Great Taste

Check out Margarito's Mexican in Byron

A Byron reader sent a lovely picture postcard of the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, with this tip on Mexican chow:

Dear Jay,

To complete your south-of-the-border dishes, you MUST include anything on the menu at Margarito's Mexican Restaurant, 403 Frontage Road N.E., Byron. Enjoy!

Pat Siljenberg

Byron

Believe me, it's on the list -- I live only a few miles away and it's been calling me ever since it opened...

King's peanut-butter burger is "my ultimate favorite'

In the Four Stars review, I jokingly referred to the peanut-butter burger at King's Place -- a disgusting culinary concept in theory, but I left open the possibility that it's pretty good. Here's a reader who says it is:

I just wanted to comment on your article about the best burgers. I just have to say that the disgusting peanut butter burger at Kings is actually my ultimate favorite and one of the 10 ten burgers ordered. I grew up in Miesville and have worked at King's since I was 13. I now living down here only work every other Sunday but I can guarantee you that is one awesome burger!
 
Nicole Weiss

Rochester, MN

'YUM! Enjoy your burger tasting!'

Here's a batch of great feedback on area burger dining -- pass along your tips. First of all, my appetite for good burgers will never be fully quenched, and also we'll do this again next spring, so we may as well continue building the list for next year.

Hi Jay,
I read the nominations for great burgers & have to add my favorite to the list - Famous Dave's.  They are one of the best kept secrets of the burger world.  The Dave's Favorite burger is delicious with the huge, juicy, grilled patty topped with Monterey Jack cheese, bacon & Dave's Rich & Sassy BBQ sauce all served on a tasty bun.  I've tried many burgers in Rochester but they just don't compare to Famous Dave's.  YUM!  Enjoy your burger tasting!
Lori S. from Rochester

+++++

Jay,
 
You may think that I am biased, but I promise you won’t be disappointed if you come up to Zumbrota and try the “Hodgey” Burger here at Zumbrota Golf Club.  This is a 1/3 lb. handmade seasoned patty, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, jalapenos and pepper jack cheese.  Give it a shot and you won’t regret it.
 
Will Lancaster
General Manager
PGA Professional
Zumbrota Golf Club
www.zumbrotagolfclub.com
(507)732-5817
 
"IF YOU THINK IT'S HARD TO MEET NEW PEOPLE, TRY PICKING UP THE WRONG GOLF BALL"  -  Jack Lemmon
 

I like Will's quote from Lemmon...it's especially true when you pick up the wrong ball in the fairway, since mine are typically in the rough.

++++

Jay,
 

I think a great place you should check out if you haven’t already is, HOUSE OF Coats in Coats along Hwy 52.   The Burgers are great, the Swaney is fantastic, however just their regular burger with a slice of raw onion is great.  A lot of SE MN residents stop there, I have run into people I know from Rochester to Mabel.   I think you should try it!
 
Jim

++++++

 Rec Bar & Grill in the Recreation Lanes bowling alley, Rochester -- THE BEST!

+++++++

Thanks for your article on a good place to get a burger but I just wanted to add another opinion and/or option.  If you haven't tried Roscoe's Bacon Double Cheeseburger, under $6.00, I think you are missing out!!  I believe they use two quarter pound burger patties and four slices of thick bacon.  Another favorite is the Roscoe's Deluxe California Burger (also for under $6.00) it has all the fixings and heck, why not go all out and add bacon to that!  These burgers and more are available at the original Roscoe's on 4th Street SE.  I hope that you will consider trying one of these burgers before making your vote!!  Taina

++++++

Last Tuesday when you wrote about the "Best Burgers" you mentioned the Eagle View in Minneiska.  I thought you should know you passed up the absolute best burgers in that area, bar none.  That place is Ginny's Rollin Inn in Rollingstone.  If you get the chance to try this place I know you will agree.  One note of caution, if you go and happen to be with one other person make sure you only order one serving of Fries as they give you a ton.  (Unless they have changed)
 
Jim Buchanan

+++++

Howdy
 
I found the cheese burger at Northern Heights Golf Course lunch room to be excellent.  Priced under $5.00 ....nice thick burger, great service and great view.
 
