What A Burger

So for all of my readers who do not reside in the great state of Texas (or one of the neighboring states that has the opportunity to bask in our glow) I feel sorry for you.  Aside from all of the 100% pure unadulterated awesomeness that you do not get to reside in you miss out on one of the truly wonderful fast food experience known as Whataburger.

I am going to be lazy and not provide a whole heck of a lot of background information on this, if you have never seen a Whataburger ad you must live under a rock, because I spent my entire college career in Kansas being tormented by images of juicy burgers you can have "just like you like it".

My love for this place reached a climax this year when a one of their limited time releases combined my love of a good Whataburger and green chiles.

Behold the Green Chile Cheeseburger.  It was as glorious as it should have been and my only true regret here is that they do not have it year round.  Damn you green chiles for being a seasonal harvest.  This burger had American and Pepper Jack cheese as well as a heaping serving of green chiles, basically one of the best fast food burgers I have ever had.  Guess I just have to wait until next fall for it to reappear hopefully, consider my fingers crossed.

Austin Meets Houston

The Creek Group family of restaurants must be doing something right, as the 4 of them always seem to have a crowd clambering for some good grub or a good drink.  Their restaurants all bear a name of waterways in the Austin area, as well as a theme focusing on the quirky city.  I was a big fan of Cedar Creek until they got rid of the outdoor fire pits and replaced them with fountains.

I found forgiveness in my heart though and decided to patronize one of their other restaurants, Canyon Creek, located on Westcott near Memorial Park. 

As you can see, the art work on the exterior of the building celebrates life around Austin, with the floaters, musicians, and even some annoying UT fans. 

The interior is no different, an eclectic mix of decorations, and yes even some annoying UT duct tape.  I don’t know if you are catching a theme here, but as a Kansas State fan I have the right to pick on those Longhorns (sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I am still riding high from my Cats beating the Horns yet again this Saturday... BOOM!).

Now on to the more important aspects of Canyon Creek, the grub.  The theme of this breakfast outing was omelets, I rocked the chorizo omelet and my mom ate the spinach omelet. 

The spinach as thick and hearty, almost too much greenery for the omelet, but the flavor was good and the cheese definitely helped counter the overload.

The chorizo was spot on, a greasy Mexican sausage that just adds great spice and flavor to any breakfast dish.  Now as per my side, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and force myself to eat something that I usually refuse to even consider, grits.  I do not see the appeal to this southern breakfast staple, I mean it is bland flavorless mush, which requires either a ton of butter, cheese, or some other flavor to make it edible by most standards.  That being said, I decided to try their cheese grits, loaded with cheddar, thus proving my point, but my bowl of cheddar with a side of grits was delicious none the less.

Canyon Creek is not a bad spot for breakfast, they have lunch and dinner as well, but you have got to hit the place at the right time, or a parking spot will be next to impossible to find.

In Its Prime

So today I am serving up a primo burger to you, and you will eat it, and you will like it.  Unless you don't like the stuff on it or burgers in general so I guess you will not necessarily eat it or like it.

Beck's Prime is a local burger chain that knows how to serve up quality burgers and french fries.  My foodventure this go around took me to the "special" Beck's known as the Sportatorium located in Memorial City Mall at Gessner and I-10W.  A wall of televisions, a projector or two, and a decent selection of beers on taps all adds up to a good environment to scarf on a burger that makes you almost forget you are sitting in a busy mall full of screaming brats and annoying teens.

Seriously the best part of the beer here is that the pint glasses create one of my favorite sights in the world, beerbergs.  For those of you unaware of this phenomenon, it is the situation in which your glass is so cold your beer freezes up into an iceberg floating in a sea of deliciousness.

The Sportatorium offers a good selection of burgers, and I opted for the concoction known as Bill's Burger.  A 1/2 pound patty of certified Angus chuck, sauteed onions, cheddar, bacon, jalapenos, prime sauce (a sauce similar to Thousand Island known as secret sauce in some other circles), and some miscellaneous burger veggies.   Basically this was a 4th of July fireworks show crammed in between two soft and tasty buns that just kept exploding time and time again with each bite.  I was a fan, but the meal did not end there my friends, no not by a long shot.

These delicious hand cut fries were quite possibly the star of the meal, crispy and full of flavor it was almost a crime to dip them in ketchup, but alas I am weak.

Until next time my hungry little friends.

Getting My Craft On

Ok so I know once again I have been slacking off lately, but today  I am taking a step back from food yet again so show off my recent project.  As you well know I love beer, specifically craft beer. In my drinking I often find myself staring at the labels admiring the various forms of artwork that finds its way onto a bottle.

So I got the idea one day to take labels and form them into a collage on a small old table that I had to give it a different look.  The original concept was to use labels that I drank, removing them from the label and then gluing them onto the surface of the table.

Unfortunately, that idea was a total failure.  Most labels would tear when I tried to remove them, I had the most success when running them through the dishwasher but that left the labels faded and wrinkled when I dried them out.

That was when a new idea struck me, write the brewery and get them to send me labels that had not been glued and were still in mint condition.  Sure enough, the labels started flowing in and that meant that I finally had to get my craft on with these craft beer labels.

Please disregard the goat dog in the background, Cabron was another boredom project but didn't turn out nearly as amazing as the beer label table.

Overall I would say my craftiness was a success this time in creating something that will have to be thrown out by my future wife.  I'll keep you posted the next time I get bored and come up with a crazy idea.

The Flavor of Texas

BBQ is quite possibly one of the greatest foods ever.  I mean there is something magical that happens when you cool a slab of meat low and slow with some smoke thrown in for good measure.

That is what drew me into 7 Rivers located at 1855 Barker Cyprus in Katy.  The name itself screams homage to the great state that I call home, Texas for those of you who forgot, referring to the seven major rivers that call this place home.

I opted for the three meat plate, what better way to truly test out a BBQ joint than to get a plate full of meat?  For my selections I ordered the turkey, hot sausage, and chopped beef.  My personal favorite of the trio was the turkey, a tender flavorful cut of breast with a nice peppery rub that will definitely have me coming back for more.  The other two were not bad, but not nearly as good as the turkey.  The sauce had some good flavor to it, a good level of spiciness to take it up to the next level, but the best aspect of it is that it is warm, nothing like warm BBQ sauce to dip your meat in.

The sides were pretty decent themselves.  Coleslaw is my latest BBQ addiction, somehow I grew up hating this stuff, but in the past year my tastebuds have fallen in love with slaw and I now find myself in a perpetual quest for a good slaw.  This slaw was not the best I have had lately, but it had decent flavor, and I did like the fact that it is chopped up in smaller bits, so all in all it was a good call.

The fries were a favorite of mine, nice and thick, with a good crisp to them.  Plus you get a larger quantity than any one needs with a three meat plate.

In the end, 7 Rivers was a good choice, it is a rather unassuming place since it is located in a strip mall in Katy, but the flavors are good, and supposedly there is some great beer specials here.  Sadly, I have only been here at lunch during work so my indulgences in cheap beer have been lacking.