Best Bites of 2016 (Burger Edition): Chuck P's Picks

by Chuck P

Well, here we are ladies and gents. The end of 2016 (thankfully) is upon us and with its end comes reflection on past events of this crazy year. Here at Bite and Booze HQ, we’re all charged with the task of looking back on the many delicious meals we’ve had this year and compiling a list of our favorite eats.

For obvious reasons, I was given the job of choosing which of the vast amounts of burgers would make my top 5 list. To me, this is almost like selecting who my favorite child is between my son and daughter (answer: they’re both my favorites). I was determined to go through each burger or at least try to, and find the ones that really stood out. So, without further ado, here are the top 5 burgers of 2016.

#5 Calla Burger

Restaurant Calla in Lake Charles, LA

During a 3 day media trip to Lake Charles, Jay hosted a Great Raft beer dinner at Restaurant Calla. Throughout the event we heard from almost every staff member there that we had to come back for lunch the next day and try their burger. It was pretty much everyone’s favorite choice on the menu. Upon returning the next day and having their signature burger I have to agree with the staff.

A soft, toasted buttery bun with two thick, juicy house made patties covered in gooey American cheese that literally melted in your mouth. I added some bacon and a fried egg as well which perfectly complimented the already delicious sandwich. Make sure to stop by here the next time you find yourself in Lake Charles and treat yourself to this tasty burger.

#4 The Burger

Overpass Merchant in Baton Rouge, LA

The Overpass Merchant is one of my favorite new places that has opened this year. This gastropub has a great selection of elevated bar food and a very nice rotating craft beer selection on tap. I love the fact that their burger is simply called The Burger. 

With Curbside Burger’s Nick Hufft behind the creation how can it NOT be good? The combo of ground chuck, brisket and short rib blended together gives this patty its unique taste. Adding choices of Aged Cheddar, Maytag Bleu Cheese, Applewood Bacon, Fried Egg or Onion Jam only enhances your burger experience. Hell, why not add them all?!? Pair this with one of their many IPA’s on tap and you’ve got yourself one heck of a meal.

#3 The “Irregular” Burger

Pimanyoli’s Smokehouse Cafe in Baton Rouge, LA

Okay everyone, let’s just take a second and look at the picture. I mean seriously. It’s like a damn work of art! Pimanyoli’s is tucked away on Airline Highway in between an Italian restaurant and a 24 hour gym. It’s one Baton Rouge’s best kept secrets. Their BBQ plates are to die for but let’s talk about this burger. 

On top of that delicious 8oz. ground chuck patty sits a mouth watering pile of their incredible smoked brisket. Add to that some awesome bacon, Monterey Jack, smoked mushrooms and grilled onions and it’s a burger lover’s paradise. Make your way out to Airline Highway and try this burger; your belly will thank you.

#2 The Breakfast Burger

Mason’s Grill in Baton Rouge, LA

If any of you know me, you know of my deep, undying love for the Breakfast Burger at Mason’s. House made patty, American cheese, fried egg, house made breakfast sausage patty, bacon, more American cheese, another fried egg. I mean...what else is there?! No more is needed to “add” to the flavor because it’s all there.

Honestly, you could share this with a buddy or your significant other but would you want to? I know I don’t. This burger is all mine and mine alone to enjoy and savor. As far as I’m concerned there are no other brunch options on the menu. This is it.

#1 The OG Burger

Alfie’s Pop-Up in Washington, D.C.

The BEST burger I had all year. For real. As beautiful as it looks in that photo, the picture still doesn’t do it justice. Chef Alex McCoy, who was a fellow contestant with Jay on Food Network Star, is the proud poppa to this beautiful bundle of joy.

The juiciness and flavor of that house made patty was mind blowing. Every component of the burger from the pickles and red onions to the baby arugula blended together perfectly. That sweet toasty bun was absolutely magical. I could eat this burger every day and never get tired of it. It’s that freakin’ good!


Honorable mentions:
The Venison Burger at Goûter in Baton Rouge, LA
The GC2 at Curbside Burgers in Baton Rouge, LA
The Old Fashioned Bacon Burger at Cotton’s Famous Hamburgers in Lake Charles, LA
The Chef’s Favorite at Spanishtown Market in Baton Rouge, LA

Check out Blair's Best Bites of 2016

Burgers with Chuck: DIG Magazine's Burgers & Beer Week

by Chuck P

Everyone knows of my undying love of hamburgers. To me, it’s the perfect marriage of meat and bread followed by an accompaniment of any toppings and condiments your heart desires. With so many restaurants in town serving up different types of hamburgers it can definitely put a strain on the ol’ pocketbook to try them all. Thankfully, the great folks at DIG Magazine rolled out their Burgers & Beers Week!

