Valentine's Day Around These Parts - 2010-02-14 18:21:58
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Jon has apparently been brainwashed into believing that all women expect something for Valentine's Day, but honestly I am soooo not complaining. (Plus some women do tend to say about the holiday - "oh it's not a big deal" - and then sulk if not given a gift. So I'd agree that it's usually the wise man who gives something, no matter what the significant other says!) I'd have been just as happy if we went out to our usual Mexican food research meal - but Jon felt we should do something different, and a few weeks ago I mentioned that I'd like to find a decent hamburger joint here. So hamburgers it was. Now everyone talks up Hodad's, but the problem is that the place always has a line, because it's always that popular. We'll try it someday - but so far we haven't been in the mood to stand in line, then eat a big ol' messy, juicy burger standing up (the odds are high we'd not score a table). I'm pretty sure the burgers there do rock and a line doesn't really bug me, it's just that I like to be comfortable when I'm basking in the joy of beef.

So we decide on Burger Lounge in the Kensington area - but we got to the area a bit early, so we walked around a bit while we waited for them to open. Which of course is never a problem - we have cameras to play with, after all.



This is the wall of the Bleu Boheme - which, from looking at their menu appears to have a selection of tasty fare, if expensive. (Though for California, most of it looks pretty reasonable - or at least the same as other places are charging.) Must add that to the Must Try list, especially since Jon likes mussels and they have several options on the lunch menu... (A pause here while I ponder Moules Frites, which I remember seeing on a Bobby Flay throwdown, but have never tried.) Anyway, I liked the paint technique on the wall here - looks very much like an old sign that's weathered, nice bit of work. On the front was some dark, rusted metal - or panels that look like rusted metal anyway - also a nice look.

Across the street the Kensington Cafe had quite a few folk hanging out. We pondered whether they were waiting on a table or for more friends, and whether all the "scooter people" were there together.



Now that I read about their breakfast I'm somewhat jealous.



I myself think that scooters are cool. Jon was somewhat dismissive of them. I just know that I'm not coordinated enough to drive one in city traffic. But I love the design of some models.



This older model (I think?) is particularly stylish. Fuzzy shot because we're all the way across the intersection. And Jon didn't seem interested in crossing just to oogle scooters.

Now that it was 10:30 we could pop into the Burger Lounge and have lunch. Yes, early lunch, but we're serious about our burgers.



Note the sunny sky. It's a beautifully warm day for February. Yes, we know we're terribly spoiled.

I should add that this is a much nicer place than a "burger joint" and more along the lines of a place I'd go as a treat. But it was definitely comfortable, and the music mix of 80s tunes immediately put me at ease. But then again, if they play Devo I'm already enjoying myself. (I played "name that tune before the chorus" to myself the entire time. Well, ok, maybe out loud sometimes, but I had to inform Jon how lucky he is that I wear headphones and don't subject him to my 80s music. I also realized that somehow I don't have any of the Alarm on my ipod, but I think that's because all I have is on cassette. I've always wanted to hear the Welsh versions of two of their albums.)



The inside is very orange and mod, which I liked. I also felt the hooks next to the seats at the counter were a great touch - those are for purses I assume. And as someone who's always toting around a purse full of more things than I need, I appreciate that.



We each got the basic burger, and shared the side of onion rings and fries. The rings were epic - crunchy, not the slightest bit greasy. Fries were thick and tasty. Jon felt they were a bit soggy - I disagreed and proceeded to eat as many as I could. I loved the burger, felt the lettuce and tomato were nice and fresh, the meat very good. Jon felt it was a bit small for him - but this is a man who can probably manage something the size of a plate. Another quibble was that there was no pink inside the burger - but I've had enough excitement with food illness from burger dive food that I'm frankly never put off by fully cooked food. The meat was very good, the end result was just what I wanted. And the bun was excellent - so often overlooked too, but this was nice and homemade. Or as far as I could tell. So I'm going to call this a good burger place.

Plus a high point for me was that the burger wasn't so huge that I couldn't manage one of the large cupcakes that were sitting inside cake plates on the counter. And I REALLY wanted to try a cupcake.



So not only am I hit up with all these '80s tunes playing but I see that white swirl'd icing on the top of chocolate and immediately flash back to being a kid and eating Hostess cupcakes. So I was psyched to try their interpretation.

Note the messy-ness around the wrapper. This is a good thing - to take the cupcake out of the paper wrapper you'll end up with icing on your fingers, which of course you mustn't waste and thus lick off. This gives you a proper preview of your icing. And also is fun, though not proper Emily Post manners. (I was given a book of Emily Post etiquette as a teen and actually read it. Miss Manners was much more amusing and just as informative.)



End result - the cupcake gets high marks. I've had cupcakes in the past (I'm looking at you, Bristol Farms, sadly) that were gorgeous looking but the frosting to cake ratio was totally off. It sort of boggles my brain to say this as I'm such a sugar-o-holic - but there is such a thing as too much icing. If the two inches of icing mean that you barely taste the cake - and the cake is good and you actually want to taste it, and not feel like you're eating badly made fudge - then yes, there's too much icing. But this cupcake had it down, on the money - just enough icing, and not too much too overwhelm you. Plus there's that creme in the center. Some might quibble that there's not enough creme in there - I'd disagree because this was nicely flavored.

Er, yeah, so I'm kinda a bit too into cupcakes, obviously. I don't indulge all the time, so when I do I get somewhat overly verbose about it.

Humorously I twittered our visit to Burger House, while Jon posted his food alert to Facebook. I'm sure we were very amusing to watch, both with our Droids, photographing everything we ate.

Speaking of which, let's do another Droid compare and contrast, just for giggles.


Left, Canon point and shoot. Right, Droid camera. Photo on left has been tweaked a bit in Photoshop to increase the brightness.


Again, left, Canon point and shoot. Right, Droid camera. Photo on left has again been tweaked in Photoshop (brightness, color bumped up a bit), so the Droid's dull color isn't quite that bad. But it's still dull in comparison.

Still nothing new here, and I'm still carrying my point and shoot. Will see if there's any difference with upcoming software update. (No news on when it'll occur.)


After the burger we then went to Bristol Farms, which will take another post just to go through the amusing photos. Meanwhile there was also a side trip to Fry's to get me a laptop stand. So I can have even more desk area to tuck piles of things into. Because that's honestly the gift I wanted! And last weekend I was psyched over my KVM switch that Jon got me ages ago, but I only recently put to use. (And I felt stupidly proud of connecting it all properly, although it was easy. Even though I can't get my dang headphone mic to work for some reason.)

Ok Jon, you may now snicker at me some more about the piles of clutter. You also bought me some nice bread and humorous soda, so I'm gleeful no matter what.

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