Bon Appetit
 
 
Tom Walsh CRS
Elcor Realty

+++++++
 
In my opinion the best BURGER in Rochester can be had at The RECREATION LANES BOWLING ESTABLISHMENT__give it a try.  VERA MAE

+++++++

I was told I can send you an e-mail for the restaurant with the best burgers.  My vote goes to Rebel's Rollin Inn in Rollingstone.  They are great tasting at a good price!!!  The burgers range from the classic cheeseburger to a Milly Burger with ham, bacon, cheese, and a friend egg to the Rebel burger with all the fixings - peppers, onions, mushrooms, jalepenos and cheese.  The patties are made from fresh ground beef from a local butcher shop, as well as the buns from the local bakery.  Please consider them for your best burgers.

Thank you!!!

Stephanie Heins

++++++++

f you are looking for the best burger in SE MN - visit Rebel's Rollin Inn in Rollingstone, MN.
 
I maybe a bit prejudice(since my daughter, Heather Bushee, owns this BAR & GRILL) - but I have back up to the fact that this is a true statement, with visitors coming from Rochester and all over SE MN to test this theory out.  No visitor to our establishment has been disappointed in the quality, the great flavor - nor does anyone leave hungry.  The portions are generous - with the best French Fries to accommodate the great burgers.
 
Respectfully
 
Sue Bushee

Four Stars of the Rochester-area burger world

Here's the Four Stars column from this week -- and I'll follow up shortly with a bushel-full of feedback and recommendations:

By Jay Furst

furst@postbulletin.com

Well, everyone, I tried. 

I did my very best to find a burger better than the ones served at Newt's, the downtown Rochester bar and grill that ALWAYS wins gold-medal burger awards in Rochester Magazine. By reputation, word-of-mouth and even comments from other restaurateurs, Newt's is the one to beat.

And nobody beat 'em this time, either. They're at the top of the heap of my Four Stars picks for May — four can't-fail places in all corners of southeastern Minnesota to find a great burger.

How do they do it? It's the meat, says co-owner Denise Villeneuve, along with great value and "nice atmosphere," which most fans of Newt's would say is an understatement.

"We grind our burger fresh daily, and the fresher it's ground, the better it is," says Denise, who has been around Newt's for more than 25 years, dating back to the days when she worked there for her dad. "We use high-quality ingredients, we present the food well at a good price — it's fast and comfortable, and of course, we have cold beer."

Burger lovers won't be surprised that King's Place in Miesville made the Four Stars list — King's is a landmark for bikers, Treasure Island gamblers and Red Wing-area locals. They have 53 burgers topped with everything from hot dogs and sauerkraut to peanut butter, and Hamm's beer to boot.

And it's no surprise that Chester's Kitchen & Bar at University Square made the list for great burgers, along with great everything-else.

But you might be surprised that Pappageorge (and by extension, Michaels, though only on the lunch menu) in downtown Rochester made the list. Pappageorge has an outstanding, steak-tasty burger, with the best, most flavorful beef we tasted.

Michael Pappas, co-owner and general manager of Michaels and Pappageorge, says the secret is the in-house butcher shop. "We only use freshly ground beef that we get from the trimming of prime to top choice steaks," he says. "This mixture is ground to at least a lean 80-20 balance, which gives us a unique, tightly textured burger with minimal fat." They also use an upright grated grill, which also drains fat while quickly searing the flavor, Michael says.

Here's what I was looking for in burgers to brag about this month:

• Top-quality, lean beef, preferably char-grilled and cooked to medium-rare — burgers really don't have to be greasy to be good, and food safety issues aside, no burger tastes good when cooked past medium-rare.

• Fresh veggies and imaginative toppings, but tastefully added, not just piled on.

• A fresh, credibly home-baked bun or Kaiser roll — no Wonder bread buns, please.

Here are a few of the near-misses for the Four Stars of burgers — I feel guilty that these didn't make the Final Four, but we'll do this again next May.

• The Southern Que Burger at the Bears Den Sports Bar and Eatery in Byron. It's a magnificent half-pounder piled high with smoky barbecued pork and cheddar cheese. A waitress told us the sauce was simply Sysco, but still, it's a great sandwich for $8.05, with terrific homemade beans and a fuller range of side dishes than most places, including wild rice.

• The black and bleu cajun burger ($7.95) at the Mill Street Tavern in Cannon Falls, a great little place tucked into a historic building across from the Cannon Valley Winery.

