Andrew Mark Veety

Burger of The Month - McGurk's Irish Pub & Garden

Welcome to month four of my burger adventure here in St. Louis. Fresh off of a soul cleansing veggie burger last month - we are back to the basics with a burger from a St. Louis institution, McGurk's Irish Pub & Garden. 

I'll be taking on a burger that is simply known as the "John D. McGurk's Burger". As this is the first burger on our list that I've actually had, I can testify that it is usually pretty damn tasty, especially when its topped with sauteed mushrooms, onions caramelized in Guinness and a few strips of bacon. 

Sadly for this go around I'll be taking the John D as it comes; with some lettuce, onion and tomato. Such is the life of someone attempting to eat the same burger at twelve different locations. Here is to hoping other folks jack this burger up like I normally would - because its not to be missed.

We will be back to our Sunday schedule as well and rolling with a very special guest who has been waiting patiently in the wings to worship at the Church of Burger. Should be fun.

 

March Burger Of The Month - Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio

For the third time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a sunless Saturday afternoon. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Tagging along for the ride were the core members of The Church of Burger; Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project) and Church of Burger photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography) who graciously provided all the pictures for this months update.

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the March Burger of The Month from The Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio.

The Setup:

From the moment that votes started rolling in for a veggie burger, I knew that Sweet Art would present a challenge for this burger project. Besides the obvious - how do you judge a veggie burger against a meat burger - I was worried about participation as well. The feedback on this months burger came fast and almost always had a negative aspect associated with it. Among my favorites were the opinions that veggie burgers are not burgers or the simply stated belief that most veggie burgers inherently suck. When our group would meet it seemed that faces grew a bit longer when the topic of the Sweet Art burger came up. From time to time I worried if this would be the point where the wheels came off of my burger project.

To help fortify the more skeptical members of the group we agreed to meet early at Mangia Italiano for a pre-burger drink and final discussion on what makes and breaks a veggie burger. Beers were consumed and we shared a small pizza topped with greens and pancetta - as if the consumption of bacon would somehow compensate for the forthcoming vegetable patty. 

Things seemed grim, but fortified with some liquid courage we ventured over to Sweet Art and headed to the counter with our orders. Listed as the "Sweet Burger" on the menu, this burger is a veggie patty topped with organic mixed greens, a house vegan spread, ketchup, "magic" and "love" on a toasted wheat bun. 

Upon reaching the register, our party of five was informed that only three Sweet Burgers remained for the day. We quickly bought the remaining burgers, commenting to one another that not only was demand for this burger strong, apparently only a limited number were made each day. We agreed that the five of us would split the burgers and share family style around the table so everyone would get a chance to try.

Of the three burgers, two were ordered with cheese. The last was our baseline burger, ordered just as listed on the menu for my judging.

With orders in we moved back to our table where we talked and checked out the owners art which lines the walls of the restaurant. The vibe at Sweet Art is crunchy without being pretentious, hip without making you feel alienated. It was all to easy to sit back, dominate one of the few large tables available and enjoy the company of friends. All to quickly our burgers appeared, standing tall on vividly colored plates.

Behold the burger from The Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio:

The Patty:

Like the paintings on the walls, the veggie patty of the Sweet Burger is a work of art with specks of roughly cut vegetables mixing with textured vegetable protein (TVP) and whole nuts. From a distance the heady scent of spice - what seemed to be a mixture of coriander, cumin and possibly turmeric - reaches the nose, inviting a quick succession of bites.

The varied textures that all the players contribute to make for a mouthfeel that is not quite meat or vegetable. The patty springs back against your bite, compressing to a point of chewiness before breaking away from the burger.

Tasters were of like mind, commenting:

"The Sweet Art veggie burger was truly a burger.  It had just the right amount of juiciness, but it held together when I bit into it."

"The Sweet Burger was fantastic."

"As a former vegetarian, the Sweet Art burger is probably the best veggie burger I've ever had. It has great texture without trying to be meat-like. Beats the hell out of Gardenburger."

"I have no fucking clue what was in that patty outside of the obvious carrots and onions.  It seemed like maybe there was some eggplant, nuts, and what I'm assuming were lentils, but I really have no idea. Regardless, what I do know is that instead of trying to give it the texture of meat, it was more of a patty sandwich, and I particularly liked that about it."

