good burger.  This isn't my first time trying to hunt down a good burger, but it is the first time I've tried to do it on a holiday.  My usually go to places are closed but I take a chance and head over to the North Park, and then I see an open sign in the doorway.  Parking the car we get out and walk into Crazee Burger, where half the fun is deciding just what you want in the bun.

Okay I made that last part up, but it sounded good in my head, and it is true.  Crazee burger is known for its wide variety of burgers.  You can get anything from Angus beef, to ostrich, to my personal favorite, wild boar.  The line is predictably long but not too long that day.  Being open on the 4th is not only good business but a godsend for people who just don't feel like barbecuing.  My wife and I get to the back of the line and take a look at the menu, and then I remember the bad side of having so many choices... that there are so many choices.

For the adventurous eater there is a wide array of tasty burgers, and that's not even considering the type of meat you want.  For instance, outside of wild boar I also enjoy the taste of gator, kind of like chewy chicken, you can add great flavor to it.  A quick glance at the menu and I know this will take forever so I do something uncharictaristic and decide I'm just going to have a regular meat type burger, nothing exotic.  Okay that cuts down my options from 54 to 18.  Still not an easy choice, and I just cut out my favorite Santorini Burger as it is half lamb.  Okay, I guess if I am going to do beef, and it is the 4th of July I'll try something in theme with the day so I get the Texas Burger, as it is one of the few burgers with BBQ sauce.  My wife goes with her usual Dansk Burger, as she has series weakness for Blue Cheese.

We get an order of fries and two drinks and look for a seat.  We find a table with dishes but the staff, which as far as I can tell is just two guys working the front, despite being busy get it cleaned off for us in less than a minute.  Then we sit down to enjoy the madness.  The place is packed but the kitchen is still cranking out burgers at a regular speed, and when we finally get our, about 10 minutes later, it is well worth the wait.  My Texas burger is cooked perfectly, and topped with bacon and Hickory smoked BBQ sauce, with and my first bite is filled with flavor.  The burger is good, but its really the sauce that does it for me.  The sauce is faintly sweet, and combined with the bacon comes together as one of the better burgers I've had in San Diego.  I glance over at my wife's burger, with a fair amount of Blue Cheese on it and remember my wife also got avocado on it. It's hard to miss as you can see in the pictures there is pretty much half an avocado sitting on top of it.  Which is perfect for my wife.  I hazard a taste and the avocado is amazing, but I find blue cheese a bit too dry for my palate.  A minute later we remember the fries and after apologizing the server brings that out.  As much as I admire the creativity of the salt and Parmesan cheese blend I'm not a big fan of it.  Next time I think I'll just go with the onion rings.

So overall a nice little meal at a nice little place.  The man at the front says goodbye but I barely hear him.  I'm already thinking about the next time and what kind of strange and exotic meat I'll get, probably the gator.

Crazee Burger
4201 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 282-6044
http://crazeeburger.com/

The Hungry Cat, Santa Barbara, CA

Sometimes food reminds you of happier times, times when you were care free, and adventurous. I call this vacation food. On a vacation you don’t count calories, or worry about nitrates, or ponder the ramifications of dining upon non-renewable forms of seafood. You simply point to something on a menu, and enjoy. On my last vacation I went up the coast, and on my way back I stopped at a little restaurant in Santa Barbara called The Hungry Cat, where I had some of the best vacation food of my life.
It was on the advice of my boss that I made the reservation, she had gone on and on about how amazing the food was there, and this was a woman who knew her food. So the last day of my vacation I asked my girlfriend, who was coming down with a cold, if she felt up to dinner. Being the amazing woman she is, she dressed warmly, took some cold medication, and asked what time our reservation was for. Yup, she’s a keeper.

