Juicy Lucy Taste Test

So here in the cities there are 3 places that are known for their 'Juicy Lucys'. For those of you who don't know, a juicy lucy is a burger with cheese inside of it. So they take a patty, split it in two, press them out, put a mound of cheese on one, then cover it with the other half, seal, and grill. The classic juicy lucy has American cheese, but some restaurants have variations, like bleu cheese, pepperjack, etc. It's also important to note that there are variations of the name as well. My friend Sam and I decided to do a taste test from the 3 different locations, and here are the results.

Location #1:

The Nook
Hamline Ave, St. Paul

Burger: Juicy Nookie with American cheese

With all of these burgers, the key is the wait time. If you bite in the moment it hits your table, the molten lava cheese will scald the inside of your mouth like a motherlicker and you won't be able to enjoy it after that. So, as hard as it is, you must wait at least 5 minutes before digging in. My first bite of this burger was juicy and full of gooey cheesy goodness. The flavor of the patty itself was great, seasoned just enough and not too much to take away from the whole experience. The cheese was melted completely through and had the perfect consistency, not too runny or thick. Every bite I took had cheese in it, but it was not overwhelming in the least. Overall, the burger was fantastic in every way and I can't say a single bad thing about it. I have wanted to go back and get another in the worst way ever since.

Fries: Fresh-cut fries, seasoned with garlic cracked-pepper and served with chipotle ranch dipping sauce. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't care a lot about fries. Generally, if the option is there, I would take mashed potatoes over fries any day. But these fries were really good. The garlic cracked pepper seasoning was not too strong and the chipotle ranch added just the right amount of flavor to compliment. Crispy, not too thick, not too thin.

Drinkage: Sam and I like to share pitchers of beer and our go-to is Blue Moon. They had this, so we did too.

Atmosphere: Dive bar, very small but comfy. Our server was fairly nice and reasonably fast. The place was as clean as a dive bar can be.

Benjamins: The burger comes with the fries - $7.95. Don't know how much the pitcher cost.

Location #2:

5-8 Club

Cedar Ave, Minneapolis

Burger: Juicy Lucy with American cheese

First bite of the burger, no cheese. Second bite, no cheese. Dry patty, not much flavor. I think in the whole burger I maybe got two bites with cheese. It all had squirted out somewhere before it got to our table, apparently, because there was minimal cheese on my plate too. Absolutely nothing special about this burger. Didn't finish it. And my friend Sam didn't finish it either, which is unheard of in her world of burger-eating.

Fries: Well, no fries. They didn't come with the burger, so Sam and I decided to get an order of nachos as an app. Beef nachos with all the fixin's. They were ok, beef was a little greasy and you could taste it. Sam liked them better than I did. I wasn't too impressed.

Booze: I believe Sam and I shared a pitcher of New Castle. Can't go wrong with that either.

Atmosphere: Dive bar, but a little bigger than the Nook. Our server was super friendly and very attentive. She was better quality than the food, which is not necessarily something you want in a restaurant. Clean. Overall I liked the atmosphere of this place.

Moolah: Nachos: $7.50 Burger: $4.95 Pitcher of New Castle: $10.25

Location #3:

Matt's Bar

Cedar Ave, Minneapolis

Burger: Jucy (that's how they spell it) Lucy with American cheese

Hit the cheese on the first bite. Good flavor, but runnier cheese than the Nook which I didn't prefer. Cheese throughout the whole burger. Got raw onions on this one (not sure what I got on the others cuz it was too long ago). They were like little McDonald's onions and there were a ton of 'em. The flavor of the onions was a little too strong, and not a real natural onion taste. I had to scrape about 1/2 of them off. But the burger was juicy and very good. Ate the whole thing.

Fries: The burger didn't come with fries, but Sam and I ordered a regular side of them. They were shoestring fries. Good crisp, not too thin. Very good flavor. However, I am not a ketchup dipper with my fries. So we asked for a side of ranch - NO RANCH! That's a huge deal for me. What restaurant doesn't have ranch? I don't care how small it is. So I had to resort to dipping in ketchup. For a regular size order, it was a little on the small side. We polished off the whole basket, which is really saying something, as I've mentioned previously, I'm not a huge fry fan.

Drank: Pitcher of Blue Moon. With tiny little glasses.

Atmosphere: Dive bar, very small. Not too clean. Kinda noisy, with some turd burglars being loud at the bar. And the women's bathroom had two toilets in it, not stalls, just toilets. I guess they support double peeing (not the kind you're thinking of, you dirty bird). It took a long time for our server to get to our table after I got there to get me a glass so I could share in the pitcher. If there is anything a server needs to be prompt about, it's getting me my damn glass so I can get my drink on! She was more or less friendly, kinda slow.

Ca$h: Fries: $3.95 Burger: $4.95 Pitcher: No idea.

Soooo, as you probably were able to tell from my reviews, the winner is:

The Nook!!!

For the value, the fries, but most importantly....for the burger! I highly suggest you visit this place if you live here, or even if you don't!

