As a Michigan football fan, it is often difficult to pull myself out of bed and get to a bar for those awesome 9 am games (12 pm for those in Eastern Time). Thus, if I am going to a bar and not watching the game in the comfort of my abode, food is key. Now, I am a big fan of bar food, but it is the rare bar that has delicious breakfast. This week, the bar of choice was The Parlor on Melrose and my number one hope was that Michigan would destroy San Diego State and my number two hope was for some delicious breakfast. I can tell you now that I got at least one of those (spoiler alert: Michigan was a victor).

As for the other one, The Parlor’s breakfast menu was pretty decent and even offered some less breakfasty items like burgers. After a couple beers, though, I was in the mood for breakfast. I found the breakfast sandwich, which came with the choice of breakfast meats, egg and cheddar on a Hawaiian bread bun. It also came with a side of tots. Man, I love a menu with minimal vegetables and especially a sandwich without any intruders. Sometimes it just feels great to order straight up.

When my sandwich came, it sure looked delicious. The bun was glistening, the cheese was oozing and the bacon was poking out and taunting my mouth. When I bit in, I was instantly pleased with the sandwich. The Hawaiian bread was definitely a nice touch. But as I continued, I realized the sandwich could have gone from good to amazing with just a few small tweaks. 1. Although I liked the bun, there was a bit too much of it. 2. Perhaps I would not have noticed this if there had been more bacon. This is not some “everything can use more bacon complaint.” This is a real complaint from someone who paid $11 for a breakfast sandwich with one slice of bacon. 3. While scrambled eggs have their place, a runny fried egg really would have tied this sandwich together.

Alas, I was at a bar and not some fancy schmancy brunch joint. The sandwich was in no way bad, but little tweaks really could have elevated it to an awesome level. Meanwhile, the tater tots were a nice addition. I always love seeing those offered and The Parlor did a good job cooking them to typical tot standards. For a bar, The Parlor does have a worthy breakfast, but probably couldn’t hold its own if it were strictly a breakfast joint.

Rick Bayless is apparently a pretty big deal, and not just because he got his PhD at the University of Michigan. No, he is actually a famous chef who specializes in Mexican food. Now, when I headed off to dinner at Red O, I was entirely unaware of both the existence of man named Rick Bayless and the fact the Red O’s kitchen was run by him that he was Red O’s consulting chef. Clearly this was not going to be an everyday ordinary Mexican meal. The exterior had a design reminiscent of the Bird’s Nest in Beijing. The interior wasn’t too shabby either, but this style came at a price. One of our party was sporting khaki shorts and was nearly denied entry, despite everyone else in the restaurant wearing shorts. This almost knocked the place down a notch to me, but I was willing to forgive if they could deliver some amazing food.

We had been warned ahead of time that we had to try the guacamole, so we started out with a bit of that at our table. While guacamole can sometimes be a risky move, because places like to mix tomato and onion into it. Red O, however, did not pollute its guacamole with such veggies. Yes, there were some diced onions and radishes on top, but these were easily avoided and passed on to my eating companions. With these concerns abated, I found myself eating some the the best guacamole this side of Mexico. The consistency was all at once creamy and chunky, but the greatness didn’t stop there. While maintaining a great avocado taste, the seasoning was also incredible. But all this wouldn’t have mattered if the chips had lacked. Fortunately, Red O held their chips to the same high standards as the guacamole and were both flaky and crunchy.

For my main course, I struggled a bit on what to order. This was not because of a small or veggie-laden menu. No, this was because I wanted so much. And also because this was some expensive Mexican food. Not overly expensive, but kind of in that range where you cross your fingers and hope the food is better than you corner taco shack. I did, though, find something that looked both reasonable and delicious. This was their lamb soft tacos. Described much more eloquently on the menu as “Sonoma County Lamb in Chile Colorado, guajillo chiles, roasted garlic, cumin and black beans,” this sounded like a perfect unvegan meal. My only concern was that this woudn’t be enough food, but a quick chat with the waiter told me that it would serve me at least four tacos. This satisfied my concern and I quickly turned this concern into excitement.

