The Unvegan

Victory Dinner at San Francisco Saloon

May 21st, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Go Bruins?

After my team posted a huge victory in our rec basketball league, we decided to grab some burgers to celebrate. This led me to San Francisco Saloon, which is not located in San Francisco at all, but rather in West LA and has been serving LA since 1934. The place is more sport bar than saloon and actually has a good sports bar vibe. The burgers are named for LA and San Francisco sports teams like the Giants and the Trojan, with a few non-sports names like Hickory to join them. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Bacon, Bar Food, Bars, Burgers, hamburgers, Los Angeles, restaurants, San Francisco Saloon, West LA

Delivery Upgrade at Lago D’Argento

May 11th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

...and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.

My buddy, DCo, is a bit of a pizza snob. It works out well for me, because he likes to point me in the direction of awesome new and old pizza places. Recently, he told me about a new place called Lago D’Argento over in Silverlake. It took a bit of convincing, but finally I had a real reason to go to that part of town and decided to make a run for pizza while there. I invited another buddy, Jeff, to join and we checked the place out. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Bacon, Italian, Lago D'Argento, Los Angeles, meat, Pizza, restaurants, silverlake

Burger Aid at Salt’s Cure

April 24th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Why are there pickles on this plate?

My continued quest for amazing burgers took me to a place called Salt’s Cure in West Hollywood. At this particular intersection, only one of the corners lacks burgers, as the other two are populated by Fatburger and Astro Burger. And while Salt’s Cure isn’t strictly a burger place, a quick look at the high priced menu on the wall when I walked in all but guaranteed I would be eating their burger. Continue Reading»

One Comment

Bacon, Burgers, Cheese, hamburgers, Los Angeles, meat, pork, restaurants, Salt's Cure, west hollywood

Jeff Francoeur: Unvegan Hero

April 20th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Look forward to bacon.

The great thing about this whole Unvegan Hero/Unvegan Villain thing is that there are so many opportunities to praise Detroit/Michigan athletes and knock down their rivals. But when I found out a little something about Jeff Francoer, I knew I had to give a rival his due. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Bacon, Baseball, Beer, Heroes and Villains, kansas city, MLB, Pizza, Royals, sports

Pickled by The Greasy Wiener

April 2nd, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Hot dogs lurk in this Brisk truck.

On the way to basketball one night, I stumbled upon what appeared to be a food truck festival in a high school parking lot. I am nothing if not a man who takes advantage of such opportunities, so I pulled up and saw what they had to offer. A few of the trucks I had seen and eaten before, but some were new to me. One of these, freakishly painted as a Brisk iced tea ad, had just what I was looking for. Called The Greasy Wiener, this trucked dished out…well…hot dogs, with a side of sexual innuendo. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Bacon, Chili, food trucks, Hot Dogs, lake balboa, Los Angeles, Mobile

Eating the Old West at Tinhorn Flats

March 26th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

But really, it's not gimmicky.

There’s something about a gimmick that alienates people. You go to Hooters and while they have good wings, a small part of you feels dirty because it was a gimmick that brought you in in the first place. Many times I drove by Tinhorn Flats in Burbank and wrote it off because it looked like an Old Western saloon, which to me screams out gimmick. Little did I know that Tinhorn had been around since 1939, which makes it one of the oldest things in LA. If it was simply a gimmick, it never would have lasted these 70+ years. So when my coworker encouraged me to check it out, I roped in the troops at work to head east on Magnolia – straight for the Old West. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Bacon, Bar Food, Bars, Burbank, Burgers, hamburgers, Los Angeles, meat

By rgspiegel

Meat Stacks at Smoke Shack

February 28th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Chili? In Wisconsin? In February? Shocking!

Here we have a long-awaited new guest blog from none other than @RGspiegel. Catch more of his writing here.

Disclosure I: David Marcus, one of the owners of Smoke Shack, is my second cousin.
Disclosure II: I’m starting a movement such that cousins are classified only as first or second cousins. How much better is that than trying to figure out your exact relationship to your dad’s first cousin’s son with somethingth-cousin-somethingths-removed? A lot.
Disclosure III: Smoke Shack was legitimately awesome.