• The Hawaiian burger ($8.25) at Glynner's Pub in Rochester — if the grilled pineapple had been fresh rather than canned and if the teriyaki burger had been a little hotter when it hit the table, this would have been a Four Stars winner.

• The shrimp burger at Twigs Tavern & Grille, in the Best Western Soldiers Field — a burger topped with diced, sauteed shrimp, pepperjack and creamy cayenne sauce.

There are plenty more, and if you've been following my column for the past month, you have lots of ideas on where to find others. Four Stars winners get a handsome certificate suitable for framing and a handshake from handsome me.

Disagree with my picks? Nobody's perfect! Send me a note and I'll add it to the record in next Tuesday's Four Stars Feedback column.

Next month, we're on to sunny Mexico — with your help, I'll recommend the best south-of-the-border dishes I can find in southeastern Minnesota restaurants, from Owatonna to Winona, and from Goodhue County to the Iowa border.

That's a lot of ground to cover and I'll need your help. Look for that Four Stars column on June 29.

++++

Newt's Bar
216 1/2 First Ave. S.W., Rochester
289-0577
Ask anyone in Rochester who has the best burgers in town and most will say Newt's, and it's been that way for the better part of 30 years. It's tough to pick the best of Newt's dozen burgers, but I'm going with Todd's Burger ($8.95), one of the best concoctions I've ever tasted — a half-pound of fresh-ground chuck, topped with two fried eggs, bacon and American cheese, served on a Kaiser roll you can tell is fresh-baked, and perched atop a big basket of fries. Our waitress says Todd's is the staff favorite — and not just because it was invented by Todd Villeneuve, co-owner Denise's husband.
One other burger to try this summer, when you're feeling especially fit and you're prepared to work it off afterward: The Works Burger ($10.50), a 3/4-pounder truly smothered in cheese, crisscrossed with bacon and topped with the house bleu cheese dressing — a whole day's worth of calories in one delicious package.

King's Place
U.S. 61, Miesville
(651) 437-1418
There's a reason this place is legendary — it's one-of-a-kind. More than four dozen burgers, some of them at least theoretically disgusting (such as the peanut butter burger), make the menu a complex reading experience, but you'll quickly find your favorites. Mine was the Capture burger ($4.50 for the quarter-pound version, $7.25 for a half-pounder), with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. The bartender's favorite (and my wife's) was the Umpire, a horseradish-infused burger with bacon and pepperjack cheese ($4.95.)
The atmosphere is half the fun — the cobbled-together historic building has been a major stop on the road from Hastings to Red Wing since the Grant administration, and in its current form it's been a burger-and-beer landmark for a quarter-century. Just across the street is a lovely historic church and the Miesville Mudhens' ballpark.
All the bases are covered in Miesville, thanks to King's. As the menu says, "A King's burger is sure to leave a tasty impression." But beware — it's closed on Mondays.

Chester's Kitchen & Bar
University Square, 111 S. Broadway, Rochester
424-1211
Some burgers are exotic because of what's stacked on top, but Chester's plays around with flavors inside and out — the Brie Burger ($12) has creamy brie cheese tucked inside a perfectly cooked, half-pound black Angus patty and smeared with a lingonberry jam on top, with a dash of Dijon mustard on a fresh-based bun. Not to everyone's tastes, obviously, but this is easily the most creative and sophisticated burger I encountered.
Another winner is the Cowboy Burger ($11.50), a more conventional bacon burger but with a few twists, and choose the campfire beans as your accoutrement.

Pappageorge Taverna
15 S. Broadway, Rochester
288-2020
It's all about the beef at Pappageorge and Michaels, the conjoined restaurants on South Broadway. The burgers aren't flashy — you only get two options to choose from, with cheese or barbecue sauce, in Pappageorge, and the Michaels lunch menu gives you only one option, the bacon cheddar burger — but the burger itself is the star of the show, a half-pound patty that for all the world tastes like a good, lean steak. It's also a great deal, at $7.95 on the Pappageorge side and $8.50 in Michaels, with garnish and fries or fruit. Rochester Chamber guy John Wade told me these are pretty much the best burgers in town, and he's right.

