BurgerTime, an Appreciation

BURGERTIME, AN APPRECIATION

Released in 1982, BurgerTime was a video game created in Japan by developers Data East for their DECO Cassette System, eventually being translated to English and being released into North American arcades.

The plot, as it were, was that you are playing chef Peter Pepper, who walks through a maze of platforms and over hamburger ingredients while avoiding  Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Pickle, and Mr. Egg. The object of the game is to complete a number of hamburgers.

The game was popular in the arcades, not Pac Man popular but popular in its own rights. Eventually it was developed for several home consoles and several less successful sequels were made. 

Here is some footage from the original arcade version.

Of course watching is one thing, playing is another. So HERE is a version you can play online with a little more helpful info.

Dave & Busters - Dave's Double Cheeseburger

Place: Dave & Busters

Location: Vaughn, Ontario

Type: Chain

Web Site: www.daveandbusters.com

Atmosphere: Upper class sports bar

Burger: The Double Cheeseburger

#of Pattys: 2

Type of Cheese: Cheddar

Special Sauce: None

Toppings: None

THE PLACE

I don't know how to describe Dave and Busters as a whole, so I'll describe it in pieces. First there is the entertainment area filled with games that cost too much, that dispense tickets, but not enough that you could get anything any good at the ticket redemption place, so either you spend a ton of money to get something that, let's face it, you could have bought for a fraction of what you've spent or you look at that model airplane that costs fifty tickets more than you have but you are out of money.

Then there is a dining area that wants to be fine dining but is nothing more than a sports bar. Sure it looks like you could get creme brûlée but really you can get iced cream and brownies and, of course, cheesecake just like the cheesecake you get anywhere else.

Are you getting the feeling I hated going to Dave and Busters? I really did. But I'm not going to let that get in the way of my cheeseburger, because no matter the place a cheeseburger is so common and easy that even a place that is putting on airs can make a half decent one with it's eyes closed.

THE BURGER

Boy was I wrong.

Let's start at the beginning. I had a choice of the cheeseburger or the double cheeseburger and if one of something is good then two of something must be fan-freaking-tastic.

Boy was I wrong.

Let's take a look at it. It looks kinda ok. I mean the patty looks a little too brown but the cheese is nice and partially melty and the bun is good and toasted. So the meat is probably alright. Looks can be deceiving.

Boy ... Yeah, you saw that coming didn't you.

And the problem is that the picture is exactly, 100% correct. The bun is lightly toasted dream. It held up wonderfully, no finger dents here. The cheese was delightful. Even though I'm pretty sure the description includes the words "processed cheese food" I've never been a cheese snob. 

It's the meat. It was flavorless. And I'm not using metaphors here, I literally tasted nothing but bun and cheese. It didn't help that the meat was dry, over cooked and most likely under seasoned. Really it was like eating water, except water at least elicits a response from the flavor centers of your mouth. I honestly, cannot fathom how this is possible. How do you make a meat patty without any flavor? I cannot wrap my head around this. Even the worst cheeseburger has some flavor. It may not be a good flavor but it is flavor none the less.

The fries ... I'm not sure but they could have been the same string fries I get at the grocery store. It certainly looked and tasted like they might be.

So how do I rate this? Poorly cooked and flavorless meat, which is the "burger" part of the equation, plus a nice slice of cheese and a good bun. I'd give it a 6.6 if the meat wasn't such a big part of things, and this meat took away from everything else. 

So here is how I'm going to do this. I'm giving this cheeseburger a 1 out of 5, and it's based completely on the cheese and bun. Everything else was just terrible, including the service. The slow slow slow service.

I hate Dave and Busters and I will never go back, not even to review any other burger they have.

Super Bowl Special Edition- Alex Guarnaschelli's Super Bowl Double Cheeseburger

I love Alex Guarnaschelli. She is the Food Network personality I most want to be friends with. (Sorry Alton Brown) So when I went looking for a Super Bowl special cheeseburger I was thrilled to find her recipe from the website of People Magazine. It's a huge Double Cheeseburger that I'm afraid to look at let alone try, but I bet it tastes fantastic. Enjoy.

http://greatideas.people.com/2016/02/02/alex-guarnaschelli-super-bowl-double-cheeseburger/

 

Montana's - Canadian Burger Eh

Place: Montana's

Location: 9065 Airport Road, Brampton

Type: Chain Restaurant

Web Site: www.montanas.ca 

Atmosphere: both types, country and western

Burger: Canadian Burger Eh

# of pattys: 1

Special Sauce: Mayo

Toppings: Peameal Bacon

Type of cheese: Cheddar

Added Extra: Apple Butter BBQ Sauce

THE PLACE

Montana's is like a restaurant you would find in the old west, if the old west had air conditioning, piped in music and a debit machine. There is wood, or the semblance of wood, everywhere. The decor cries out "we are in the old west and don't you forget it." 

