Rock Bottom... Brewery that is!

For lunch today, my fiance and I decided to try a place in Downtown Cincinnati. Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery is in Fountain Square of Downtown Cincinnati. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

We walked in and it's a pretty big place inside. When we sat down, our server came right up to us and asked us what we wanted to drink. (I should say something about our server though. She didn't seem the brightest, and forgot a few things, but I doubt everyone was like that.) My fiance, David, had the Rock Bottom IPA, and he raved about it. They have a pretty nice brew selection.

Let's get to the food.

For a starter we ordered the Ball Park Pretzels. O.M.G. Bigger than any soft pretzel that I've ever had. After it's made they wipe it with some home brew to stick on the salt and herb mix. You get 2 big pretzels and it comes with a jalapeno cheddar sauce. Every single bit of it is delicious. The sauce is not too spicy and completely compliments the pretzel.

For food, David ordered the 2 A.M. Steak-burger with fries. The steak-burger tasted exactly like a steak burger should. It's topped with crunchy hash-browns, cheddar cheese, and an over easy egg. I have to admit that I've had better "breakfast burgers" in my day, and even my recipe is better. Overall the burger was a bit dry.

I had the Classic Mac n' Chicken with a garden salad and ranch (of course). Their ranch wasn't the best I've ever had, but was creamy and yummy none the less. Garden salad comes with mixed greens, carrots, cucumber, roma tomatoes, raisins, sunflower seeds, and a hard boiled egg. Now, the Classic Mac n' Chicken is their homemade mac n' cheese with a very creamy cheese sauce and spiral noodles, and they add some grilled chicken to it. All topped with Parmesan bread crumbs and Parmesan shavings. Totally Spectacular. 

I would definitely go back because not only was what we had delicious, but there was so many more things on the menu that I wanted to order.

Steaks, fish, other seafood, pizzas, sandwiches, salads, and tons of appetizers. Personally, next time I'm going to try the asiago artichoke and crab dip and the lobster and shrimp mac n' cheese.

5 out of 5 stars on the food alone.

Now, for my Breakfast burger recipe.

Alexandra's Sunshine Burger

Ingredients:

1 large red potato, peeled and shredded

Eggs (make as many as burgers you are having)

1 lb (or more depending on people) of 80/20 ground beef

Maple bacon

Cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Burger buns, lightly toasted

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp 21 seasoning salute

1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tbsp garlic powder

Salt and Pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Butter

Directions:

(**I am giving away my secret to perfect hash browns!!) For the hash browns, unless you buy the pre-shredded in the store (which I never do), once you shred them, soak them in cold water for a few minutes. (This takes out some of the extra starch.) Then drain and pat the potato dry. Heat a medium skillet to medium and coat with olive oil and a 1/2 tbsp of butter. Sprinkle salt and pepper down, with some garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Then put the potatoes down to cover the bottom and squish them tight and flat with a spatula, THEN DON'T TOUCH THEM ANYMORE. Leave for about 4 or 5 minutes until the bottom is golden brown. You'll be able to tell by the edges getting color and the potatoes will slide around easily. Now get a plate that's just bigger than your pan and place it on top and flip the potatoes over in one swift motion. Now you can add more seasonings (and olive oil if needed) to the skillet and slide the potatoes back down in the pan so the golden side is now up, and cook for a few more minutes. (When I'm making hash browns for burgers, I like to add some shredded cheese on top while they are finishing to cook.) Perfect.

Now put the burger in a mixing bowl and shred the clove of garlic in the bowl over a microplane, add the 21 seasoning salute, Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper to the bowl to and mix up the beef very well. Form into patties in your hand. (Make sure the center of your patties are squished down more than the outside because when cooked the center puffs out.) Now in a skillet coat the bottom with olive oil and place the burgers down on medium heat until desired done-ness. (You can also cook these on a grill.) Tip: once you are cooking the second side, place the cheddar on top to melt.

You also need to cook some over easy eggs. (Place in a skillet, cook until white, and then flip over quickly to cook the very top of the yoke.)

Also cook the maple bacon to desired crispy-ness.

Now you are ready to assemble. Bottom bun, burger (with cheese), bacon, hash browns, egg, and smear some sour cream on the top bun, and place on top.

Not the healthiest burger, but so so good!

Burgers are such a good blank canvas. I hope you are inspired to create your own burger masterpiece. Maybe you had a decent one in a restaurant, but go home and make it better!