Oh, how hard it is to pay attention to a meal when you are watching your football team lose in the playoffs. I am giving Kurt a little bit of a hard time here, but, being a Bears fan, I have not had this problem in a very, very, very long time. So I will try not to be too harsh.
This Saturday found us at Anelia's in La Conner, a sweet little place with a great bar...though every time I have tried to step down from one of the stools my feet don't reach the ground and I almost fall. Which has nothing at all to do with how much beer, wine or whiskey I have had to drink. Nothing. At. All. I am just very short.
We decided to go to Anelia's because they have a screen above the bar and we figured that there would not be a ton of fans watching in this particular place, as it is known for its pierogies, not its TV. We were very happy to find that we had made the correct decision. They were raffling off cookies for each touchdown the Seahawks scored....so very few cookies were given out that day.
The burger, on the other hand, was quite good, in my opinion. Kurt is still not completely sure what he thought. The meat is from Fulton farm, out of Oregon, so not technically local, but the cows are grass-fed and the owner/bartender knew and told us all about it.
When the burger arrived, it looked quite good, though it did not arrive next to french fries, most likely because the Polish hate the French. Just kidding. I actually have no idea. But, I was saddened nontheless. The veggies looked crisp and fresh, though I was sad to see no onion and no pickle for the burger. The bun size was perfectly matched to the size of the burger, and that, I thought, was quite impressive. There were two slices of American cheese, and some kind of pinky orange, salty tasting sauce/dressing.
The burger itself was seasoned, and cooked to a perfect Medium temperature. The bun stood up quite nicely, and frankly had the right amount of give without becoming too soggy so that is really was the perfect delivery vehicle for the meat it enveloped. Kurt thought the bun was too much, that it hid some of the burger's flavor, but I thought that if the burger had come with onion and pickle, the bun would not have seemed so overpowering. Seriously. No onion? No pickle? When everything else has been so well cared for?
Whether he was right, or I was, here are the scores:
KURT:
SARA:
For me, I feel like without the pickle and the onion, the flavor profile is lacking as is the texture profile. Yes, if the bun had been less meaty, the Synergy score might have been higher, but I must ask, why punish the bun when the onion and pickle don't show up to the party? It is like punishing your good employees by making them work with a bad employee who shows up late or not at all, and when he does he is too hung over to be productive. Ya just don't do it. Don't make the bun be responsible for more than it can be. A great cheeseburger is a group effort, and when the group ain't makin the effort, well....
That said, this was a good burger. Kurt believes that the football game kept him from scoring it accurately, as he feels that the burger probably deserved a lower score. I stand by my score. For the record, his was averaged up, and mine down. Just for the record.
This Saturday found us at Anelia's in La Conner, a sweet little place with a great bar...though every time I have tried to step down from one of the stools my feet don't reach the ground and I almost fall. Which has nothing at all to do with how much beer, wine or whiskey I have had to drink. Nothing. At. All. I am just very short.
We decided to go to Anelia's because they have a screen above the bar and we figured that there would not be a ton of fans watching in this particular place, as it is known for its pierogies, not its TV. We were very happy to find that we had made the correct decision. They were raffling off cookies for each touchdown the Seahawks scored....so very few cookies were given out that day.
The burger, on the other hand, was quite good, in my opinion. Kurt is still not completely sure what he thought. The meat is from Fulton farm, out of Oregon, so not technically local, but the cows are grass-fed and the owner/bartender knew and told us all about it.
When the burger arrived, it looked quite good, though it did not arrive next to french fries, most likely because the Polish hate the French. Just kidding. I actually have no idea. But, I was saddened nontheless. The veggies looked crisp and fresh, though I was sad to see no onion and no pickle for the burger. The bun size was perfectly matched to the size of the burger, and that, I thought, was quite impressive. There were two slices of American cheese, and some kind of pinky orange, salty tasting sauce/dressing.
The burger itself was seasoned, and cooked to a perfect Medium temperature. The bun stood up quite nicely, and frankly had the right amount of give without becoming too soggy so that is really was the perfect delivery vehicle for the meat it enveloped. Kurt thought the bun was too much, that it hid some of the burger's flavor, but I thought that if the burger had come with onion and pickle, the bun would not have seemed so overpowering. Seriously. No onion? No pickle? When everything else has been so well cared for?
Whether he was right, or I was, here are the scores:
KURT:
- Flavor 8
- Juiciness 8
- Vegetables 7
- Bun 9.5
- Source 8
- Value 7
- Synergy 7
SARA:
- Flavor 8
- Juiciness 9
- Vegetables 6
- Bun 10 (oh, yes. I did.
- Source 8.5
- Value 9
- Synergy 7
For me, I feel like without the pickle and the onion, the flavor profile is lacking as is the texture profile. Yes, if the bun had been less meaty, the Synergy score might have been higher, but I must ask, why punish the bun when the onion and pickle don't show up to the party? It is like punishing your good employees by making them work with a bad employee who shows up late or not at all, and when he does he is too hung over to be productive. Ya just don't do it. Don't make the bun be responsible for more than it can be. A great cheeseburger is a group effort, and when the group ain't makin the effort, well....
That said, this was a good burger. Kurt believes that the football game kept him from scoring it accurately, as he feels that the burger probably deserved a lower score. I stand by my score. For the record, his was averaged up, and mine down. Just for the record.
The good news is, The Seahawks are out for the season, so it will be easy for any fans to go and determine whether or not they truly like this burger.
RSS Feed
