The Trendies: Most Wonderful Burger Experience Not Accounting for Time or Price

I think the Best of Las Vegas awards are great. The idea of calling upon the residents of an area to vote on the most outstanding members of a category is a really cool way to draw attention to those businesses and individuals which deserve it most. To further that goal, I’m creating a new set of awards. Based on my @TrendableVegas feed, I give you the Trendies.

Trendies will be nominated and awarded for a variety of categories. Categories will include almost anything that pops into my head and probably anything that is suggested to me. Have an idea for a nomination or a category? Go for it! Send it to me @TrendableVegas. Send votes to me there also; I check it far more often than I will the comments on this blog.

For this edition of the Trendies, we’ll be considering the most wonderful burger experience which does not take into account time or price. That’s the problem with the word “best.” Best what? Best value? Best speed? Best accuracy? Best quality? It can mean so many things to so many people, and while I love that kind of interpret-as-you-will ambiguity under some circumstances, I think it’s important to have more clearly defined categories for a set of awards as prestigious and influential as the Trendies.

In the category of Most Wonderful Burger Experience Not Accounting for Time or Price, I give two nominations:

1) Burger Bar

2) Cheeburger Cheeburger

These two options are very different, but I love them both. I have a clear favorite of the two: Burger Bar. It is my favorite restaurant in the world. I really love Cheeburger too though, and I thought it deserved a nomination. I recognize some people disagree (sometimes with good reason) with my opinions, and Cheeburger could reasonably even beat out Burger Bar for the title.

I have noticeably not included Slider Truck in the nominations because I plan on nominating it for Best Food Truck. However, if anybody else nominates it, I’ll add it to the list.

Nominations for this (and any) category are open. Voting begins... now!

Las Vegas Marathon

Sunday was this year's Las Vegas Rock N' Roll Marathon. What a great experience it was.

Unlike last year when I ran the full marathon, I opted for the 1/2 this time around, which was a wise decision. I originally intended to run the full again, but due to time constraints, I simply wasn't able to commit to the training necessary for a 26.2 mile run. I came in 10 minutes under my goal time for the half, so I was thrilled with my results.

The race itself was just fantastic. There were some significant changes to the structure of the event, most of which I believe were for the better.

The start time was pushed forward from 6 am to 7 am. Marathon-length races start early because they last so long, which causes a number of issues to arise. One is temperature. Another is the practical issue of keeping roads closed, and Las Vegas Blvd is a big one to keep closed.

Still, I think it was a wise decision to start the race later. Last year's race happened to fall on a record cold day, but even at normal December temperatures, that extra hour makes a huge difference to the runners. I applaud the city of Las Vegas for allowing the strip to stay closed to vehicle traffic later into the day. It's better for the race, and ultimately I'd argue better for the city as well.

Other than the time, the course was modified as well. The full marathoners were given more running on the strip itself. Last year, the full marathon branched off around 10.5 miles. This time it was around 12.5 miles. There's two sides to that. Travelers were probably disappointed last year to veer off so much further north.

At the same time, sticking together with the halfers can be a little disheartening. The half marathoners were kicking it up for their home stretch, while the fullers were only halfway there.

We actually ran on Fremont St this year, though very conspicuously not down the Fremont Street Experience. Instead we ran the block east of it, right up to the giant pint, then turned back down Las Vegas Blvd.

I'm not quite sure why the race wouldn't go through Fremont St proper. It's already closed to vehicles and would be killer exposure for the downtown casinos. Having that many people, many of whom are tourists who don't even know about downtown, run through the area would be advertising you can't buy. It's even set up already for concerts.

I've heard some people say it's the uneven footing down there, but that doesn't quite do it for me. Maybe next year we'll actually run through it.

For those who don't know, the race also hosts a group wedding. I believe there were about 50 couples who took part this year. They run a couple miles in, have a 3 minute ceremony, then either complete the race or peace out. Amy pointed out, and I concurred, that there seemed to be far more brides running than grooms. Maybe the brides were just more obvious (most wore white running outfits with a mini-veil), maybe the couples ran at their own paces, maybe the dudes were just lazy bums who couldn't make it the full distance. Not sure.

I was fortunate through the timing of my corral's start and my pace to run by in that 3 minute window during the ceremony. It was quite exciting.

I just love big races like this, where you get so many people coming together with a common purpose. Maybe it hit me harder after the recent and bitter round of elections. After so much Angle/Reid back and forth, having 25,000 people come out just because they wanted to run together was refreshing. I'm not sure what the message in all that is, but I think there is one in there somewhere.

