The Montreal Burger Report

Moving

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:00:00 -0400

Howdy!

We're moving. All the Montreal Burger Reports will now be over at zeke.com.

Season Three Begins with a BANG!

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:37:00 -0400

Howdy!

In which the Montreal Burger Report moves to all-video all-the-time!!

Last week, Thursday May 12, 2011 to be exact, went uptown to Balkan Foods, 7333 Saint Hubert in Montreal for lunch. Ryk 'E. Coli" Edelstein had a ćevapi (10 pieces) and Chris 'Zeke' Hand had a pljeskavica (despite not being able to pronounce it).

There are some obvious faults, and I can only hope that I get better at filming as we go along. If anyone has any tips, hints or suggestions, please do not hesitate to let me know.

The Joshua Fiddler Interview (Part 2/2)

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Wed, 18 May 2011 08:08:00 -0400

Howdy!

Back on May 10, Moishe's Steakhouse had a launch for their 3 Hours to Midnight menu (which includes a burger) and introduced their new chef Joshua Fiddler. We took advantage of the situation to interview Mr. Fiddler, along with Bartek Komorowski from Culinary Propaganda and Fast Food Fred. We talked to the new chef at Moishe's about the changes to their menu, some of the difficulties he had, and, obviously, their hamburger.

Part One is of the Joshua Fiddler interview is here.

The Joshua Fiddler Interview (Part 1/2)

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Tue, 17 May 2011 07:54:00 -0400

The Leonard Lighter Interview

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Mon, 16 May 2011 08:21:00 -0400

Howdy!

Big changes happening here at the Montreal Burger Report... We proudly present you (da-da-dah!) Video. From now on everything is going to be video (keep your fingers crossed for us, please and thanks).

Back on May 10, Moishe's Steakhouse had a launch for their 3 Hours to Midnight menu (which includes a burger) and introduced their new chef Joshua Fiddler. We took advantage of the situation to interview Lenny Lighter, co-owner of Moishe's about the recent renovations, changes to their menu and their hamburger.

There will be some more changes in the coming weeks as well, so keep your eyes peeled, and if you have any suggestions or ideas, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Watch Mojo does McDonald's

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:30:00 -0400

Howdy!

In anticipation of the Montreal Burger Report going all-video all the time (big changes in store) we present Watch Mojo's Version of a Big Mac Burger...

We're only doing this because the folk at WatchMojo.com are nice people who work up the block from us. And you always want to be nice to neighbors. Because there are a bunch of things wrong with their recipe, and we're not certain why anyone would want to recreate a Big Mac.

I'm going to have to have a talk with John D Stocks...

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Wed, 4 May 2011 08:23:00 -0400

Howdy!

The hunt for Montreal’s best burger by johndstocks

Apparently he thinks that Buns and m:brger should be under consideration for the best burger in town...

Josh Ozersky on the past, the present and the future

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Tue, 3 May 2011 08:38:00 -0400

Howdy!

As part of Eater's Burger week (and happy National Burger Month to everyone) they got him to write about the past, the present and the future of the burger. Personally I think he gets it 100% wrong when he attributes the burger's invention to White Castle. A) White Castle makes 'sliders' not hamburgers. B) The Louis' Lunch story makes much more sense to me. and C) I'm an East-coast sort of guy.

I'm also not so certain I agree with him about the 'modern burger era' starting with the db Burger - but I'm going to have to do some more research before I become certain. And then finally his obsession with the squishy white bun has got to go!

800 million pounds

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Tue, 3 May 2011 08:02:00 -0400

Howdy!

A) The amount of beef McDonald's used in 2009 in the United States.
B) The amount of phthalates manufactured worldwide in 2004.
C) $1,266,932,088,278.57.

Bobby's Burger Palace, Flip Burger, Shake Shack and Umami Burger.

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Tue, 3 May 2011 07:56:00 -0400

Howdy!