I swear it’s almost like DIG is monitoring my dreams and decided to make them all come true. Over 40 different restaurants participated in the event serving up specialty burgers for only $5 each! And they were featuring specials from Tin Roof, Sweetwater and St. Arnold breweries so you could pair a cold brew with your burger. I seriously had to pinch myself.

Due to a busy week here at Bite & Booze HQ, I wasn’t able to hit every spot on my list so here are the 4 burgers I was able to try and my thoughts on them:

Fat Cow: Praline Bacon Burger

Fat Cow's Praline Bacon Burger

I kicked off the week with the Praline Bacon Burger. I was hoping for a bit more flavor from this one. The house ground patty was a bit overcooked and I barely tasted the garlic aioli. The brie was nice and melted perfectly but I could have used way less arugula. Overall, it was okay, but it had me hoping my next stop would be better.

Stadium Sports Bar & Grill: The Stuffed Burger

The Pimento Cheese Stuffed Slider at L'Auberge's Stadium Sports Bar & Grill

Unknown to me and apparently a few others who came here, this one was actually a slider and not a full burger. While the patty itself was tasty, the pimento cheese stuffed inside of mine was a bit cold, as if they’d stuffed it after cooking the patty. The bacon bourbon jam was spot on and fries were included at no extra charge. Once again it was okay, but I still found myself hoping the next one was going to be “the one”.

The Overpass Merchant: The El Guapo Burger

The El Guapo Burger at The Overpass Merchant

Chorizo spiced pork patty, green chili queso, Fritos, Tapatio mayo, pickled red onions and cilantro. That’s pretty much all that needs to be said right? I mean...wow. This was hands down my favorite and most creative burger of the week. Every component of this burger just popped. Hell, you had me at queso and Fritos! I’m hoping this ends up on the menu there because it certainly needs to. With my burger hopes renewed, it was on to my final stop of the week.

Bin 77: The Bin Burger

The Bin Burger at Bin 77

So this burger is pretty much their regular burger that’s featured on their menu, which is fine because my thinking was that maybe they didn’t need to impress with all the bells and whistles. They were confident enough in their house burger to win everyone over.

Not so much.

My burger was well done after ordering it medium, no caramelized onions, 2 very small pieces of fire roasted garlic and barely enough ketchup and roasted bell pepper aioli to make the bread wet. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I had heard good things on this burger and maybe they were just super busy in the kitchen, but it was not the way I was hoping to end burger week.

The Ones That Got Away...

There were places I had on my list that I didn’t have time to try. If anyone had a chance to try any of these comment below or on the Bite and Booze Facebook Page with your thoughts:

Burgersmith, Churchill’s, City Pork, Gouter, Mason’s, Olive or Twist, Thai Kitchen, The Grind, The Londoner and Willie’s

I asked my good friends Brenton Day (thealerunner.com), Franz Borghardt (Baton Rouge Burgers) and the man himself, Jay Ducote to pick their favorite burgers from last week in hopes of living vicariously through them. This is what they had to say:

Brenton Day:

Burgersmith's Breakfast DIG Burger. Photo courtesy of Brenton Day.

Burgersmith’s Breakfast Dig Burger was coffee crusted, topped with hash browns and a fried egg served on toasted Vienna bread. This one really did it for me. I added sauteed onions and Smith sauce, because I could (and mostly because my server recommended it). I'm a sucker for an egg on a burger, and this one didn't disappoint. The toast was thick enough to stand up to the burger and all the toppings and the patty was cooked to a perfect medium.

Your Mom's BBQ Burger. Photo courtesy of Brenton Day.

Your Mom's BBQ Burger was by far the biggest burger I had all week. The patty was advertised to be 8 oz. and it was huge! Cooked to the requested medium, it was topped with cheddar, a heaping mound of fried onion strings and drizzled with BBQ sauce. The sourdough bun was soft and sweet. This burger was definitely the best bang for my buck.

Franz Borghardt:

Canefield Tavern's Cajun Burger. Photo courtesy of Franz Borghardt

The Canefield Tavern Cajun Burger was spicy but not overwhelming. The portion size was impressive and the jalapeños and Sriracha mayo gave it a giddyup! 

Canefield also offered five different $5 specialty burgers to choose from!

Goûter's Venison Burger. Photo courtesy of Goûter.

Goûter’s Venison Burger patty was a mixture of venison and beef topped with smoked cheddar is a combo that can’t be beat. Nestled between an awesome onion Kaiser roll and at only $5 this burger was a steal. Call me the Hamburglar!

Jay Ducote: 

The Two Run Farms Burger at Table Kitchen & Bar.