When my skillet of lamb arrived, fajita-style, I was all set to eat, but had to stop myself. You see, sitting atop my meat was an array of onion strings that seemed to be spitting in my face. Sure, these were pretty fried up, but they were still vegetables and had not been mentioned on the menu. This was upsetting, because they had taken the time to describe so much of the dish, but not the onions. I was sad, but I could easily brush these aside and get into the real food. I put together my first taco and bit into meaty glory. The lamb meat was incredibly tender and combined with the cumin flavor, there was almost a hint of Greek in my taco. No, this wasn’t part of the taco fusion craze of LA, but it was definitely interesting to have some new flavors in a taco (or four).

I also managed to snag a bite of the short rib meatball tacos being eaten at the other end of the table. These meatballs were actually better than my lamb and the potatoes that accompanied the meatballs were enlightening.

So in the end, the tacos turned out to be incomparable to those of a local taco stand. Red O managed to elevate its Mexican food above and beyond the norm and didn’t just create upscale versions of normal Mexican food, but added unique flavors and ingredients to make it a place worth revisiting. It’s not going to remind you of the food you may have eaten in Mexico, but it will certainly not disappoint.

After holding off on visiting Susan Feniger’s Street, Blackboard Eats finally presented me with the perfect opportunity to visit, a 30% off coupon. I had heard some mixed reviews of the place, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Having a reservation, we were seated immediately and were immediately presented with some sort of grainy yellowish dish. It ended up tasting kind of like a rice krispy treat, but more savory, and with something that tasted almost like dried currant mixed in, except that it wasn’t tart like a currant. Whatever it was, we certainly enjoyed it as we browsed the menu.

The concept behind Street is that it brings together different street foods from around the world and puts a bit a of a gourmet twist on them. It sounds like a great concept and few people love street food more than I do. But as I looked at the menu, I found it very hard to believe that much of this could be eaten on the street. None of the food seemed like any variation of it could be portable, but despite not seeming to match the name, the food did look delicious. After spending some time browsing, we finally figured out what to order. To share, we ordered the Kaya Toast and Lamb Kafta Meatballs. Then we branched off and I ordered the Tatsutage (tah-tsoo-tah-gey) Fried Chicken and Cheese Grits.

Then came the waiting game. Although we had sat down about 20 minutes before our neighbors, they received their first round of food before us. It wasn’t a big deal because our Toast and Meatballs came out shortly after, but it wasn’t a good sign. As for the Kaya Toast, this is Street’s specialty and the bread comes spread with coconut jam and a soft-fried egg, soy and pepper for dipping. The combination is very unique and very tasty. I have always loved the combination of sweet and salty and the Kaya toast executed this perfectly.

The Lamb Kafta Meatballs were another great appetizer and one of the few things I could imagine eating on the street. The meatballs came on a platter with Syrian cheese, grape leaves (which went straight to the girlfriend), date and carob molasses and some spiced flatbread. The combination of cheese was nothing short of delicious. The meatballs were juicy and flavorful, while the subtle cheese added some nice texture to the appetizer. I was also impressed by the tenacity of the flatbread. It was crackery and I expected my bites to reduce the remaining bread to crumbs, but it held up and made a great meatball holder.

Then came the next waiting game. 20 minutes after tackling the appetizers, our main course was nowhere to be found. Our distraught waitress appeared and apologized profusely. Apparently it was the job of food runners to get us our food and they were failing us miserably even though the couple next to us was just about finished with their meal. Without even being prompted, the waitress told us she would have the manager come out to talk to us. It was refreshing to see her notice the mistake without us needing to point it out, but we were still foodless. Soon after this, our meals came out and the manager came out to apologize. She said she had already taken the toast off our bill and would be willing to throw in some dessert. We told her we would have to see how we felt after our main courses, but could be tempted later. Then we dug into our main food.

The Tatsutage Fried Chicken was a very unique Japanese-style fried chicken. It was quite different from any fried chicken I had ever eaten anywhere, including Japan, but it was delicious. The batter wasn’t really crispy like it is here, but was thick and flavorful. It was marinated in soy, mirin and sake, which gave the chicken great Asian flavor, but the batter was likely so different because it was rice-based. It was another great, unique combination that I had never seen before.