Caramelization:

Many run of the mill veggie burgers seem colored to give the appearance of meat, sometimes going as far as to include "grill marks" to suggest that they have been licked with flame before being flash frozen and boxed up for the freezer section. These types of veggie burgers are intended to be replacements for meat, a sacrifice in the name of healthy eating.

What is nice about the Sweet Burger is that the folks at Sweet Art achieve a decent amount of caramelization during cooking which stands out against the orange hue of the patty. As the name suggests, this burger does have a sweetness to it and its reasonable to assume some sugar is used in the patty to help achieve a good char. Very impressive.

Tasters commented:

"The sear they were able to achieve on this patty were impressive given that they weren't dealing with real meat."

The Toppings:

My burger was topped with organic mixed greens, a house vegan spread, ketchup, and according to the menu both "magic" and "love". The greens were crisp enough to have just been cut, making a nest for the burger to sit upon. Being mid March, I found the out of season tomato to be pale and bland. The tomato was cut thickly to contribute to the overall height of the burger. For me the spread and ketchup were lost behind the spice of this burger, which dominated each bite.

Tasters offered up the following thoughts:

"The "special sauce", which seemed to be some kind of remoulade, gave it a spicy zing that really rounded out the flavor of everything that was in that patty.  It did get a little messy to eat towards, the end--but then what great burger isn't a little messy."

"The cheese melted over the top worked just the way that I would expect it to on a good burger – adding flavor and some grease.  I enjoyed the mixed field greens so much more than the sad piece of iceberg that I often find on burgers.  I know that others were bothered by the out of season tomato, but I thought it was pretty good for an out of season tomato.  It wasn’t gray and wimpy."

"Mixed greens added a bit of crunch and imparted a subtle flavor that enhanced the burger more than shredded, bland lettuce would have. I think the best ingredients in the burger, however, were the advertised "magic and love"."

The Bun:

The whole wheat bun resembled a traditional hamburger bun. While it is not thick or overly dense it did a good job holding up to being halved and shared around the table. While it did its job, for me it was the weakest part of the burger. With all the thought that went into the patty and the fact that Sweet Art is more of a bakery than anything else, I expected something more than was plated.

Tasters thought:

"The bun was hearty (not the kind that turns into a sticky Wonder Bread-like glue in your mouth).  It definitely enhanced the burger."

"The bun seemed like it might have been heated in a microwave.  I could have used a little better bun, also, but that's the best of the three buns so far.  It was real similar to the Rudi's Organic buns I use at home, but the Rudi's are a little better still."

The Verdict:

Readers voted the Sweet Art Sweet Burger the tenth best burger in St. Louis. As a veggie burger in a hamburger contest, I would have to agree that it not only holds its own against the competition so far, in many ways its superior.

I'm struck by the comments of one taster, who offered, "As a vegetarian entree, it represents everything that vegetarian food needs to be to keep people from making fun of it. As an eater of meat, I'd choose it over most of the hamburgers I've had in St. Louis. I will eat many of these things while Sweet Art is in business.  It's just a delicious sandwich."

I'm a reluctant consumer of vegetarian fare because it often tries to be a replacement for its meat counterpart instead of a cuisine unto itself. The Sweet Burger succeeds because it bucks this trend. Instead of being reminded of what the diner is missing, even a meat eater can appreciate the Sweet Burger - which is hearty and satisfying without betraying its roots as a veggie burger.

Truly a treat and a rare find here in St. Louis. Kudos to my readers for the suggestion.

This Makes My Pants Tight

I am a huge fan of street food, food carts and most of all lunch trucks. Imagine how I felt today after seeing this teaser photo for a pizza truck being deployed by Pi Pizzeria here in St. Louis.

Seeing this bad boy roll down the street should generate excitement that is usually reserved for the the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile or dare I say it - Ecto 1 driven by the Ghostbusters.

Confessions Of A Dumbass - The Daddy Warbucks

Several times a year I meet up with friends, most of them Dad's, for "investment club". Investment club is an auspicious event in all regards, but if we were being honest we should really just call the night "hamburger club" and be done with it.

Yes, there is always some talk of IRA's, 401k's and the occasional Israeli small cap technology company, but its more of a chance to to get out of the house, have a burger and catch up with friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like between work and family life.