New cookbook on steak by Chicago chef Rick Tramonto

Here's an interview with Rick Tramonto, including some background on his latest published work, "Steak with Friends: At Home, with Rick Tramonto."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/claire-bidwell-smith/chef-rick-tramonto-on-his_b_557893.html?ir=Food

Tramonto's culinary abilities have proved to be wide ranging. In the late 90s, Tramonto and pastry chef Gail Gand opened Tru restaurant just a few steps off posh North Michigan Avenue. The new Tru was one jaw-droppingly ethereal experience: Meticulously prepared, gorgeous plates served in a decadent ambiance ideally timed with the booming real estate/internet era. 'Tru-ly," getting a table reservation was a feat.

After that serious foodie high jump (which is a going concern; visit http://www.trurestaurant.com), it seems strange to find Tramonto with this family-oriented cookbook. But the chef was also part of suburban Brasserie T, a large operation that catapulted burgers and fries--along with the rest of its casual French-American fare--to the sublime. In 2005 he opened Tramonto's Steak & Seafood in Wheeling, Illinois, among other ventures.

Tramonto has it all; he's a versatile, prolific, world class chef--with longevity. Great Taste looks forward to picking up a copy of his newest cookbook.  

Great Taste loves....

Kitchen Gardeners International!

KGI is an organization that makes the gardening-cooking combo everything that it should be....In other words, one of life's great pleasures.  So you can learn to eat out of your yard (or patio), or get better at it.

Here is the website: http://kitchengardeners.org/ 

Discover horseradish harvesting.

http://kitchengardeners.org/questions/how-and-when-do-you-harvest-and-store-horseradish

You think dandelions are weeds? Ha!

http://kitchengardeners.org/recipes/wilted-dandelion-greens-salad

But here's the video that made GT's day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKlauRA7ugI&feature=channel 

No worries if you aren't interested in horseradish, dandelions or compost. There's plenty more to dig into. Check it out!

I DO have a dream job!

Here's a note from a reader regarding our Four Stars burger hunt -- look for the Feedback column in Tuesday's P-B and the Four Stars winners in the Tuesday, May 25, edition:

Sometimes I envy your position, especially when it comes to sampling food around the region! Even better, you get to give yourself your own assignments. A true dream job ;)

Burgers are an especially sensitive subject for me. I love burgers, but the only place besides home where I have found a good one locally is Newts. My criteria for a great burger, besides being tasty, is deceivingly simple:

Juicy, medium-rare (although I will accept medium)

(Sorry, food-safety people -- I won't! Must be medium-rare...)

Home-made (style at least) bun.
Preferably char-broiled (but I allow for exceptional pan frying)
Toppings are a bonus but I am partial to blue cheese and bacon

Unfortunately many a server will tell you one of 3 things: 'It's against the law to make medium rare' (it's not); 'We only do medium well or well' (implying to me that they do not grind their own meat); or (except Newts) 'How would you like that done' (which is only to humor you while your burger is prepared medium well).

It has gotten to the point that I order chicken or appetizers rather than risking a scene with an over-done burger.

Frankly, I would be extremely disappointed in a burger survey that accepts 'Medium-well' as well made burger. There is no skill nor pride in medium-well. If you expect medium-well or well, then every fast food franchise in the country qualifies

My belief is that if you or I care to spend the time and money to sit down for a burger,  we should be able to demand that it be prepared as we ask, with fresh, wholesome ingredients (as wholesome as red-meat can be anyway ;)

You would be doing all of us burger-lovers a true service if you can find the places that actually serve medium-rare with pride instead of fear. If per-chance you personally have an aversion to anything pink in the middle, then I think your survey would be woefully incomplete, and if your tasting team lacks the necessary depth to suss out the sous I would be forced to volunteer my services to help you discern what a burger should be.

Gustatorally yours,
Dan

Check out this Minnesota radio podcast website about....

Good local food, what else?

http://www.localiciousradio.com

Great Taste now dreams for a radio podcast website called "Uff-da-licious."

Monique Hooker offers cooking classes in La Crosse

Monique Jamet Hooker, author of the divine "Cooking with the Seasons: A Year in My Kitchen" cookbook, is sharing her vast knowledge and talent in classes at Sideboard Fine Gourmet Kitchenware, La Crosse, Wis. 

Check out the schedule here: http://www.sideboardkitchenware.com/cooking.html

More about Monique Hooker:

http://www.moniquescuisine.com/aboutmonique.php

Spring is time to forage for food

Here are upcoming workshops/events about gathering wild food:

http://northfield.org/events/wild-edibles-spring

http://wildfoodsummit.org/?p=160