Monday, October 27, 2008

The Pasty...All American Treat...or Trick?

I don’t like pastys…what guy does? Guys don’t go out to joints for the pastys…

Oops, wrong kind of “pasty”.

Continuing on my personal quest for the Mount Everest of burgers, like Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, I dined at “British Beer Company” in Framingham, the latest location for the local chain.

I was thinking to myself that I’d like to have a burger, but perhaps, I should try something different. Then I saw this on the menu: “THE ALL AMERICAN PASTY-a grilled burger, cheddar cheese, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions and our traditional English steak sauce. Served with French fries and coleslaw.” I figured, it was pretty much a burger I’d eat, except stuffed inside piecrust and served calzone-style. Close enough for this food quest, so I thought.

There’s not much to say about this thing, or this place-not sure what to make of it. The pasty certainly wasn’t as described-it wasn’t so much a burger as it was ground meat stuffed inside this pastry, and not much of it, at that. I am also not a fan of steak sauce, and it was already mixed in. Not the flavor profile I was looking for or expected, and given the amount of dough, I fell into a food coma the rest of the day.

I guess I wouldn’t bad mouth BBC too much-they could clarify the item so you don’t expect a burger when in reality it’s just small pieces of ground beef, and I just should have stuck to my own plan. I’ll give it a second try sometime, but not rushing back.

There was a moment, this past weekend, bringing me close to burger nirvana or “bur-vana”. This past Saturday, after much time away, I succumbed to the siren song of burgers sizzling on a grill and fries and onion rings in all their greasy goodness in a fry-o-lator …a bunch us of caravanned into Cambridge to “Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage.”

I imagine this caravan was similar to the one the Jews had leaving Egypt…including a voice-over from Cecil B. DeMille. “In world of oppression…where people survive on unleavened bread and unleavened bread alone, there exists an oasis of sublime ground meat, that people will wander 40 years just to taste its essence...there is no joy without meat, and there is only joy at…Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage.”

As their website says: Mr Bartley´s Gourmet Burgers, 7 ounces of choice beef, ground fresh daily. A Boston landmark since 1960.



Need I say any more? These pictures are just a hint of the gluttonous glory that awaits you and the firm of Gall, Bladder, Pancreas & Liver, which will be working to help process this meal. Hold on, my phone is ringing…it must be my pharmacist calling with my Lipitor prescription. Thankfully, it’s not Flomax or Cialis….

Only Mrs. Palate has enough self-control and got this good looking salad.



Bartley’s gets a meaty thumbs up. I do think the pictures say it all. But be forewarned…it’s very noisy, very crowded, you may have to wait outside for a while, and…and wait for it…no bathrooms! But, “… 7 ounces of choice beef, ground fresh daily…” Joyous.

You’ve been great. Enjoy the Sugar Hill Gang…

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention cash only. So I heard anyway. I think your next quest should be how to cleanse yourself of all this beef. And your mother won't be happy about all those onion rings.