The End :)

Just Some Things

My first Lia Sophia party is tomorrow (as an advisor), but I'm just playing the hostess role for this one. All the rest will be my own!

Kanye West is a huge douche-canoe, as if we didn't already know this.

RIP P-Swayze.

I am sick with a cold.

Football is perhaps the greatest sport ever invented and just one more thing I love about the coming of fall.

We made chili yesterday and it was delicious.

We are leaving for Tennessee on Wednesday to visit Justin's parents. The puppah is heading to Dog Day Getaway. Thank goodness for wonderful places like TN and DDG.

I hate packing, most likely because I am a chronic overpacker and it takes me forever.

This is the first time I've ever really been nervous about flying. Just so much plane stuff going on lately. And don't give me the statistics, I know it's "safer" to fly than drive, but could there be anything scarier than falling out of the sky in a huge metal death box?

We lost our playoff match tonight for volleyball. Season's over. Boo.

And a permanent boo to laundry.

I wonder if Community will be a good show? Sidenote: Do I need a '?' there? I feel like it shouldn't be there, but it looked weird with a period.

I don't like when football games are played on the same field as baseball and you can see the dirt.

Adrian Peterson has an open invitation to my bed every night. Justin understands.


Ok, guess I'm done cuz my brain just ran out of thinks. :)

Om Nom Kittahs

Justin introduced me to this first video and I just loved it. Now keep in mind this is coming from someone who is not a cat person. Anyway, I found another and I think they are the cutest vids ever.

Summer Fun

It's been awhile I know. Busy summer times, especially July and August. Since my last post, we had our Price Family reunion at Lake Sakakawea. It was beautiful weather and we had a great time. Justin and I realized that weekend that we need an air mattress as we are getting too old for car camping without one. A lot of the family was there and it was good times visiting. Played some bolo and bocce ball on the sandbar, and of course rode the waverunners. Haha, I just typed wavefunners by accident. That would be appropriate too.

The following week was my birthday and Justin and I went to a place called 'The Melting Pot'. It's a fondue place and it's actually pretty cool. You have a burner on your table and they bring out pots for all the fondues. We had a cheese fondue with veggies, chips, bread, and apples. Next course was a salad. Next was our main fondue with coq au vin broth that came with sirloin, pork, chicken, shrimp, lobster, and filet. It actually wasn't that good. We didn't like the coq au vin flavoring and of course everything you cook in there tastes like it. So we weren't that impressed with the dinner part.

We had a chocolate fondue for dessert. It was milk chocolate with crunchy peanut butter melted in it. It was served with strawberries, pineapple, brownies, cheesecake, poundcake, and bananas. That was delicious!

Overall, we didn't think it was worth the price ($150!). But we were glad we tried it; it was a cool experience. We think we woulda liked it had we ordered just oil to cook it in. For my b-day present, Justin got me a sweet ass watch!

The day after was my actual birthday and the 1st day of 10KLF. Well, I got on the road at a decent time, but an hour and a half into my drive I realized I forgot the tickets and my money! Brian already had to wait for me, and now I had added another 3 hours to the wait! I was so pissed, so was Bri, but what can you do at that point? There's nothing worse than getting outta town, then having to drive back, and then back outta town, this time at rush hour. Awful experience. Then when I finally got to Fergus Falls to meet up with Brian, his phone didn't have reception, so we spent another 45 mins trying to get ahold of each other. We made it to 10k at about 9pm and had to miss Widespread Panic (on my birthday!) to set up our campsite before it got too dark. But the weekend was great; we heard some great music, the weather was perfect, and we had a great time. Unfortunately for Bri, his car broke down in J-town on the way back home! What a crazy adventure.

Our campsite at 10k - everybody kept telling us how sweet it was
Gorgeous sunset (taken from our campsite)

The following weekend I went to my friend Sam's house in Blaine and we had a Daiquiri Day with our friend Jenn (we all used to work together at Morgan Place in GF). We were supposed to go tubing down Welch River, but it was only 70 degrees that day (at the end of July!) and we didn't wanna freeze. But we had so much fun and plan to do it again soon!

And on to August! Well, the first weekend we didn't do much. The following weekend I met up with Melissa in Fargo for a BFF weekend. The weather was crappy, but that didn't matter! We had an awesome time just hanging out, playing cards, and going out to eat. We need those more often!

Last weekend, I went to ValleyFair Friday night with some girls I work with. I heart VF. But this was the first year I actually got sick. No horking (sp?) or anything, but very queasy after round #2 on Wild Thing. I had to take it easy after that, skipped the Power Tower, but made it on Steel Venom - my fave ride! Brenda, Brooklyn, and Josiah came that night to pick up Talia who flew in from NC (she was visiting her dad) on Sat. We picked her up from the airport, got ready, and went to Como Zoo. The girls loved it, especially the butterfly house. After that, we went to Como Town, which is basically like a little amusement park for kids. The girls had a lot of fun on the rides. Sunday we went to Underwater Adventures at the MOA. It was really cool; I loved the turtles! And the sharks were pretty sweet too. The girls liked it too, especially when they got to touch the crabs. It was a fun-filled weekend! It was pretty neat to be able to take the girls to some cool places around here.

