Saturday, February 2, 2008

Duffy's - Forest Avenue

I've heard from quite a few people that Duffy's on Forest Avenue has the best hamburgers on Staten Island. Tonight, husband and I finally made the trip to Duffy's and had dinner.

The awning outside their building proudly states that they have the best burgers on Staten Island. That's a pretty confident statement to make, so we were very hopeful that we would find this to be true. Duffy's is a tiny bar with several tables, and the place was jammed. We took a bar table, so didn't need to wait very long.

I knew I was going to have a burger, so I didn't really spend any time looking at the menu. It took a while for the waitress to come take our order. They have Franziskaner Beer so I ordered that, along with a cheeseburger, medium, with fried onions and mushrooms. They didn't have mushrooms, so I just got the onions. Husband ordered a cheeseburger, rare.

It took a little while to get our food, but not too bad considering the crowd inside. The burgers were served on an english muffin. The fried onions were fantastic - nice and caramelized; an excellent flavor. The burgers were perfectly cooked to order - mine a barely noticeable hint of pink, my husband's a beautiful bright pink center. A great, juicy and flavorful burger.

I didn't need to ask for mustard; they keep a bottle right on the table with the ketchup. I liked that!

Overall, these burgers were terrific. I give this a 4 burger rating - Top of the Line!

NOT a Burger ...

But the best tasting Chili we have had ... in a long time. The recipe is from Tyler Florence and the foodnetwork.com website. This is actually the second batch of this chili we have made. And this batch is much better than the first. Mainly because I did not make it as HOT as the first batch.

The recipe calls for 1 chipolte chili pepper in adobo sauce. You can buy those little cans in the mexican food aisle of the grocery store. They are HOT. The recipe also calls for one-half jalapeno pepper. Well, I had the great idea to add 3 of the chipolte chilis since I did not have a jalapeno pepper. Was that ever a BIG MISTAKE! We burned for a while after finishing eating. The flavor of the chili was fantastic ... but just too darn hot.

So today we made the same recipe, but this time I stuck to the exact quantities, and what a great chili it made. We are trying very hard to save it for the big game tomorrow, but it tasted really good ... we may have to make another batch.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Evelyn's Kitchen

Yes, self-promoting my own Mushroom Burger. Had the craving but didn't feel like venturing out to a diner or restaurant, so purchased some ground chuck and made it myself. Sliced up the onion very thin and sauted in about 3 tablespoons of butter. When they had softened a bit, I added in the sliced mushrooms and let them cook. I only had swiss cheese in the house, so I made due. I prefer a nice cheddar or even american, but the swiss worked out fine. Made 2 burgers, about a half pound each. One was for my husband.

The burger was cooked to perfection for me, but husband wished his had been a little more rare. Because I used ground chuck, the burger was oh so juicy. I know it's healthier to eat a leaner cut of meat, but I so hate a hamburger made with lean meat - they are just plain dry and not good. I like it juicy.

I added mustard to my burger, and got the normal "look" from my husband - he still doesn't get it after all these years.

All in all - this is my favorite burger place.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Mike's Olympic Grill - Forst Avenue

I met my friend, Debora, for lunch today, and decided it was time to start my Burger Blog. Here is my first review:

Cooked to Order: I was asked how I wanted my burger cooked, and I requested Medium. The burger was cooked as requested, a hint of pink on the inside, the way I like it.

Juicy: This burger was very juicy.

Flavor: Excellent - tasted like it had been cooked on a charcoal grill.

Fried Onions & Mushrooms: Nicely sauted, good flavor. Could not keep them all on the burger.

Mustard: Requested mustard and Gulden's was served. No comment or facial expression noted when request was made.

Overall, a great burger. I would order this menu item again.

I give this a 3 Burger Rating