Bastone, Royal Oak

 

Bastone

Last Friday, my office was ordering in from a place with highly regarded burgers (I'm withholding the name until I write a review, sometime in the future), so I ordered one (of course).  I opened my to-go container to find that, horror, the top bun was smothered in mayonnaise.  I was able to salvage the burger by eating it open faced on the bottom bun, but even then, I would occasionally get a strong whiff of mayonnaise, creating unpleasantness.  The burger was actually pretty good, even with only half the intended amount of bun, but the experience as a whole was lousy, part of a very disappointing Friday, burger-wise.

So, when my dinner companions the following Sunday said that mayonnaise was an essential element in making Bastone, a restaurant in their neighborhood in Royal Oak, excellent, I was very skeptical.

 

I'm going to get right to the point, Bastone is awesome.  Despite the fact that there was a small quantity of mayonnaise on my plate and rather a lot of it on the table at large, not a single bite of the burger was ruined.  There was, though, a discernible flavoring to it.  I couldn't quite put my finger on it, until after Beth pointed out that the bun was toasted.  I think, as part of the bun toasting process, some butter entered the process.  The end result was just about the perfect mix of beef, butter, bun and toastiness.

If I have one complaint, it was that the burger wasn't particularly juicy.  I'm not sure the burger needed to be juicy, though, that wasn't the taste they were going for.

I also have to make mention of the fries.  A very generic fried outside hides a delicious liquid potato inside.  The fries were also salted, but not heavily so, just enough for flavor.  My only complaint of the night: there weren't many of the long fries that you can grab and dip in ketchup, too many were too short for comfort.

The rest of the dinner experience made an excellent frame for dinner.  My companions were Beth, Alden, and Amanda.  Each of us got hamburgers, and a delightful discussion of what exactly makes a burger a burger (just hot beef on bread?  does it need a bun?  does it need to be ground beef? more on this at a later date).  The restaurant wasn't really themed, unless 'Gentrification' is considered a theme.  If it is, then I would have to say that they went a little over the top with the theme.   

 

The menu.  Note the Latin reference at the bottom.

The ultimate test: would I go back?  Absolutely.  The meal was excellent, heavy in a good way, very filling.  I recommend it highly.

What makes a burger a burger?  I don't know, but I know Bastone knows.

Casey's, Ann Arbor

 Casey's

Casey's is a small bar in Ann Arbor, on Depot, across from the train station.  I had heard from multiple credible sources that they had an excellent burger.  Last Friday, after enlisting my friend Bret, I set out to investigate.

Interior decoration at Casey's is heavily sports themed (best evidenced by the innumerable trophies collected on shelves above the bar), with a hint of generic Americana (My table was literally directly under an American Flag).  The graphic on the menu isn't a baseball, but when I looked at it, I couldn't help but think about baseball.

 

The menu at Casey's, and Bret.  Not in that order.

I hesitate to call it a sports bar, though, possible because it had more of an old-time feel than any sports bar I've ever been to before.  Said old time feel was not ruined by the presence of multiple flatscreen TVs showing various feats Olympic.  Bret's comment: "When I hear the word 'Tavern,' this is what I think of."

There was a bit of a wait to get in, which I suppose is to be expected on a Friday.  Our waiter made it very clear to us that he wanted to take our order, not listen to our story, nor waste our time with his.

But this is the Burger Blog, why am I wasting your valuable reading time with descriptions of the burger venue?  The answer is that frankly, the burger wasn't much to write home about.  I say 'home' for a reason; a number of times, the burger had an active blandness that I associate strongly with burgers I make in the broiler at home.  I'm going to repeat that.  The thing that this highly acclaimed burger that I made a trip to Ann Arbor for reminded me of the most is something I can (and do) make for myself every night, without leaving the house.

I don't want to come down too hard on Casey's.  The burger had a lot of upsides.  It was Juicy, with a very absorbent bun, and those two qualities combined, leading to awesome.  Toward the end, there was a bit of a charred taste (the good kind).  The burger definitely ended better than it started.

The fries were fairly standard, the kind of fries that are sometimes called french fries, and sometimes called steak fries.  They were a bit well done.  A solid side.

The big test, would I eat there again?  I wouldn't object to it, but I don't think I'll actively seek another burger at Casey's.

 

This is what the Casey's sign looks like when you've had a few.

Welcome to the Burger Blog

Everyone eats.  That's a simple matter of biology.

But while everyone has eating in common, everyone eats differently.  Our diets are like snowflakes, just more nutritious.  What a person chooses to eat can say a lot about them.  Some people like Italian, some like Chinese.  Some people eat vegan, some eat organic, some eat local.  Some people start cooking their Saturday night dinner the Thursday before, while other people don't even know their menu until they get to the market Saturday morning..  Some like appetizers, some like salad, some like hot pumpkin soup with a cheese gnocchi and a chevre brioche.

I don't like any of those things.  I like hamburgers.

I eat a lot of hamburgers.  My average is probably above one per day. 

I'm not a hamburger guru or anything, I just really like them.  But maybe, if I put some effort into it, I could become a guru.  I'm going to eat the hamburgers anyway, why not experience as many different hamburgers as I can?

Hence this blog.  For as long as it takes (or as long as I can keep up with it), I'm going to sample the hamburger offerings of the Metro Detroit area.  I'll eat a hamburger, take a picture, and let you know how it went.  I can't promise a posting schedule, but I'll try to update at least once a week.