A trip to Sobelman's

Sometimes, all the fancy food in the world can't measure up to a good burger. With this in mind, I dined with some friends recently at Sobelman's restaurant. This place is kind of an anomoly. It is located in the valley, which, for those not familiar with Milwaukee geography, is the land on either side of the Menomonee River that divides the city into a northern and southern halves. The valley is populated mostly by old factories, tanneries, slaughterhouses, railyards,and, more recently, and Indian casino. It's a little run-down and aside from the casino, there isn't much going on. But this little bar and grill seems to shine based on pure reputation, mostly based on their burgers.

After some thought, I have decided that there are 4 categories of burger.

- Fast food burger - Cheap and greasy, you know what I mean, you've had them.

- Pub burger - Big hunk of ground meat on a big bun. Usually served with tomato, red onion, and lettuce.

- Homemade burger - Or, if you prefer, the backyard bbq burger. Made on a charcoal grill, eaten at 4th of July and such.

And finally, the toppings oriented burger, where the beef is secondary to the stuff directly above it. The Sobelman Burger is definitely that. It has 3 kinds of cheese, cheddar, swiss, and american I believe. Then comes bacon, onions, and finally, jalepeno peppers. It was quite good. You got a little different flavor with each bite, and the peppers added some zest without being overpowering.

Best burger? Not for my particular palate. I prefer the 'pub burger' style I mentioned above. I felt that the beef in this case was lost in a sea of toppings. This is only a small complaint, it was quite delicious. It comes with fries, and for $7, is a really good deal. Service was very fast and friendly.

3 stars out of 4

Wine Tasting

Last night I got to try the #10 wine on Wine Spectator's 2008 top 100 list, 2007 Seghesio California Zinfandel.

I think people get hung up on zinfandel because its most recognizable form is the pink boxed stuff that people serve at crappy dinner parties. This is different. A bold red with a good fruit forward taste.

This wine was rated 93 points by WS. It has an initial burst of raspberry and oak, with a ton of fruit and a finish that reminded me of vanilla and almonds. It was great, and a steal at $18 a bottle.

Pick some up if you get a chance. I bought 3 bottles.

My Thanksgiving

As I mentioned, my dad used to be a chef. So it should come as no surprise that the holiday that is most focused on the meal is held at my parent's house every year. I've never been disappointed at Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. The menu is roughly the same every year.

Turkey

Brined as per usual, this year the brine included apple and cranberry juice. The bird is then cooked on a charcoal grill over indirect heat. It came out moist, tender, and seasoned throughout.

Dressing

Or stuffing, if you prefer, is made in the oven. The recipe is the same every year. Crisp water chestnuts, salty pork sausage, sweet apples, cashews, bread and herbs produce a myriad of textures and flavors. This is generally considered to be the best part of the meal by most of my family.

Mashed Potatoes

Traditional, with a twist. This year, a whole wedge of brie was worked into the spuds, providing a depth and richness that made the potatoes so good, I required no gravy.


The rest of the meal was rounded out with oven roasted vegetables, a wonderfully light sweet potato and apple puree, and a cranberry compote with orange zest.

For dessert, we had home made apple pie ice cream, packed with caramelized apples, cinnamon, and crumbled graham crackers. There was also pumpkin chiffon pie which, unfortunately I was just too full to eat.

No matter, I have had meals in high end restaurant that were less memorable than that. Plus, I got a big plate of leftovers sent home with me.


I also had the good fortune of getting try a really good bottle of wine. Acorn is a little boutique winery in Sonoma County, CA, that my parents visited while on their last trip out there. While we were waiting for the guests to arrive, we cracked a bottle of their 2004 Heritage Vines Zinfandel. This, as I read later, is produced from grapes that grow on old vines, some planted as early as 1890. Now, I don't have a refined enough palate to be able to pick out all of the individual flavors, but I got an explosion of oak and berries that I don't get with the usual $10 crap I'm used to. The flavor was so bold and robust compared to what I normally drink that I think it will be hard to go back.

Anyways, this event inspired me to buy a nice bottle to take to a holiday party I regularly attend. I'll be sure to post about it when said party occurs.

Hope you all had a good holiday.

Genesis and Rebirth

See...here's the thing...my dad was a chef for a good portion of my childhood. He switched careers when I was about 9, but he still retained his cooking superiority. My point is that I grew up eating pretty well. Definitely better than the other kids in my neighborhood. I didn't understand it at first. I thought the stuff I ate was the same stuff everyone ate. It wasn't until I had been invited to several of my friend's houses for dinner or sleepovers, and chewed my way through numerous rubbery steaks and flavorless, overcooked scrambled eggs that I began to realize that I was in a special situation. Unfortunately, I kind of got stuck there. Being young and therefore, stupid, it never occurred to me to ask why. Why did some things taste better than others? Why did the same thing taste differently when made by different people? These are easy answers now, but I'm still a bit mad at myself for not bothering to consider these things then.

It all changed one day, while on a family vacation. We went to Fripp Island, South Carolina with some relatives for a week in the summer. I guess I must have been 14 or so. We were out to dinner one night, and I suppose I just got fed up with hamburgers. So when it was my turn to order I selected a grilled salmon fillet. I looked up at my parents for some kind of reaction. Seeing no objection in their body language, I sat back and awaited my fate.

My seafood experience up to this point had been to say the least, rather limited. Tuna casserole, fried cod, and popcorn shrimp mostly. I didn't have the slightest idea what to expect. I remember it coming out; charred, pink, and glistening. I took a bite. Fireworks. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted. It combined all the wondrous grilled characteristics of a steak, but with the delicate flavors of a fish. The flavor was ethereal. Suddenly I started thinking about all the other things I must be missing. I was reborn to a whole new world of opportunity.

Unfortunately I got sidetracked. High school happened, along with everything that goes with it. Sports, hormones, a new interest in the fairer sex, and studies put me back into a rut of culinary mediocrity. Then the time consuming, income free lifestyle of college.

So here I am, 27, comfortably in a career and with enough disposable income to explore a bit. I've been back on the gourmet horse for a little over a year now, and have decided to start writing about it. So, come with me, as I record a journey from novice foodie to full blown connoisseur.