Pigskin Pursuit

A sixteen year odyssey across the backroads of America during the ultimate College Football roadtrip.

Tag: Pubs + Burgers + Comfort Food (Page 7 of 9)

El Tarasco and the hunt for the elusive California Burrito…

February 9, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Sunday before we left, I had some unfinished business finding some of my favorite Southern California chow.I was on a mission for a California Burrito.A California burrito, for those of you unfamiliar, is a four dollar tortilla conduit pipe full of steak (usually of questionable origin and quality), overflowing with sour cream, cheese, guacamole and finally…..french fries.The french fries are the operative ingredient here, as they displace traditional beans and rice, and make it the unique SoCal delicacy that it is.In my opinion, whatever visionary genius first decided to put French fries in a burrito should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, or at least a complimentary set of Sham-wow’s.

I had discovered this heavenly delight in San Diego between bouts of unsuccessful surfing attempts, and promised myself that any return trips to California would include at least one of these prodigious gut bombs.Despite its namesake and much to my chagrin, however, the concept of a “California Burrito” seems to elude the entire City of Angels.After a handful of puzzled looks from some of our resident L.A. experts when I inquired about it, they pointed us in the direction of a quintessential beach dive Mexican joint called “El Tarasco”.We were assured us that if any place had a California Burrito they would.

They didn’t.

Despite the lack of a California Burrito, they still served up some admirable food.

El Tarasco, which translated means “The Tarasco” is what you would consider classic beach dive Mexican.Located a stones throw from the Pacific Ocean in Manhattan Beach, the colorful restaurant features little more than a kitchen and a handful of countertop seats.The no frills, galley like interior puts you up close and personal with all the action going on at the grill and you are never more than a subtle nod away from the cook/waitstaff.It keeps the service quick and efficient, and I plowed through a couple baskets of homemade tortilla chips before they could serve up my burrito.

The burrito itself is served “wet” style, which means slathered in sauce and designed to be consumed in a high society manner: with a knife and fork.It might not be a Cali Burrito, but it’s messy and mysterious (that’s a good thing), and for six bucks on a Sunday morning it sure eats pretty good.

(Yes I finished it before you ask…)

The drive down the pacific coast a few miles away isn’t too shabby either.

The hunt for the California Burrito will be continued next year….

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In & Out Burger

February 2, 2010 / / 1 Comment

During our trips this fall we have done our best to ferret out some of the finest in authentic roadside cuisine.Out travels have exposed us to a breadth of simple, approachable food, and as a rule we eschewed chain restaurants at every turn.

There is one such exception to be made for that rule, however, the famous California institution known as In & Out Burger.In & Out is unique among burger chains in that they are exclusive to California (only recently having opened a handful of locations in neighboring states) and none of their locations are more than a day’s drive from their headquarters in Irvine, CA.The 240+ restaurants were family owned until 2006 and they have never franchised.Furthermore, they pride themselves on using only the freshest of ingredients.Their burgers and fries are never frozen, the vegetables are fresh and the shakes are made with actual ice cream. For these reasons, In & Out stands as an anomaly among fast food burger chains and they have built themselves a cult following because of it.

Their blindingly uncluttered menu board reflects this dedication to simple, timeless drive thru classics.Burgers, fries, shakes and soda – that’s it.

While some purists may still snub their nose at chain fare of any form, as Theodore Donald “Donny” Kerabatsos so eloquently put it:

“Those are good burgers Walter”.

And I concur. Following the NC game we promptly made our way to In & Out for a well deserved post game feast. I ordered up a classic double-double “animal style”, fries and a chocolate shake.For the uninitiated that translates to a double burger, double cheese, with extra pickles, extra sauce, and fried onions.This was a simple yet classic combo that was the perfect nightcap for an exhilarating day.Forgive my lack of usually detailed photography, but this little treat lived a short, albeit delicious life.

