Text 27331, 113 rader
Skriven 2015-05-23 02:00:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: tastes 700
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I was excited to find the food options much improved at BWI
(last time they did a renewal, they got rid of all the good
stuff and put in trashy places in their place). Now that US
has moved to the Southwest terminals, I get to see what's
happened (the old US area, where Delta and United remain,
is a relative wasteland, where I routinely got an Orange
Crush out of a machine rather than paying the extortionate
prices for anything else). There are a few seafood options,
which will wait for another visit, plus a couple new and
improved burger choices.

BGR is a local chain that tries to fill the niche just up
from Five Guys. I'm happy to say that it seems to have
succeeded.

For my $7++ I got a preformed but not frozen 8-ozer made
from quite decent beef, claimed to be I believe dry-aged
Niman or something; at any rate you can taste the dry aging.
This came rare as ordered, pretty juicy with a goodly amount
of fat, quite tasty. A bit of gristle didn't bother me, but
it might irritate others. The patty was seasoned with lemon
pepper and garlic salt before grilling. I could have done
without, as the purist in me likes plain salt and plain
pepper, but this wasn't too too obtrusive.

The sesame egg bun was tender enough to make a pleasing
mouthful but strong enough to sop up copious meat juices
without collapsing.

You can get the ordinary run of toppings, lettuce, tomato,
onion, pickle, and liquids for free, other things from
cheese to peppers to applewood-smoked bacon for an upcharge.
I passed on all them.

Not a bad deal. There are other main-event options up to
and including ahi tuna (for almost twice as much) - forgive
me for not bothering to investigate such. When I return
here, which almost inevitably will happen, I'll continue
to stick with the basics.

I believe they make their money off drinks - fountain sodas
are over $2, and beers are $6.50++ for 12-oz bottles of
mundane mass-market brands.

Kraze Burger (from Korea, pronounced with a long Ee) is in
the American pier. The burgers are a buck cheaper, and
though the bottled beers are that same $6.50, there are
draft options at 50c less.

There is no option for ordering rare; though the cashier
tried, the register isn't programmed to allow it (she
showed me). But medium-rare came medium-rare, a hand-
formed patty, probably about 5 oz, with quite a bit of
gristle, enough that I think a substantial percentage of
the clientele might be put off, on a cheap flimsy bun.
I think that the girl's hard upsell might have been as
much a defense against that kind of reaction as a craven
attempt to extort more money from me. She reacted with what
seemed to be real incredulity when I affirmed that I wanted
just meat and bun.

Sam pint draft for $6, but when it came it was a Summer,
which has a wheatlike aroma and a taste that reminds me of
dill. Fail.

As it turns out, the burger wanted dressing up. The usual
condiments were available as well as the one might presume
to be self-explanatory ketchup mayo, which is really a
mixture of those two with small doses of basil and I think
chipotle, making a confusing thing.

I won't probably go here again.

==
Another burger tasteoff at Phoenix Sky Harbor, two outposts
of legendary local grills.

Delux Burger is famous for its delux burger, half a pound
of Niman beef topped with bacon-onion jam and a mixture of
cheeses including a blue. Turns out it's a knockoff of the
Father's Office burger from California. Also available is
a more normal "classic" burger for 25c less, which I figured
I'd go for. Well, as it turns out, at the airport you can
get only the classic, and it also turns out that the product
has been adapted to account for the exigencies of travel -
instead of a good thick pink patty you get two well-done
thin ones.

It's a pretty decent sandwich, the meat tasty and tender
despite being done throughout, the bun sturdy and similar
to that at BGR in Baltimore but of an eggless dough. Kind
of costly, though, at 11.50. A tossup whether I'll return.

The original Modern Burger was a lunch-only takeout-only
side business of Modern Steak, one of the great beef
palaces of Arizona. It too featured a dolled-up 8 ozer
on artisan bread and had an amazing following. Well, don't
bother with the airport version anyhow. It too has altered
and streamlined its offering to the point that it resembles
a very big Big Mac, only it tastes moldy, almost as if they
had put artificial blue cheese flavoring into the meat.
Pricing is decent - $5 for a quarter pounder, $6.50 for a
double, an extra buck for sliced cheese. The two thin patty
approach as opposed to one thick one was even more galling
here than at Delux, mostly because it tasted bad.

I won't probably go here again, even though it offered
good calorie value for the money. 


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