More from Eater's Burger Week, this time on "up and coming" burger chains; Bobby's Burger Palace, Flip Burger, Shake Shack and Umami Burger. Still nothing on Dic Ann's, Smart Burger, m:brgr, Burger de Ville, Buns Hamburger House, Frites Alors or any of the other up and coming burger chains here in Montreal.

Burger and wine pairings

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Mon, 2 May 2011 08:26:00 -0400

Howdy!

Once again, shamelessly lifting from Eater's National Burger Week (by the way happy National Burger Month everyone...) they decide to ask some folk what would be a good adult beverage to accompany some very specific burgers. I might just have to 'borrow' that idea in the future...

In the meantime:
At Longman & Eagle in Chicago, Jim McCann suggests either a "dry but fruit forward" Sicilian white wine, a slightly bitter pale ale or a "wheated bourbon... on the sweet side." - Wouldn't you be looking for the same qualities in a beverage instead of completely different flavors?

At the Heirloom Café in San Francisco, Matt Straus suggests an $85 half bottle of vin jaune or a $120 American Cabernet Sauvignon to go with a $12 burger. - If the burger was $30, perhaps. But you have to be kidding. And on top of it a vin jaune and a burger is like pedal powered Lamborghini aka a joke.

Over at Father's Office in Los Angeles Sang Yoon suggests a wine that has a "bloody, iron ore like character" or a beer that has a "tannic hop finish, [and a...] slick caramel like maltiness." to go with a hamburger that has both blue cheese and Gruyere. Again, why would you suggest two completely different flavor profiles for your beverages? And with a good blue cheese on a burger, I would suggest water. There are just going to be too many extremely strong flavors happening for a beverage to compete.

At Burger & Barrel in New York Natalie Tapken recommends a wine with "tobacco and herbaceous qualities... crushed floral and cherry notes." A beer that is "quite complex" with "malt and strawberry qualities [that] compliment the bitter backbone to the beer." Or a cocktail with Gin, Aperol, Lemon, Grapefruit and Sparkling Wine because it is "refreshing." To her credit they are to be paired with a lamb burger. All my previous comments apply here as well.

Le Must publishes an advertisement for Gourmet Burger

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Mon, 2 May 2011 07:52:00 -0400

Howdy!

Andrea Doucet Donida writes breathlessly and enticingly about how scrumptious and delicious Georges Najjar's hamburgers are.

Over at Eater they make a slide show of Every Burger Special Ever From Bob's Burgers

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Mon, 2 May 2011 07:17:00 -0400

Howdy!

I spent a little bit of time trying to get the slide show to work here, but was unsuccessful. So click here to go see Every Burger Special Ever From Bob's Burgers.

Nice Parodies

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:25:00 -0400

Howdy!

The Epic Meal Time - Kids Edition

And The Veggie Burger - Epic Veggie Meal Time

And thanks to Mr. Lew for pointing out the kids.

Coming soon to a corner near you

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:42:00 -0400

Howdy!

More from Burger Week at Eater. This time on "up and coming burger chains." A) They need to get a better person to do their graphics. On this map, they got it ALL wrong.

All the logos should be moved one place clockwise. Elevation Burger is form Arlington, Virginia (on the east coast of the United States), Mooyah is from Texas (a 6 o'clock on this map) and Smashburger is from Denver (pretty much where the Elevation logo is). And apparently Smashburger has plans in place for Canada (how would you translate Smashburger into French?)

B) Somehow they manage to overlook Dic Ann's, Smart Burger, m:brgr, Burger de Ville, Buns Hamburger House, Frites Alors or any of the other up and coming burger chains here in Montreal?

Beef Blend Discussion

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:38:00 -0400

Howdy!

Since it has been Burger Week over at Eater, I took the easy way out and decided to wait till the week was over before cherry-picking the good stuff. Yesterday they interviewed Pat LaFrieda and Mark Pastore from LaFrieda Meat Purveyors about grinding beef. Very entertaining.

Marie-Claude Lortie and I obviously hang in different circles...