For the astute readers out there, you may notice the lack of any mention on the In & Out Burger menu to the term “Animal Style” and you would be correct.One of the beautiful nuances of In & Out is their non posted “secret menu”.This is basically a second language for regulars to customize their burgers off the menu.As a marketer, I think it is a phenomenal example of building a “tribe” mentality among your most ardent followers.And I pride myself on going “animal style” whenever I order at In & Out.

For you newbies out there, I’ve taken the liberty of posting their secret menu so you can talk the talk with the rest of the skate shoe wearing SoCal regulars.

Burgers

  • Veggie Burger: A hamburger with extra tomatoes instead of meat
  • Extra Toast: This order toasts your bun a little bit more than usual making it extra crispy
  • Protein style: Protein style removes the bun and wraps your burger in lettuce like a burrito.
  • Grilled Cheese: A bun, tomatoes and onions, if you want them, grilled with melted cheese.
  • Flying Dutchman: For the ultimate meat eater. No bun, no veggies, just two beef patties and two slices of cheese.
  • Double meat burger: a double double without the cheese.
  • Animal style: makes any burger come with extra pickles, extra sauce, grilled onions, and a mustard cooked patty.
  • 3 by Meat: three beef patties and no cheese.
  • 2 by 4: a double double with two extra slices of cheese. Not for the weak hearted.
  • Chopped Chilies: This adds diced jalapenos to any burger
  • Mustard grilled patty: ask for this and they will spread your patty with mustard before grilling it.
  • No Salt: you wouldn’t think that this would apply to a burger but it does. In-N-Out patties are heavily salted, ask for no salt and you will get a much healthier and fresher tasting patty.

Fries

  • Fries animal style: an order of French fries drenched in cheese, grilled onions, and special sauce (a thicker thousand island dressing)
  • Fries Light: French fries taken out of the fryer a little early. These are a little bit raw on the inside and less crispy.
  • Fries Well-Done: The opposite of fries light. This order leaves your fries on the fryer extra long, making them really crispy and oily.
  • Cheese Fries: Fries with melted cheese on top

Drinks

  • Neapolitan shake: All the milkshake flavors swirled together, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.
  • Root Beer Float: Half vanilla milkshake and half root beer soda.
  • Choco-Vanilla Swirl: A chocolate milkshake swirled in with a vanilla milkshake
  • Lemon-up: Lemonade and seven up mixed together.
  • Large and extra large shakes: if you ask for a large shake they’ll give you a shake in a medium sized soda cup and extra large in a large soda cup.
  • Tea-Ade: An Arnold Palmer. Half iced tea and half lemonade.

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College Station Burger Duel: Koppe Bridge vs. Chicken Oil Company

December 7, 2009 / / 0 Comments

After polling our extensive network of Aggie alums for food recommendations, two places kept emerging to the top of the heap: Koppe Bridge Bar & Grill and Chicken Oil Company.During my exhaustive pre screening process on both places, the consensus opinion was that Chicken Oil was a College Station institution while the upstart KoppeBridge had the better pure burger.

I decided to settle this the way I always do when faced with such a difficult dilemma: eat at both of them.

Saturday night following the Baylor game, we braved the inevitable line at KoppeBridge for a well earned post game feast.The 30 minute wait passed quickly as I chatted up an old timer in line behind me.An Aggie alum of ’56, he proudly boasted a flock of children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and neighbors that all followed his trail to A&M. To say that Aggies are generational would be an understatement.

