Local Peasant

I have been wanting to try The Local Peasant for a while now. There are so many great gastropubs in the city and when I found one in the valley I had to check it out. The restaurant is very unassuming from the outside. I actually didn’t know it was there until I looked it up. Inside the décor is standard upscale pub, with beers on a chalkboard on the wall and some communal tables and a long bar to grab a drink and some food. The rest of menu looked very good and the waitress said the short ribs are the best thing on the menu. I will have to go back to try other things.

There are two burgers on the menu. One has egg and the other doesn’t. I took the waitress’ opinion and got the one with the fried egg. The meat is all natural grass fed beef and the flavor really showed. Even with the egg on top it had the really good meat flavor that I look for in a burger. The bun may have been almost as good as the meat. It was a brioche bun that had a good chewy texture and didn’t get soggy with the egg yolk dripping all over. The burger also comes with onions and a choice of cheese, I chose cheddar. The burger was very good, but not elite. My one change would be more onions. It was really great when I got all of the flavors mixed together with the meatiness from the patty to the sweetness of the onion and the gooey egg yolk. I want more of that.

Townhouse

Townhouse is a newer restaurant in the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Although I had a couple of bad experiences when it first opened, I had to give it a few more chances as it is a great spot. It has a lounge/gastropub. There are plenty of beers on tap and a very cool bar area where you can watch a game or just hangout.Best of all, they started $5 burgers every Tuesday and $3 brewery of the month beers. That’s $8 dollars for a burger and beer. Not a bad deal at all.

On to the burger. I ordered the Townhouse burger. It comes on a brioche bun. It was good and not overly greasy, which is a pet peeve of mine. The meat came in two different thin patties. This was probably the worst part of the burger. I wish they would have ground the amount of meat used for both patties together into one because it would have been juicier than the two smaller patties. It came topped with goat cheese, arugula, tomato, red onion and pickles. It usually comes with mushrooms, but if you are regular reader you would know that I am not a big fan of mushrooms so I did not get them on the burger. Overall, I was a little disappointed in the dryness in the meat but will probably go back as the deal is too good to pass up and it is a great location and atmosphere.
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Mad Bull’s Tavern

Mad Bull's Tavern (@madbullstavern) is a new gastropub that opened in the Valley. I was very excited when I found out about this place since there were not many late night places to hang out on this side of the hill. The place is perfect for watching a game since they have TVs all around the walls of the bar. There is a great beer list consisting of microbrews, imports and the usual fare. The menu is typical of bar food, but with a homemade twist. They also have a nice happy hour every night from 4-7 PM.

I decided to try the MBT Burger. It is made of 100% angus beef. The meat was cooked a little over medium, but was not dry. The burger came topped with manchego cheese, bacon and crispy onion stings. The cheese was good and not overpowering. Fried onion strings are always a good complement to a burger. The issue was with the bacon. To me, bacon needs to be a complimentary part of the burger, otherwise it overtakes the flavor of the burger. This burger was case in point. Moist of the flavor I got from each bite was bacon. Overall it is a solid burger. I do recommend Mad Bull's for a good time, the burger left a little something to be desired.

Blue Dog Tavern

It was my friend Brandon’s birthday, and I thought, what better way to celebrate than trying a new burger joint? I decided it was finally time to check out Blue Dog Tavern. I mean it is about 5 minutes from where I live and I have been hearing good things. When I first heard I could not figure out where this new place was. Then I heard that it was a former dentist’s office then I knew this could be something great. The bar has a great atmosphere. It is a mix between a sports bar, gastropub and a dive bar. You can also send them photos of your dogs and they will put them up in restaurant. They also have a very good beer selection. It seems like a good place to hang out and have some beers while not being too much of a dive or club.

And now on to the burger. Brandon ordered the Chi Chi Burger and our other friend Brian ordered The Dickens. In trying to keep with my standard burger, I ordered the Blue Dog Burger. I got it without the mushrooms because as I mentioned before I am not a big fan of mushrooms and the other burgers did not have them. The bun was a standard white bread bun. It held together well but did not add much to the burger other than keeping everything together. The meat is a house packed blend. I am not sure if they just cook everything one way but the waitress did not ask us how we wanted out meat cooked. It came out a little above medium but was still juicy. The burger came topped with Swiss cheese, caramelized onions and their homemade root beer barbeque sauce. Upon taking the first bite, there seemed to be a lack of flavor. I tried the meat by itself and there was not a lot of flavor in the meat. The most flavor I got was out of the onions. I also tried The Dickens burger and the same bland taste existed there as well.

Overall, the burger was satisfying and the fries that came with it were very tasty. And it was not the best burger, I plan on going back to Blue Dog Tavern and trying the other burgers and to hang out and grab a beer. I think you should do the same.

The Infield

It finally stopped raining enough for me to take my car to the car wash. Luck for me the car wash I went to is right next to The Infield. This place is awesome. It is completely baseball themed. The menu looks like the old style scoreboards. The tables are all about baseball teams. The one I sat at had Yankee facts and pictures on it. The best part is the chairs are all old stadium chairs. They had some from Angels Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and my choice Wrigley Field. Not that I am a Cubs fan but having been there before, it is the sentimental choice.

Now on to the dogs. I had a Groupon so I needed to get to $12 dollars. This worked out so I could try two different kinds. The first I honored my heritage by getting the Koufax Dog. It is a standard Hebrew national hotdog served with your choice of toppings. I chose ketchup, mustard and onions. The dog was perfectly cooked and was nice and plump.

The second choice I wanted to get one with the Sabretta dog in it. The person at the window recommended the Deli Dog. The dog came topped with deli mustard and sauerkraut. The Sabretta dog had great snap and again was cooked perfect. Nice and red inside.

If you haven’t figured it out yet; April Fools! But seriously, if you are looking a good place to eat hot dogs and hang out, check out The Infield. And follow them on Twitter (@theinfield). They have all sorts of deals every day.

Boneyard Bistro

A few years ago we found a new BBQ restaurant from a classically trained chef called Boneyard Bistro. The menu includes your typical brisket, ribs and pulled pork. It also has some interesting items like the BBQ burrito and one time had kangaroo as a special. It also has a great selection of beers and recently expanded to include a nice bar area. As a lover of good BBQ, I was excited to try it. Suffice it to say the BBQ was not great, but we discovered they make some good burgers. 

 
On the night of our visit they had a special appetizer we just had to get. It was sliders with a twist. They came with cheddar cheese, pickle, bacon, mustard and the kicker was a bun of homemade glazed donuts. I have heard of this being done with Krispy Kreme donuts at county fairs, but this was the first time I tried it. It sounds like something you would not want to eat or a dare back in elementary school. I have to say, they were actually amazing. All of the flavors worked together. I think the homemade donuts were the best part. 

On to the real burger. I ordered the classic with blue cheese. It came with bacon and a smoked onion aioli. The burger is presented very well on the plate, especially the Nic's Rant & Ranch, which is pictured below in all of its high stacked glory. When cut in half I noticed it was a little over cooked but still juicy. All in all it was a good burger but nothing spectacular. The bocan actually didn't help the burger and the rest was kind of bland. I have had the other burgers there and they were a bit better than the standard burger, this one left me unfulfilled.