Beech St. Burger

In mid April, as I was walking Gwenny around the neighbourhood I began to notice signs for "Beech St. Burger" now open on (shocking) Beech Street just blocks from my house.  And even though I'd seen the signs around the neighbourhood for a few days, I hadn't yet seen the place.  So I made a point to walk Gwenny along Beech Street, between Rochester and Preston Streets, to check it out.  Beech St. Burger took over the location of the former "Danny Panini" sandwich shop which, I swear, had been there literally just weeks before.  And the shop has had a total re-vamp.  I couldn't hardly believe it was the same store front.  Even though I'd never been to Danny Panini, I couldn't wait to check out this new burger joint ... and see if it was comparable to my burger love:  Hintonburger.

As the days grow warmer there is a small patio out front

 

The night before I was leaving for Vegas, Bonnie and I agreed that we would get the burgers for dinner since (a) I had no food in the house and (b) wouldn't feel like cooking after arriving home from Montreal just hours before and (c) having to leave the house at 4:30am to catch my flight the next morning.

We arrived for dinner and the place (although it is small) was packed.  A very good sign.  We were given a very warm and friendly greeting upon arriving and the cook (who we later learned was the owner:  Danny, formerly of Danny Panini) gave us some much appreciated advice on ordering:  the regular Beech St. Burger is a double patty and the "Baby Beach St." is a single patty.  Both Bonnie and I went for the Baby Beech St. Burger with cheese and bacon along with the baby fries on the side.  There is a fountain machine off to the side so you help yourself to the pop.  After ordering, Danny brought us out our food when it was ready.  You order and eat, and when you are finished you pay for your meal at the end.  That's a bit different.

chalk-board menu above the grill

lots of stainless steel gives a clean and industrial feel

 

The burgers are fresh made when you order and they are using local beef.  Fries are fresh cut.  They are definitely doing things right.

 

No shortage of bacon (very key) or cheese.

Super crispy and large portion size

 

The moment of truth -- the first bites:

 

 

 

The verdict:  a very good burger.  There are a few growing pains to work out.  My burger could have been cooked one or two minutes less as it was just a teeny bit on the dry side but still tasty.  I didn't like the cheese which was put on the the bun side of the burger along with the other condiments.  I prefer my cheese on the beef so it gets melty.  The fries were excellent.  Cooked perfectly in fresh oil so they were not overly dark coloured.  They were hot and crispy, exactly as they should be.

 

Danny, the owner was extremely friendly.  He made the decision to close down the sandwich shop and give the burger thing a try and I think this was an excellent decision.  He was also very open to feed back on how the meal was and you could definitely tell he was very keen on making sure his customers were happy and would do whatever he could to make sure that was the case.  A good burger place in this neighbourhood was definitely needed and I have no doubt Beech St. Burger will make a great addition to the neighbourhood.  It will definitely give Hintonburger some competition ... and for me it's literally only 5 blocks from my house so it is slightly more convenient ... but ultimately it has not replaced Hintonburger as my favourite ... not yet anyway.

 

I would definitely recommend Beech St. Burger.  The service was excellent - warm, friendly with a great neighbourhood feel to the place with strangers at different tables chatting both to one another and to Danny.  The food was very good, fresh made, hot and tasty.  Portions are very good and the food is a very good value, reasonably priced.  A convenient location with street parking for those of you not close enough to walk, like me.  Definitely a geat addition to the Rochester/Preston corridor.
 

Kellie's BIG 4-0 at The Urban Element

You know I love love love celebrating my birthday and I love love love The Urban Element, so when Kellie called me up and said she was thinking of having a birthday party to celebrate her milestone 40th birthday at The Urban Element I was 100% on board!  How could I not be ... two of my favourite things.

Hooray for birthdays!

Sean sent out the email invite which included the menu and I was so very excited.  I was glad to not have to wait too long until the actual event.  The day of the big party was also the day of a big snow storm ... which for almost the middle of April should not have been a shock; it is Ottawa after all.  But it did mean that it was too cold and crappy weather for me to wear the dress that I had planned on.  Oh and it wreaked havoc on Sean trying to make it home from the prairies in time for the party ... but after some 36 hours of being awake and on planes, trains and automobiles he did, indeed, make it home.  And the party was a go.

We arrived to be greeted by the wonderful hostess offering up a glass of sparkling or red or white wine.  Not being such a big fan of the sparkling, I chose the white.  Which went perfectly with the amuse-bouche which was being served with the cocktails ... and guess what?  Another of my very favourite things ... arancini!!!! 

