How hard is it to make a great Burger?

One of my food pet peeves is BAD RESTAURANT FOOD.  I really hate it when I spend a lot of money or even not that much money on food and it's so bad that I toss most of it out.  I know "people are starving in Africa".   That's precisely why restaurants should attempt to make better food that people will eat.

The inspiration for this blog post comes from my recent visit to Five Guys Burgers.   I was shopping out in the west end of Toronto and was so hungry that I needed to just get something that would be quick.   Where I was there was a choice of a Pita place and Five Guys Burgers.   I picked the Burgers because this chain seems to be popping up all over so I thought I would try it and see how they were.   Well... I should have gone to the Pita Place instead.

It wasn't exactly cheap fast food.  For a Cheeseburger, Fries and a Pop it cost me $16.  I could have gotten lunch for 2 people at McDonald's for that price and enjoyed the taste a whole lot more.  While I know I shouldn't eat junk food and Burgers aren't the best selection for a good lunch, I just wanted to get something fast that would fill me up so that I could keep going.   I think I only ate about a third of the french fries,  they weren't transported and they were still a little on the soggy side and they didn't have much flavour.  The Hamburger had a couple of slices of cheap processed "American" cheese and it was just a basic Burger, no frills,  on a un toasted squished Bun.  The Burger totally fell apart in my hands while I was eating it and it wasn't even a juicy tasty burger.

Why does this chain exist?  Do we really need more bad Hamburger joints?   I get the good Burger places expanding like the Burger Priest.   They make fresh ground Hamburgers that taste really good and have creative ways of jazzing them up.   I get that.   They deserve to expand to more stores.   But the Five Guys Burgers really aren't worthy of multiple locations and charging the kind of prices they do.   I guess an indication should have been that there were plenty of empty tables in the restaurant.  Whereas if you go to a place like the Burger Priest there is always a line up out the door just for take out.   Too bad there wasn't a Burger Priest where I was, because I probably would have gone there instead.

What really bugs me is that I don't have Culinary Training but I could probably make a whole lot better food than a whole lot of restaurants I have eaten at over the years.

There really is no excuse in making a Bad Burger and Fries... and to make a Chain of stores with these underwhelming Burgers is a Sin.   It's not that hard to make a great burger.   First you get the best quality beef you can get.   Grind it fresh.  You don't even have to do anything to it.   You can just season it with Salt and Pepper and it would be great if you cook it properly.  Add a toasted fresh bun with some substance, one that doesn't fall apart when you add the Burger and condiments.   Have a good selection of FRESH condiments.   Melt your cheese on the Burger.   Serve it Fresh and Hot.   Cook the fries until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Use the double fry method.  Check your temperatures and do it right.   That's all it takes.   You can make gourmet burgers and add things like Blue Cheese or Avocado or whatever but you have to get the basic burger and fries right first.

All of those people who open bad restaurants should go away and make it easier for people that love to cook great food able to provide great food to their customers.   Stop wasting people's time and money on these crappy joints.  

Yes this bugs me.   I probably could have bought a downtown condo if you added up all the money I have spent on bad restaurant food over the years.   This isn't limited to just take out food,   I had years of bad food at a hospital I worked in, and I have had bad restaurant food in places that are supposed to be good.   Everyone has a bad day,  I get that.   But if you consistently just make bad food then you have no business running a restaurant.   Yes I am going all Gordon Ramsey on this point but this is where I agree with him.   Restaurant owners abuse people's money and health when they don't get it right.   It's not like buying a shirt.   You can donate your shirt to charity or give it to a friend.   Your bad food just goes into the garbage and into the landfill.  (assuming most restaurants don't bother composting).   While there are a whole lot of people that can barely scrape together a meal everyday.   It's just criminal to commit this food offence.

I am sure this food looks pretty good but in the big picture of the value and the quality, those 2 things didn't match.

I would much rather promote a restaurant than slag one...but I have seen a bit of a trend to sloppy cooking and service.  With thousands of restaurants in the city most people know who the ones that are doing it right are.

This is the time when I miss having a BBQ and being able to grill up some great burgers at home.
I am not a vegetarian, although I believe in eating healthy food I do crave things like Burgers and Mac and Cheese and stuff I probably shouldn't be eating.   If I cave and eat these things they might as well taste good and be worth it.

This is my opinion and obviously somebody must like this food or they wouldn't be in business.  I just wish there were more choices for better food everywhere.   I would much rather have gotten some great food off of a great food truck.

No, I don't work for Burger Priest or any other Burger chain and I don't even get paid for writing restaurant reviews.  I am not a former employee of Five Guys but I am a good food lover and want to let people know where to spend their money and where to save it.

When is it worth getting take-out dinner?

When is it worth getting take out food?  

When it's faster than cooking a Chicken.  
Or when you have to do 3 things at once.

Sometimes it's just quicker, easier, cheaper and a whole lot more efficient to order take out.   Not in every instance but today it just seemed a lot more worth it to hit "click click wait for my dinner".   I decided to order the SWISS CHALET Festive Special for dinner today because I was trying to figure out how to get some stuff done while still figuring out what I wanted to eat for dinner.

I wanted to go get Swiss Chalet for dinner yesterday but got distracted by the previous post of the case of the Exploding Pop Bottle.   So I have been craving the Festive Special for the past couple of days.  I love to get their Festive Special at least once every season.  I don't have big holiday meals so I don't get the works of stuffing, etc. and to make it all for just me is totally not worth the effort.

Reasons when it's worth getting take out:

1.  When you can get it a whole lot faster than if you made it yourself.  Saving time grocery shopping, prepping, cooking and cleaning up... which includes taking out the garbage and there's always garbage.

2.  When you are in the middle of doing something else and you are starving and can't wait to make something for yourself.

3.  When you are only one person and it would cost you triple the amount to go and get the ingredients to make what you ordered.

Today's example:

I was doing some serious Multi-tasking today.  I had a couple of loads of laundry going in the laundry room in my building while I was trying to do an online test to figure out what courses I should look into for a better career fit and then replying to emails from a friend overseas and talking to another friend while he was on his way out of town.  After I did all that I did a quick vacuum around the apartment and checked the rest of my social media.   It took me a whole 5 minutes online to click and order my Swiss Chalet dinner and it arrived in less than 40 minutes.   It would have taken me a whole lot longer just to cook the equivalent size piece of chicken.   Forget about even adding the stuffing.   I also ordered perogies instead of fries or potatoes.   It would have taken me 10 minutes just to boil the water to cook frozen perogies, although I wouldn't recommend getting the perogies as they are better made at home the way you like it.   But I also added a side salad as my side and I will have that for lunch tomorrow saving me having to figure out what to have for lunch tomorrow.   Win Win.

Order once eat twice.  Little effort and I didn't have to spend an hour at the grocery store and an hour cooking and an hour cleaning up and wasting a whole lot of extra food.

I would say the best time to order take out is when you want a lot of chinese food with different ingredients that would cost you too much to go out and buy individually and when the cooking process would take you longer to make yourself.

Not to say that you shouldn't cook at home because sometimes it is worth it.  My homemade roasted chicken blows Swiss Chalet chicken away in taste and moistness.   But during the week when you have limited time you have to decide what's more worth your time.... cooking or getting things done in a limited timeline.

The limited timeline won out today.   Dinner is done and no dishes in the sink.