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:38:00 -0400

Howdy!

She talks about how Le Filet has been the new restaurant that's been getting the most "buzz." I would, politely, beg to differ. From my perspective it has been iBurger.

Le Filet:
Hour review - March 10, 2011
Montreal Gazette review - April 23, 2011
La Presse review - April 25, 2011
On Facebook, 34 likes and 90 Check-ins.
Twitter hash-tags, 0
FourSquare - 48 people/56 check-ins
Urbanspoon: 39 votes
Blog posts (in no particular order):
Will Travel For Food, Montreal for Insiders, global38-news, Roasted, Robert Barakett, Popcorn Plays, Alors on Mange, Les chroniques gastronomiques, and Bread and Molasses. (9)

iBurger:
Montreal Gazette review - April 1, 2011
La Presse review - March 21, 2011
On Facebook, 880 Likes
Twitter hash-tags, 2 in the past 24 hours. (And more without a hashtag)
FourSquare - 136 people/214 check-ins
Urbanspoon: 19 votes (!)
Blog posts (in no particular order):
Blog Marketing Web 2.0 et Tech, Grad Life, 5One4, Society for Environmental Graphic Design, Tourism Montreal, Technosterone, ahoodie, Digital Signage in Canada, Montreal.TV, and Dishcrawl. (10)

But no matter how much "buzz" there is, the food is infinitely better at Le Filet.

Apparently there is no Turkish - Canadian Crossover

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:55:00 -0400

Howdy!

I wonder how much a Turkish Lira is worth in Monopoly dollars...

It's about what they are worth

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:41:00 -0400

Howdy!

And Everything Burger gets into Prints

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:18:00 -0400

Howdy!

Title pretty much says it all. But in case you need it spelled out, Everything Burger (the fine folk responsible for one of the burger movie posters I posted about last week) has decided to take the plunge and sell some prints over at this website called Society6. They currently have a selection of three, and personally, I quite like the "Obey Burger." But $48 is a little bit out of my price range. And unfortunately I don't have an iPhone or else I would have shelled out the $15 for a skin.

Since we're playing catch-up

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:05:00 -0400

Howdy!

Some of the better posts from Eater's Burger Week:
In-N-Out vs Five Guys: The Big Chains' Bi-Coastal Burger Battle (basically a re-write of this article).
Breaking Down Five Guys Burgers And Fries By The Numbers (note to self: Talk to Wayne & Caleb once the McGill St. location has opened to see how it compares to DC)
Slutburgers Gone Wild! Carl's Jr. Ads Through The Years (self explanatory).

Eater does a Burger Week, too!

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:41:00 -0400

Howdy!

And gets into it good. They aren't one of my regular reads (which is why I am two days late on this one) but Eater (basically a bunch of food blogs based around various cities in the US) has decided to jump the gun on National Burger Month, and do something called Eater Burger Week.

And as you might expect from such a large and mainstream publication, they don't shy away from what you might call things excessive. With one of their first offerings being The Ron Swanson Turkey Burger.

Backstory: There's a TV show called Parks and Recreation. It has a character named Ron Swanson who likes meat. He mentions in passing the idea of a fried turkey leg inside a grilled hamburger. Someone from Texas, who just happens to write for Eater, Paula Forbes, decides to make one, and documents the process.

Heck, I betcha dollars to doughnuts they out do Epic Meal Time before the week is done.

Ann (Collecchia) Potenza

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:04:00 -0400

Howdy!

I just don't get it

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:01:00 -0400

Howdy!

Why anyone would subject their cat to a Burger King Quad Stacker...

Somehow I don't think it would make their coat shine...

Eric Hubbard becomes Hamburger Boy

montrealburger@gmail.com (Chris 'Zeke' Hand) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:59:00 -0400

Howdy!

Or depending on who you are Hamburger Man. Last week he was a strictly local story, but it has now gone nationwide.

And if you want to find Mr. Hubbard on Facebook...