BURGER FRIDAY
DOUBLE MEAT, DOUBLE CHEESE BURGER WITH BACON FROM ALICE BLUE
Alison Cook says Alice Blue won’t give you the blues.
I already knew— or strongly suspected— that Brandi Key’s double-double at Alice Blue, Claire Smith’s successor bistro to Shade, would be aworthy entrant in Burger Friday’s chef-burger category.
I have long admired Key’s deft, graceful touch with everything from Italian food (Coppa, Coppa Osteria), to seafood (the late, lamented Salt Air), to homey Texas-style Southern (Punk’s). I knew from experience shewould send out a burger I’d enjoy eating.
But I will confess to an ulterior motive. Key’s menu at Alice Blue in the Heights is such an inviting mix of all those genres she does sowell, I had a feeling Iwould come home with a treasure trove of extras to see me through theweek.
Here’s how it went down.
PRICE: $15 for the double-double cheeseburger with fresh-cut fries.
ORDERING: I hoped to order online, but that did not appear as an option on Alice Blue’s website, which advises calling ahead for pickup. They do not offer curbside service. I have since clicked the “order pickup” tab on the Google box that pops up for Alice Blue during search, and it took me to a menu and allowed me to start filling a cart— the same strange phenomenon I encountered lastweek at MDK Noodles.
Instead of calling, I decided to showup at the restaurant’s neon-lit sidewalk pickup window, where I placed my order, paid by credit card (no cash!) and window shopped up and down the 200 block of West 19th Street whilemy food was prepared. In about 15 minutes, itwas neatly packed and ready to go.
ARCHITECTURE: No salad stuff. On a toasted challah bun goes a slather of mayo and chopped onion, followed by a half-inch beef patty, cheddar, another beef patty, more cheddar, some super-meaty bacon slices and slices of sharp, lively dill pickle with the bounce of housemade. Oh yeah, a little more mayo to finish things off.
QUALITY: If you are one of those burger purists who want the beef to be able to speak its piece, this one’s for you. The beef flavor fairly bloomed, unsullied by the bells and whistles of modern burger dom. Choosing laid-back mayo as the sole condiment was a subtle choice, and unusual in Houston. Yet there was enough sour pickle bite, salty cheese onion savor to highlight the ground beef.
Itwas swell beef, too: griddled to a good, firm sear that still allowed for a flush of pink inside— just the degree of doneness I like, although nobody asked and I hadn’t specified. Expert and respectful cooking, much appreciated. So was the house-made challah bun, with a soft crumb that stood up to the job without poufing into ratio-busting territory.
Canwe talk about size? This double-double stood the height of my palm. I swear it could feed two people of modest appetite, or one glutton. Not going to say which category I fall into.
OOZE RATING: Average. The patties were juicy but not spurty. LETTER GRADE: A
VALUE: Decent, considering quality and sandwich size, plus the flock of fries.
BONUS POINTS: I could pick from Alice Blue’s thoughtful list of beer, wine and cocktails to go. So I went home with a modest plastic cupful of Spanish garnacha, all cooked black fruit and resinous herbs, its lid crisscrossed shut with blue painter’s tape. Itwas housed in cardboard drinks caddy so as not to fall over in the car. (My carpet still smells of spilled lemonade from months back.)
MINUS POINTS: These go to me, and me alone, for forgetting to apply the lesson I learned a few weeks ago at Elliott’s Table. Good, fresh-cut french fries are meant to be eaten immediately, even if it means opening the takeout box and
eating the potatoes as you drive home.
After 20-some minutes, the cardboard container in which the frieswere housed, snugged up against the hot burger, had collected a skein of tinywater droplets inside. The fries had gone chewy and a bit listless, which killed me— because I could tell they had been swell at one point. (Theymight have survived better had the container been pierced with a knife or fork, theway they do it at Just GRK and Becks Prime.)
STUFF FOR LATER: What a haul! I always loved chef Key’s seafood salads at SaltAir, so I got her Crab Louie version with a Houston hottish-pink dressing that really clicked. The salad kept surprisinglywell in the fridge overnight. Just think of it as a luxurywedge.
I also got a quartet of her
mustardy deviled eggs for breakfast or snacking; and a coconut “pie” thatwas more of an ethereal custard tart with fat shards of toasted coconut on top. Imeant to save half for later, but suddenly itwas all gone.
I transferredmy heirloom tomato salad with burrata into a glass container and left it to marinate overnight, then rejoiced in the big, bold flavor of the fruit, which I had been craving. I knewKeywouldn’t settle for the pale, flavorless tomatoes that sometimes pass for “heirloom,” and Iwas right.
Oh, and did Imentionmy LastWord cocktail? Served shaken and up, this Prohibition classic rode home in its plastic glass and kept beautifully until the next evening’s happy hour— a tight, bracing combo of gin, Maraschino and the herbal shiver of Chartreuse liqueur that makes it sing.
LOCAL COLOR: Rambling up and down the 200 block of 19th Streetwas an unexpected pleasure. I checked out the last customers in the hipster barber shop; the young parents dandling a baby in front of the corner sweets parlor; the young and not-so-young gentlemen populating an old-fashioned cigar lounge that looked like some sepia-lit Netflix historical drama set.
Everybodywho passedme was wearing amask, I am pleased to say.
Then I crossed the street to paymy respects to the late, greatMacario Ramirez, whosemagical Casa Ramirez folk art shop is passing its first All Souls Day without him.
I stood for a longwhile in front of the sparkly, towering ofrenda they construct for Day of theDeadevery year, basking in its vivid colors, imagining I felt Macario’s presence, lovingmy city and its souls.