Burgatory

I love a good burger and over the past few years a ton of new up-scale burger restaurants have opened around the Pittsburgh area.  At least they are as "up-scale" as a burger joint gets.  I've touted the great burgers at Winghart's, BRGR, the Union Grill, and of course my favorite, Tessaro's.  Well, I have a new favorite-Burgatory.

I recall making the trip to the original location in Fox Chapel.  When we got there and realized it was in a shopping center we made the decision to have lunch down the road at Bob's Garage (another great place too!).  Turns out, leaving the shopping center was a mistake.

This time we went to the newest location in Robinson Township.  The restaurant is a comfortable, modern decor with a mix of tables surrounded by booths and a large bar in the middle.  While they offer full bar service it appears to me that this place is mostly about the food.  The menu offers 10 burger selections or you can build your own from a checklist where you choose each ingredient to create your own custom creation.

Stacy and I ordered off the menu and went with the Standard Deluxe and the Morty's Steakhouse.  Here are the descriptions from the menu:

STANDARD DELUXE* $9
All Natural Beef Burger with White American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion & our House Burger Sauce.

MORTY’S STEAKHOUSE* $11

Peppercorn Crusted Beef Burger with Horseradish Cheddar, Haystack Onions & Cabernet Sauce. Like the greatest steak dinner you’ve ever had reincarnated as a burger

When you order, instead of the ambiguious rare, med rare, med, med well, and well you simply choose to have you burger cooked either red, pink, or no pink.  I like that.  In addition, the burgers are served with homemade potato and sweet potato chips.  Of course fry's and a variety of other sides are available.  There are also a few salads and a veggie and crab burger, but none of those options were considered by us!

Both of us loved our burgers.  Really loved our burgers.  To the point that we each think these may have been the best we have ever had...(sorry Tessaros).  Since it was only one trip, I'm not going to rate it the best, but I'm going back, for sure.

Burgatory is located near the WalMart in the Robinson Town Center.

New Christmas Toys!

 The All Clad Factory sale is currently going on at the Washington County Fairgrounds, just South of Pittsburgh.  I usually go every year and search for values.  The problem with cookware that lasts forever, is that pretty soon you run out of things you need.  Then you start to buy stuff like a roasting pan with a 3 tier rack.

You could say that when you buy a roasting pan with a 3 tier rack, you already have too much All Clad.  I choose to not think so.

I have had some people ask me if the sale is worthwhile.  First off, you will have to wait in line, but if you go at the right time the wait will be minimal.  People tend to get there in the morning thinking the selection will be better, but I've found that going at 2 or 3 in the afternoon works best.  As far as selection, the nice folks at the sale restock the sales room continually throughout the day, so selection is pretty much the same.  

This is an example of one of my purchases this year.  It is an 8 quart, stainless stock pot.  The list price for this is $380.00 while the sale price was $89.99.

Realistically, I don't think many of these are sold for $380, but I did see this one in Macys for $259.99.

You may think that even with a serious discount, spending almost a hundred dollars for a stock pot is crazy, and you may be right, but these are really great kitchen utensils that provide great performance and will last a lifetime.