Sunday - August 22, 2010

Beer and Burger Joint

305.523.2244

Mary Brickell Village

901 South Miami Ave

Miami, Fl 33130

Check out the Menu!

I discovered Beer and Burger Joint this past week, and I have already been three times! I attribute this both to my addictive personality and the incredible food that they serve. The concept is simple—massive burgers, with gourmet toppings, for a very reasonable price (average burger costing between $10 and $12). Of course there are also some specialty burgers on the menu that can get expensive, such as the Stairway to Heaven Burger, which costs about $39. But that burger comes loaded with 10 oz of kobe beef, 3 oz of foie gras, a black truffle demi, on a brioche bun, and is served with duck fat fries. It’s your 3 square meals for the day in just 1 sitting! My personal favorite however, is the vegetarian Dear Prudence burger, which is two thick portabella mushroom caps, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, arugala, tomato, and garlic parmesan cheese, served on a ciabatta roll. It is the largest portabella burger that I have ever seen, and I love it particularly for all the fun condiments that it is served with (I might have mentioned in former blog posts, that foodies like myself are condiment people by nature). It comes a side of walnut-basil pesto, a roasted garlic bulb, and zucchini fries that are accompanied by a creamy dill dipping sauce. The whole plate is just an assortment of deliciousness.

For the most part, each burger is paired with its own unique variation on the french fry. Options include: onion rings, mushroom fries, skinny fries, zucchini fries, duck fat fries, and sweet potato fries. The skinny fries are by far my favorite, and the duck fat fries confuse me and scare me a little, to be quite honest. If you’re not feeling called by any of the suggested burgers on the menu, then there is always the option to create your own custom burger. You get to build it from scratch, choosing your meat, bun, sauce, and toppings, but this is definitely not the cost friendly option because it does get expensive. And for those of you who wish that you could be Adam Richman from Man v. Food, you can challenge your stomachs with Beer and Burger’s Mother Burger. I believe that they describe it best on their menu:

"The Mother Of All Burgers! A Ginormous Beast The Size Of A Manhole Cover And Sandwiched In A Bun That Resembles A Couch Cushion! Order One For The Table Or Finish It Yourself Within 2 Hours And It's Free! Serious Eaters Only Need Apply..." 10 Lb. Of Our Natural Freshly Ground Angus Beef Choose One Cheese-Two Topping-One Sauce-Two Sides. Please Allow 25 Minutes to cook.”

If you do decide to take on this epic food challenge, make sure that you’re hungry because if you don’t finish the whole thing in 2 hours, then you are responsible for the bill, which is a staggering $75. However, if you do complete the challenge, then Beer and Burger will pay for your tremendous stomachache…isn’t that nice?

Saturday - August 21, 2010

La Sandwicherie

305.532.893

229 14th Street

Miami Beach, FL 33139

Check out the Menu!

I’m now a senior in college—a fact that was confirmed tonight when my friends and I walked into a frat party and realized that we wanted to leave after just five minutes. We were waiting in some crowded little room, clutching our solo cups, hoping just to catch a glimpse of the keg (let alone an ounce of beer), when we decided that this wasn’t our idea of fun anymore. There we were, a group of 21 year old girls in jean shorts and flip flops, surrounded by the new freshman that were decked out in high heels and whorish smelling perfumes…one of these things just doesn’t belong here. So we headed to Brickell to mourn the end of our “fresh meat” status, over a round of Blue Moon beers at the Irish Pub. After attaining our much-needed buzz, we decided to move on to its late night counterpart—FOOD! When I go out with my girlfriends, I would say that we spend ½ the night talking about the drunk food we want to eat, and the other ½ of the night actually consuming that food. As you can imagine, there was a great deal of debate as to where our fourth meal would be enjoyed, but eventually we decided to make the trip to South Beach for La Sandwicherie—who can resist the “secret sauce”? If you haven’t tried this secret sauce that I speak of, well then you haven’t fully experienced life. The secret sauce is a flavorful, homemade, Dijon mustard kind of dressing that can make anything taste incredible, especially the Proscuitto Mozzarella Sandwich that has made La Sandwicherie so famous here in South Florida. The sandwich comes with thinly sliced proscuitto, fresh sliced tomato, red onion slivers, lettuce, and creamy mozzarella all on a French baguette. The flavors and textures balance each other perfectly; the proscuitto adds the perfect amount of saltiness to the mozzarella, the lettuce and red onion are crisp against the soft roll, and the secret sauce adds just the right amount of tang to this enormous sandwich. I must confess that my roommates and I seriously debated the proper term to describe this inexplicably delicious sauce as we inhaled our sandwiches in my car, and tang was the best that we could come up with. I’m not sure if it’s the best adjective, but words cannot possibly capture the amazing-ness of this stuff anyways.

Ohh, and the best part about La Sandwhicherie is that it is guilt free drunk food, unlike Taco Bell or pizza. I mean, no one likes to wake up in the morning and find Taco Bell hot sauce packets scattered around their car (we’ve all been there), but to wake up and find a little container of secret sauce in your console…well, that is like finding a precious gem. Although I go to La Sandwicherie for late night dining usually, it is equally as delicious mid-day sober too. Please, please, please, go to La Sandwicherie…but caution: it may be habit forming!