MY BURGER ODYSSEY CONTINUES

Mario Pacetti Thursday, September 3, 2015 Comments Off on MY BURGER ODYSSEY CONTINUES
MY BURGER ODYSSEY CONTINUES

I recently decided to check out a new place on Country Club Road named Prime Cuttery that was supposed to have some great burgers. I invited Andrew Green from the new restaurant downtown named 1910. Braylin Jenkins did an amazing article on Andrew in a recent Lagniappe, and I was already a huge fan of his after the Beast Feast, so I wanted to chat with him a little more about food — and what better way than to try some new food together?

First, the name Prime Cuttery threw me off a bit as I thought it was a culinary knife shop. It is, in fact, a butcher shop that prepares all different types of cuts of meats as well as cracklins and smoked meats. All this is done in house.

What brought me here was the burger — even though I can see myself coming back for some of the different meat cuts. I ordered the Prime Burger with cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions with jalapeno mayonnaise. The burger came on a bun made by one of my favorite bakers — Leroy from Cinnamon’s Bakery in Lake Charles.

The owner came out to talk with us, and explained that they were using such a lean meat that he was running into issues with the burger coming out too dry; so he decided to use a small bit of ground pork in his burger mix. The upside was that he achieved the juicy burger he wanted, but the downside was that there is really only one temperature that you can get because of the pork.

The bun was very soft, but it held the burger just right and I found it to complement the taste of the burger perfectly. This was a burger I would drive to that side of town just to eat. Given that the place has other options with regards to cuts of meat, I can surely see myself coming back.

The owner gave us a nice tour of the kitchen and the area he does all the butchering in. Out back, he has his rather large smoker. He also has a cracklin fryer that has a self-stirring set-up on it so that a person isn’t stuck standing there stirring the entire time the meat is cooking.

I very much enjoyed speaking with Andrew over lunch. His love of food became clear in just a short period of talking. For someone who’s still young, he really seems to have a great plan for what he wants to do in his culinary career. He’s still very humble in his excitement about standing in the very first kitchen that’s all his. I remembered my first kitchen, and I caught myself being very happy for him and the journey he was about to embark on.

San Francisco Burger at Nina P's.

San Francisco Burger at Nina P’s.

His grandmother was a huge influence on his love of food. She could grab anything she found in the fridge and make a great meal.

Once he is up and going and things have settled down a bit, I plan on asking Andrew if he would like to be the first restaurant to host a Chef Night for which I would invite two or three other chefs from the area to sit down together. We can all have an open discussion and review about our dinner. Then three or four months later, we can go to another place in town and do it again.

The other day I went to Nina P’s for a lunch meeting. I was already going to review their San Francisco Burger (sourdough wheat, with sauteed mushrooms, and onions, jalapeno mayo, Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomatoes). It was one of the first burgers I tried when I started working on this review. Let me tell you, this burger can hang with any burger out there.

Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger at Nina P's.

Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger at Nina P’s.

With that being said, I decided to try the Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger on a sourdough wheat bread. This burger has a combo I usually try no matter where I go. But I had missed the burger altogether on the menu on my earlier trip. I sure am glad I took a harder look at the menu this time.

The bleu cheese is the make or break ingredient on this burger. The cheese the cooks used melted down just right. It had just enough of a bite to it — not enough to put you off on the flavor.

This burger made it into my Top 10 list without a doubt. And even though I feel the San Francisco Burger is in that list as well, I won’t have two burgers from the same place in my list.

This burger mission I’ve been on has been an eye-opener as to how many badass burger joints we have in this area. There are still about 20 more places for me to check out. Even though it’s going to be a tough task, I do feel I am up for the challenge.

There are new places opening every day around this area. Some may not have started out as local places, but after we find them and embrace the food, they become our local places.

In addition to the opening of 1910 in the next few weeks, I am over-the-top excited about the re-opening of Rikenjaks Brewing Company. This place should never have closed, and my understanding is that they will have an exciting menu to share with us.

Eat local and break the chain.

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