Review: Burger Bar

Hubert Keller has got to be one busy man.

He has six restaurants in the U.S., has a PBS show named “Secrets of a Chef” and took third place on Bravo’s Top Chef’s Masters this past year.

And, if that wasn’t enough, last week the Michelin Guide gave Hubert's Fleur de Lys (in San Francisco’s Financial District) one star meaning "a very good restaurant in its category" - in this case, French cuisine.

To give you some 2010 Michelin stats, within San Francisco (including Napa Valley and Silicon Valley) only 34 restaurants received one star, four received two stars (meaning they are "excellent cooking and worth a detour") and only one restaurant in Napa (The French Laundry) held on to three stars (meaning its "exceptional cuisine and worth the journey").

But, back to Keller…

Last week, he also opened his third Burger Bar located in San Francisco Macy's at Union Square.

As you approach Macy's it's funny to see that the chain-Cheesecake Factory is now going head-to-head with Keller's Burger Bar - I have a feeling that the CF will be moving out soon…

After putting in our name, my party of two had to wait 45 minutes for a table on this busy Saturday night. Yet, the wait was bearable since we were able to shop in Macy's and visit the surrounding stores in Union Square.

As we entered the small restaurant you are greeted by the bar, which had tons of people huddled, drinking and watching sports on the flat screen TV’s.

We were seated in a small corridor that led to the main dining hall.

The Burger Bar is a "bar," but has an elegant feel to it with its tasteful and simple décor – helping you forget that you’re just a few feet away from the Macy's home goods department.

The menu is strictly all burgers! Well, there are a few chicken/salmon burgers and salads, but why would you order that if you were going here?

Simple burgers start at $9.75 and for an additional 75 cents you can get extra toppings. But then…there are the "Chef's Burgers" - which are "gourmet" with interesting toppings and combinations – lobster and asparagus on a burger? Or, how ‘bout Kobe beef with foie gras? Yup, all covered on this menu.

I ordered the Hubert Keller Burger -- buffalo beef, blue cheese, sautéed spinach, caramelized onions on a ciabatta roll served with a side of shoestring french fries. Let me tell you…worth every penny.

The beef was cooked to a pink medium – and was grilled to perfection – tender, juicy and not burnt. The ciabatta roll was fresh since it wasn't crunchy and hard. And, the sautéed spinach with onions complimented nicely with the strong blue cheese crumbles.

For those that don't like blue cheese, you probably won't like this burger since you need to enjoy the strong pungent taste. But I LOVED it.

The best part about this burger – it was perfectly seasoned. It wasn’t a burger that needed to be drenched in ketchup. In fact, it is ready as is.

Warning - don't order this if you don't have gum.

But - what made this experience better was Hubert himself was working at Burger Bar. He was actually plating desserts and made his way into the kitchen numerous times.

He stopped by our table three times - introducing himself, taking a photo with yours truly (see picture) and then gave us mini-milkshake samples -- one was a mint chocolate chip with strawberry swirls; the other was peanut butter chocolate with chunks of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Both were delicious and the presentation was awesome!

Overall, the Burger Bar is a wonderful gourmet “bar” that isn’t to be looked-over. Be adventurous and order something totally out of the ordinary. You won’t regret it.

5 out of 5 bytes for spot on burgers that offered unique combinations, with flavors that blended nicely. And, kudos to Hubert for spending time in the kitchen and plating some desserts and drinks himself!

Information:
Name: Burger Bar
Address: 251 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
URL: http://www.fleurdelyssf.com/
Pricing: Black Angus Beef Burger $9.95; Chef Burgers range from $12-60
Byte Rating: 5 out of 5

Recipe: Homemade Apple Pie

The holidays are near.

Which means that aside from the red holiday cups from Starbucks, it's that time of year to enjoy homemade baked goods.

As a child, I primarily enjoyed the holidays because of the homemade cookies, hot chocolate and hot apple cider.

Then one thing changed my food life. One word for you: PIE.

Pie is the one food item that I am pretty sure I could never get sick of. With so many varieties - apple, chocolate, pumpkin, cold, hot, crust, crumbly top - the options are endless.

One holiday season, I got the urge to bake my own pie, from scratch.

Success!

Now, not to brag, but homemade pie crust is so much better than store-bought frozen guck. Bottom line, there is no comparison, you have to try it yourself.

Below, is my updated recipe (I've slightly altered the one from the Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook) for homemade Apple Pie with double crust. It's pretty delish and appropriate for those holiday parties and dinners that are right around the corner.

Bon Appetite!

Pasty for Double-Crust Pie

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2/3 cup of shortening
9 or 10 tablespoons cold water (carbonated water works well)

In a medium bowl stir together flour, salt and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening until the pieces are pea sized and the shortening pieces are covered in flour.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Place 8 tablespoons of cold water into the middle and use a fork to toss flour onto the flour mixture. Begin mixing the flour mixture together using the fork. If there are still dry pieces of flour, add the remaining water, tablespoons at a time.

As the dough begins to form, begin to knead the dough with your hands. Place onto a lightly floured surface.

Separate the dough into two pieces. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out one piece onto the floured surface, into a 9-inch round circle.

When dough is flattened into the 9-inch circle, fold the dough in half and then again (making a quarter/triangle), which will make it easier to transfer onto a pie plate. Cut off the edges which hang over the pie plate.

Using a fork, poke holes in the pie shell making sure the pie does not get air bubbles when cooking.

Set aside.

Since this recipe is for a double crusted pie, roll out the other half of the dough into a 9-inch round circle and set aside.

