Vera’s Burger Shack: Best Burger in Town?

The sign boast “You Can’t Beat Vera’s Meat!”, the chain was voted best burger in town five years in a row, but does it still live up to it’s reputation? Phil and I felt compelled to investigate.

It’s not cheap. Prepare yourself for an $8-$13 burger, before sides. That being said, it’s not a wimpy beef patty either. You’re biting into a thick, well seasoned burger with a variety of toppings – some at an additional charge. Still, I don’t like the price, I think it’s a little steep for a place where you order at a counter, and seat yourself.

Phil always orders the beef sliders, 4 mini burgers for $10 served with Vera’s sauce, ketchup and cheddar. When I asked Phil what he thought about them he replied: “Ummm…,” and after a longer pause, “they were pretty good. But they lacked something, more toppings.” I agreed. For the price you expect some other ingredients, “such as caramelized onions,” rationalized Phil. “I mean, the amount of toppings on each slider is like what, half a tablespoon? Vera’s can afford to offer their customers a selection of additional toppings at little to preferably no additional charge.”

If I’m gonna eat a burger, I’m gonna do it right, so I ordered the Canuck Burger ($12.00), which is essentially a bacon cheeseburger.  It came with ketchup, mustard, relish, Vera’s sauce, tomato, lettuce. I like my burgers juicy; Vera’s burgers are consistently dry, and I’m not just talking about the sauce to bun ratio. The patty was overcooked and I had to add extra ketchup.

I apologize for the horrible lighting, but really, there’s nothing special to see.

For $6.00 we shared a side of half onion rings half fries. There was nothing special here, just some fries and a few onion rings

6 onion rings

Vera’s Burger Shack is a love-hate kinda joint; I’ve found people either rant or rave about their experiences, but for me it has been less than satisfactory. I have no problem paying $12 – 16 for a gourmet burger – that is, if I’m getting a gourmet burger.  True, the seasoning of the meat was delicious, however there were too many negative factors taking away from this. All in we spent just under $30. At this price point, I’d suggest trying Cactus Club or Earls, but honestly the McDonalds across the street would have been just as satisfying, and half the price.

Sweet Irish Soda Bread

A couple of days ago my roommates and I decided to give something up for Lent. None of us are actually practice a religion, but we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to stick to a “diet” of sorts. Emilie said no more cabs, Tyler said no more energy drinks, I said no more bread, and Phil laughed at all of us, claiming we wouldn’t last a week.

Later that afternoon Em was late for work and had to take a cab, the transportation diet would just start tomorrow. The next day, Tyler came home from work and consumed an energy drink in what seemed like 60 seconds. But worst of all, a few days later Phil brought home a Modern Burger for me to try. I swear his intentions were to see me break (he knows I can’t resist food!) and half way through the burger I realized that hamburger buns do count as bread. I guess Lent is not for us.

So without guilt I continue the Irish cooking theme this week with a Sweet Irish Soda Bread. As I write this post my bread bakes away in the oven, it’s only been in 15 minutes but  it smells amazing. I’ve never made bread before (yay me!)  I should probably save my congratulations until after it comes out, with my baking luck it will implode in the oven…but lets stay positive until than!

The recipe I used is the perfect tea time bread: the raisins make it sweet, the caraway seeds are savoury, equalling the perfect combination. I searched the internet for recipes, this one is called “Irish Rosie’s Irish Soda bread”,  found on www.food.com. Many recipes called for buttermilk, however this one called for sour cream and so I thought I’d go with that. I bought the fat-free stuff because you can’t tell the difference.

Soda bread is great with stews and soups. There are many variants of this bread, it’s not hard to find a recipe that suits you’re tastes, be it sweet or traditional. If you’re looking for more of a dinner bread omit the raisins and caraway seeds, and reduce sugar to 2 tbsp. I found that 1/2 cup sugar coupled with the natural sweetness of the raisins was a little too sweet; next time I make this recipe I’ll use 1/4 cup if not 2 tbsp sugar.