Later that night, we walked into a small, intimate, and very trendy restaurant a street away from the main drag. On the wall was a chalkboard with a list of wine, local seafood, and specials (not that you were going to save any money on them, but that didn’t matter to me because I was still on vacation.) Looking around I was happy I had made reservations ahead of time, the place was packed with a fair amount of people, a combination of locals and tourists, usually a sign of good food, or at least a pleasant atmosphere. Very quickly we were greeted by a pretty man with a large smile who showed us to a comfortable seat by the window.
I made a pretense of looking at the menu, but I already knew what I wanted, the chorizo and clams, the perfect combination of spicy and sea food. My girlfriend, who is not a big fan of seafood choose the burger. We passed the time reminiscing on the last few days, and watching the sun set quickly replaced by a light drizzle as the night descended. I stared passionately into her eyes, and then our food arrived, and for a short amount of time I forgot all about her.
My chorizo and clams, with shell beans, sofrito(very small aromatic ingredients braised in cooking oil), black kale (fancy cabbage), and a side of grilled toast was one of the best things I’ve ever put into my mouth. Everything was cooked perfectly, the chorizo was spicy, but not unbearably hot, the clams were soft and not rubbery, even the beans, which I thought I would not like, were full of flavor. I slowly devoured my meal and had just enough room left to taste a bite of the burger. It was cooked medium, with bacon, avocado, and blue cheese, and was one of the better burgers I’d eaten. Still I stopped at a bite, because I did not want to lose the taste of my own meal.

After that we finished our cocktails (don’t ask me to remember them, I’m not a mixologist, but they were good) and went back to our hotel. I fell asleep to the sound of rain hitting the windows, the smell of the sea on my skin, and the sound of the TV on the Food channel, and I dreamt of my beautiful girlfriend and my tasty tasty vacation food. Two things that still bring a smile to my face.




P.S.: For the life of me I can’t find a picture of the front, which is too bad because the Hungry Cat is a bit hard to find by car. We eventually just stumbled onto it.

The Hungry Cat
1134 Chapala
Santa Barbara, CA
(805) 884-4701‎
http://www.thehungrycat.com/

Hugo's, Studio City, Los Angeles, CA

Today I write of a subject I thought I would never tackle, eating healthy. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! I, who have indulged and overindulged in the most glorious of foods: ribs so tender that one could eat them with a spoon, chocolate cake so decadent a single slice could ruin a diet… forever, and who could forget the pizza large enough for a small child to use as trampoline (see review of Lefty’s Chicago Pizza). I, who have tasted of the greatest of delicacies have fallen, and fallen hard, brought down by the need to be health conscious. Let me relate to you of my downfall.
It was Sunday at around noon. I had just played a good three hours of basketball before a pulled groin took me out of the game. Sweat glistened off my body, I walked with a limp, and the air ran harshly through my lungs as I fought to slow my breathing. I sipped an overly salt and sugar filled energy drink and stumbled into my friend’s car, and wondered where we would eat today.
On previous occasions we have partaken of a great variety of unhealthy fare: the aforementioned ribs above, sweetened Hawaiian royals (concoctions of rice, egg, and a variety of meats to which I will usually add a healthy dose of teriyaki and hot sauce), La Monica pizza (of which I will review in a future installment), and real steak sandwiches, the kind that would put the poor fare of Steak Escape, Togo’s, and every mall based steak sandwich outlet to shame. Where, I wondered, would we end up this time? The answer to my query was Hugo’s
Hugo’s is located in a very non-spectacular building in Studio City that upon arriving reminded me of a glorified Denny’s. Entering the premises I continued this viewpoint, a Denny’s with nicer swag on the walls, but still with the diner feel to it. As my friends and I waited for our names to be called I noticed something about the people who were coming in to the restaurant. As opposed to the slightly opulent figures that strode into Denny’s, the people entering Hugo’s appeared fit and healthy, often sporting tight fitting yoga clothes, or running gear. Even the older women who entered betrayed a healthy glow to their aged and slightly wrinkled skin. Perhaps, I let the thought enter my head, this place was more than just another greasy spoon with a few fresh ingredients (organic Heinz ketchup!), perhaps this was my path to inner enlightenment and health. Perhaps the “healthy” food they served here-in would actually taste good. Oh what a poor demented fool was I.
My friends and I got a table pretty quickly and I set about perusing the menu. On it was a cornucopia of tasty sounding delights, a majority of which either contained many healthy ingredients, or were lacking in an unhealthy ingredient that I had previously found necessary to add flavor to a dish. K. a good friend of a friend and a stand up guy informed us that the burger was great here, so great that one could actually ask for it rare. Upon hearing this, my heart beat faster, and I wondered how much sooner they could get it to me if I asked for it in such a state. Then I glanced over at the people around me in their sweats, and tight tops and had a very strange thought, “Why don’t you order something healthy here?” At first I looked around to see if someone else had whispered the words into my ears, then I realized that everything was fine except that I was becoming delusional, most likely brought on by dehydration and pain from my injury.
Delusional though I might have been I thought maybe I would listen to the voices in my head this time, and so I took the idea under consideration. After a few moments I decided I would try something different, something… healthy. I decided on the Go Green Frittata, which was composed of egg whites, chard, beat greens, kale, spinach puree, broccolini, zucchini, asparagus, quinoa (a type of grain), and extra virgin olive oil, topped with bean sprouts, and an apple-mango mint sauce. Yes, I was definitely stepping way outside my comfort zone. My friends all got the Hugo Burger with a variety of extras (up to four before they started charging you) such as bacon (the best of all additives) regular, turkey, or vegetarian, various cheeses (the second best but perhaps my favorite topping) both vegan and natural, guacamole, mushrooms, grilled chilies, as well as the usual lettuce, onion, and tomato toppings. The waiter then collected the menus and I was left to stew over my choice of food.


