Happy New Year!!!!!

A happiest of new years' to all of you! I hope all of you are feeling better after a long night of over-consumption of, well, everything! You had a day of recovery. Today is a new day. There is football to be watched, (Go Badgers!) tasty bar food to be eaten, drinks to be drunk, toasts to be proposed, and a good time to be had by all, yet again.




To update all of you as to the recent goings on of this gourmet, gourmand, and glutton, I haven't written in awhile. Sorry about that. Finals at school and then the holidays got in the way of anything even remotely linked to passion within me and writing about anything other than neoliberalism and the current state of capitalism around the world was impossible. I am back, however, and things are going well. I was recently mentioned in an article on Eating Madison A to Z, having tried a new restaurant, Limon, with JM and Nichole. The food was pretty tasty and the conversation we were having about several of the restaurants in town was lively and a whole lot of fun. If you're interested on an honest opinion about just about every freakin' restaurant in Madison, (Limon is restaurant #758 for them) give Eating Madison A to Z a try.

The last time I posted here, I started on about my Great Madison Burger Challenge. I will compose a list of places I'm going to try later this week or next week. I have already been to two bars on my list, (Paradise Lounge and  Dexter's Pub) and I will write about those soon. Again, if you have any suggestions of a good burger within the city limits of Madison, feel free to comment here and I will add it to the list.

Until next time, cheers!

The Great Madison Burger Challenge: brought to you by...me.

I've posted about hamburgers once before, but it's a topic I will happily rehash time and time again. I am an unrepentant carnivore. I can appreciate vegetarianism from an intellectual point of view. I understand some of the health benefits of a veggie diet. I can also appreciate vegetarian cuisine when it's done right. Indians and Greeks have had thousands of years to perfect their all vegetable dishes and they do them well. Vegans, on the other hand...

...that's for another post.

Let's get back to burgers, shall we? Madison has surprised me in that I am not lacking for choices in the tasty burger department. We have chains here, same as anywhere else, (Culver's Butterburgers started not too far from here in Sauk City, WI) but Madison has a fair number of local places, restaurants and bars, that serve a good to great burger. I've tried most of them. Now, I'm going to try them all.

This coming week, I will start my Great Madison Burger Challenge. I am going to make up a list of restaurants and bars to find the best burger in town and report my findings here. If it is a place I haven't been to before, I will go more than once before writing about it. I have a list in my head that I'll write down here. If I am missing anyone's favorite burger joint, feel free to offer your suggestions to me. I do have two caveats: no fast food burgers. This includes Culver's. There will be a few chains on my list, but fast food burgers, after all is said and done, simply don't measure up to the standards I have for a truly great burger, so they will be avoided. And, all bars and restaurants must be within Madison city limits. No suburbs.

Here's my current off-the-top-of-my-head list:

Dotty Dumplings Dowry
AJ Bombers
Weary Traveler
Plaza Tavern and Grill
Five Guys Burgers
Harmony Bar and Grill
Blue Moon Bar and Grill
Old Fashioned
Cooper's Tavern
The Great Dane
Graze

Again, if I'm missing anywhere you find to have an awesome burger, please let me know.