Irish Rosie’s Irish Soda Bread

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
500 ml sour cream
2 eggs
3/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp caraway seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients, stir, set aside.

In a small bowl beat eggs, stir in sour cream. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon.

Next, add the raisins and caraway seeds. Stir well.

Grease a 9 inch springform pan. Add dough to greased pan, then dust generously with flour so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands when you pat it evenly around the pan.

With a knife, make a shallow criss-cross on the top of the dough. Bake for 50 minutes.

Don’t even let it cool, this was amazing right out of the oven. Remember, food tastes best when enjoyed with friends, so Happy Eating Everyone!

Colcannon Irish Potatoes

T’IS THE SEASON TO BE IRISH, FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA, LA, LAAAAA! And in honor of one of my favourite holidays I’m brushing up on some Irish cuisine, starting with Colcannon. This traditional Irish dish consists of mashed potatoes and cabbage or kale. Here’s how you make it:

Colcannon
Serves 2, lots of leftovers!

3 Russet potatoes
1 cabbage head
3 scallions
1 cup warm milk
2 gloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
In unsalted water, cook cabbage head until it turns a darker green ( about 20-30 minutes depending on size). Drain water, add 1-2 tbsp butter to cabbage, return lid and let sit for a few minutes. Chop cabbage into small pieces.

Peel and boil potatoes in salted water. When potatoes are tender drain and then return to the pot. Add 1/4 cup of butter and mash potatoes. Stir in warm milk/buttercream or sour cream.

Add chopped scallions, garlic and cabbage to potatoes and stir. Season with salt and pepper, serve and enjoy!

This was amazing, and Phil didn’t even know there was cabbage in it! We ate this as a side but traditionally it’s served as a main dish.

Some recipes I researched called for bacon or ham and I think next time I’ll boil the cabbage with some ham, or else add chopped bacon to the mashed mixture. I had 1% milk on hand, again next time I will use buttercream or sour cream, or at least 2% milk. DE-LISH!

Happy Eating! Stay tuned for more Irish recipes coming all week. Next up, Irish Soda Bread!

Lemon Dill Dressing

Still trying to use up that fresh dill before it goes bad. Here’s a simple salad dressing recipe:

Lemon Dill Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 salt
1/4 pepper

Whisk together ingredients and serve. I used this over couscous, very yum. To add some colour garnish your salad with grated raw beets, delicious not to mention beets are good for digestion and hinder garlic breath.

Cucumber Dip

So we have this huge bushel of fresh dill in our fridge after Phil made Cajun Chicken Pasta, and lucky for me greek yogurt was on sale at Safeway today, thus I decided to try making a cucumber/tzatziki recipe. I used a recipe that called for one cup Greek yogurt and one cup sour cream, however I omitted the sour cream to be healthier - yay me! It tasted amazing but if you’re looking for that “authentic store bough/restaurant” tzatziki, add the sour cream.

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cup Greek Yogurt
1 small cucumber, seeded and diced
1 garlic clove ( I used two, was very garlicky but delicious)
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 white pepper
1/4 salt
1 tsp vinegar/lemon juice

In a food processor (or magic bullet!) combine oil, garlic, and cucumber. Cucumbers retain a lot of water so make sure to deseed yours first. Note: I forgot to do this the first time and my dip turned out very runny.

Add blended mixture to greek yogurt. Stir in salt, pepper, vinegar, and dill. For the best results let the dip stand in the fridge for an hour so the flavours can settle together. Mine tasted best the next day.

Just a little note, I’ve made this with and without a food processor/magic bullet. I only blended the cucumber/garlic mixture for a few seconds and I got that store-bought look and feel. This dish is about the flavours so it doesn’t matter if you blend or prepare the ingredients by hand, as long as you make sure to finely chop – no one likes to bite down on a hunk of garlic.

If you really want it to taste store-bought, go ahead and add 1 cup of sour cream, it thickens the dip and gives it a great flavour. Double the other ingredients if you’re adding sour cream.