Finally, there were the Cheese Grits. Although definitely not a street food, these are a great comfort food. Prepared with butter, pepper and white cheddar, they were a great side for my unique fried chicken. It was like eating in the Japanese version of the south. These guys were so buttery and cheesy that I really couldn’t have asked for them to be any different, well unless they had been served sooner.

When the manager saw we had finished our main course, she returned to our table to remind us that the free dessert was still available if we wanted. We figured why not, so took a look at the menu to see what they had for us. After much debate we settled upon the Thai Tea Creme Caramel and Fruit Crisp. Both of these were a good way to finish our meal, but weren’t really at the level of greatness of the rest of the meal. The fruit crisp was a little too sweet for me, but the Thai Tea dessert was pretty tasty and had that unique Thai Tea flavor. Anyway, for free dessert I had no complaints.

So after all was said and done and waited for, Street ended up being a damn good meal and better than I expected. The place is wildly inaccurately named, because there’s no chance that food would be served on any street, but it’s still a nice mix of international cuisine. Plus, with the 30% Blackboard Eats discount and the other food taken off, the meal ended up costing less than half of its original price. And we didn’t even have to complain. Not too shabby.

I’ve been meaning to head to The Foundry on Melrose for a while. Not only have I heard good things about the food in general, but I also heard that once upon a time The Foundry challenged Father’s Office to a burger taste test. I’m not sure who ended up winning that particular taste test, but I was happy to know that someone had the balls to challenge the pretentious Father’s Office. Finally, a 30% coupon from Blackboard Eats pushed me over the edge to finally visit The Foundry.

We took a seat at their nice outdoor area and got to looking at the menu. I knew I would have to get the burger, but I wanted to see what else the place had to offer. The “Patio Season” Burger (as they called it) was only 12 bucks and the prices of entrees ran all the way up to the thirties. Good thing I had already had my mind set on the burger. The menu said it came with cheddar, Hawaiian (how exotic!) bread and summer condiments. I was told the condiments (tamarind caramelized onions, bacon and pineapple relish and house made mayo) all came on the side, which saved me some worry about an uninvited guest ending up on my burger, but just to be sure, I asked if anything else came on the burger. Despite not being on the menu, I was told it came with arugula, pickles and tomatoes. Good thing I asked, or else that would have been a rude awakening. I asked to get it without those hidden ingredients and was grateful when the waitress complied. Already, this place was better than Father’s Office.

I had also been told the Grilled Cheese ($9) from the Mid Course menu (what the hell is a mid course?) was amazing, so we decided to order that as an appetizer. The menu said it came with Taleggio (cheese), raisin bread and an apricot/caper puree, plus an extra 3 bucks to throw in some short rib. Those all passed the unvegan test and we placed the order.

As we waited, we were brought some delicious pieces of bread, and then the grilled cheese arrived. What was this? Red and green things sticking out from inside the sandwich? I had been duped. Although I should have realized from the burger, apparently The Foundry likes to add ingredients to their food that aren’t listed on the menu. I know a lot of restaurants do this, but why take the time to list a few ingredients when you aren’t going to list them all? So strange. Luckily, the cheese had not congealed and I was able to open up the sandwich and remove the leafy green and red pepper invaders. After that, the grilled cheese was really great. I’d never had taleggio cheese before, but it worked really well on grilled cheese. It was mild, but a little bit sweet, although that could have been from the raisins or puree. It was a little pricier than I would typically spend on grilled cheese, but for 30% it was worth trying.

While we were waiting for the main course, we were brought a couple of little biscuits. it was great to get that (and the bread) between courses to keep us hungry patrons happy and make us feel loved. Then came my cheeseburger. Covered in cheese (and nothing else), it sat upon four Hawaiian rolls. Off to one side were the condiments and to the other were onion rings. I was told the onions rings were pickled red onion tempura rings, which I guess are kinda different from the beer-battered onion rings unvegans like me are usually used to.

I tasted the bacon and pineapple relish and decided to put a bit on the burger and it was a good choice. The burger was great. The beef was perfectly cooked and I was so happy that they had been able to cater to my simple palette by only sticking cheese on it. Coupled with the Hawaiian bread, the burger made for a great sweet and salty experience, which is something I always love. The only problem was that the bread was a bit bigger than the burger, due to its square shape. This led to some burgerless bites, but at least it was Hawaiian bread and not some plain, boring bun I was eating.

