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!

Jay D's Bites: Oven Roasted BBQ Butter Turkey Breast

by Aimee Tortorich

Fall in Louisiana is my favorite time of the year. Cool weather, LSU Football, outdoor festivals, and harvest season are enough to inspire any person to spend time in the kitchen. This week I decided to focus on the protein of fall: turkey. Our friend, Galen Iverstine of the newly open Iverstine Butcher donated a beautiful free-range turkey to our team last week, so it was the perfect time to create a new recipe. Turkey always tends to turn out dry because of the leanness of the meat, so I always like to brine my turkey before I cook it. For this recipe, I brined the breasts overnight, then created a nice BBQ butter using Jay D’s Spicy & Sweet Rub. The balance of spicy, sweet and smoky flavors definitely paired well with the natural flavors of turkey. Check out my recipe below and be sure to impress your friends this season!

Oven Roasted BBQ Butter Turkey Breast

Oven Roasted BBQ Butter Iverstine Farms Turkey Breast served atop Cornbread Dressing
with a Cranberry Beet Chipotle Sauce

2 whole bone-in turkey breasts
2 quarts of brine (recipe below)
1 cup BBQ Butter (recipe below)

For Brine:

2 quarts cold water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs paprika
2 Tbs chile powder
2 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white pepper


Place water in a small sauce pot and heat to simmer. Whisk in salt, sugar and spices allowing them to dissolve, then turn off heat. Transfer cooled brine to bowl or zip lock bag. Add turkey breast, making sure to completely cover, and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.


For BBQ Butter:

½ lb unsalted butter
½ cup Jay D’s Spicy & Sweet Rub

Combine butter & rub in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Once melted, stir and reduce to simmer.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Remove turkey from brine and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle both sides with rub. Place the turkey breast skin side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast the turkey for 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours, while basting with the BBQ butter every 15-20 minutes. Turkey is ready when the skin is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers at 165 F when inserted into the thickest and meatiest area of the breast. If the skin starts to over-brown, cover loosely with aluminum foil and allow to finish cooking. Once the turkey is done, transfer to a platter, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest 15 minutes before slicing diagonally on the bias. Serve with the pan juices from the bottom of the roasting pan.

TX takes TX: Around the World in a Long Weekend

by Rachel Hamburger, intern

For LSU fall break I made my way back home to Houston. I used this as an opportunity to eat at a lot of my favorite restaurants I’d been missing while at school. Lucky for me, Houston is a major foodie city with thousands of delicious restaurants to choose from. I’m a fan of different cuisines, so naturally my favorite restaurants reflect this. Here’s some of my faves that I was lucky to stop at over the extended weekend:

Tex-Mex: Chuy’s

Chile Rellenos, Refried Beans and a Soft Taco at Chuy's

Chuy’s Tex-Mex is one of my absolute favorite spots for Tex-Mex. Although it has grown into a chain, it originated in Austin and the location I go to in Houston is one of the first franchises. I go to different Tex-Mex restaurants for different things: Los Tio’s for cheese enchiladas, Lupe Tortilla for the fajitas, El Real for nachos, etc. 

My reasoning for loving Chuy’s the way I do is for its chile con queso and chile rellenos. The queso has roasted green chiles, which gives it a great smoky spicy flavor. The rellenos are roasted and perfectly fried Anaheim peppers stuffed with delicious melty cheese.

My go-to order is a soft ground beef taco and a cheese chile relleno, double refried beans and no rice. Chuy’s has THE BEST refried beans. I don’t usually end up being able to eat the double serving of refried beans, but I always order it for leftovers.

Mediterranean: Fadi’s

Gyro at Fadi's

Fadi’s is a cafeteria-style line, with so many options. For example, they have about 10 different types of hummus alone. This time I got gyro, hummus, pomegranate eggplant, and dolmades (rice-stuffed grape leaves). Gyro meat is cooked on a vertical rotisserie. The most common is beef, which is what I ordered. Fadi’s has delicious homemade pita bread, it’s about 10x better than pita bread from a package-- hot, doughy and delicious. I try to order differently every time I go to Fadi’s, because everything is so good and I like to try out different things.

Houstonian: Local Foods

The Seasonal Harvest Salad at Local Foods

While this isn’t an ethnic restaurant, it can be considered “Houstonian” cuisine, kind of fits, right? The first Local Foods location opened in 2011, and they already have 3 locations and are working on a fourth. Their concept is just what the name entails: the use of local ingredients. 

Each location is spectacularly designed, it’s the type of restaurant you love to go to because of the atmosphere (as well as the food, obviously.) Their menu consists mainly of sandwiches, salads and soups but they also have tons of delicious sides, as well as multiple vegan options. 

Houston is a city full of food, but the focus on local organic foods has become increasingly popular, and the fast expansion of Local Foods is proof of that. I got the Seasonal Harvest Salad with chicken. I love getting this salad because it really does use whatever ingredients are in season, so it’s different each and every time I order it.

Indian: The Bombay Brasserie 

All of the things at The Bombay Brasserie

I have been going to eat at The Bombay Brasserie since I was a little girl. It is my absolute favorite Indian restaurant on planet earth. My parents both love Indian food, and introduced me to it at a very young age. I have loved it from the start and consider the Indian cuisine one of my favorites. Every day, Bombay Brasserie has a lunch buffet (typical of many Indian restaurants.)

