Turkey Burgers with Tomato Jam

From Epicurious.com, this recipe for Turkey Burgers with Tomato Jam is really awesome and easy to make. For sure the best turkey burger I've ever had, and Caro agreed, too.

Feta and olives (ingredients in and on top of the burger) came from the neighborhood Elat Market on Pico Boulevard. Grilling out on a Monday evening is a different way to start a great week.

My favorite short quote about Elat on Yelp: "Parking's a bitch and you will get manhandled by middle-aged ladies."

Snags at Beer O'Clock

We celebrated the final presentation of our big business pitch with a barbecue on my boss's office patio this afternoon. After a few Bud Lights and a couple of hot dogs ("snags" as my Aussie boss might say), I finally found myself winding down from weeks, actually months, of stress, excitement, argument, doubt, elation, late nights, coffee and office catering. The best times in advertising really are when you work on a team, competing against other agencies and even with people inside your agency, seeing what great creatives can come up with, and then that final blast of adrenaline you feel in the car pulling into the (hopefully) new client's parking lot.

Sonny Bryan's

Dallas barbecue

Carolina BBQ Plate

Heaven on a plate: pulled pork with pepper vinegar sauce, cole slaw, hushpuppies, fried okra, and a jug full of sweet tea. Allen & Son Bar-B-Q in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. If you ever find yourself in Raleigh-Durham, do not skimp on a trip out to get a taste of what might be the most original and most American of meals.

Allen & Son Bar-B-Q

While back home I had to make a pilgrimage to one of the great Bar-B-Q restaurants in the country. True Eastern North Carolina pork barbecue, hickory smoked and filled with a flavor that you just know doesn't get any more authentic. It's food that is timeless and unchanging. It's hard to describe, and most people probably don't usually think about food so nostalgically, but it's like food for the centuries. There seem to be so few American foods that taste so purely good as this kind of real barbecue: meaty, gamey, earthy, tangy, peppery, spicy and sweet.

Allen & Son was featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times the week before we headed back home. I couldn't find it on their site, although there is this photo of Keith Allen. The article was a good background on why Allen & Son is the real deal.