‘American’
While Walnut Street in Shadyside is the typical haunt of my fellow students, Highland is another street in Shadyside that has a lot to offer. One of those offerings is Buffalo Blues, a sports bar with a fair amount of food options that you might expect at such a place. Wings dominate the menu, but there are also burgers, sandwiches and a few other things for those not so inclined towards the wings.
The custom burger popularized by The Counter seems to be present nearly everywhere these days, and Pittsburgh has not escaped the trend. Burgatory is one of those places, which I was introduced to my first night in Pittsburgh, and another is Stack’d in Shadyside. The options aren’t quite as extensive as Burgatory, but the burgers are priced a bit friendlier.
Montana. Big sky country. The land of traffic jams caused by cows. Yes, like very few people before us (based on the lack of a line at the border), we returned from the Great White North through Montana. Billings is a long way from the border, but at some point we found ourselves there and in need of eats. Thusly, we discovered the creatively named Montana Brewing Company.
By most accounts, St. Helena in Northern California is a small town. Yet, within this small town in the middle of wine country is a burger stand of national acclaim serving up food with a non-small town price. Called Gott’s Roadside, it is both literally and figuratively not to be missed in St. Helena. We arrived after a bit of a wine tasting, eager to see what all the fuss was about.
We all like The Counter, that quintessential custom burger place that has spread its beefy goodness around the nation. And although it isn’t the most inspired of places, it gets things done. Well, the guy who started the place decided it was time for some more inspirational food and cooked up a gastropub-esque (no burgers!) place called Freddy Smalls in West LA.
Post & Beam sits in a strange area that isn’t quite Baldwin Hills and it isn’t quite West Adams. Because of that, I couldn’t really decide if it was sketchy or classy, and the neighborhood around the restaurant didn’t make that picture any cleared. Post & Beam itself, however, was definitely on the classy end. With modern architecture, interior design and nice menu, it truly seemed like a great place to grab some dinner. And while the menu was certainly on the upscale side, it had sides like corn bread and fried okra to reflect that it was still deeply in touch with its neighborhood.
Not too long ago, a new place called Burger Lounge made its way into Beverly Hills. Well, new is a relative term, as the place has been hanging out in San Diego for years. As with all intriguing burgers, I knew I had to test out it and recruited my buddy from San Diego to accompany me. He had frequented the lounge down in SD back in the day and I thought he would be helpful in my quest.
Once upon a time, I read an interesting review of The Tar Pit on LAist. It wasn’t exactly positive, but it only covered their happy hour and seemed to be more concerned with Chef Mark Peel’s children running around than with the food itself. Most disheartening, though, was Peel’s comments to the review. Needless to say, such a big time chef should not have been so concerned about one bad review and his concern made me less likely to go than the review itself. Yet, to The Tar Pit I went, and I was glad for it.
After seeing the frontrunner for Most Gratuitously Violent Movie of the Year (Drive, which is great by the way), some people might not have much of an appetite. Those people, though, are not unvegan and the sight of so much blood made me crave some meat. As we had seen the movie in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, my local valley friends took me to a place called Townhouse Kitchen + Bar. I knew little of what to expect, except that football would be on TV and this was a good start.
The coastal land of Malibu is populated by celebrities attempting to avoid the real world and regular people who want to avoid the crowds of LA’s more local beaches. It’s also sparsely populated by restaurants that want nothing more than to serve a subpar meal while providing a breathtaking view. Or at least that’s how it usually goes – a great view = decent food. Hoping to avoid that trend, the Danto family brought back memories of high school and college by taking me, their son’s greatest friend of all time, to lunch. The Danto clan had chosen Paradise Cove and I was excited to find out what they had to offer.