A wrinkle in our recent meeting was that it was in direct conflict with "book club", where our better halves meet up to eat, drink wine and "discuss" a book that apparently only a few of them have actually read.

Talk about a misnamed club!

In any event, with the Mom's headed out for their night of well deserved fun with friends, the Dad's were forced to rethink our night out and have it at home so we could watch the kids and put them to bed. In a perfect world having an investment club at home would mean firing up the grill for some hand made burgers, because it goes without saying that there are few burgers better than a home burger. However after some discussion it was decided that folks would bring over their burger of choice, with everyone separating into two camps for the ordering - one group opting for Steak n' Shake, anther going with Five Guys. 

One one hand you have the smashed goodness of a Steak n' Shake burger, on the other you have the beauty that is a Five Guys burger (minus the fries, thank you). How could I not slip an order in for one of each and do something fantastically disgusting with them.

In honor of our little investment club, I present the building blocks of "The Daddy Warbucks".

On the left we have a Five Guys bacon burger with mayo, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, pickles, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, raw jalapeno peppers and green peppers. On the right we have a Steak n' Shake double Steakburger with mayo, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, onion and pickles.

Counting all the buns, patties and toppings, we are looking at 22 "layers of burger", which I merged into The Daddy Warbucks:

The bottom and top layers are the Five Guys burger, the Steak n' Shake burger is sandwiched in the middle. I tried to cut it down the middle for a cross section view, but was afraid that it would not survive the sawing and hacking so I let it be after giving it a good decent stabbing with a chefs knife.

Unable to get the towering height of this burger into my mouth I attacked it from all sides until it was a sloppy and mauled form in my hands. Each bite left burger toppings in my beard, on my face and all over my hands - it was a mess that called for the foregoing of napkins and the deployment of a kitchen towel.

With all the toppings mixing it quickly became difficult to tell where the Five Guys ended and the Steak n' Shake burger began. However, the two played together amazingly well together with the raw jalapeno, pickles and grilled mushrooms standing out not only in most bites, but most belches in the hours after consuming this burger monstrosity.

When The Daddy Warbucks had disintegrated to the point of no longer being a hand held sandwich, a knife and fork were called out to finish the job.

Let's add this to the "never do again" file. Someone get me a salad.

In The News (Again) - The Church of Burger

As the posts have shown, February was a crazy month for the Church of Burger.

The drama surrounding the February burger has faded in the past weeks, but not before the discussion spilled over onto other local food writers sites and resulted in an interview with the Riverfront Times.

However, weeks before all of this went down I participated in an interview for a mid-west based website called UrbanBacon on a variety of topics pertaining to food writing, social media and the restaurant business. I think the range of questions make for an interesting read.

I appreciate the folks at UrbanBacon reaching out to me and giving me the chance to share my thoughts.

Amuse Bouche for March 9th, 2010

I'm pretty sure this burger joint is in my old neighborhood in Queens.

The State - MTV Shows

Sam's Club Hates Pizza, Possibly Italy and America

I've been dogged by well meaning folks on several fronts of late. The topic is hamburgers, right? Wrong. I've recently been debating a reportedly tasty and cheap slice of pizza here in St. Louis. From both the forums at STLBites and on Twitter its been suggested, dare I say demanded, that I head out and try what has been called the "best pizza for $1.88" by St. Louis Magazine. 

The slice? Oh, it comes from the food court at the Sam's Club in Maplewood. I'd like to think I fought the good fight on this issue, pointing out that there had to be some mistake, some error that would stop me from having to spend my hard earned money on a slice of pizza from Sam's Club. Alas, the supporters of this slice persisted and I capitulated.

Upon hearing that I would try the slice, one poster on STLBites even suggested that he would refund me twice what I paid should I eat a slice there and ended up feeling like this poor kid when I was through:

So, having agreed to the Sam's Club pizza challenge, I located a friend with a membership to Sam's we gave this slice a go.

But first, running like the prime meridian though the varied arguments for this slice is the recommendation that I try it "hot" and "right from the oven". Really? Because for me, a greasy slice where the cheese takes on a sheen usually reserved for bakelite handles on vintage silverware is usually a delicious alternative to a pulled from the oven slice. Isn't that like suggesting I try some ice cream, but to make sure its really cold before eating it?

I digress, on to the slice. 