Table’s Two Run Farm Burger was a solid, classic burger. The salty, beefy patty certainly lived up to the hype and the addition of a fried egg is always a solid choice.

City Pork Deli & Charcuterie's Bayou Bengal Burger.

City Pork Deli & Charcuterie’s Bayou Bengal Burger was another solid burger. The bun was top notch, the patty was juicy and they added this fiery mustard that really added an unexpected zing-- definitely a great burger for $5.

All in all it looks like the people of Baton Rouge were blessed by the burger gods that week. I look forward to the next time this event comes back to Baton Rouge, but I think it has a little room for improvement.

Some restaurants were only doing the special for lunch, some for only dinner and some doing both. It was kind of hard to follow who was doing what and when. I know a few people who missed out on trying these burgers based on their availability to only go for lunch or make plans for dinner by getting sitters and such. Maybe some clarification for next time will give everyone a chance to enjoy these delicious deals!

Nick Hufft's Midas Touch: Looking Forward to More from The Merchant

by Sydney Blanchard

It seems like anything Nick Hufft touches turns to gold.

Those familiar with the Baton Rouge food scene fondly remember and dream about Curbside Burgers, and once Nick crafted the menu for Barcadia, there was nothing keeping us from drinking some beers, playing some arcade games, and chomping down on one of Baton Rouge's best burgers.

So when we heard Nick Hufft was the co-owner and culinary mind behind The Merchant, we couldn't wait to get in there and see what it was all about.

Situated near the Perkins Road overpass in the former Zee Zee Gardens building, the Merchant, or the Overpass Merchant as it's sometimes referred, opened a few weeks ago and is serving up a soft opening menu worth trying and a rotating beer and cocktail menu.

It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint and a little (a lot) of renovating can do to a place. The building looks totally transformed, the interior impeccably styled with design and comfort in mind and the exterior boasting an outdoor patio perfect for sipping cocktails and watching cars rumble down Perkins. 

Recently, Jay, Blair, Chuck, and I got to grab dinner and beers at the newly opened Merchant, and we were pretty impressed with not just the food, but the overall vibe. I'm of the opinion that Baton Rouge could always use a few more cool hangouts, and I can definitely see myself making the Merchant my new spot.

Chicken skins with local honey and Merchant hot sauce

We started with the chicken skins, topped with in-house hot sauce and local honey. These crispy little bites of savory and sweet crunch were the perfect snack to start off with.

Flatbread with prosciutto, fig jam, goat cheese, and arugula

Next, we tried the country prosciutto flat bread with fig jam, whipped goat cheese, and arugula topped with aged balsamic. The combination of the salty prosciutto and the sweet fig jam made for a tasty bite that I think would pair really well with the Merchant Mule, a frozen play on the classic. I'll definitely be ordering this again.

Broiled oysters with spinach at the Merchant

Next came the broiled oysters, which I passed on (not the biggest oyster fan). They came served in a bed with fried shallots, Tasso, sautéed spinach and Romano cheese with crostini, and the table had no problem scarfing each oyster down.

Addictive frites with garlic aioli

If there's anything I've learned from watching Anthony Boudain shows, it's to avoid fries at all costs. Normally I don't eat fries, but these frites with a roasted garlic aioli were so snackable. I found myself grabbing fistful after fistful until they were nearly all gone. 

Butter lettuce salad with bleu cheese, red onion, pecans and Steen's dressing

We tried two different salads at Merchant, but the one called salad #1 was my favorite. With butter lettuce, bleu cheese, red onion, spiced pecans, and a cane syrup dressing, this salad might make this year's Month of Salads.

Mac n cheese at Merchant

It's safe to say that I'm always down for some mac n cheese, and this one did not disappoint. With two different kinds of cheese, it's easy to see why I had to nearly fight Blair off with my fork for a bite.

A burger fit for a Chuck P

Chuck lives for burgers, and by this point we were all getting full. Chuck tackled this burger like a seasoned pro, and attested that it met all the standards we expect out of a Nick Hufft burger.

The best shrimp and grits Sydney has ever had

My favorite dish thus far was the Merchant's take on shrimp and grits. Big, flavorful barbecue shrimp came served on a pile of goat cheese grits, and I ate most of them. Normally, I don't get excited about shrimp and grits (I think it can be overplayed) but this was probably the best version of this classic I've ever tasted.

Churro with Rum Chata ganache

For dessert, we tried the churro bites with a Rum Chata ganache, and they were truly transcendent. Thankfully Blair isn't into sweets, because Jay, Chuck and I woofed all of these sugary, cinnamon-y bites down.

We try not to write about restaurants in their soft opening phase, because generally the staff and kitchen are still working out kinks and perfecting service. But if Merchant's soft opening is any indicator of what's to come, we're hopeful.