Also they put paper on the tables and give you crayons so you can play hangman, which is nice.

Also the glasses look like mason jars. I mean who doesn't love that? 

THE BURGER

The Canadian Burger Eh is a single patty burger brushed with apple butter BBQ sauce, topped with a slice of cheddar, two pieces of peameal bacon and a bit of mayo. It looks nice, although you can see it falls down on the burger to bun ratio it's fine on the bacon to bun ratio, which I just made up. It would be hard to not admit that this cheeseburger is tasty, but with the wrong type of tastes.

Yes, the Apple butter BBQ sauce tastes nice, as does the bacon and they mayo. The three of them together are just lovely. The problem is I wasn't able to taste either the burger or the cheese and if you can't taste those then what good is your cheeseburger? Simply put the burger cannot just be the delivery system of the BBQ sauce and the bacon, it has to be part of the meal. And why did this even have cheese at all? There was really no reason since it was buried under the bacon and was invisible taste wise.

The fries were nice, the bun was ok. Really this cheeseburger would have been above average ... Barely. It would have been so much better if I could taste the parts that make the cheeseburger a cheeseburger.

Rating: 2.2out of  5

How To Make a Cheeseburger Cake

Today The Cheeseburger Hunter is thinking about other types of food. Something sweet. Something delicious. And nothing is as sweet and delicious as cake. But what, and stay with me here because this is important, what if we could have a cheeseburger cake?

Well let fantasy become reality.

McDonalds - Cheeseburger

Place: McDonalds

Type: Franchise

Atmosphere: Hipster Wannabe

Burger: Cheeseburger

#of Patties: 1

Special Sauce: None

Toppings: None

Type of Cheese: Cheddar

THE PLACE

We all know McDonalds. So much that I almost feel silly writing this part. Big yellow arches. Garish color scheme. Scary ass clown. It's a part of everyone's childhood and, for some of us, a part of our adulthood. But McDonalds is going through a bit of an identity crises. It seems to want to be some sort of hipster coffee shop instead of a burger place, which is what it is. My local McDonalds actually went so far as to lose in store seating to this  aesthetic. Can you imagine a restaurant actually giving up seats just to appeal to a group of people who won't eat there anyway? Seriously McDonalds, what the hell is wrong with you?

THE BURGER

And here it is, the humble McDonalds cheeseburger. Possibly the most eaten cheeseburger in the world. (Well not this specific one, but you get the idea.) Not very pretty, is it? I mean it's very basic. Meat, cheese, bun, toppings. You will not be arguing philosophy with this burger. And yet there is something about it, something that keeps bringing you back. Probably because it is so simple, most likely because it is so damn easy to get.

When I took my first bite I was taken back to the days when I was a kid and there was only one McDonalds in town and a happy meal cheeseburger was a rare thing. Then I actually concentrated on the taste and ... It ... It wasn't very good.

Sure it tastes like a burger, and you could taste to cheese but there was something in there, maybe it was the taste of a frozen patty but it wasn't too nice. The bun was weak and my fingers went through the top. Honestly put it all together and I can only call it above bland. Certainly not the worse cheeseburger I've ever had but far, far from the best.

I've been using the idea of the McDonalds cheeseburger as my base line when rating cheeseburgers, working on the theory that it was at least a 2.5, but it isn't, not by a long shot. The McDonalds cheeseburger rates nothing more than a 1.0.

And yet I will still eat it, because I have a McDonalds around the corner from me and I am, at my heart, lazy.

Veggie Tales - His Cheeseburger

Remember Veggie Tales? Kids programming, starring vegetables with just a dash of religion. No? Me neither. But here they are with a song about a guy and his cheeseburger. It takes a bit to get going but once you get there it's kinda catchy.