Like any good slice of pizza, the criteria for judging are simple, the bones (known to ham and eggers everywhere as the crust), the sauce, the cheese, how the slice stands up to folding and lastly, the size of the triangle formed by the tip of the slice after folding. 

Let's take a look:

Fresh from the oven we have several slices of cheese pizza from Sam's Club.  

I asked the nice lady behind the counter several times to forego the few remaining slices, kept warm under a heat lamp, and pull these slices from a pie fresh from the oven to make sure I was meeting the requirements of this test. 

The slices were a decent size, topped with shredded mozzarella and a sweet red sauce that ranged from a dark to shockingly bright red depending on where in the slice it was applied. In several places the cheese was melted to the point of being burned, with the mozzarella closest to the heat turning a dark brown. It was almost like the cheese had undergone some unique dairy based sublimation, transforming from bagged cheese to burnt cheese matchsticks, skipping the gooey stage entirely. Unappetizing. 

Next we have the "up-skirt" shot. Its apparent that the dough was docked before being placed onto a metal sheet and sent though a conveyor belt style oven. The dough did take on a nice color from the cooking, but lacked the bit of sweetness that I enjoy in a good crust. The addition of some honey into the dough while mixing would be an improvement. 

The crust was thin, damp and lacked evidence of a decent rise during the bake. The bone was thin, pale and provided little in the way of a handle to drive this slice into a waiting mouth. 

Last up we have one of the most important tests of a great slice, its ability to be folded upon itself before being eaten. 

A good slice will always have a foundation consisting of a thin and crisp bottom crust. When bent, the crust may crack a bit but should always hold its composure. Ideally, a slice of pizza should fold like a paper airplane. More specifically a pizza/paper airplane version of the Concorde, with the tip bending down a bit and providing not only the target for your first bite, but the first opportunity to burn the roof of your mouth with hot tomato sauce and cheese. After all we are eating them hot from the oven here people.

Having spelled out what a well folded slice should look like, I'd like to let the picture above demonstrate the exact opposite of what a slice of pizza should look like when folded. 

Methinks we are done here. 

To wrap up:

With much deference to my fellow pizza aficionados here in St Louis, this is a terrible slice of pizza, and pretty much what I thought it would be. To associate it in any way with a slice of New York style pizza, as it has in the STLBites forum is a straight up mugging of a classic pizza style. To the kind folks at St. Louis Magazine, I agree with you to a point. I agree this is indeed a $1.88 slice of pizza. It is also proof positive that you get what you pay for. 

I want my two dollars. Feel free to toss it in my Hot Dog U donation cup.

In The News - The Church of Twitter...er...Burger

After my review of the February burger from Sub Zero Vodka Bar I was contacted by the Riverfront Times to participate in an interview with Bill Burge and Pi Pizzeria owner Chris Sommers regarding the spattering of Tweets that followed our visit and the place of social media in food writing and the restaurant business.

The outcome of that interview can be found here.

I think the article is quite good and sets the table for a larger discussion once folks get past the more scandalous elements of a poor selection of words and a burger review. I do hope that as a community of writers, chefs and owners we can get to our seats at that table.

There should be no doubt that I understand my part in the ensuing disagreement over food, social media and the hard working folks who make and serve food for a living. I presented a thought that was in context for only a few of the people who follow me on Twitter which was a mistake. I get it.

However, I've gotten a fair amount of feedback that writing about my burger project threatens local business owners and the livelihood of their employees. I do not agree with this viewpoint, but I am willing to listen to anyone who wants to make the argument. My only recommendation is that you use more than a 140 character Tweet to do it. Perhaps a well meaning business owner in St. Louis would be willing to host folks for drinks and debate. It seems like the Schlafly Bottleworks or The Royale would be fitting locations for such an event. I'm unsure who would be neutral enough to moderate it though. Maybe we can just stop yelling at each other in bursts on Twitter and yell at each other over drinks instead.

My friend Kelli Best Oliver shared her thoughts on food writing recently, and I think her reasoning is worth consideration. If you have even a passing interest in this debate, would encourage you to read it.

Finally, I'd like to share my interview in its entirety - if only to gratify my own ego.

Are you more likely to air a restaurant complaint to management or publicly, and why?

For me, I think that is a matter of context.

