Category: Features

Revisit – Mojoe’s Burger Joint (Raleigh, NC)

How many times have you said to yourself, “I could go for a burger.” Well, the media, backed by the people at the Mushroom Council, has come to demonize red meat. If burgers are so bad for us, we should make our times spent with them count. We shouldn’t just go to the nearest fast food place to satiate our desire for ground cow meat.

We should go to a place like Mojoe’s Burger Joint. A place that cares. A place that serves up consistent quality. A place that uses the Keep It Simple Stupid method of burgering. A place that deserves to be TSB Certified.

Michael’s rating: I knick them a bit for poor bacon placement. When in rarified air such as this, one has to nitpick. I give them a 4.75.

Don’s rating: Mojoe’s has the consistency ideal down pat. A good burger at a good value. 4.5

WRAL Out and About Voter’s Choice – Editorial

So, the good folks at WRAL Out and About have put together a “best of” list for people to vote on. It is a lot of things to vote on, so make sure you give yourself some time if you wish to have your virtual voice heard.

Here are the choices for burgers:

  • Bad Daddy’s
  • Burger 21
  • Clouds Brewing
  • Five Guys
  • Tribeca Tavern

Are you kidding me?

To be fair, we haven’t been to Clouds Brewing, yet. The other four have no business being on a list of best places for burgers in the Triangle. Thankfully, there is a write in vote.

I beg you to please write in Al’s Burger Shack or Mojoe’s Burger Joint. Do not let an average burger establishment be proclaimed as having the area’s best burger. We are better than that, people.

WRAL Out and About Voter’s Choice

Revisit – The Players’ Retreat (Raleigh, NC)

We here at the Straight Beef decided to look way, way back, to our first review, The Players’ Retreat, and visit them again. This time it was Dr. Michael Marino and, me, the Reverend Donald Corey, putting the PR to the test, a re-test if you will. If the PR came through then it would receive the first Straight Beef Certification Sticker ever given, a coveted culinary honor.

Michael: I could go for the easy joke here. The Players Retreat in Raleigh is basically on NC State’s campus. In ordering the Wolfpack Burger, I could say that the Wolfpack offered a lot of promise but didn’t deliver — much like their basketball team. I won’t though. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. The Wolfpack Burger delivers a solid performance. A simple tasty patty on an old school sesame seed bun. The mustard, slaw, and chili complemented and did not overpower the experience. Even after all these years, the PR still delivers a great burger. I give it a 4.25 this time.

Don: I went with the similarly constructed Pete Burger, consisting of chili, mustard and onions (I have left off the cheese on this list as they left it off my burger). The lack of cheese was a disappointment in the overall occasion as it is rare that I will even consider a burger without it. But to the shocked crowd, I ate and enjoyed it, even collecting a bit of extra chili in my beard for a later trip down memory lane. My rating is 4.0. No cheese really hurt me, though.

After six years, The Players’ Retreat still cut the mustard and earned their Straight Beef Certification.

Print

Overall rating (including our original ratings): 4.10

#23 out of 67

Renegade Review: Tailend Restaurant (St. Andrews, Scotland, UK)

My wife and I found ourselves in St. Andrews, Scotland, UK. Our tour guide told us to go to Tailend if we wanted fish and chips. Tailend was listed by the National Fish and Chip Awards (yes, that is a thing) as one of the top 10 places in the UK to get fish and chips. I stared at the menu with a genuine dilemma. Here I am in Scotland. Who knows when I will be able to get back here? The haddock used in the fish and chips was probably caught in the North Sea which was about 300 yards from this restaurant. Yet, there it was, staring at me from the menu.

6OZ BEEF BURGER W ONION RINGS & BBQ SAUCE

Scotland's famous burger and chips.

Scotland’s famous burger and chips.

Do I order a burger and give up the chance at eating what would probably be the best fish and chips I would have ever eaten? Thankfully, my clear-headed wife came to my rescue. She could see my struggle. “Let’s get the large order of fish and chips and the burger. Then, we can split both.”

I knew I married her for a reason.

