Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A Butcher's Daughter

Since starting to eat clean, I've felt amazing. Digestive issues I didn't know I had have vanished, I have more energy, and my skin looks fabulous, however, there is one sacrifice I have made that has ignited a flicker of sadness in my heart. This is flicker is caused by the omission of one solitary item I am lacking in my diet -- a juicy, rare, meaty beef burger. Now, I do recognize that I have maybe but one burger every other month, but the thought of not being able to indulge in a thick, rare patty with cheese on a brioche bun on any given day has caused me much distress. For the most part, these days, I have almost completely eliminated meat from my diet for fear of what might lie within (see yesterday's post). But, as a butcher's daughter, meat has always been at the center of nearly every meal, it was my family's livelihood, and my earliest memories are in the back room of my dad's butcher shop happily playing with Barbie just a few feet down from the meat locker. Each time I've pondered going vegetarian, I could not face the disapproval that was sure to come from my father, as well as the horror of never having a burger again!

My pseudo-vegetarianism as of late, though, really comes from a lack of options at restaurants -- and a lack of an industrial meat grinder in my tiny two room apartment. If I'm going to eat beef, its going to be organic, anti-biotic free, grass fed and from the happiest, most well fed cow that ever grazed this earth. And last night, I dined at an organic carnivore's haven, Bareburger in NYC. Everything, from the burgers right down to their sodas and ketchup (ketchup!) are made in house and are GMO free, organic, anti-biotic free, and sustainable.

We started our evening with fries, spicy fried pickle spears and every dipping sauce you could ever want. It was absolutely delectable, and the pickles were encrusted in cornmeal, juicy, sweet and spicy. The burger was heaven, I had a grass feed, anti-biotic free bison burger topped with maple caramelized onions, applewood smoked bacon, avocado and pepper jack cheese -- clearly I went knee deep in burger. My one criticism would be on the construction of the sandwich, the toppings-to-burger ratio was way off in a way that made it difficult to eat. I was not lacking for burger at all, but avocado became the casualty of my inferior jawline. But it was not a bad problem to have. The all natural, organic house-made sodas were also sweet and fresh tasting and had no added coloring or preservatives. I will definitely be dragging friends here soon!

No comments:

Post a Comment