In my personal life, if I am having a meal and something is not right, I will try and address it directly while I am there. If I am happy with the resolution there is a very good chance that I will say something favorable on Twitter. I do think that when given the chance most people want to and will do the right things. When they do, kudos are deserved.

There are still times when I go out with the intention of not being @amveats, but I can see how that side of me can show up. The line between me and my digital self seems pretty thin at times. I think this is because the tools in my pocket make it so easy to share – I can Tweet, Yelp and update my site and Facebook status from my iphone in a matter of seconds if I really want to.

However, when I am preparing to write about food, I’m going out to eat with a purpose. My intention is to tell a story and share it with my readers.

For many of my readers the act of eating something outside of the home is a luxury. They are spending their discretionary income. It may be arrogant on my part to assume that I’m having a direct impact on their spending decisions, but I bet it happens from time to time. I take that seriously. Why? These are people who have given me the courtesy of their time and feedback. Don’t I have a responsibility to give my opinion, for whatever its worth, on what is good and bad, what works and does not? To avoid this responsibility is a disservice to the readers I’ve cultivated over time.

How is this obligation different than a restaurant who has cultivated a following through good execution? Why is one more valuable than the other? Because one is online and one is made of bricks and mortar? Because someplace has employees? With my writing, if I get sloppy, don’t I run the risk of losing readers? At my job, don’t I advance based on reviews of my performance, why is it bad form to apply the same standard to a restaurant?

Having covered my obligations to my readers, what is my obligation to the places I write about? In scope are to be fair and honest. I would include standing behind what I’ve written and addressing issues when I’ve said something wrong. I have made mistakes in my writing, and I’ve been called on them. It sucks, but I’d like to think that I didn’t strike out when it happens. I try to look at what I did and didn’t do, make amends where I could and to learn something.

What is out of scope? Directly helping a business owner improve how their business operates.

Which method have you found to be most effective in resolving problems?

It is the rare person that can resolve a problem within 140 characters.  I don’t think you can beat sitting down and talking with someone. The advent of Twitter does not negate thousands of years of conflict resolution.

What pros and cons do you see with customers, chefs, and restaurant owners using Twitter, Yelp, etc?

I think that collaborative media is by its very nature, disruptive. It has changed the ways that we create and consume information, if you can actually call a 140 character burst “information”. Although the application of these technologies is still relatively new, they are and will continue to fundamentally change the way that businesses, in this case restaurants, and their customers interact.

I’ve heard the comment that if you have an issue at a business, tell the manager or owner. Well, guess what – every day your customers are telling you what they think. They are doing it on their blogs and Twitter accounts, and they are giving you real time feedback. Are we going to ignore the message because we don’t approve of is delivery method?

These are disruptive tools. They are changing the way we interact and do business. Is there something so special about food and the people who make it that they are somehow is exempt from this?

I agree that these tools are for the most part public utilities. Given that, I don’t think its reasonable to think that a restaurant can control every message linked to their business. That ocean is way to big to boil. So what is left? Yelling at and in front of current and future customers? Would you do that in your restaurant? Why would you do it online?

These tools are all about building a community and a relationship, but so many times they are used by business owners to blast a sales pitch. There is a way to leverage these tools to tell your story. As a consumer of content and services, it’s ok to tell me about your special on Twitter, but it’s not ok to tell me a dozen times a day. Its ok to engage me when I write something you disagree with. Its not ok to somehow imply that I’m a “foodie”, which I think is slang for “amateur”, and a method to try to diminish the value of my comments.

Savvy users of tools like Facebook and Twitter find it more effective to talk about being at the farmers market and finding some fantastic ingredient that will be used in a dish tonight. They are not using it to turn off the very people who they derive an existence from, yet that is what happens. It seems counterintuitive to me.

All things being equal, the wall between the kitchen and the people who talk about food has come down. You have this confluence of opinion and pent up frustration, and they are obviously not coexisting in harmony, they are generating conflict.

I have tried to put myself in the shoes of a chef who has worked hard perfecting a craft and is putting his or her best plate forward nightly. I’m sure is frustrating to read negative comments and reviews that seem both nameless and faceless.  I understand why a chef would take to Twitter and defend himself against criticism.  

If we accept that we are dealing with largely uncoordinated bursts of communication, what do we use to retaliate? More bursts of communication. To make it worse, most of the time these bursts are missing a context. Where does that get the business owner or the chef?

