burgers and Bordeaux

Summer means a return to the Thursday night burger dinners at Julienne.  Hooray!  Last night was the first of a few opportunities we have planned this summer, and it was a nice evening for it.  A hot day turned into a comfortable evening sitting in shorts and a short sleeve polo-style perforated shirt.  Despite a service hiccup (a nice kid taking care of our table, but having to ask after the wine we ordered and not getting it until after the first course was not the best service), we had a good evening of it.  Conrad and I regaled Van with tales of recent viewings of condos, catching him up on our slow process of trying to find a new place to live.  We enjoyed the three courses,

headed back to his house, watched an episode of Stanley Tucci in Italy, went to bed early.  Nice evening.

Ah, photos!  Gazpacho as my starter, and that was a welcome starter indeed on a summer day. 

I opted for the salmon cake burger instead of a beef burger (we're grilling at Van's on Sunday, after all), and I liked it. 

A wee but dry, but the aioli served with the fries did nicely slathered on the salmon.

Oh, I should add that neither Van nor I opted for the Bordeaux.  Conrad did, though! 

And now on to the weekend!! 

date night in South Pas

Hey, that was a pretty good run of posts to start off July, right?  Not sustainable - life just doesn't offer that much to blog about every single day, but it was good while it lasted.  But after a very quiet week at work and at home, I'm back!

Van and I moved our standing weekly television date night to Thursday this week and dropped the television component.  Instead, we headed over into South Pasadena to grab dinner and drinks.  Nice evening for it.  We've had a hot midweek here - the temperatures out at work got up to 101 on Wednesday - but it was just good and warm by 6 or so yesterday.  We also don't have the air quality issue that is plaguing a lot of the country and Canada.  Yikes!  Those poor folks.

Anyway, it wasn't too far to drive over and park near where South Pasadena sets up its Thursday farmers market.  Good market.  I need to get to it.  It wasn't our actual objective last night although Van did buy himself some flowers. 

Instead we ordered at the window at South Pas Smash (and sorry, they don't have a website fully up and running to link to).  A smash burger for Van, a fried chicken sandwich for me. 

Good, simple.  I still don't get smash burgers as a thing (why smush the patty and force the juices out when you can have a nice, thick burger?)(I know it's to get more of a crust to interior ratio, but I still don't get it), but oh well.  I'd be fine going back and doing that again.

After the food and a brief wander through the market, we popped into Sid's Bar.  We hadn't know it was a live music night, and we were relieved we got in and got a table and drinks before so many others showed up.  Nice bar, not too lounge-y, not too hip (but definitely hip).  A dive bar for cool kids and older cool kids, if you will.  But they made Last Words, and that was good. 

The folks at the next table were curious, so I let them try mine, and they ended up ordering one for themselves.  Nice place.  Very loud!  Not a Conrad bar.

The evening was drawing in as we left,

and it had cooled off nicely.  We headed back to the car, drove the short distance home, and got Olive fed.  Once she was done eating and Van's flowers were in vases, I was fading, and as had been the case so often this week and last, I was lights out before ten.  Not our usual television date night, but a lovely little date night in any case. 

Little Beast

The air quality in Pasadena is much improved today, happily.  Even yesterday, it was better than it had been.  That said, the smell of smoke was still in the air.  The three of us were of a mind to go out for dinner, and we decided it would be a treat to get out of our fair city and get out of the field of the worst air pollution.  West we went, over to Eagle Rock.  Destination:  Little Beast.

Little Beast is a nice little place housed in what looks like was once someone's home on Colorado Boulevard.  Van had been there in the past, and recalled that the burgers were good.  Conrad and I had never been, so we were up for trying some place new.

The first thing we liked was that we could hear each other.  I don't comment (much) on this, but Conrad has had some hearing loss over the years and finally started wearing hearing aids.  The good thing about hearing aids is that they amplify for him the sounds he wants to hear (conversation, television or movies).  The bad thing is that they amplify other sounds as well.  In many restaurants now, there is quick negotiation when we are shown to our table as to where to seat him so that he isn't suffering from whatever music is blasting and the nearby conversations that are necessarily loud to be heard over the music.  It makes me wish that reservation sites had a "look for quiet dining" option, and I will sometimes add a note to reservations that we have a person with hearing loss so could we please have a quiet part of the dining room if such a thing exists.  So, kudos to Little Beast, which had music playing in the enclosed outdoor space at a level where we could all talk normally and easily.

The second thing I liked was my mocktail.  Y

es, dry January continues for me (and Van, but not for Conrad).  I had an elderflower drink that was pretty tasty.  One was enough.  Man, am I drinking a lot of water these days!

The third thing I liked was my burger. 

