The Beef Blog

I think it is, actually, yeah. Or pretty damn close.

I live in Wylie, Texas, and until recently, the closest Fuddruckers was in Plano. Not too far for me to go, certainly, but my wife is not a fan of the food there. But me, I love their cheeseburgers, and especially their baked-fresh-daily hamburger buns. (Their cookies are terrific too.)

But recently a Fuddruckers opened in Garland, Texas, which makes it a little easier for me to get my burger fix every now and then. They also have a great hot dog, terrific fries, and one of the best damn fried chicken sandwiches in the world.

The only places I can think of where I've had a burger that came close to being as good as the burger at Fuddruckers is Adairs Saloon, in Dallas, and the Sunset Bar and Grill, in Denton. As far as the latter goes, I understand they've changed owners a couple of times over the last year or two, so I can't vouch for their burgers right now because I haven't had one. But Adairs sure makes a tasty burger too.

I was going to write a post praising the fabulous Wrigleyville restaurant over in Plano on Jupiter Road, but then when I visited their website I found out that they had closed. I was disappointed to see this.

I live in Wylie, Texas, and we'd had a Chicago style sandwich shop down on the town square when I first moved here. We ate there at least once a week. My father-in-law pointed out to me that if I liked a restaurant, especially a smaller, non-franchise, I should eat their often, because otherwise it wouldn't stay in business.

Sadly, I didn't eat their often enough, but I was thrilled when I realized that Wrigleyville was offering the same style food. And the food was fantastic.

Not sure what the reason for the Wrigleyville closing was, but there's a note on the home page of the site where you can get on the mailing list for when they re-open. I'm going to sign up, and I recommend that anyone who loves all-beef hot dogs sign up, and when they do re-open, support their restaurant by eating there often.

I remember reading Jeff Smith's cookbook about American recipes years ago, and I even tried making the custard baked in a whole pumpkin recipe one night. (Turned out to be a disaster.) But I've never forgotten one piece of advice from that cookbook:

ALWAYS use all-beef hot dogs.

It's amazing how true this is. Having had several other kinds of wieners through the years, I'm convinced that possibly nothing is better than the all-beef hot dog, even if you're buying the Decker brand. If you can afford it, the Hormel Wranglers are some mighty fine frankfurters too, probably my favorite. They're rich, thick, satisfying, and best of all...beefy!

This is a recipe I made for the kids today for lunch. They all LOVE it, every time I make it:

Prepare one box of Velveeta Shells and Cheese. When the noodles are almost done, stir in five all-beef frankfurters, chopped up into sorta-cubes.

Drain normally, mix with the cheese, and serve.

You can serve these with a spoon or a fork, or both, depending on your three your old child's preference is. (My daughter is notorious for insisting on whichever I DIDN'T give her.)

Enjoy.

Okay, there's no beef in the product that I know of, but the McGriddles from McDonalds rock. I always get the sausage egg and cheese version.

Best. Breakfast. Sandwich. Ever.

High protein diets like Atkins make us feel full for a specific reason. The diets trigger a response from the small intestine that stimulates glucose production, which makes you feel full. One of the reasons that higher protein diets work is because less hunger = less eating, which means fewer calories and weight loss.

Like all scientific studies though, this particular study is inconclusive and they say they need to do more studying. I thought it was interesting though.

Atkins Diets Makes You Feel Full

I was delighted to find some Steak n Shakes opening up in the Dallas area over the last year or two. I ate at the Steak n Shake in Springfield, MO a few years ago when I was working there, and I LOVED it. The food was fantastic and cheap, the place had a nice nostalgic feel to it, and it was inexpensive to boot. If you've never eaten at this place, give it a shot. The Steakburgers are fantastic.

Steak n Shake is a public company that's available on the NYSE under the symbol SNS.

Steak n Shake

Saw a press release today regarding a new cookbook called The Healthy Beef Cookbook. Since the cookbook is co-authored by Richard Chamberlain, the chef for Chamberlains in Dallas, Texas, it should be pretty good stuff. My wife and father in law both refuse to eat chicken, and none of us are getting any younger, so The Healthy Beef Cookbook probably wouldn't be such a bad thing to buy, considering my situation.

You know, I really do think that Hamburger Helper helps your hamburger make a great meal. I'm a huge fan of virtually all Betty Crocker products, including Hamburger Helper, and in fact, I've been eating Cheeseburger Macaroni for as long as I can remember. And frankly it's just as tasty now as it was then.

My wife made the Hamburger Helper cheese ravioli version today, and I liked it a lot too. We have some fresh grated parmesan cheese that we added to it that really set it off. My daughters, who are almost 3, also like the stuff.

My wife and I were talking about different ways of making Hamburger Helper healthier too. I think if you use ground round and rinse the meat with hot water after cooking, you'll eliminate an enormous amount of fat from your diet. And in the recipes that call or milk in the sauce mix, you can eliminate more fat by using skim milk.

If you're a real health nut, you can use ground white meat turkey breast instead of hamburger. A lot of times the Hamburger Helper sauce mix will color the meat for you, and you'll never know the difference.