burgers around the country...

While on assignment in New Jersey/New York last fall, our crew attempted to do trivia nights a few times. We found a local dive joint that hosted them, picked an appropriately terrible team name and signed up. We were bad, horrible even. But at least the pub grub was decent. This little gem had jalapeno poppers on top of the melted cheese covered patty. Yes, fried poppers ON a burger. Sadly, I can't say that it was my favorite thing ever - but the theory was good, something went off in the execution I suppose. Also a little sad, it appears the joint has shut down.

Munch Bar - Las Vegas, NV

 Ah Vegas. Rarely do I even stop to eat while we're there. Which is a shame really, there are simply too many awesome places that will put you in a meat coma faster than you can lose a grand at the roulette wheel ...but i digress. Earlier in the spring, we had gone with T's sister to celebrate her birthday in sin city; it also helped that T's business was also a exhibitor at World of Concrete (check out Mason Greenstar Blox if you're interested). We stayed at Cesar's and during one of our roam-around-aimlessly-because-we-don't-want-to-gamble-but-we-need-to-entertain-ourselves times, we decided to check out Munchbar and their huge burgers. Once again, I was won over by a shiny pail of fries (like I need more of a reason to order fries!). The burger wasn't outstanding, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't up to the level of say, Branchwater Tavern. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed, to be in this city of divine food and to have eaten something less than stellar. The good thing is, I know there will always be a next time!

 Brothers Bar & Grill - Denver, CO

First - please excuse the photos, the morning of this experience was a very trying one to say the least so I didn't spend any time retaking them. I just wanted to eat.

We try to hit up Breck at least once a season to get in some cheap snowboarding with our friends. There's a couple that we like to go with and when the southwest fare finder goes 'ding!' we jump on tickets like a flea on a dog. (what is it with me and metaphors today?) This trip was no exception and everything was going smoothly - until we landed in Denver, and our board bags did not. Now, we pack all our gear in those bags - snow clothes, boots, everything. Without them, we'd have to rent long john underwear so... yeah, we needed those bags! They were supposedly on the next flight, so we thought we'd go get our rental why they landed and be back to the terminal in time to scoop them up and be on our way. Luck was not with us.

At the rental place we learned that they had not in fact, reserved the large SUV we had ordered but rather a Jeep Liberty. If you have a Liberty, you know there's no way 4 adults and 4 full sets of boards & gear will fit. We tried to get our reserved car. No go. We tried to get them to add a gear rack for free so that we could at least use this dinky thing. No go. I was even told by the oh-so-pleasant customer service rep to 'walk across the parking lot to the other location' to speak with a manager. We eventually got us and all our gear in the car, even though it was barely strapped on and we worried the whole way whether all our precious stuff would go bouncing down the freeway.
We were hungry.

The place we stopped first had a huge wait so Brother's was a back up choice. I'm glad we had to go to plan B. I'm pretty sure this place is in the old Real World Denver house - there's even a spot on the patio where the pool could have been filled in.

Anyway, to the food. The photo above is their 'must try' gator balls. I tried them. They are to die for. Take chicken breast, jalapeno, and cheese, wrap it in applewood smoked bacon and you have these little balls of awesome. I want some now.

It was also a weird in-between time, not quite lunch, not quite brunch or breakfast and they had a fried egg sandwich on the menu. I went for it with their house made chips. Can't say enough about this thing - melted cheese, warm cooked egg and more bacon. mmmm. The swirl bread was a nice touch, it was a good balance of sweet white bread and the more substantial rye - I don't think I ate the rest of the day, unless it was to finish the other half.

Denver has tons of good food joints, but I recommend a stop in Brother's if you're nearby.