Bar None

I managed to complete my first week of work at the new job. After two days of training, Wednesday was the first day for our team, and Biggest Boss came by to shake everyone's hand. Because of the time of year, it's been a bit slow, but I've sold a couple of gift cards and answered a few questions about the mall. Yesterday night I felt like celebrating, so Tony met me after I got off and we went downtown to use some Groupons for the Burger Bar at Lumiere Place Casino. Last month they had two offers--one for a American Kobe beef hamburger and the other for a King Salmon Steak sandwich. You could buy one of each, and use 2 per visit. Perfect for us!

Tony and I had an understanding that we'd each get to get a sandwich the way we wanted it, but we'd be it sharing fifty-fifty with the other person. The restaurant wasn't busy when we got there, and we had our choice of a sitting at the bar, a table, or a booth. We chose a booth, which had high sides and a small flat-screen TV showing the Cardinal game. The waiter was there immediately to take our drink orders, and told us all about the menu.

We already knew what we'd be ordering, but the choices were still a bit overwhelming. There were six types of buns, and almost 50 different toppings, ranging from the normal (cheese, bacon, grilled or caramelized onions) to the unusual (fried egg, cranberry sauce, or homemade beetroot pickle). Our deal specified we could each choose three toppings for our sandwich, but if we wanted lobster, foie gras, shrimp, or black truffles we'd have to pay for them. (That wasn't a problem.) After we placed our order we talked and watched the game while we waited for our food.

Tony ordered his hamburger with zucchini, grilled onions, and cheese. I had a hard time figuring out what would be good on a hunk of salmon, but in the end went with asparagus, grilled onions, and portobello mushrooms. We both got fries-his skinny and mine steak. I was surprised when the waiter came back and told me they were out of some of the ingredients for tartar sauce--they make it from scratch. He gave me a couple of other suggestions, and I settled on pesto, which turned out to be a great compliment to the salmon.

When our order came we cut each sandwich in half and passed it across the table so we could try both. The salmon steak was about an inch thick, and had been rounded to fit the bun. It was very good, although hard to eat with stalks of asparagus trying to fall out of the bun. Tony's hamburger was very good, too, but I don't know that I could tell that it was a special kind of beef.

We were too full for dessert, but the waiter told us they have sweet burgers, using a donut for the bun, chocolate ganache or cheesecake for the "burger" and fruit for toppings and a great banana split. I thought it might be worth another visit just for that.

We got the bill, paid it, then gathered up our things. The Burger Bar was a great way to top off a great week.