Burr Trail Outpost & Grill – Boulder, UT
What gives this restaurant a place of distinction on TMCCFHVW is the fact that they serve not only a vegan sandwich that I would happily eat, but also one of the best cheeseburgers that I have ever had. The vegan sandwich is set off by two condiments: a curried green tomato relish and an onion marmalade. Normally, I would find the presence of curried green tomato relish to be a warning, a sign that the vegetarians in the kitchen were running amok with the spices to compensate for an umami-less dish; here, however, it perfectly complements the roasted vegetables in the sandwich. Using onion marmalade (essentially, caramelized onions) as a sandwich topping is a brilliant stroke, providing the same heft and tang as good aioli but without those pesky animal products getting in the way.
But enough about the vegan dish. Let’s talk about the cheeseburger. I got the bare-bones version: meat and cheese, no curried tomatoes, no rococo embellishments. The meat was juicy, tender, perfectly seared. The bun was perfectly sized (and that, for some reason, is a rarity with most burger establishments), soft but just strong enough to keep from disintegrating completely before the last bite. In fact, the burger only had one problem: The meat was unsalted. Salt, as my readers all know, is the single most important ingredient in the kitchen. Good beef can be served with just salt, but it can’t be served without it. (Alas, it seems like a well-seasoned hamburger patty and a tender hamburger patty might be mutually exclusive entities. Some charity should award a million dollars to the enterprising chef that can resolve this conundrum.)
Samantha’s – Silver Spring, MD
The beauty of Samantha’s is that it’s just a restaurant: Not a chain; not a temple of haute cuisine or molecular gastronomy; not a bistro, gastropub or trattoria. It’s just a restaurant, and a damn fine one at that.
It’s perhaps fortunate that it’s as hard to get to as it is: Tucked in the corner of a busy intersection, with a parking lot that holds about five and a half cars, you have to plan ahead to get there. And that’s all for the good, because it might otherwise be unbearably crowded. As it is, there’s always a steady stream of customers from all ages and demographics: Large family parties, couples going on dates, parents with small children in tow.
They’re not here for the decor, which is pleasant, if unremarkable. They’re here for the, for lack of a better term, pan-Latino cuisine. There are the usual Mexican staples (tacos, burritos, etc.), pupusas for the neighborhood Salvadoreans, Argentine-style steaks with chimichurri and many of the other foods that you might associate with a Latin American country. I won’t vouch for the authenticity of any particular national specialty, but everything I’ve had there has been delicious, no small feat for a restaurant with a menu this broad and prices so reasonable. Their cilantro-and-jalapeno-laced ceviche might be the perfect summer appetizer, refreshing and bracing with lime. My Lovely Vegetarian Wife got a spinach burrito, which reminded me of a giant, overstuffed cannelloni (which is a very, very good thing): It may have contained more vitamins than we had eaten in the previous week on our road trip. As for me, I can’t ever resist the fajitas al carbon. I mean, seriously—is there anything in the world more delicious than skirt steak served with flour tortillas, with a side of frijoles a la charra?
I didn’t think so either.
Papavero – Madison, WI
I was admittedly a little crestfallen when my friend suggested that we go to Papavero, an Italian restaurant, instead of a purveyor of traditional Wisconsin food. Secretly, I had been hoping for some place where I could get bratwurst, fried cheese curds and a PBR. Wanting to be a gracious guest, however, I yielded to what I noted to be my host’s rather unrestrained enthusiasm for the prospect of dinner at Papavero.
Boy, am I glad I kept my mouth shut.
It was nothing less than one of the best Italian meals of my life. There was an appetizer of burrata, which really should be all you need to hear to know how good this place was. I can’t resist sharing a little more, though: The antipasto misto di verdure, which had the most fantastically decadent braised Swiss chard, doused in butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano. The textbook trofie con pesto Genovese, which I gladly bartered with my friend for some of his perfectly cooked hanger steak with arugula. The artisanal cocktails, which were so much better than they needed to be at an Italian restaurant. The after-dinner espresso and excellent selection of grappa (there are few things sadder than discovering that an Italian restaurant at which you have just enjoyed an abundant repast has neither an espresso machine nor grappa).
And it was a damn shame that my Lovely Vegetarian Wife wasn’t at this restaurant because, out of the five pasta dishes on offer that night, four were vegetarian. (And they were all serious dishes—no pasta primavera nonsense.) A request of all Italian restaurants: Since vegetarians don’t eat your secondi offerings of meat and fish, can you please follow Papavero’s lead and make sure that there are several vegetarian choices among the pastas?
Leave a comment