The mutual support is just astounding. When the marathon frontrunners came passing by going the other way, everybody around me cheered them on.

Around mile 4 or 5, a woman in front of me tried tossing a used Gu packet into the trash, but missed. Now, a brief aside: marathon courses are littered with cups, athletic supplement packaging, plastic bags, discarded outer layers of clothing, and so on. It is standard practice when you're done with something to just throw it away. As long as one doesn't do so on the race course itself, that is totally acceptable behavior, and the race organizers ensure the course is cleaned up afterward.

This woman though, she held onto her trash long enough to find a garbage can, which is on its own going above and beyond what is expected of her. When she saw that she'd missed, she actually turned around and went backwards so she could pick it up and discard it properly. Afterward I held onto my own litter as well. That's another situation where, though I can't quite put my finger on it, I'm confident there's some kind of message.

The support from the crowd was awesome as well. Many onlookers came up with signs that would have done a derby-bout proud. A few that stick out in my mind are "Your feet hurt because of all the ass you're kicking," "You have great stamina, call me," and "Run like Tiger's wife is chasing you."

There's a lot of weirdness that goes on when you get so many people together, too. In the corral waiting to start, I overheard a woman nearby sharing her pre-race rituals. She said that for the week before the race, she wears her race outfit for her training runs. That makes enough sense, I suppose. She wants to get used to that particular outfit and work out any kinks it might have.

What was weird, though, was what she said next. It went along the lines of, "I don't wash it for that week, either. I don't need to, it doesn't get dirty. I just let it air dry."

Frankly that seems pretty gross to me, but if it helps her get through the race, then hell, more power to her.

The ending of the race was pretty rad also. The Rock N' Roll crew knows how to take care of its runners. Most noteworthy was the amount of bananas. It was truly beyond words. There were maybe a dozen tables piled several feet high with bananas, and more bananas stored underneath and behind. There must have been 40,000 bananas.

They also had bottled water, Cytomax energy drinks (which, please please please, replace next year with Gatorade or Powerade!), bagels, Gogurt, Snickers Marathon Bars (mmm, mmm, mmm, delicioso), and foil to wrap up in. All the freebies made it a veritable hoarder's wet dream.

Plus, Zappos, the main sponsor of the race, was distributing free copies of their CEO's recently published book. Very cool.

I'm looking forward to a little recovery period before I get running again. This time around I'll be training with a running partner, my dog Hoss. Right now he gets pretty winded after 2 mile runs, but I'm thinking 7 dog years should be plenty to get my buddy into shape for a 1/2 marathon. Oh, we're thinking about dressing him in a dog Elvis costume too.

Companies That I Love But Which Have Pissed Me Off: Chili’s

Today in this column we visit Chili’s. I love Chili’s. Their buffalo chicken fajitas, mmm, so good. Nice selection of margaritas. And their burgers aren’t quite Red Robin level, but they’re pretty close, and that’s saying something.

They have pissed me off, though, by intentionally misleading their customers. During happy hour, they offer 2 for 1 Budweiser and Bud Light. I only rarely say no to a BOGO offer, or, for that matter, to a beer, so of course I’ve taken them up on this happy hour offer before.

Here’s the trick: their 2 for 1 mugs are half the volume of their normal mugs!

How did I not notice it sooner, I find myself asking. I compared their non-happy hour mug with a happy hour one, and they’re crafty. The happy hour mug is designed to appear larger than it is, with thick walls and base. You can clearly see the difference when putting them side by side, but who would ever do that?

Chili’s, you and Subway have let me down. You’ve betrayed my trust and loyalty. It will be a long, hard battle to win it back.

Crazy Dream I Had Last Night

I had a dream last night that my dog Hoss was actually a robot dog from another planet and that his battery was running out. He was dying. He had a fully developed human-like personality and could talk.

He had also been married to an Earth dog, but his husband dog had died years earlier. Hoss had a substantially longer lifespan than Earth dogs in the dream due to his being a robot. Oh, it was a gay marriage.

Before his husband died though, despite the fact that they were both male and one of them was a robot, they'd had a daughter, who seemed to be a girl Earth dog. She too had a human-like personality, and was herself married to a one foot tall Pakistani human man.

In her husband's culture, one's husband is to be one's spirit guide when one dies. Because Hoss's husband had already died, he was able, according to his beliefs, to serve as Hoss's spirit guide. When the time came and Hoss's battery was entirely depleted, his son-in-law lead him to a higher plane of existence.

Beer of the Week: Dos Equis!

Last time I mentioned I couldn't put Baltika #8 in the running for "Harrison's favorite beer" because there were a couple others I just love so much. Dos Equis is one of those beers. In fact, it's probably my overall favorite.