Excellent burger - good patty and bun and toppings.  The fries were terrific as well - hot out of the fryer, crisp and lightly salty on the outside, fluffy inside.

I thought the biscuits and ham were fine but only just fine. 

I have had better biscuits, and I've certainly had bigger ones!  Not much biscuit for the amount of stuff to go with the biscuits.  I also thought the little gems wedge salad was fine - tasty but a little over dressed.

We skipped dessert - what we had was enough - and came back to Pasadena.  When we got out of the car, the smell of smoke hit us again.  Ah well.  It was nice to get away from it for one evening!  And it has been much better today - we could see the mountains this morning!

Friday and Saturday in one fell swoop

Late on Sunday afternoon here, and I'm taking a break in reading lazily.  Is it too late for a nap?  Hmmm...

Let me do a quick check in on the weekend that was.

Friday!  Maestro.  A loud time at the bar thanks to a group of very bro-y guys drinking a goodly amount of expensive tequila.  Conrad and I stuck to one corner of the bar, cocktails in front of us

(and in hand!),

the tetela

and then the cochinita pibil for dinner. 

We came home and had some wine and read out back until it got to be too chilly.  A nice evening.

Saturday!  We walked to Van's, gave the girl some love,

then collected Van for a breakfast at Amara, including my decaf latte! 

That evening?  Burgers on the deck at Van's. 

All three of us enjoying a cocktail or two,

and then the main event. 

I otherwise found myself engrossed in a novel I was re-reading. 

I let them watch television after dinner and retreated to the office to read and listen to music.

I was up before everyone this morning, getting a good walk in. 

And now the weekend is almost done.  Alas.  Ah well.  A short week at work as I head to Chicago on Wednesday...

and while I'm talking about the food in Glasgow...

I don't think I dined especially well in Glasgow, but I didn't dine badly either.  Mornings were at Starbucks for a decaf latte (of course) and a light bite.  I had the haggis I've already mentioned.  The first night there, I was on my own, and unsure of what was nearby.  A search on OpenTable, and I came up with the bar at a hotel restaurant:  iasg bar at the Kimpton Blythswood.

If only I had realized that the short walk to it was all uphill, and not an especially gentle hill!

I didn't want much, I didn't need much.  I'd had an overnight flight to Scotland and then a bus ride to Glasgow and then a walk through an unfamiliar downtown to find my hotel and NO nap, which is the most shocking part, I think.  I wasn't feeling super hungry, and I didn't feel like I had the appetite or the outfit for tackling a nice dining room and multiple courses.  A bar menu suited me fine.

At least one review of the place had said that the cocktails were good but the bar was slow, and that was my experience.  After I said I needed a few minutes to look at the menu and decide, it was considerable time before I caught the attention of the server and was able to order.  And then I waited for my martini, made with an Isle of Bute oyster (yes, oyster) gin. 

And waited.  And finally it came, perhaps 30 seconds before the food was set down in front of me.  I wish I had had a bit more time to sip before eating, but ah well.  The martini was fine.  The salmon and prawn burger was pretty good.  The accompanying fries were piping hot, crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle, and nicely salted. 

I was satisfied.

Just the same, though, I didn't have the patience to wait for another martini, taking myself back to my own hotel and stopping in the bar for a very sweet cocktail that they called a Clover Club but I might beg to differ.  It was fine enough, I guess.

And by 9:15, it was lights out for me!

weakness

I love food.

No, not a surprise, is it. Nor should it be a surprise that I have a reputation as a food snob. Pricey mushrooms, name brand chocolate. People have me tagged.

So. Bloody. Unfair.

Let me start by saying that I am a VERY good dinner guest. I recall years ago someone I already didn't care for terribly much joking that you could always tell where I sat at dinner parties because it would be near a large potted plant, and remnants of my dinner that I couldn't stomach would have been hidden there. Hmmmm... nope, still don't like him years later.

Anyway, I have my weaknesses. Not that I'll reveal them ALL, but they are there. And so, in DC, I indulged one: fast food burgers and fries. Mmmmm... fries. Crispy, soft on the inside, hot, salty. Oh so good!

I met up with Dan for lunch one day at the recent conference. Limited time and, on the weekend, limited good options nearby. Almost by chance, though, we came upon a Five Guys outlet.

I know we have them in Chicago, but I've never been. Hey, I have food snob cred to keep up - I almost never go get fast food beyond Subway, Sbarro, or burritos in the student centre at lunch. This was my maiden expedition, and Dan offered good advice on ordering.

Ultimately, though, it was a good burger and an embarrassment of fries. A small order, in the cup, then more shoveled into the bag. No, please, don't stop. Heaven!

No dessert - gilding the lily if there were. Just a full belly and... hmmmm... did I go nap afterward? I can't recall.