I know that many people frown upon buffets, as they usually aren’t the best quality, but this is not the case with Bombay Brasserie. Silver ornate chafing dishes and white tablecloths are what you get at this lunch buffet.

Why do I love going to the buffet versus going for dinner? The Indian cuisine has so many different dishes and unless you go with a larger group for dinner, you won’t get to try different ones. It is a cuisine best served family style, but I typically am eating out with one parent or the other. That doesn’t enable you to be able to order in typical “family style” fashion so the buffet is perfect.

It’s all served with warm Naan, traditional Indian flatbread similar to pita, and poppadum, a thin, giant, round Indian cracker (typically made from lentils or chickpeas.) My all time favorite dishes are Saag Paneer, a creamed spinach with cubes of paneer cheese (a cheese used in many Indian dishes), and Chicken Tikka Masala, cubes of roasted chicken in a creamy tomato and butter sauce. I also can’t go to the Bombay Brasserie without ordering a Mango Lassie to drink. It’s a mango yogurt drink that is perfect in cooling your mouth down from the many spices in the food.

Thai: Thai Cottage 

Red Chicken Curry

My last stop of the weekend was Thai Cottage, my favorite Thai restaurant. I almost always order the Red Chicken Curry; because it is so good I have a difficult time straying from it. Thai red curry is very different from Indian curry. It is soupier and made with red curry paste, coconut milk, bamboo shoots, peas, carrots and basil served with rice. If you didn’t know any better you would think it was full of cream, but its smooth, velvety texture comes from the coconut milk.

When ordering, you tell the waiter which spice level you want, from one to five. I opt for level three, which is pretty spicy but not so spicy that you can’t enjoy the food. Thai cottage has nine Houston area locations, so no matter what part of town you’re staying in, there will likely be a Thai Cottage in the vicinity.

These are just a handful of my favorite Houston spots that I miss dearly when I’m in Baton Rouge. I hit up most of these places every time I’m back in H-town. If you find yourself in Houston anytime soon, check any (or all) of these out. You’ll thank me later.

Jay D's Bites: Triple Threat Pulled Pork

by Aimee Tortorich

I love many things in life, but barbecue, pork and a little whiskey on the side will always put a smile on my face. For this recipe, I wanted to use as many Jay D’s products in one dish, while not overpowering the flavor of the protein and I believe that I have achieved success. The mustard created a lovely sweetness and allowed the rub to stick to the pork, while the sugars caramelized on the outside. It was a nice balance of spicy and sweet that would work well for many dishes.

Jay D’s Triple Threat Pulled Pork 

Jay D's Triple Threat Pork Shoulder

Serves 4-6

1 Bone-in Pork Shoulder (about 8 lbs)
1 cup Jay D’s Spicy & Sweet BBQ Rub
1 cup Jay D’s Louisiana Molasses Mustard
4 Tbs kosher salt
2 cups Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce

Dry pork butt very well with paper towels and coat with 1 cup of Molasses Mustard. This will create a paste that the rub will stick to. Mix rub and salt together and apply liberally to all sides of the pork shoulder. Let sit uncovered in refrigerator overnight.

Soak apple wood chips in water and heat smoker to 225 F. Place wood chips in smoker and place pork shoulder fat side up in the smoker and smoke for about 1 hour per pound or until internal temperature reaches 190 F.

Take the pork butt off of the smoker and let cool slightly. Pull pork apart with gloves or tongs and toss with Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce. Enjoy on sliders, nachos, or as is.

Pick up the full gambit of Jay D's products on JayDucote.com!

Booze Block: Dogfish Head Brewing Company 60 & 90 Minute IPA

by Chuck P

I remember hearing about Dogfish Head in my early days of discovering craft beer. With odd names like Chocolate Lobster, Pennsylvania Tuxedo and Flesh & Blood they piqued my interest and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some. It was then, in my young naivete, that I discovered their beers were not distributed in Louisiana.

How would I ever get to try these?!?

Dogfish Head's 60 & 90 Minute IPAs

Luckily, I had friends who would search out and bring back craft beers from their travels and from this I was given my first two Dogfish Head brews, their 60 and 90 minute IPAs.

Now, at the time I was still very much on the fence about IPAs. Pale Ales broke me into the appreciation for hoppy styles that before I had turned my nose up at. After my palette adjusted and I began to enjoy them, I started easing myself into hoppier choices and the 60 minute was one of the first.

The 60 minute IPA is a very hop forward beer with really nice citrus notes on the nose. Coming in at 60 IBUs the bitterness is moderate which was good for me at the time. The finish is very crisp with a bit of that bitterness hanging around, but not enough to offend. I remember my first time drinking this thinking it was perfect for me and couldn’t possibly imagine drinking anything hoppier…

And then came the 90…

My first sip of the 90 minute Double IPA opened my taste buds like no other beer before it. The heavy piney and citrus aroma caught me off guard at first, but after that first taste I was hooked. I was getting hints of raisin and citrus dancing over my tongue and the maltiness cutting through the intense hop profile was surprising, but welcomed... and was that a bit of fruitcake I was tasting? Madness!

Ever since then the 90 minute has become one of my Top 5 favorite beers of all time and one that I actively look for when traveling outside of Louisiana.

To hear more about both of these great brews check out the Bite & Booze Podcast below with myself, Jay and Jacob Talley from Mockler Beverage as we proclaim our love for these delicious beers.

Cheers!