The burger itself was well worth the wait.Thick, well seasoned and rather hefty, the burgers at KoppeBridge will certainly satisfy your appetite.Their fries are legitimate as well.Homemade, thinly cut and crispy, they are a perfect pairing with the Koppe burger.The only drawback I can report is that despite the liberal piling of cheese and bacon on my burger, it was a bit on the dry side.It took a few pulls off my Shiner bottle to wash the whole thing down, but certainly understandable given the post game volume influx.Make no mistake however, KoppeBridge puts out a solid burger.

http://www.koppebridge.com/

The second stop of our burger duel came on Sunday afternoon for a light bite before our three hour jaunt back to Dallas.As I stated in my invite below, Chicken Oil Company is a College Station institution, slinging burgers since 1977.In addition to serving hungry Aggies, Chicken Oil Company used to be a full service gas station (hence the name), but unfortunately they shut down the fuel pumps some years ago.The eclectic décor remains, however, and Chicken Oil is a veritable showcase of old gas stations signs, saddles and assorted other folksy trinkets.They also sport a rather impressive collection of taxidermy adorning the walls, which, as any reasonable individual can surmise, is the hallmark any fine dining establishment.

The burgers here are worthy of the atmosphere.On Allison’s recommendation, I promptly ordered up my Snuffy Burger (1/2 pounder) and opted for the obligatory bacon and cheese….for comparison sake of course.The burgers are thick, juicy and served between a hearty bun that doesn’t lose its integrity under the heft of the filling. The only drawbacks to report here were the fries, which just rolled off the Oreida truck, and the milkshake which was made with soft serve ice cream product (blasphemy).But the burgers are what count, and Chicken Oil serves up a great one.

http://www.dixiechicken.com/chickenoil/

The Verdict: For me the verdict was far simpler than I thought it would be.Chicken Oil is the runaway winner in unique atmosphere, and oh by the way….their burgers are better too.While the fare at Koppe Bridge is still excellent and certainly worth a visit, if you had stomach space for only one burger joint in College Station – Chicken Oil is your horse.

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AQ Chicken Sham & The Hog Haus Brewery

November 12, 2009 / / 0 Comments

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Despite my rigorous and exhaustive up front research on our dining selections, and in a constant effort to bring you stories from only the most worthy of culinary options, we finally had one slip through the cracks this week. We were hoodwinked by the appalling AQ Chicken House in Fayetteville, which guises itself as a “Northwest Arkansas Tradition”, but in reality contains about as much actual tradition as Burger King (no offense King). My winning streak has come to an end, and I feel like I just gave up bloop single to break up my no hitter in the bottom of the 7th inning.

I have no one to blame but myself.

I should have been tipped off when the place was empty a full hour before closing, and all the chairs were already on the tables. We should have gone running for the door when the ice cream scooper came out for the mashed potatoes and the macaroni and cheese looked like it spent an afternoon curdling in the Arkansas sun. The namesake chicken itself was bland, uninspired, and indistinguishable from a low rent KFC. Toss in an audible disturbance with a disgruntled employee, and you have a recipe for one craptastic meal.

http://www.aqchickenhouse.net/

I’d sooner become a vegan than fork over my money at AQ Chicken House again.

The most disappointing part was that we only went to AQ after spending a pleasant afternoon sampling our way down the impressive row of microbrewed taps at the Hog Haus Brewery on Dickson Street. A place, which frankly, we never should have left.

http://www.hoghaus.com/

Adding to the ambience and pleasantries at the Hog Haus was the affable father and son tandem we met that had made the journey all the way from the University of South Carolina. Lloyd (father) and Cameron (son) were parked at the bar next to us, and despite their allegiances to the recently defeated Gamecocks, remained in agreeable and welcoming spirits. Lloyd has led a rather interesting life and had more than his fair share of stories. We spent the rest of the afternoon pleasantly regaled with Lloyds tales of bucketing night crawlers for a living, dodging flying fish at the wheel of a 90ft sailboat, briefly entering the lobster import/export business, and turning a one week vacation in the Virgin Islands into a two year residency. In fact, we even laid the groundwork for a possible trip to South Carolina next year for a game. Between the palatable Hog Haus brew and great conversation, it made for one enjoyable afternoon.

Next time we won’t be leaving for a chicken sham.

Best wishes on the rest of your season Lloyd & Cameron, and perhaps we will darken your doorstep next year in Columbia!

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