I'm talking Dos Equis Lager, not Amber. The Amber is good also. Really I'm a fan of all cerveza style beers, but this one is my fav.

Here is something interesting about this beer: I almost always prefer my beer on tap over bottled. I just think it tastes better that way. I don't know why this is. I do know that the recipes for sodas are slightly different for canned and fountain versions, so perhaps something like that is going on here as well. At any rate, Dos Equis is the ONE exception to that rule. I like it draft just fine, but I absolutely love it bottled.

Not too far back I discovered the Michelada style of drinking beer. It's a rich variety of methods in which a beer can be mixed with other ingredients to form a kind of beer cocktail. The most basic method, also sometimes called chelada style, is combining beer and lime juice in a salt rimmed glass.

I love salt and lime juice, so that is an obvious hit with me.

Michelada recipes can contain almost anything though, varying widely by region in Mexico. The concept is not entirely dissimilar to how people experiment and share their own take on the bloody mary. Some Micheladas even contain tomato juice, worcestershire, and hot sauce, making the similarity to a bloody mary more than just conceptual.

Clamato is a popular mix with beer for Micheladas as well. Budweiser sells pre-prepared Bud or Bud Light with Clamato. I've yet to try that.

At any rate, I've done up pretty much every beer I drink chelada style at least once. That includes a couple kinds of Sam Adams. My advice: don't repeat my mistake there. The beer I find works best is Dos Equis.

A personal tip: lemon juice works really well too in my opinion, and is often much cheaper than lime juice.

I learned an interesting history lesson on the side of a beer variety pack I picked up relatively recently at Costco. Dos Equis has been produced since the early 1900s, and was invented by a German immigrant to Mexico who combined the traditions of his homeland with local Mexican ones to create this amazing beer. Originally it was called "Siglo XX," with the two Xs representing the 20th century. So many people took a liking to the beer and just asked for "the one with the two Xs on it" that the company eventually just up and changed the name to "two Xs" which is, in Spanish, "Dos Equis."

Another interesting note about this beer: try as I might, I cannot get my mother to stop pronouncing it "Dos Ekwees" instead of "Dos Ekkies." My use of phonetic alphabet is, admittedly, made up.

Here's to you, Dos Equis. With ice and lime in a salt-rimmed glass or straight out of the bottle, you're an amazing drink, and this week belongs to you.

Cheers.

Beer of the Week #1: Baltika #8!

I like beer. A lot. Love it even. I go for pretty much all beers. Not so much IPAs on the loving, but I still like them. I know a decent amount about beer, but admittedly not nearly as much as many beer aficionados. So while not exactly a beer connoisseur, I have a great appreciation for it both as a drink and part of our culture.

Anyway, I think this amazing and diverse beverage deserves some formal recognition. To that end, I’ll attempt regular blog posts about beers I think are special for some reason or other. Let’s start out weekly and see where that goes.

Without further ado…

Harrison’s first ever Beer of the Week is: Baltika #8, Wheat Ale!

I only discovered Baltika a few weeks ago; prior to that I’d never heard of it. I dropped off my filthy car for a wash, and had about half an hour to kill, so I decided to take a stroll through the Lee’s Discount Liquor next door. Meandering up and down the aisles, I found my way to the beer section, much as I’d be drawn to the Scifi area of a Borders.

A few rows of beer in funny bottles caught my eye. Immediately I recognized them as something different. Firstly, they were pint sized (which really shouldn’t colloquially mean “small”) bottles with tapered midsections. Secondly, the bottles were numbered 2, 3, and 8 (I assumed varieties 1 and 4-7 were just the less popular ones). Thirdly, their labels were in Russian with English translations.

Near as I’ve been able to tell, Baltika is the brand name, much like Budweiser or Miller, and the eight different beers Baltika makes are numbered, with #8 being their Wheat Ale. I love the system. It’s how I’d probably have named my beers if I owned a brewery.

On a whim, I picked up a #8. I’m a big fan of wheat beers, and figured I’d probably enjoy it. I was right.

I’m not one to get all weak in the knees over “authentic” food and drink. Mostly I just want it to taste good, not be unnecessarily awful for me, and be reasonably priced. I also don’t like being lied to, though (I’m looking at you, Subway), so I was pleased to discover that Baltika’s not some Midwestern America beer with a funny label. It really is brewed and packaged in Russia.

I did a little research and talked to a friend of mine who lived there for a while. When I mentioned the name, he immediately recognized it, and said it was the most popular beer in Moscow. I think that's at least a little bit cool.

