Use it or Lose it.

Last night, when deciding where to go for dinner, I remembered that I had a gift card to Bonefish that I got during the holidays when I bought gift cards. The card was only valid until February 10th, so we figured we might as well use it. We decided to go to Outback, as we had not been there for a while. So, as I always do, I used call ahead sitting. If you have never done this at Outback, here is a tip from me to you. Always call ahead. We called at around 5:00 pm, wanting to get seated around 6. We were told we could have a 6:15 time, but we would have to wait about 15-20 beyond that. When we checked in we were given our beeper and assured another 20 minute wait. As we were waiting we were hearing the wait of people walking in. Over a 2 hour wait. Seriously. People waited. I could not believe it. First of all, there is no chain restaurant I would ever wait 2 hours for. That is just ridiculous. However, as long as I can remember going to Outback this wait is not uncommon. Secondly, isn’t there supposed to be a recession going on? I guess Harford County is not part of that, because the restaurants are jammed.
I had had steak the night before, so I decided to try a burger. I’ve never had a burger from Outback. Because, if you go to Outback you go for steak, not a burger. There are plenty of other places for that. My mom had told me that she has been getting burgers recently at Outback as swears that they are the best burger she has ever had. So, listening to mom, I went ahead and ordered one. I subbed out a baked potato for the fries and awaited my meal. I have to say it was a really good burger. The meat tasted like their steak, only ground up. I felt the bun was a little big for the burger and ended up leaving most of it. For $8.95, a really good deal.
Brian stayed with tradition and ordered the Outback Special, which is a sirloin cut, with a baked potato and a salad. His standard.
For dessert, we had a new item on their menu..peanut butter pie. I was a little sceptical with the whole peanut butter/salmonella scare thing going round, but our waiter assured us that it was ok. It was more than ok..it was really good!

We traveled this far for this?

Over the holiday season, Outback, Carrabas and Bonefish offered promotions of buying 100 dollars of gift certificates and getting $20 dollars in free gift cards. We bought a slew of gift cards for people so we ended up with a nice amount for ourselves to use. We decided to use some of the money from the cards for dinner last night.

We had to run some errands last night, including Costco which is down in Whitemarsh. So, we decided to travel an extra 15-20 minutes to go to Cheeseburger in Paradise in Glen Burnie which is a restaurant owned by the Outback Corporation. There is no CIP in the Bel Air area and its a great hamburger place. It is modeled after the well known Jimmy Buffet song and has an island feel with great libations. We got down there, and the place was dead. Very surprisingly dead. There were no football games to be watched so we expected a bit of a wait at 6:00 pm, but there was none. While we were surprised we were not too unhappy about it as we had the kids and we had a 40 minute ride home so a quick dinner was in order.

When we went to pay with our Outback gift card they would not accept it, as we found out, Outback is selling off the Cheeseburger in Paradise chain to another owner. Since Outback is not a publicly traded company we don;t have the information as to who is acquiring them..if anyone.

I hope this place does not go under. It is really good even if there is not one near us. It's the first place I've ever had fried pickles. A weird concept in an appetizer, but really yummy.

Mmmm...Burgers

As a kid, growing up, when presented with the choice at summer parties "hamburger or hot dog?". I always went for the hot dog. Must be a maturity thing, as my kids pick the hot dog as well, as their 1st choice. Now a'days I can't pass on a really good hamburger. I know it is not the most nutritionally sound thing to eat, bur when a craving hits, who am I not to satisfy it? Fortunately I have a great hamburger well within 5 miles of my house. Lucky me..so here is my round up of my favorite burgers in the Bel Air area:

1. Chili's (Baltimore Pike, Bel Air)
Haven't been there in a while, but a really good burger. I always go with the "big mouth" original burger with lettuce, onion, ketchup and mustard. I pass on the mayo and tomato.

2. Bill Batemans (Baltimore Pike, Bel Air)
Great Bar food and great burgers. Go on Wednesday nights and all the burgers on their menu (with the exception of a few) are half price. A serious good deal. I always get the Fallston Burger which has cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and thousand island dressing. I skip the thousand island dressing and go with ketchup and mustard instead.

3. Cheeburger Cheeburger (Festival Shopping center, Bel Air)
I was so excited when this opened up in Bel Air. It has a 50's style atmosphere with great hamburger and tons of toppings to choose from. The burgers come in several sizes from a modest 4 ounce to a 1 lb. burger. If you can polish of a 1 pounder they take your picture and put it on their wall of shame..I mean fame. They also have awesome fries and onion rings and if you can't decide between what deep fried side you want you can get "frings" (a little bit of both). They also have shakes in as many flavors as they have toppings for burgers. Kids meals are so cute too..they come in a little cardboard car.

4. Five Guys (Harford Mall, Bel Air)
I saved the best for last. Oh, I am so happy these guys made it to Bel Air! They are expanding up and down the east coast and it is no wonder why. This is the best hamburger. If you are looking for a menu full of variety you won't find it at Five Guys. These guys take what they do best and give it their all. You have a choice of hamburgers and cheeseburgers. They also have hot and grilled cheese, but that's it. Killer french fires as well..fried in vats of peanut oil. So, if you have a nut allergy stay clear of this place..but you are seriously missing out. I used to get the regular hamburger which is basically 2 patties pressed together on a bun. I felt totally sick after finishing it. I now order smarter and get the little hamburger which is a single. Much better.

So, there is my list. Luckily, my gym is also less then 5 miles from the house as well!