3 for 1 Restaurant Special

Ooooh if only the 3 for 1 special was as cheap as it sounds. My 3 for 1 restaurant special did not involve the enjoyment of 3 restaurants for the price of 1. It was more like 3 restaurants in one night. That's how the Saturday of my three day weekend went.

SpiderWoman, another friend and I went out on Saturday night to celebrate all things Lakers. OK,I was the only one interested the Purple & Gold out of the three of us... but that was still good enough for me. SpiderWoman has absolutely no interest in basketball, and the other friend enjoys all sports. Not only does she enjoy watching athletes... but she's one serious athlete herself. So much so that from here on out she'll be called IronWoman.

SpiderWoman, IronWoman and I started out our night at DeVere's Irish Pub on L Street between 15th & 16th Streets. This spot opened up earlier this year, and has been packed ever since. The owners (three guys just as white as me) have said they were looking to open a place just like a pub in Ireland: an extension of one's living room. Perfect! My living room is my favorite place to watch Lakers games... so the three of us waddled inside.

There are two main parts to the Pub: The front has a long bar, and some booths and some pub tables & chairs. If you walk past the front onto the back, there's some more tables and a little bit shorter bar... but there is great service back there. That's where we plopped down, with a large flat screen in plain view. For a drink I opted for a Snake-Bite. A Snake-Bite is half beer, and half hard cider (perfect for me because I'm not so big on the beer). IronWoman had a NewCastle, and SpiderWoman stuck with soda. As for grub, I was saving room for whatever else was coming up that night... and the two Women ordered an Irish-American Grilled Cheese to split. I've had this one before, seeing that I am grilled cheese connoisseur. It's made with Dubliner and American cheeses, and served with a tomato on it (which I usually add anyways). The Dubliner cheese has one of those super-melty consistencies that gets all over your face and hands and whatever else gets close to it. The 'wich is made on your choice of bread... but everyone knows the crusty Sourdough is the best (even if it does cut up the roof of your mouth). This masterpiece also comes with your choice of "Chips or Crisps." The "Chips" are fries and the "Crisps"are potato chips. It's a little backwards, but makes sense if you remember the "Chips" in "Fish and Chips" is actually fries. Both are yummy here either way... the "Chips" being large wedges, served on the crispy side.

Two Snake-Bites and some left over fries later I was ready for a change. It was half time in the game... and when the Lakers changed sides... so did we. We went to the other side of the block to a family favorite.

1 down 2 to go...

Starting From the Bottom

So let me tell you (all two of you, three if I count myself) about my last great adventure of the three day weekend. Don't worry... you won't miss anything. I'll work my way backwards. I know you were worried.

Anyways, on Sunday I had promised myself I wasn't going to eat crap and wasn't going to spend money on crap. Lord knows I had done that enough already. So when I read about a new restaurant JUST down the street from me-- owned by the same people that run Crepeville (you'll def hear more about that)-- I knew I couldn't resist. The place is called Burgers & Brew, and served just that. It just opened about a month ago, next to stand-by's R15 and Cafe Bernardo. Also, its located right underneath some awesome condos that just opened, and are practically all sold (think exposed brick walls, ducting, plumbing, huge windows, roof-top deck, floor to ceiling kitchen cabs). Back to the food...

So I stopped by and ordered at the counter. I later found out they have table service in the evenings. And by later I mean a coupe of hours later when I went back for more (More on that sad story tomorrow. It has something to do with spiders). I ordered a Bacon-Jalepeno Cheeseburger. It came with regular fries, so I of course upgraded to garlic fries. Let me tell you about these garlic fries. They were the best. Ever. They weren't like fries you get at other places, with the garlic chunks so big they burn your mouth. I want to say they were made with crushed garlic (or at least it was the best mincing job I've ever seen), and fried up extra crispy. The garlic flavor didn't overwhelm when I bit into it, but instead the garlic taste lingered a little longer(sexy!). Oh and word to the wise: If you like ranch dressing with your fries, I hope you like Hidden Valley. Straight out of the bottle.

The best part of the fries were that I saved them until I was done with my burger. That meant that all of the grease and juice from the burger (there was A LOT), got all over the fries so they tasted like garlic-burger-fries. The burger itself was impressive. Not going to say it's the best I've ever had (that goes to The Squeeze-Inn), but it might now be Top 3. It was extra juicy and greasy and cooked to order (medium for me). The burger was garnished by bacon (hard to go wrong), marinated jalepenos (tasted more like regular), and a jalepeno mayonnaise (masked by the flavor of the regular jalapenos). Despite the marinated jalapenos not being marinated, the burger was still really good.

As for the "Brews" in "Burgers & Brews," I stuck with a diet coke. But they DID have a large selection on tap and an even larger in bottles. And wine too! This is def a place my dad and brother are going to LOVE. Good food. Good drinks. Good location. Good patio. Sold.

AND, the best part of the whole thing: The food wasn't crap and the prices weren't either ($11 total). So I didn't break my promise :)