Thankfully, I was happily distracted by a plate of Garlic-Parmesan Cheese bread that was indeed a great deal tastier than the norm, with the cheese crusted to the top, and bits of garlic baked into the bread, and a glass of iced tea (which apparently was so good that they could not refill it for free, the cheap bastards). As I consumed these little pieces of bready goodness I thought that if they put so much effort into the appetizer, then what I had ordered was bound to be good. Could I have been any more wrong?
About 15 minutes later I had a plate of something round and green covered in bean sprouts placed in front of me. As I eyed the impressively large burgers my friends had ordered I took my first bite of frittata. It tasted healthy, which is not to say it tasted bad. There was the barest hint of egg in the dish. The taste was more an interesting melody of mixed greens, but to my disappointment the apple-mango mint sauce was barely discernable, leaving me no relief from the overpowering greenness of the dish. So while not horrible, the concoction came off as being ambivalent in flavor. I quickly remedied the situation with a heavy dose of hot sauce, but the damage had been done.


K, perhaps seeing my initial reaction to my food offered me a bite of his. Unlike the others at the table he had chosen to get his burger medium, covered in bacon, cheese, tomato, and lettuce. He cut a small portion off of it, and I took a bite. I almost wished I had not. The burger, while not the usual fatty grease dripping concoction I was used to, was delicious, and perhaps even better for having been made with fresh ingredients. The inside was barely pink, and the wheat Ciabatta bread held the entire burger in place as opposed to the usual white bread the disintegrates into a gooey paste upon picking it up. I would highly recommend the Hugo Burger to anyone searching for a compromise between a tasty and a not incredibly unhealthy burger.

As for my food, I quickly finished it while hiding my distaste. There is a great deal of healthy food that also tastes good, I just haven’t found it yet. Until I do, I will chalk this attempt at expanding my pallet up to an interesting experience, and an excuse to get Korean BBQ for dinner.

Special thanks to K for letting me try the Hugo Burger. Also to Pleasure Palate (http://pleasurepalate.blogspot.com) for the pic of the front of Hugo's.



Hugo's
12851 Rivierside Drive
Studio City, CA
(818) 761-8985
http://www.hugosrestaurant.com/