Sitting Fat and Happy: A Trip to Fat Cow

by Drew Broussard

After a crazy weekend including preview dinners for the James Beard House and viewing parties for Deep Fried America, team Bite and Booze decided that it was high time to for a "treat yo self" lunch filled with one of our favorite foods: burgers!

Following a little bit of deliberation, we decided that we would take our hungry stomachs over to Fat Cow on Highland Road in order to indulge on our beefy cravings. When I walked into Fat Cow, I couldn’t help but be impressed by their huge selection of burgers and burger styles. First off, you can choose a beef, chicken, mushroom, or salmon patty to be the base of your burger. Secondly, the sheer amount of specialty toppings and combinations you can top off your burger with is deliciously staggering. All in all, there are hundreds of flavor combinations that you could come up with.

Fat Cow on Highland Road.

While a good sandwich is the fundamental pillar for a burger joint, it always helps to be supported by some tasty side items. So, for the sake of food research, we got an order of parmesan duck fat fries, onion straws, and a “Banana Stand,” shake (Arrested Development, anyone?) to go with our meals.

Onion Straws go great on or with your burger!

When we got our food, we wasted little time enjoying our burgers’ juicy goodness. My Baja Burger was topped with pepper jack, salsa, avocado, banana peppers, lettuce and a smoked poblano pepper sour cream. The toppings were light and fresh enough to be perfect compliments to the patty. The acidity from the peppers really stood out, and my mouth was never scorched thanks to the sour cream spread. It's a great summertime burger.

Baja Burger is the perfect summertime grub.

Jay’s Wentworth burger took on a completely different flavor profile. His patty was topped with ham, brie, apples and a red onion marmalade. Those are some bold flavors to put on a burger, but the risk seemed to pay off. The melted brie and the sweetness of the apple made this burger so unique that you’d be hard pressed to find something similar to it in the area.

The Wentworth Burger will take you from the Mississippi to the Seine.

Chuck P., our Product Czar and Saucer of Sales, enjoyed the 120 Burger. This sandwich was strong with flavors, as it had gruyere, bacon, caramelized onions and a horseradish mayonnaise. Chuck seemed to really dig the mayo because it packed a punch! Combining that flavor with the gruyere helped transport this burger to the specialty category.

The 120 Burger brings it with Horseradish Mayo.

While all of these sandwiches have been pretty adventurous in the toppings department, Fat Cow still delivered with a classic burger staple. Chef Aimee Tortorich got a Smoke Stack Burger that she said nailed all of the key components. It had a good barbecue sauce, succulent bacon and crispy fried onions that did a great job of adding texture.

And while we all chowed down on the greasy goodness that was in front of us, Blair, our Chief Confusion Coordinator, took the lighter route as she enjoyed the Catahoula Cobb salad with grilled salmon on top. This is a bleu cheese-lovers dream, having both crumbles and a vinaigrette with bleu mixed in. Blair made note of how well the salmon was cooked, and that all of the flavors really complimented each other.

The Catahoula Cobb with Grilled Salmon is a bleu cheese lover's dream.

And of course we didn't forget about those sides! Fat Cow’s renowned duck fat and Parmesan fries did not disappoint. They were cheesy, savory, and just crispy enough. These guys were truly some top-notch fries. I'm getting hungry again just thinking about them. The onion straws were a great side as well. I found them incredibly addicting, as they were so thinly cut that you could keep on eating away at them. They were also a great little additional topping to my burger. The Banana Stand shake was another hit. While I didn't have much room left to sample a milkshake, Jay took the sacrifice and said that it was a solid summer dessert. It's hard to go wrong with a chocolate, cream and banana trifecta.

Parmesan Duck Fat Fries, need we say more?

It didn't take long for the fries became sparse, the sips turned slurps and we were reaching the end of our lunchtime burger-fest. After a few moments of silent digestion reflection, we all came away incredibly satisfied.

Regardless of toppings, we all commended the beef patty we had on our burgers. It was very juicy and had a steak like flavor that isn't present in your average burger. We also gave a nod to the bun, which we found to be slightly sweet and buttery enough to keep the sandwich from ever drying out. It might take about a week before I feel the rumbling pangs of hunger in my stomach, but I know that it won’t be long before I return to Fat Cow.

One more for good measure!

Hollywood Casino's Bourbon Dinner

The funny thing about bourbon dinners is that while they are supremely delicious, you don't always remember the fine details of the evening.  The Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge had a bourbon dinner a little while back and I had the pleasure of attending.  I knew the night would be good when they were passing out whiskey sours and mint juleps upon arrival!

What I don't remember is exactly which bourbons were in each drink.  I know I had some Bookers, Bakers, Knob Creek and more... but I can't tell you which bourbons are photographed above.  I looked for notes and couldn't find that either.  Ah, bourbon, how I love you!

We had a salad.  It was, well, as salad.  There were some mixed greens.  And sprigs of thyme.  I recall the salad being really good, but I was far more concerned with the bourbon.  Oops!

I did mention that there was more bourbon, right?  This reminds me of my time on MasterChef! 

Okay, I do remember the steak.  This was actually a buffalo ribeye topped with a garlic and bourbon infused butter!  The tender buffalo meat caressed my tongue as it partied with the lingering bourbon in my mouth.  The grilled endive that accompanied the steak really stood out as well.  I was a happy man after this course... I just needed more bourbon!

We finished the meal with a bourbon milkshake and a chocolate raspberry cake.  I really can't argue with that.  At all.  The shake had a great flavor that tasted of bourbon but not so much that it stung.  