Yay! How happy was I?  It was a fennel arancini with micro greens and was the perfect bite-size morsel of yummy delicious-ness. A short time later when resident chef Anna March was describing what we ate I remember her comment distinctly: "as if risotto is not good enough on its own; the arancini are deep fried"! Exactly!

Sonam enjoying an arancino

There was time enough during the cocktail hour to enjoy another arancino as well as socialize and get to know some of the party-goers that I had not met before.  And then it was time to take our seats at the communal dining table for the 'main event'.

Sonam and I being the only singles in the crowd made sure we were seated beside one another.  Not to say that we were trouble makers but I do recall mentioning to the waitress when she was inquiring as to whether we would like more wine, that she need not ask us in the future ... to just go ahead and re-fill our glasses!  She gladly obliged.

First course was a mushroom veloute with buttery croutons, truffled creme fresh and thyme.  I have had this exact soup from Absinthe (sans croutons but otherwise the same) and let me tell you The Urban Element blew Absinthe's version out of the water ... or mushroom broth or whatever you want to say.

 

The broth was thick and velvety with a lot of peppery, rich earthy flavour complimented with the cool creaminess of the creme fresh.  The croutons were crisp and yet still with a subtle buttery flavour and added a nice crunch.  While I loved the soup, I was careful to not finish the whole bowl as I knew there was still much more yummy deliciousness to be served and I wanted to be able to eat it all.

 

The main course was grilled pork tenderloin medallions served with marinated kale with feta and toasted almonds, roasted fingerling potatoes with a yogurt-mustard sauce.

 

Where to start?  Fantastic is about the best thing that I can say.  The pork was soooo deliciously moist and tender.  The yogurt-mustard sauce was different - not like anything I had ever tasted; it was made with whole grain mustard which I love for the crunch of the mustard seeds.  It was an unusual flavour and yet I kept going back for more and more with every bite.  The roasted potatoes were cooked perfectly, fork-tender and lightly seasoned.  And then the kale.  Normally I don't like kale that much, but this salad was fresh and citrus-y with a crunch and a bit of smokey flavour from the toasted almonds.  It was excellent. 

 

The only thing I was a little confused about was the tomato jam/coulis you can see in this extreme close-up there on top of the pork loin.  It wasn't described on the menu and I don't recall Chef Anna mentioning it in the description of the meal.  It was sweet, and I'm never a fan of fruit and/or sweet with meat.  I know this is a relatively common combination in fine dining, it just seems unnecessary to me.  In any case, it did not detract at all from the meal and I certainly finished everything on my plate.

 

 left side of the communal dining table and evidence that I
ate everything on my plate

 

right side of communal dining table ... is that an (almost)

empty wine glass at my place?

 

After some musical chairs so that Kellie and Sean had the opportunity to move about the table to be able to spend time with all of their guests, Sonam and I re-located from one end of the table to the other end.  We got a chance to chat with some friends of Kellie's who knew her from way back when in her St. Catharine's days ... which is around the time that I met her as well and to have our dessert.  We were offered coffee with dessert, but Sonam and I stuck with the red wine. 

Looks like Kevin is passing on the coffee too!

Good call ... however I forgot to take a picture of the dessert ... I blame the wine!  I will tell you about the dessert though ... a dark chocolate mousse with a coffee and Irish Cream foam sprinkled with house made sponge toffee ... served in a small mason jar.  Very quaint.

 

 

   early in the evening with less wine     later in the evening with more wine  

 

The dark chocolate mousse was outstanding.  Some of the best chocolate flavoured mousse that I have ever tasted.  Having made chocolate mousse many times myself I can attest that I have never managed the rich chocolate delicious flavour that Chef Anna achieved.  The coffee and Irish Cream foam layer was more of a very loose mousse (no ... that's not THE Loose Mouse) more so than a foam to me and I could have done without that layer -- it was very rich.  Sonam not being much of a chocolate fan though thought the coffee/Irish Cream layer was the better of the two.  And then the homemade sponge toffee.  I've got to learn to make this.  First off, I love sponge toffee (caramelized, volumized sugar ... what's not to love?) but this was way better than a Crunchie bar or the $1 bags of sponge toffee you can get at the dollar store!  It was sweet and sticky and chewy.  Absolutely perfect.  Too bad I was too full to finish all of my desserty.  But it was a delicious, satified full-belly happy.

 

 

What a great way to celebrate and mark such an important birthday.  Thanks so much for hosting such a great party!  It was so much fun and everyone had a great time, a great meal and a great time celebrating Kellie!