Sorry, Friend of Nemo

Things I am generally not a fan of: 

1. White bread

2. Meat wrapped in more meat

3. Emo anything

4. Fish trying to be something it isn't, i.e. fish tacos

So when hubs walked in the door on Saturday, not with the turkey burger I'd requested, but with a mahi mahi burger, I was none too enthused.  "No, I'll try it," I said, trying to be grateful and positive (after all, he did bring sweet potato fries, too).  But on the inside I was remembering an experience earlier in life with a salmon burger that did not go well.  Don't misunderstand.  I love fish.  Fish is one of my favorite foods.  But I like my fish to be fish- not a taco filling, not a stew ingredient and absolutely not a burger. 

I sat down at the table and examined the burger before me.  The mahi mahi patty had a blend of spices in it and was topped with a pineapple-coconut salsa.  Uh oh.   I hate coconut.  Between it and the bottom bun was a small pile of mixed greens.  In a separate container was an unidentified sauce of some sort- possibly but not neccessarily a version of tartar sauce.  I asked my husband what it was, but he said he hadn't paid close enough attention to know.  The only thing left to do was try it.  

Which I did.  And much to my surprise, it was astonishingly good.  Good enough that I ate the whole thing, although I still couldn't identify the sauce for you.  It had a nice ocean-y flavor, but it wasn't fishy at all- and I didn't notice the coconut one bit.  (Yay!)

So, where can you get this burger?  You can't.  At least not anymore.  It was the January burger of the month at The Counter.  (A little research informed me that it was called the Hawaiian Spice Rubbed Mahi Mahi Burger, and that the sauce may have been a pickled ginger aioli, but there are apparently many dipping sauce choices, so I can't be sure.)  The Counter is a build-your-own burger restaurant, and every month they also feature a burger of the month.  It's a bit pricey for my humble budget (good thing my food was free), but any place that can make a fish burger worth eating has my vote.

It's time to Revolt

You know what makes me crazy? Drives me up the wall and fills me with the desire to storm restaurant kitchens and have words with the chef? Good, because I'm about to tell you.



I HATE IT when I am at a restaurant and see garlic bread on the menu, and thinking, "Yum, garlic and bread together is one of heaven's greatest gifts," order the garlic bread only to receive a basket of slices of french bread with a butter/garlic powder mixture on it. That is not garlic bread. That is bread with a garlicky butter on it. Putting garlic in some form on top of bread does not make the bread itself garlic bread. In fact, putting anything on top of bread does not change the type of bread that one has. You do not put peanut butter on bread and call it peanut butter bread. (ooooh! Peanut butter bread! Delightful! Hurry, someone go invent that and send it to me. And maybe to Sara Lee or something, too, because that stuff will be HUGE.) You do not put jam on bread and call it jam bread. (Although you do put butter and cinnamon and sugar on toast and call it cinnamon toast... odd.)



Garlic bread is bread that actually contains garlic. La Brea makes a wicked roasted garlic loaf that has beautiful, lovely chunks of roasted garlic in it. It is delightful with dinner and for making eggs in a basket the next morning. THAT is garlic bread, my friends. Not this french-bread-with-butter-and-garlic-powder passed off as garlic bread at restaurants and grocery stores and dinner tables nationwide. And I am not going to take it anymore. No siree, next time that happens to me I am SENDING IT BACK. And then probably leaving, because I don't want to eat a dinner that has been spat upon. But I will have made my point. Take THAT, lazy restaurateurs!