But before embarking on yet another episode of hometown tourism (another wonderful oxymoron of my invention...), we decided to fuel up at Good Stuff Eatery, this burger joint we'd been wanting to try for awhile and is conveniently situated just down the street from the Botanic Gardens.
I must admit, before trying this place I was filled with high hopes. First of all, it is owned by Top Chef Chicago participant Spike Mendelsohn (who will also be participating in the upcoming Top Chef All Stars) and his family. What's more, according to their website, they feature "[h]andcrafted burgers, handcut fries, handspun shakes, and farm fresh salads made with the highest quality ingredients." Sounds like my kind of place.
When we walked in, the place was just the right amount of crowded -- bustling but with a table or two still open. We found one on the second floor near a window that had a nice view of our car :) After browsing the menu, Patrick decided on his usual: Bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg (his favorite since eating it while studying abroad in China).
I opted for the free range turkey burger with muenster cheese, avocados and tomatoes on a whole grain bun. Sounds good, right? Well, sadly all I can really say is disappointing. The bun came smashed and crumbly, the burger itself was dry and tasteless, and the avocados were mush :(
The fries were also a little too soggy for my taste... you can tell in the picture that they look sort of sad and deflated.
Not what I was expecting for a place that boasts the "highest quality ingredients." I'm not usually a picky person, but I was just not feeling it :( On the other hand, Patrick's fried egg burger "Spike's Sunnyside" was excellent. I guess the moral of the story here is when it comes to Good Stuff Eatery, go for the real deal and not the turkey burger... at least they had a nice assortment of sauces to go with it (I do love my sauces)...
I am willing to give this place another shot sometime and the benefit of the doubt since it is the day before Christmas Eve and I know people have other things on their minds... plus their portobello mushroom burger with panko bread crumbs is calling me. But I'm hoping next time I will have a better story to tell.
After we had had our fill, we headed to the Botanic Gardens which is located next to the Capitol.
Their holiday display - The Garden Railway - was particularly impressive. It featured miniature models of exotic and ancient monuments from around the world made of plant materials. All of these models were connected by a maze of train tracks with various little trains circling around the room.
See if you can guess what all of these monuments are:
In addition, they had several similar miniature displays of DC landmarks...
The Supreme Court
I love the detail here
The Lincoln Memorial
The White House
The Washington Monument
The Botanic Gardens
The Capitol Building
And of course, there were plenty of interesting plants to behold... like this twisted tree:
... and these crazy cactuses (cacti?) that almost appear to be alive and wriggling:
Here I wanted to get a picture of this hedge taking a picture of me but Patrick didn't seem to get it so I settled for a straight-on pose.
I think it's actually holding poinsettias in its hands. If you look closely (you may not be able to tell from these pictures), poinsettias crept up a lot in the displays which lent a particularly Christmas feel to the visit.
Well I hope you made it this far as I realize how picture crazy I went today (the guy at the front door did tell me to take a lot of pictures). Anyway, Merry Christmas everybody! And safe travels for all those journeying elsewhere for the holidays.
oo,
....Weird..I made a comment. Maybe it didn't go through. I'll try to recapture my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteA Turkey Burger...? Really?? So disapointed... However...maybe that's why you're a skinny lady and I'm not.
That place looks very interesting! Have fun back home.
Awww let's go there when I come visit DC!!
ReplyDelete