I have been driving my poor Bride crazy, lamenting that I want a burger.  I know that doesn’t sound like a difficult request, but it is; I guess that I am high maintenance.  My Bride has made me numerous different burgers since the lockdown began and they were all excellent, but perhaps it is the ambience.  I know that you will suggest the chains, and to be truthful, I never liked them as a teenager and find them even worse today, though I do tolerate them when we have long motor trips.  I also do not have an affinity for “sliders” as I feel that they pile on fried onions and spray the buns with essence of meat. Growing up, there was a famous bar that made famous burgers, famous enough to have people drive across town for them.  The father of the business was a customer of mine, and he told me that he mixed his burgers in the cellar of the bar using a formula of ground round, ground chuck, ground sirloin, ground veal and ground pork all mixed with either duck fat or goose fat; and the recipe amounts changed depending on which of the last two items were used (alas nowadays, his son lives on his father’s fame and just uses prepared burgers). Since the lockdown has eased up, the steakhouse that I enjoyed their burger when in the bar, has stopped making burgers, until they are back to full capacity, because they want to sell the big-ticket items; and I understand that thinking.

There is a restaurant in a mall near us, that my Bride goes to with some of her girlfriends for quick nights out.  Even during the period when the peasants were only allowed to dine outdoors and in Michigan, I thought that was pure madness.  Now you have to understand that plenty of times, and I am not casting aspersions, women like to make meals out of appetizers and glasses of wine.  She wanted me to try this place, to stave my craving for a burger.  Now you have to understand, that my Bride has gone out of her way to make me eat healthy, so much so, that I can’t eat most bar food, because it is now way too greasy for my “sensitive” stomach.  We went there and had two different choices of their fancy burgers, she had a side of sweet potato fries and I had a side of onion rings.  They tasted great, I have to admit, until later, but I must thank God and the people that created the ulcer medicine that was originally by prescription, until it was discovered that ulcers were being treated the wrong way, and then this medicine overnight, was sold over the counter.

My Bride, if given a chance will try to opt for a split of bubbly.  She had a split of La Marca Prosecco DOC NV. The company was founded in 1968 as a cooperative of wine growers in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.  Since its beginning it has now grown and comprises nine cooperative wineries predominately in the Prosecco DOC region. These wine growers comprise some nine-thousand hectares of vineyards of mainly Prosecco (or Glera when the grape is not from the DOC district) as well as a few other grape varietals for some of the other wines that they produce. La Marca uses the Charmat Method and they do a great job with it.  In 2007, Wine Spectator magazine listed La Marca as being one of the “Top 100 Wines of the Year.” The wine is an easy crowd pleaser and never disappoints.  I went for a heavier wine that I have had over the years in a couple of different formats, and this was their basic offering of Dona Paula Los Cardos Malbec Lujan de Cuyo 2018. The company’s first vineyard was in 1997, the winery built in 1998 and the first harvest was 1999. They are based in Mendoza, Argentina and are known for Malbec, with three single vineyard wines down to their entry level Los Cardos line.  They mainly use cement tanks and fermenters.  The majority of their wines are made for the export market. The wine is a nice dark wine, that is made for quick consumption, so it is mellow with some spice and floral notes and is a good introduction of what one can expect from Malbec, the King of Grapes for Argentina.