I’ve seen the love that some chefs and restaurants here in St. Louis get. They have fans. Many times the adoration is justified. These fans will undoubtedly take to Twitter to defend a chef, I know this because I’ve seen it happen. I think if a chef or a restaurant is honestly putting out its best food, its best service, if they are working their asses off and pushing themselves, then taking to their Twitter accounts to defend every perceived attack defeats the purpose of all the time and effort they spent generating good will and relationships with their customers. If a restaurant is doing these things, the food should speak for itself, internet comments be damned.

What responsibilities do you think diners have in making online reviews?

Be fair. Be honest. Put things in context. Understand that your words have meaning. Use your own name or develop an online persona that can be associated with you. I blog and tweet under my own name, if I say something wrong people can find me. And trust me, they do.

I don’t think we’ll ever be rid of drive-by reviews, any more than we will ever get rid of angry people. Does anyone think that they could stop a disgruntled, or worse yet generally disagreeable customer from sharing their experiences with a group of friends over coffee? I understand that the issue is that we’ve gone from a small group of people sharing ideas to sharing the same thought with hundreds or thousands.  I think with that fact comes a level of responsibility, backed up by a track record of being a credible source of content.

However, being honest and fair does not mean that I take responsibility for how someone runs or does not run their business. It means I’m trying to do the right things in the right way, for me. It means that I have set a standard for myself and I’m trying to live up to it each time I write.

These tools are new, but their existence does not somehow mean that the cream will not rise to the top. Again, the hard part is sifting though the static for the signal.

What responsibilities do you think restaurant staff members, chefs, and owners have in using social media?

When you are dealing with an organization, I think people need training on how to use a tool and the message needs to be coordinated to a certain extent. Using social media tools requires a set of skills that move the user past the concept of promotion. It requires the ability to develop a voice and foster a community.

I think the staff of a restaurant has a different function in communicating than the chef does. There are personalities and voices within a restaurant that have important things to say. Combined and coordinated, I think they can help tell the story behind the restaurant, they can help to build a long term relationship with not only their customers, but communities both real world and digital.

Burger of The Month - Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio

Welcome to month three of my burger adventure here in St. Louis, or as I like to call it, "The Month That The Wheels Were Supposed To Come Off The Church of Burger." Only history will tell if that dubious title will belong to this or the past months burger. What I do know is that within the inner sanctum of the Church of Burger, no other stop has created the stir that this months burger has. You see, this months burger is not a hamburger, it is a veggie burger. 

Yes, as voted by my readers, this month the burger that I will be venturing out to try is made of vegetables. It is 100% vegan and it belongs to The Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio. Listed as the "Sweet Burger" on their menu, it is a veggie patty topped with organic mixed greens, a house vegan spread, ketchup, "magic" and "love" on a toasted wheat bun. 

I am left wondering if a rouge but well meaning contingent of my friends who happen to forsake meat in favor of vegetables have bombed my voting. Could they be so devious? Or could they be onto something? I will have to find out. The loophole as to what is a "burger" exists in the simple framework of my adventure and I will rise to the challenge. 

I do need to report a few changes to the Church of Burger, effective immediately:

As Sweet Art is not open on Sundays, it makes the act of  worship difficult. So, for the month of March, The Church of Burger will be known far and wide as The Shul of Burger. Shalom y'all! We are celebrating the third festive meal of Shabbat.

Also, due to the feedback we got from last months visit and the diminutive size of the Sweet Art dining room, I am forced to reduce the footprint of our group. Given this, seating with our group will be restricted to our core group plus a few guests, with vegetarians and a special guest getting priority seating. That means for this go around we are already pretty full. This does not mean that friends and regular guests of the CoB can't make a visit, try the burger and let me know what they think. It just means we can't roll into Sweet Art and try to get a table for 10 or more people. My apologies in advance.

Once again, I'd like to express a heart felt thank you to everyone for the comments and thoughts regarding my burger project. I've gotten some amazing emails from folks following along and demand to join us is growing - I'm already making reservations for some folks for our April burger. I've also gotten some well thought out feedback as well, which I greatly appreciate. 

Please keep the comments and notes coming. You can leave a comment here, email me, or find me on both Twitter and Facebook. I look forward to hearing from you.