I’ve never really thought of Russia as a premier beer location. I think of Germany and Mexico right off the bat. America has produced some awesome brews, like Yuengling and Sam Adams. Even east Asia has some awesome beers. I now add Russia to the list of quality beer producing nations. Since that first one, I’ve tried all eight varieties of Baltika (Khoury’s Fine Wine carries the whole line, as does a larger Lee’s Liquor I’ve gone to since that first #8). The Wheat Ale is far and away my favorite, though all of them are pretty good.

I won’t go too much into taste. I will say it has mild-moderate hoppiness and a smooth finish. I might describe the texture as almost silky. It’s more like a German hefeweizen than Belgian witbiers, which makes sense given that it’s called an ale on its label. So far as I can tell, there’s no orange peel or coriander or anything like that going on here (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I love me a Blue Moon now and again (perhaps ironically), but that’s not what this is.

It still has a light, crisp taste to it, making it a great spring or summer beer.

Plus, the price is not bad at all. At $1.99/pint, it’s actually pretty reasonable. Figure a 12-pack of Corona usually goes for about $22-24, which is roughly $2/12 oz bottle. Paying $2 for a 16 oz bottle which was shipped from much further away isn’t hard to swallow by comparison.

“But why choose Baltika as your first beer of the week?” you might ask, and I might answer:

I’ll assume most people have been missing out on this beer all their lives like I had been. It deserves some recognition. Also, I thought it would be fitting to drink my beer of the week while I wrote the entry on my beer of the week, and I was in the mood for a Baltika, so that chestnut played into the decision as well. In case you are wondering, it’s delicious, and was a good choice.

I definitely rank Baltika #8 among my favorite beers. I don’t think I can say it’s a strong contender for absolute favorite; I have too many beloved beers, and at least one or two which are more obvious frontrunners for that competitive title. It’s definitely got a place in my top ten though, and that’s a damn impressive accomplishment.

How Subway Pissed Me Off

Prior to this incident, I was one of Subway’s most loyal customers. Really. For an entire semester in college I had a Subway sandwich for dinner every day. It wasn’t even a bet or anything; I just sincerely liked the sandwiches that much. They’re pretty delicious, reasonably priced, and with a little bit of care in what you order, healthy. And yet all that loyalty was smashed to bits with a single ill-conceived ad campaign.

I’m sure most readers will be familiar with Subway’s “Ultimate Turkey Bacon Avocado” sandwich they’ve been pushing recently. I’ve seen billboards, print ads, tv and radio commercials for it. The images show a sandwich overflowing with avocado, and the radio spots describe it as having “mounds of frothy avocado.” I’m sure on that, because I remember thinking I didn’t really want my avocado to be frothy.

The sandwich has the same damn tiny smear of avocado that you can get on any sandwich for a dollar. In fact, the whole sub is actually just their regular turkey footlong with bacon and avocado added. They don’t give you more of anything or charge you any less.

I felt deceived.

The fact that the sandwich is the same sandwich you could always get isn’t the biggest deal for me. I would expect a little more than you could always get, or maybe knock $.50 off the price, but either way, that’s not the major problem.

What really bothers me is how they portrayed the sandwich. There were no mounds of avocado. It wasn’t frothy, which frankly is fine by me, because what the hell would that even mean? Still though, don’t call it frothy if it’s not. Don’t call a thin smear “mounds.” Don’t call something “ultimate” when it’s been around forever, or available only “for a limited time” when it surely will continue to be an option indefinitely.

Also, the TV commercials imply that their avocado spread/guacamole is homemade. It’s not. It is okay with me that it’s not, but they should stop implying that it is. It comes out of a plastic container, quite possibly the same ones I buy at Costco.

I’ve overlooked a lot with Subway over the years, but this is the straw that broke the camel’s sandwich-bearing back. From now on I’m going to Capriotti’s. It’s a little further away and costs a little more, but the quality is unrivaled and, most importantly, they deliver what they promise.

Looking to the future, here’s what Subway could do to win me back. Kill the misleading ad campaign immediately, and bring back the v-cut. Remember how until about 10 years ago they would cut their bread down the middle, fill it up with yummy goodness, then put the bread back on top? I loved that, and they never gave a satisfactory reason for why they stopped cutting their bread that way. They claimed it was too hard to fit everything inside, but I don’t buy that. I usually get double meat and 6 or 7 toppings (depending upon whether I feel like onions), and that all fit no problem.

They could probably even win me back just be killing the misleading campaign, really. I did think it was good value for the money. I guess I just feel betrayed, like they lied to me.