When I first started at my new job in a downtown office, I told myself that I was going to be good. Both in the monetary sense and the eco-friendly sense. I was going to ride the bus to work and pack my lunch everyday.
With the fantastic TCAT system that Ithaca employs, I have stuck to the first half of my pledge. I’ve actually found riding the bus to be a calming experience. I’m not sure it will stay that way once the students are back this Fall, but, at least until then, I’m enjoying it.
Packing my lunch lasted all of one day. The fantastic smells from the around the corner were wafting towards me in a very enticing way. My second day of work found me at Kilpatrick’s Publick House for lunch.
I walked from the sidewalk, into what seemed to be the side door. I found out it was actually, “technically” the back door, as Kilpatrick’s adjoins the Hilton Garden Inn, with whom they share the building with. I found it to be slightly odd set up. I couldn’t help but think that on a very busy night, that door would bottleneck very easily if there were to be an emergency. However, I didn’t let this thinking deter me from promised to be an delicious meal.
I was led to a nice table near the window, which was especially nice as the weather was looking very doom and gloom. I was hoping to get a quick glance at the promise of hail later in my lunch time.
The menu, while small, was surprisingly foodie oriented. I was expecting burgers, fries and fish and chips. While they had all of those, there was also a baked brie platter and a spinach salad with candied pecans. I was rather impressed.
I settled on their Build Your Own Burger item, mostly because I was craving to meat. Basically, this item is just a burger on their handmade foccacia bread and you can add toppings from their list: lettuce, tomato, red onion, herb mayo, hickory smoked bacon, sauteed mushrooms, and your choice of cheese: cheddar, Swiss, provolone, or American. As I was starving, and everything sounded good, I got everything. The whole kit and caboodle. My choice of cheese came down to the fact that I’m a Vermont girl at heart - I wanted cheddar. I forgot to ask if it was Vermont cheddar.
The most important thing to me about getting and enjoying a burger in a restaurant is their ability to under-cook the meat. I’m one of those people who like their beef rare. Most burger places are so afraid of food poisoning, salmonella, etc, that the make a hockey puck out of a perfectly good piece of ground meat.
(There are people who, when given the choice about the rareness of their ground beef, will still request a hockey puck. I had one friend who would literally say that to the waitperson: “I want it hockey puck well done.”)
Getting back on topic, when the burger came, it was fantastic. Very, very messy, but utterly great. It was juicy and all of the toppings were well cooked and flavorful. The only problem I had with it was there was maybe too many toppings. As I reached the last few bites of my burger, bits were falling out, a little tomato and onions, but it wasn’t too much.
The one thing that I like the most about this burger was a a little thing, but I’d never seen it done on before. The sauteed mushrooms were glued to the top bun of the burger by the melted cheddar cheese. It was a nice surprise to not have to chase the mushrooms around the plate and just enjoy them with the burger.
I am very much looking forward to going back to this restaurant soon. As it’s within a rock’s throw from my building, I’d say that I have a pretty good chance of going again. I think it would also be an interesting visit during the evening to sample their choice of beer - something I really can’t do during a lunch visit.
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