Ok, that should bring you up to speed for now! That was a long post, so I'm done now. POB.

Things on my Mind

~ Don't describe triscuits as containing "soft white winter wheat". That doesn't make me wanna eat them.

~ People should not say "irregardless".

~ People should also not say "for all intensive purposes" (right Justin?).

~ If you want to unfreeze meat, you say "thaw", not "unthaw", unless you want to freeze it again.

~ When asked "How are you?", people should answer with something like "Fine, good" etc. They should not answer with the same question. I asked you first.

~ There is no need in the world to make commercials 100x louder than TV programs.

~ The left lane of a highway is for passing/fast drivers. It is not to get a better look at the other side of the field or to see if the cows on that side are the same color.

~ There is very little that is more awkward than walking into a male patient's room while a Vagisil commercial is blaring on the TV.

~ If it's not your own yard, don't play in it.

~ Revving your engine really loud when you see a girl is super cool. Oh wait, I mean it's not. It's not cool at all. I don't think you are cool when you do this. In fact, pretty sure it has the opposite effect on me.

~ If you don't want to wear a helmet when you ride your motorcycle, that's your choice. But I won't feel sorry for you when your splatter your brains on the concrete.

~ Know when to use "too" vs. "to" and "there" vs. "their" vs. "they're"

~ "Save $15.00 off" doesn't make any sense. It's one or the other bitches.

Trust that I will add more to this list as I think of them. So keeping checking back, peeps!

Additions:

~ The word is 'height', there is no 'h' at the end of it. Get it straighth.

~ Do not put your tabs on your license plate in any sort of design. This is silly. They are not for decoration.

~ Use the word 'literally' in the right way. For example: 'She literally charmed the pants off him.' So, she was so charming that he stood there listening to her and decided it was time to depants? I doubt it.

~ I would rather you use no commas instead of too many in the wrong places. An example of a sign I saw in the shower at the lake: 'Please pull curtain, inside ledge when showering.' Same goes for quotations. What does this mean anyway?: Please "only" toilet paper in the toilet (sign in the bathroom at work).

Upcoming Events

We had a good 4th of July weekend, not too exciting but that's ok. Pics can be seen on Facebook. I had to work Friday, Justin had it off and got some stuff done. Saturday was a washout for the first half of the day. I walked Bear, then Justin and I decided to go to Kohl's. It downpoured while we were there and Justin ended up getting a call, so we had to leave. I came home and made dessert - caramel apple pie - and then it cleared up and the sun came out. We got our kabobs going, but since it had rained, it was too wet to sit outside and eat. But it was delish! That night we sat on the deck for a bit to see if we could see some fireworks, but no luck. Plus Bear was a little on edge with all the noise. So we went in and played some Wii. I managed to finish off a bottle of champagne, and Justin did a number on the gin. Fun night.

Today I sunbathed and started to get things together for 10klf. Justin washed and waxed my Accord and washed his Element. I helped a little. ;) We've got some steak stroganoff cookin' up in the crockpot - can't wait for that to be in my belly. It's been just a beautiful day. I'm on the deck right now, drinking a beer and Bear is laying next to me, loving this warm weather.

We've got a busy July coming up. This Thursday is the ProStep (company I work for) picnic at Como Zoo in St. Paul. Should be a good time. Saturday we have a housewarming party to go to at Sam and Ben's in Blaine. The following week we leave Thursday for ND for the Price Family reunion at Lake Sakakawea. We'll head to B-town Thursday night and stay with Erin and Steven (hopefully Justin can get outta work a little early!). Friday we'll head up to the lake; it'll be my first time there this summer, what a shame. Can't wait to get on one of those waverunners! We'll head back to the cities on Sunday. The following Monday night I start volleyball - 4-on-4 coed sand - with Jenny Brummer. I'm super pumped about that. Then my birfday is that next Wednesday!! Which is also the start of 10klf, so Bri and I will be spending my b-day and the next 3 days camping out listening to some great live music. All these things will be good times and this is looking like a pretty super July '09.

I'll get lots of pics and fill you guys in on my good times! Happy July to you!

Phish!!

Hello! It's been awhile. We've been busy as usual. Our biggest event so far this summer is by far our trip to Alpine Valley to see Phish. It was June 20th-21st - our anniversary present to ourselves. We had an amazing time and they were awesome! We heard so many great tunes and it was a wonderful experience for my first time seeing Phish. Here are some pics and video:

This has always been one of my fave songs, so it was amazing to hear!

We also heard "Waste", which was fitting considering that was the first song we danced to at our wedding and we were here celebrating our anniversary. That is all for this post, folks. Check out Justin's facebook page for more vids and pics (a lot of the same) of the Phish shows.

Hope everyone is having a great summer! I've got a lot more going on, so hopefully I'll get better about updating my blog :)

Peace out.