I did attempt to eat the onion rings and found them to be pretty bad. Sometimes I can tolerate onion rings because they are so fried you can hardly tell there is any onion in there, but these still tasted a hell of a lot like onions and were really really really crunchy.

Finally, we decided some dessert was in order. We were pretty full, so the only thing that sounded good was some ice cream/sorbet. For 7 bucks, we got three scoops and chose peanut butter, guava and chocolate ice. Of the three, peanut butter was definitely my favorite, which surprised me because I really love guava, but the guava here was just too sweet for its own good.

In all, the experience at The Foundry was pretty good. The service was great and they were very amenable to my unvegan needs. Unfortunately, their failure to list out all of their ingredients made for less-than-stellar grilled cheese experience. So beware, fellow unvegans, for although I recommend The Foundry, you must be sure to ask what comes with everything, because there could be some surprises.

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.

No cheese curds. Quick, unvegan, think fast. There could be a good reason for this. Maybe they are kind of a secret dish only for people who read their menu online. Perhaps they were recently added to the menu online yet, but they hadn’t printed out the new menus for the restaurant yet. Still full of hope, I asked the waitress and she replied that they no longer served them. Drats! I mean how hard is it to take them off the online menu? I checked today and they are still there. Had I never known about the existence of the curds, I would have been happy in my ignorance, but seeing them on the menu online and not actually serving them gave my visit an immediate bitter taste.

We tried to salvage my disappointment by ordering a few sides. These were the fries, sweet potato chips and truffled potato skins. Nothing like a few good starches to get your stomach warmed up. Each of these appetizers tasted good in their own ways, so I didn’t feel like I was getting a potato overload. The sweet potato chips were both the orange and purple variety, which didn’t really taste any different, but were a nice touch.

The potato skins were like none I have ever had before, topped with truffle oil and a light cheese and further cemented my thoughts that truffle oil makes everything taste better. They tasted quite good and were a nice change from the typical potato skins loaded with cheese and bacon (although those are always delicious). The fries were Kennebec…whatever that means. To me it just meant they were pretty damn good. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

But enough about the sides, you say, on to the burgers. Well their normal burger options seemed pretty uninspired from my unvegan point of view. Some started out strong, but then threw in items that would have just ruined them (vegetables). Instead, I ordered their Suds & Slider Sampler. This intrigues me because it offered up a couple of meats not found in ordinary burgers, namely Niman Ranch lamb and wild boar. The third slider was triple prime beef. I knew these wouldn’t be sliders in the real sense, but I thought the mini burgers would be nice.

When they came, I ate them in the order requested of me. First was the wild boar. This burger was cooked extremely rare, which is supposedly necessary with wild boar because otherwise it could get too tough. The flavor was very different from pork, and I think that’s a good thing. Next came the triple prime beef burger. This was a great blend and a great grind. Finally, I delved into the lamb burger. Of the three, this was definitely my favorite. It had a nice taste and was the best-cooked of all.

Just a few comments on the burgers in general. First off, the menu says that they are cooked medium rare to medium. This was a bit of an overstatement, because these burgers definitely seemed to straddle raw and rare. Some people love this, but I don’t know why. The meat in the middle of the burgers, especially the beef one, had a sort of slimy texture that is usually the result of uncooked meat. I couldn’t even finish the beef burger because of this. Also, the buns were pretty big for the size of the burgers. Maybe they just needed to be squeezed down a bit, but I shouldn’t have to open my mouth as wide as it goes to bite into mini hamburgers.

The burgers also came with beer pairings to fulfill the “suds” part of the sampler. I honestly have no recollection of what these suds were, except that they were pretty good and were well-matched with the burgers. Each one was 5 oz., which was just enough to satisfy my thirst.

One thing that 8 oz. Burger Bar has, that some pretentious burger places don’t, is the ability to customize your burger. This is a great option for unvegans, although I didn’t partake in this option. This restaurant has a lot of potential to be great, starting with remedying the cheese curds situation and finishing with cooking their burgers for a length of time not broken down into nanoseconds. If they could take care of these things, 8 oz. Burger Bar could be great, but until then I can find a better meal elsewhere.