Just SMASHing!

I’m Baa-aack! And hungrier than EVER! Hope you are too if you’re in the mood for high quality burger foods. If you are, head over to SMASHburger at the corner of Lake Mead & Buffalo here in Vegas. Now this place has been getting a little bit of hype since opening just a few weeks ago. Most of it was marketing on the radio with a contest for a local band to play their grand opening. (Nice touch, btw.) So I decided to check out the if this place lived up to all the hype as I haven’t found a burger place in Vegas to replace Five Guys in Tampa. Well here’s what I think…

I FOUND A NEW BURGER JOINT! Right now I am in total lust with the food!

I had a 1/3 lb. BBQ, Bacon & cheese burger with haystack onions. Now, I don’t like onions so I swept them off but tasted one and promptly added some back to the burger. Yep, I like the onions! The burger was juicy and full of beef flavor. It wasn’t over-the-top sloppy with the BBQ sauce at all but still had the BBQ taste. The bacon was delicious. Now, it wasn’t the best bacon I’ve ever had but for a burger place it was definitely up there and brought a lot to the burger. The fries were a little heavy on the salt for me but other than that they were not thick but not shoestring (Though they call them shoestring), a nice in-between and cooked perfectly. Crisp outside, nice and soft and warm on the inside. Just delicious!

My lovely lady had the mushroom and swiss burger and had nothing but good things to say about that. (I didn’t try it, mushrooms just aren’t my thing. What she did have that I was diggin’ was the sweet potato SMASHfries. What makes them “SMASH”? Rosemary, olive oil and garlic! Daaay-um! The balance between the sweet potato and the seasoning was just awesome! You gotta try those!

Big B had a scrumptious grilled cheese. We were all trying that one and wanted MORE! Seriously it was THE BEST grilled cheese I’ve had in I-don’t-know-how-long. It was just delicious. It was a good deli-style grilled cheese. Thick bread lightly grilled to a gold-yellow with a nice light flavorful cheese. These are on the kids menu but belong with the big boys. Next time I’m gonna see if I can get their bacon on it.

And bringing up the back-end was Doodle and his Kids Dog. It was a delicious beef dog with a toasted poppy seed bun. So simple but so good. I just wish it was a bit bigger like a good deli dog in Chi-town. (I wish they would wrap this thing in bacon and put cheese on it…mmmmm.) This is for EVERYONE not just for the kids. Outside of just the kids menu, they have the Classic, Chicago & Chili Cheese Dogs and I am really wanting to try them all!

Do yourself a favor, get over there and get SMASHed. You’ll thank me for it.

Blandingo

That’s right my palate she is as bland as a manila envelope. Even though the goal of this blog was to relive my culinary adventures since becoming a single man, the truth is my tongue is bored. Instead of going on this flight of food fancy I have fallen into a food rut so deep you would have to throw me a case of red vines (maybe more) to help me climb out. Way too many meal coming out of a box have not done me any flavor favors. How am I to right this??? Well, I have many life changes coming up so now is as good as time as any to correct this bland blunder. This time I’m not going to overly promise epic changes. Here’s what is going to happen, 1 day a week I am going to make myself a meal NOT OUT OF A BOX OR FROM AN EATERY!!! I’m not a chef but I can damn sure do better. That’s what my life is supposed to be about now, doing better.

I’m gonna! Just you watch!

Yeah, I DID GOOD. Marinated Chicken Thighs & 4 Bean Relish

This weekend I ended up going to a potluck cook out for a large group that I belong to so I figured what better way to get my feet wet in this whole cooking thing. Gotta say I banged this one out!

The chicken was pretty basic. I just marinated it in Honey BBQ sauce, red wine vinegar (one of my new faves) and juice of one lime. It sat in the marinade for 3 hours or so. Tender, juicy and oh so flavorful. I was really happy about it.

The 4 bean relish is a recipe I saw on Guy’s Big Bite with Guy Fieri. Gotta tell you, it was good. Now it’s not something I normally eat but am definitely gonna start. It was so good that someone else stole it AND my container at the end of the picnic. I heard many good things about “that bean salad” without telling them it was mine. Good feeling indeed. Here’s the bean deal:

1/3 cup red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 cup scallions, sliced
3/4 cup red onions, finely diced
1/4 cup peppadew peppers (sweet red peppers) or roasted red bell peppers, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons honey
1 (12-ounce) can white beans, drained
1 (12-ounce) can chick peas, garbanzo beans, drained
1 (12-ounce) can pinto beans, drained
1 (12-ounce) can black beans, drained

Mix all ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour for the flavors to blend. Mix thoroughly before service.

It’s that easy and sooo damn good.

Man, I hope I get my dish back.

Hopes, Intentions, Aspirations and Such

Thanks for stopping by. My hope with this blog is to review restaurants and recipes for you, the normal person. I’m newly single and quite sick of always eating takeaway or 7-11 type food so I am now starting my journey into a more hands on sort of approach. I’m a taster with not the most refined palette but I know what I like. I hope you enjoy the culinary ride. Hell, I hope I do!