The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus
Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘Beef’

1/13/2010 Los Angeles

Eating Raw at 8 oz. Burger Bar (CLOSED)

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Not sliders, but they look pretty.

The 8 oz. Burger Bar in Melrose has intrigued me for a long time. It combines two of my favorite things, burgers and bars, into one, so I knew eventually I would have to see how well that combination works. I recently got my chance and even went online to check their menu before going. On that menu I saw something that made me want to go even more: Fried Wisconsin Cheese Curds. Cheese curds are one of my favorite things in the world and although I prefer them un-fried, I will eat them anytime I see them offered. Excited about these curds, I stepped into 8 oz. Burger Bar.

Then I looked at their menu and almost cried.

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1/12/2010 El Segundo

Eating Meaty at Paul Martin’s

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There is nothing short about this rib.

If you’re getting tired of food truck writing, well, you are in luck. Today unvegan is jumping back into the brick and mortar world with a visit to Paul Martin’s American Bistro. Paul Martin’s is exactly the kind of restaurant a lot of Americans are looking for in the new decade. A creation of restaurateur Paul Fleming and Brian Bennett, it isn’t too expensive, but is definitely upscale. Perhaps more important than that is its supposed dedication to serving organic, sustainable and local foods. It’s a great concept that I can get behind, but pretty ineffective unless the food is good. Using my heightened unvegan senses, I checked them out for lunch to see if organic, local and sustainable translates into a good meal.

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1/8/2010 Mobile

The Man Eater at Baby’s Badass Burgers

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The truck certainly stands out.

So, if you guessed that the second and last part of my meal was going to be from Baby’s Badass Burgers, you were correct. After the pastel from Bool BBQ whet my appetite, I moved from Brazilian to burgers.

Baby’s actually hit the streets a good while ago with a strong concept: Beautiful women bringing you burgers. With such a great concept, it is pretty remarkable that this truck has managed to evade the unvegan. Fortunately, this changed when I visited the modern food court at the Miracle Mile.

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1/4/2010

Strange Meats: Bife de Lomo

Couldn't just bring the whole cow?
Couldn’t just bring the whole cow?

If you live in Argentina, Bife de Lomo isn’t exactly a strange meat, but anyone traveling there from the US is bound to find this cut of beef strange. No, it isn’t from some strange part of the cow, and is in fact essentially the same as a Filet Mignon, but this Argentinian beef should never be confused with the typical Filet Mignon. Weighing in at at least 12 ounces, this beef simply melts in your mouth, saving you all the annoying time associated with chewing and allows you to get more meat in your mouth faster.

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8/26/2009 Houston

A Little Taste of Texas at Caritas Ranch Bar-B-Q

Nothing but meat and bread.
Nothing but meat and bread.

With a long layover in Houston, Texas, I needed something to eat. Although eating at a chain would have been a safe bet, I like to live on the edge. I also wanted to make sure I got something unique to Texas. When I found Caritas Ranch Bar-B-Q, I knew I had to have it.

The place didn’t offer much in terms of options for the main course or for sides, but it was an airport so I let it slide. The best-looking thing on the menu to me was the sliced beef sandwich, so I ordered one. I then watched as they sliced the beef right in front of me, threw it on a bun and drizzled BBQ sauce over it. I had to admit, it looked pretty good, despite being cooked in an airport.

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8/20/2009 Monteverde

Costa Rican Food Week, Part IV: Restaurant Maravilla

Beefy.
Beefy.

For lunch in Monteverde one day we stumbled into a restaurant called Maravilla. The menu was probably the cheapest we had seen so far, but the offerings were pretty similar to what I had grown used to. I decided to mix things up a bit and order the beef with sauce and rice.

When it arrived, it looked just as pretty as anywhere else, despite being cheap. It even had some vegetable garnishings that I brushed away. Unfortunately, the beef wasn’t very good. It wasn’t really tender and the chunks it was cut into made it tough to eat. The sauce was decent, but I also used some of that thick brown sauce I had been finding everywhere to make it taste better.

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8/12/2009

Korean BBQ Festival and Cook-Off

The lines were long, but not endless.
The lines were long, but not endless.

On Saturday, my friends and I headed down to Koreatown for the Korean BBQ Festival and Cook-Off. Korean BBQ is known to be heavy in meat, so I felt this would be a great opportunity to tackle my daily meat intake.

The festival ran from 12:00-5:00 and although we arrived around 1:00, the lines were already getting pretty long. I wasn’t too surprised by the long lines since the event was free, plus $10 per plate.

Assuming the longest lines had the best food, I jumped into one of the lines without

Tubs of meat roll by.
Tubs of meat roll by.

even knowing what it was.

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