The medium well patty sat atop arugula and fine onion straws. What I thought was ketchup for the chips was actually the BBQ sauce. The Scots may make tremendous fish and chips, but they don’t know shite about barbecue sauce. At any rate, once I rebuilt the burger with the toppings actually on top and slathered the bun with the spiced ketchup, it was solid. The meat was tasty and fresh but nothing special. I give it a 3.5.

If you find yourself at the Tailend, get the fish and chips.

 

The Straight Beef Podcast #26

Don and Michael look back on 2015 and ahead to what we have in store for 2016. They not only look at what TSB will be in 2016 but the broader market trends.

Download our latest episode directly from Libsyn. Subscribe via iTunes or Google Play.

You can also find all of our content on the go with the TSB app.

Here are the links we refer to in the podcast:

Five Burger Trends for 2016

Five Burger Trends to Watch in 2015

16 Burger Concepts to Watch in 2016

 

The Straight Beef Podcast #25

Don and Michael discuss how your burger got to your plate. They go back thousands of years to the beginnings of the domesticated cow.

Here are the links we refer to during the episode.

http://archaeology.about.com/od/domestications/qt/cattle.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle

http://io9.com/5897169/dna-reveals-that-cows-were-almost-impossible-to-domesticate

http://www.wired.com/2012/03/cattle-ox-origins/

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/index.html#l-m

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/limousin

http://gearpatrol.com/2012/10/29/mob-knowing-beef-cattle-breeds/

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Google Play. You can also download the episode directly from Libsyn.

The TSB app is now live.

If you love TSB’s content but need an easier way to access its content, then you need to download the official TSB app. It is available for iOS and Android.

The app does have a feature the site does not. It has an interactive map of every burger place we have reviewed including the renegade reviews.

The app is free to download and ad-free. If we do have ads in the future (this stuff ain’t free,) we will not use a generic ad network. We’re still working that out.

 

Download_on_the_App_Store_Badge_US-UK_135x40en_generic_rgb_wo_60

 

Renegade Review: Burger 21 (Tampa, FL)

I found myself with my family in Tampa, FL, hankering for a burger. My brother-in-law suggested heading to Burger 21, another contender in the “fast casual” boutique burger category. What I didn’t realize at the time is that there is a location in Cary. Perhaps The Straight Beef will hit it for an official review.

Burger 21 is essentially The Loop Pizza Grill except its focus is on burgers instead of pizza. Granted The Loop serves decent burgers, but I digress.

I ordered The Bacon Cheesy, a standard bacon cheeseburger on a brioche bun. I was pretty impressed with the outcome. The machine pressed patty was nicely seasoned without being peppery. It was also cooked to a perfect medium. Cooking burgers to medium is a fairly uncommon thing even amongst supposed fine burger purveyors. Getting it in a chain burger joint was a very pleasant surprise. The bacon was evenly spread and melted within the cheese, a nice touch which showed care in the creation. If only they had shown as much care with the rest of the burger build.

burger21

Tomato? Come on out. It’s OK. Don’t hide. I won’t bite. Wait…

Proper burger architecture is critical. With this burger, however, the lettuce, tomato, and red onion were wedged in between the patty and the bottom bun, a fatal flaw. The poor construction wilted the lettuce and kept the onions and tomato far away from the generously applied mayo on the top bun. This made for a slimy mess of a bottom bun by the time I was done, dragging down what was otherwise a fine burger.  There is a reason lettuce, tomato, onions, etc. are called toppings and not bottomings.

With that caution in mind, and if you don’t mind rebuilding your burger, head to a nearby Burger 21. The small chain is a welcome addition to the boutique burger category and worthy of a full Straight Beef review in the near future. — MM

The TSB app

Tom Petty had it right. It is the hardest part.

Tom Petty had it right. It is the hardest part.

We have been hard at work developing an app for burger connoisseurs on the go. All of the information you have come to love about The Straight Beef will be found in our new app. The coolest feature is a list of our reviews plotted on a map, so you can find a burger where ever you are. We’re still awaiting approval on the iOS and Google Play app stores.

The app will be free to download and free from any ads for now. We’ll be sure to let everyone know when it is available.

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