I know when I left this meal I had a big smile on my face.  Every dish pleased the palate and even more importantly, the bourbon reduced my inhibitions enough to go play a little blackjack.  I was way up until I had a huge hand that I had to split and double down on... then I got robbed.  Oh well.  Such is life in a casino, but at least I had some tasty bourbon to drown my gambling sorrows!

Vegas Baby, Vegas: Hubert Keller's Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay

There are two ways to travel.  The first option is to plan everything out, be sure of all the details, buy all your tickets and passes ahead of time, and stress out when anything veers off course.  The second kind of traveler does not make plans that are set in stone, chooses not to worry about minor details, does not purchase anything ahead of time, and enjoys going wherever the wind blows, even if it might be unexpected and off the beaten path.  I, obviously, am the second kind.  I hadn't planned on a night in Las Vegas after my trip to San Francisco but, that being said, I certainly did not complain about it!

After leaving San Francisco, Eusebio and I flew out of Oakland to Las Vegas where we were supposed to catch a flight an hour later to New Orleans.  The problem occured because we were flying stand-by and the flight was already overbooked.  We basically didn't have a chance to catch that flight to New Orleans, which happened to be the final flight of the day, so we were stuck in Vegas for the night.  Oops!

I pulled out the laptop and used Kayak.com to find a cheap hotel room in Las Vegas.  If you are a fan of Priceline, Hotels.com, Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz, you need to try Kayak.  It searches all of them for you at once and compares the prices!  Apparently it isn't very hard to find a cheap room in Vegas on a random Sunday night in November!  We booked a room at the Excalibur hotel and casino for a whopping $31 and carried on with our business.  Our checked bags were already on their way to New Orleans so we took our carry ons, got in a shuttle to The Strip, and started reciting quotes from Swingers such as "Vegas Baby, Vegas!" and "You're so money".  What a great film.

We checked into Excalibur and found ourselves with a renewed energy and substantial hunger.  After doing a quick internet and Urbanspoon search, there was one obvious choice for us within walking distance and affordable price range: Hubert Keller's Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay!

Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino

Everything in Vegas is built on such a grand scale that it is really hard to describe what it is like to walk around all the glorious hotels and casinos on The Strip.  Mandalay Bay stands tall among the casinos with its iconic building inviting patrons into its massive wings.  Each individual casino exists as a city in itself with more to do than one could find in most entire American towns.  Nestled inside the walls of Mandalay Bay sits the Burger Bar, where Eusebio and I stopped in for a bite and booze.

Hubert Keller's Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay

My Beer Selection at the Burger Bar

We took a seat at the bar and ordered samplers of splendid suds.  From left to right, my beer choices included: Bitch Creek ESB, Dogfish Head 90 Min IPA, Primo Premium Hawaiian Lager, Pyramid Snow Cap, Sin City Amber Lager, Monsoon Double IPA, and New Belgium 2 Below.  Every single brew tasted terrific on my lips and quenched my thirst with great glee.  The Dogfish Head 90 Min IPA and the Monsoon Double IPA stood out from the rest with their tremendous hops and fantastic flavor.  They were true IPA lover's beers, and I enjoyed every drop!

The Hubert Keller Burger with Zucchini Fries

I went ahead and ordered the chef's namesake burger.  This feast on a bun came with a generous chunk of ground buffalo, caramelized onions, baby spinach, and blue cheese on a ciabatta bun.  Every bite that entered my mouth contained the juicy and savory buffalo meat with an incredible accompaniment of fixings.  Hubert Keller did well!  I got my burger served with some zucchini fries that needed no condiment to dress them up as they were crispy and delicious all by their lonesome.

Creamy Cheesecake Burger

Eusebio splurged on the signature burger with 100% Kobe beef, truffles, and foie gras which also came with a free dessert.  I'm sure he'll post about his burger and dessert on Chef Thinks, so I'll just explain the dessert burger and move on.  The creamy cheesecake burger consisted of a warm donut sliced in half and filled with cheesecake, caramelized pineapple, and strawberries.  It wasn't good at all.  That was sarcasm.  That wasn't sarcasm.

Custom Made Milk Shake at the Burger Bar

Knowing that the Burger Bar's milk shakes are nearly as famous as their burgers themselves, I ordered one for my dessert.  My custom milk shake included vanilla ice cream with peanut butter, hot fudge, and, of course, Maker's Mark bourbon!  If you've ever seen Pulp Fiction, then you know about a $5 dollar milk shake that doesn't have any bourbon in it or anything.  In front of me stood a real milkshake, made with bourbon, that was worth every penny... though it certainly cost me more than the $5 that Travolta complained about!

After the Burger Bar, Eusebio and I made one more stop in Mandalay Bay before retreating back to Excalibur for the night.  We stopped by the Minus 5 Ice Lounge for some cocktails in a bar made completely out of ice.  Even our glasses were made out of ice, so the drinks were sure to stay cold!  The Minus 5 experience made it worth going once, but the entire thing was certainly there for the tourists.  But Hell, it is Vegas, and I was, in fact, a tourist.  So I enjoyed my cocktails, got some pictures with a chick in a penguin suit, and had a good time with it all.  The place really did create an interesting environment and a unique setting, which I'm all about.

Eusebio and Jay in the Minus 5 Ice Lounge, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

Jay, a penguin, and Eusebio in the Minus 5 Ice Lounge

The next morning we had a little more drama with catching a flight back to New Orleans with a freak November hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast and flights still full from the day before.  However, this time were able to snag two of the last available seats on a plane so we made our way back to Cajun country a day late, a few dollars short, and with a weekend full of delicious food, plentiful drinks, and fond memories that wont soon be forgotten!

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