Now that my and Unvegan’s journalistic integrity are squarely intact, I can begin the review of my glorious Saturday lunch at Smoke Shack, a BBQ restaurant that opened up about a month ago in Milwaukee’s third ward. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Bacon, BBQ, Chili, mac and cheese, meat, Milwaukee, restaurants, sausages, Smoke Shack, Wisconsin

Holy Donut Buns at Da Burger Boss

February 17th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Oh my God the bun is on backwards!

Da Burger Boss is part of the newer wave of food trucks and while they aren’t brand new, they’re still plenty new to me. Their schtick is naming burgers after mob terms like The Strongarm, The Collector and so on. It’s an interesting schtick that has produced some interesting-looking combinations, but the sole reason I found myself waiting for Da Boss was to partake in The Patrolman.

You see, The Patrolman is no ordinary burger. Sure, it’s filled with a half-pound patty, bacon and blue cheese dressing, but after that the burger goes in a frightening and exciting direction. First is the cran-apple reduction, which is not crazy on its own, but when you throw in the grilled glazed donut bun, things get goddamn nuts. Yes, I said a grilled glazed donut bun. I was unsure of how any degree of this would be pulled off and figure it was worth the 9 bucks to find out. Continue Reading»

4 Comments

Bacon, Burgers, Da Burger Boss, donuts, doughnuts, food trucks, hamburgers, Los Angeles, Mobile, north hollywood

Tonto and the Lone Burger

February 13th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

What's that you say, Kemo Sabe?

One benefit of getting married is the tastings. Not so much tasting food that the guests will eat, but traveling back and forth between Arizona and LA to plan things, and knowing there will be food in need of eating. On my most recent foray into the Grand Canyon state, we went out to dinner at a place called Tonto Bar & Grill in Cave Creek. Tonto is quite the popular place, with an outdoor patio looking out onto a golf course and an old Western eclectic interior. The menu ranges from some fancy salads to super fancy steaks, but somewhere in the middle there is burgers. And having gone at least a couple days without crushing a burger, I felt it was time. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Arizona, Bacon, Burgers, Cave Creek, hamburgers, phoenix, restaurants, Tonto Bar & Grill, Travel

Winter Grilling at Coppertop

February 9th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Just like out back.

In dire need of lunch at the base of Breckenridge, I skied on over to Coppertop Bar & Grill to meet up with the fiancee while she was on a little break from ski school. Realistically, very little is expected of ski mountain food. The restaurants have a captive audience, jack up the prices and provide more warming and high energy foods than truly good food. So when I moseyed on over to the food area at Coppertop, my expectations were quite low. But wait…did I just see a dude walk by with curly fries covered in cheese sauce? Scratch that, my expectations hit the roof. Continue Reading»

No Comments

Bacon, Breckenridge, Burgers, Colorado, hamburgers, restaurants, Skiing, Travel

Rants and Raves

Would You Like CO2 With That Steak?

February 12th, 2010

Boo CO2

Have you ever wondered what the carbon footprint of your food is? No? Me neither, but apparently some people do. Fortunately, the University of New South Wales in Australia has found that red meat is quite the carbon-efficient food, bringing one more bit of great news from the world of meat-eating.

Going Global at Plan Check

Fries of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.

Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.

‘Bacon’

Victory Dinner at San Francisco Saloon

Delivery Upgrade at Lago D’Argento

Burger Aid at Salt’s Cure

Jeff Francoeur: Unvegan Hero

Pickled by The Greasy Wiener

Eating the Old West at Tinhorn Flats

Meat Stacks at Smoke Shack

Holy Donut Buns at Da Burger Boss

Tonto and the Lone Burger

Winter Grilling at Coppertop

Rants and Raves

Would You Like CO2 With That Steak?

Going Global at Plan Check

What is this?»

Unvegan Friends