Apple Pie Filling

6 cups of thinly sliced Golden Delicious Apples (aim for smaller than a quarter inch)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
¾ cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of flour
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

After peeling and slicing the apples into very thin pieces mix the apples with the lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir together until the apples are fully coated.

Let the mixture set for about 10 minutes.

Take the apple mixture and fill the pie crust with the mixture. Do not include the liquid that may have built up at the bottom of the apple mixture (when the pie cooks, the apples will let off a lot of moisture in itself).

Place the second rolled pie crust on top of the pie and create a fluted edge using your fingers.

In order to avoid burnt edges, wrap foil around the sides of the pie crust.

Place the pie into a 370 degree oven for 40-minutes. Take out the pie and remove the foil. Place the pie back into the oven for another 25-30 minutes, until you see that the pie has started to bubble.

Remove the pie from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for at least an hour.

If you cut into the pie to early the liquid that the apples let off will not have set and your pie will be runny.

* Note: Fruit pies can stand at room temperature for up to 24-hours before being refrigerated.

Yelp Eats! Special Deals October 5 - 11, 2009

For those of you living anywhere in the Bay Area - you're in luck!

San Jose, San Francisco and the East Bay all have restaurants participating in the Yelp Eats! For one week, participating restaurants will be offering a special menu when you mention the "Yelp Eats Menu." 

For $35 dollars (per person) you'll get a three course meal (the price does not include tax or tip). Basically each course comes out to about $11.66 per person.


Yelp advises to call ahead of time and make reservations.

Participating South Bay restaurants are:

California Cafe (Los Gatos)
CITRUS (Hotel Valencia, Santana Row)
Ginger Cafe (Sunnyvale)
Junnoon (Palo Alto)
MacArthur Park (Palo Alto)
Marqs in Menlo (Menlo Park)
Mezcal (San Jose)
Mosaic (San Jose)
Moss Beach Distillery (Half Moon Bay)
Piacere (San Carlos)
Quattro (Four Seasons Hotel, E. Palo Alto)
Red Lantern (Redwood City)
Rumi (San Carlos)
Sakoon (Mountain View)
The Red Crane (Cupertino)

Additional Details:

San Francisco restaurants: http://www.yelp.com/events/san-francisco-yelp-eats
East Bay restaurants: http://www.yelp.com/events/oakland-yelp-eats

Review: Teske’s Germania – A trip to Germany in San Jose

Omp Pa Pa or Omp Pa Flaw?

Note: My review may be a bit biased since I was accompanied by my sister who lived in Germany while studying abroad. Therefore, she was a harsh critic and knew exactly what we should be looking for when eating.

Contrary to popular belief, Oktoberfest is a sixteen day festival that takes place at the tail end of September. My sister studied abroad in Bonn, Germany two years ago, so naturally she wanted to ring in Oktoberfest by ordering some authentic German beer and enjoying some meat and potatoes.

We decided to venture to downtown San Jose and visit Germania, a restaurant that claims to have the best German food in San Jose. As we walked in, the wood paneling on the walls and customers walking around in authentic Lederhosen and Dirndl outfits made me feel like I had just entered a restaurant in Germany (or, left the somewhat sketch part of San Jose we were in).

We each began with a half pint of the house Oktoberfest beer. Absolutely refreshing – very hoppy and a medium beer.

My sister and I decided to order both an appetizer and split an entrée since everything coming out of the kitchen seemed enormous (yes, I think the group next to us had a whole turkey that the entire party shared).

We started with the German Potato Pancakes – served with a side of applesauce. They were basically grated potatoes formed to look like a pancake – imagine a hash brown patty. Some of these pancakes were good and others were overly burnt and too crunchy for my liking. In Germany, these pancakes are supposed to be lightly fried and actually look like pancake – golden brown. After scraping off the crisp these pancakes weren’t bad. And, the applesauce was a nice sweet side that I never thought would have went well.

For our entrée, we settled on the Oktoberfest sampler. Lots of meat, potato salad and sauerkraut. Bleh, writing this makes me revisit my chest pains because our plate (see picture) was topped with five hotdogs. Here’s how each panned out (from far left to the right):

1. Too gross, I only ate one bite


2. Similar to a calbasa sausage


3. Basically a normal hotdog – pretty good with the hot mustard sauce


4. Tasted like a warm slim Jim – actually not bad, but left me with a bad aftertaste all night


5. Best one out of all of them since this one was similar to a Jimmy Dean sausage

The potato salad was served warm (authentic for German food) but was bland and also had a gross aftertaste (mixed with the other gross dog aftertaste left me a mess) – I only took a few bites.

The sauerkraut was surprisingly good. I typically hate sauerkraut since most people or places have serve it overly pickled making it taste sour. Instead, this sauerkraut had some great flavors as evident by the whole peppers and bay leaf still roaming around in it.

Overall – I’m not sure if we just ordered the wrong food, but it was sadly a huge disappointment. The atmosphere was awesome – but the food didn’t leave me wanting to visit Germany (or come back to Germania for that matter).

3 out of five bytes. If I do come back, it will only be to drink the beer and visit the outside beer gardens (that also have live music if you visit on a Friday or Saturday night).

Information:
Name: Teske’s Germania
Address: 255 N. First Street & Devine, San Jose, CA 95113
URL: http://www.teskes-germania.com/
Pricing: Beer: 1/2-liter is $5, 1-liter is $9; Appetizers are $6-14; Entrees start at around $20 per dish (servings are huge, so most people split)
Byte Rating: 3 out of 5