The Counter Burger

If you have not heard of it yet, The Counter is a new Burger restaurant concept where you are in control of your meal. Basically, they have a tong of options and fresh ingredients and you choose to custom make your burger exactly the way you like it. According to their website, there are over 312,120+ different burger combinations for you to choose from. Though, for those that are not too picky, they do have signature burgers and sandwiches where you do not customize it.

The Counter's newest location will be opening in Ballard on Monday, September 21. To help the staff get more comfortable with serving, the menu, how the restaurant runs, etc, The Counter arranged to have people come in to test out the newest location - for free! Well, everyone loves a free meal - so I was in!

When we sat down our waitress was very friendly and told us how it works, about the meat & toppings and how to fill out our card. OK, I LOVE the card idea because I am a picky eater and a visual person and I like to see what toppings/sauces/cheeses are available. As a picky eater, I can write notes next to my checked items like, on the side please.



That was my custom burger card today! You can choose beef, turkey, veggie or chicken in either 1/3lb, 2/3lb or a 1 pounder! The portions are pretty big and are weighed AFTER cooking. As you can see I added tons of toppings. In addition to the normal toppings (mixed greens, tomato, onion, tomato, etc) I ordered pickle, jalapeno, scallions, avacado, sun dried tomato and fried egg. What especially excited me was the fact I can put an egg on my burger! All burgers should come with a fried egg, and let me tell you it was cooked perfectly! I also choose the apricot sauce which was amazing. I almost chose an english muffin as my bun, but went with the honey wheat. They also offer a "burger salad" which is bun-less. I will have to try that.



We also ordered french fries, 1/2 regular fries and 1/2 sweet potato fries. They were really good and I think I actually prefer the sweet potato fries. Also, a big portion.

Because the burgers are customized, they take a little bit to cook, especially if you get the 2/3 or 1 pounder. Actually, we were told the 1 pounder takes about 30 mins to cook - that is how big it is!



The burger was really big, really good and really messy. The ingredients were fresh, the burger was cooked perfectly and that egg yolk broke and I was in burger heaven. Also, I love juicy burgers and this one was juicy. I ordered the 1/3 pound and I was overly full and did not even finish my last bite.



Prices you might be wondering? Well, actually, their prices are pretty reasonable. A 1/3 burger is 8.50 and comes with 1 cheese, 4 toppings, and 1 sauce. You can add additional toppings for $.50-$1.00 each, depending on topping.

In addition to burgers they have a full menu featuring appetizers like fried pickles, chili, salads, milk shakes, soda floats and desserts like key lime pie or apple crumble. They also have wines and beers, if you so choose. I had the chocolate shake and it was thick and topped with fresh creamy whipped cream - yum. They have an Apple Pie shake that I think I would try.

How did I find out about this "community welcome party"? Why, Twitter, of course. The Counter is using social media to help spread the word about the opening, and the voice behind the account is Brian Berman, Director of Marketing for The Counter. I had an opportunity to meet him and he is excited to use social media to offer contests, discounts and communicate with burger fans via the web! You can follow The Counter here: www.twitter.com/counterburger

The Counter in Ballard opens Monday, September 21, 2009. It is located in the Ballard Blocks shopping center, and they have outdoor with porch propane heaters ;)

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I picked up my Aunt and Uncle yesterday AM and they took me to breakfast. I picked The Dish in Fremont because it is yummy! We had to wait a little... but were seated outside. Breakfast was amazing, as always. I drank a lot of coffee though!

After eating at the Dish we drove over to the Ballard Locks. I had actually not been to the Locks, except for going through it on a boat... It was kind of nice, and the Salmon were already running and jumping back up the fish ladder.

The day was absolutely beautiful and I love getting reminded why I moved here... I love that feeling!






After I got back my friend and I decided to aimlessly walk around Belltown/Waterfront/Downtown, etc. The day was too gorgeous to just chill. We started by walking down to the waterfront and this guy told us to talk to him, flashed some badge and said he was giving us a ticket. We were very confused and the guy was Indian and had a thick accent so I asked him what was he talking about... I mean, we did not think he was a cop or what not, but maybe a crack pot? Turns out he wanted to give us stickers and we would give him money for some religious thing? Yeah, we walked away, fast.

There were a lot of people out on the Waterfront, as the cruise ships were all docked, and it was nice out... Godz Gang was out, they have Nike Jesus shoes and a tricked out car and they sell white bandanas, tshirts and other Godz Gang stuff. Everyone sets up food stands from their trunk, musicians, vagabonds, crackies, and tourists all harmonizing while walking in the salty breeze... How I love this city.

We walked to Pioneer Square before turning around and walking 1st back to my place. We saw a woman leading a horse into a parking garage, which I thought was weird.... So I investigated a bit and she had the horse tied to a post in the garage. And, um, after looking at the picture, I might know why. I also got to experience first hand what hung like a horse means...

Yesterday Ketrin wrote me an email to meet her for happy hour. It was gorgeous outside so we went to Amber and sat outside. One drink led to a lot and for four of us (and like 2 beers for Dan) our bill was around $220. Crazy!

Then Dan and I went to Ballard to go to La Carta De Oaxaca for yummy Mexican. It was my idea, and I think Dan tried to talk me out of it, but when I have an idea in my head there is no stopping me! We took a cab and I was trying to tell the cab driver which way to go, but then I told him to ignore me, I had been drinking and I was a bad driver anyway. He then told me I was a good driver because I had not killed anyone, though I did kill a deer. He dropped us off and we had to wait a few mins at the Mexican place, we got a table, ordered Negra Modelos - YUM! I ate so much pico de gallo and Dan suggested I try his beef - I did, it was gross. Why do I keep trying beef? I'll try again, but it needs to be good meat, like from a steakhouse.

We then walked down the road to this bar called Kings that had an outside deck. Dan got us beers and I found this random table with two guys there and asked if we could sit. Well, my drunk ass started giving the one guy advice about his divorce? What? He was listening to me, I think. Dan is so patient with me, too...

Then we got into the cab, came back around 11 - yes, 11, and literally passed out.

Dan and I woke up this morning, we went to the Bagel cafe near Pike Place for breakfast, then I dropped him off and home and I went to Whole Foods. I bought a bunch of stuff, including food for dinner later that night. They had chicken, beef and salmon skewers on sale, so I picked those up to grill later on.

I was supposed to Ride the Ducks with Tom, but he ditched me, and then couldn't understand why I was upset about that, and also upset that he chose to tell his friends a secret of mine, even though he promised he would not tell anyone. He said he told them to help me, he had my best interest at heart, which maybe he did... but still does not give him a right to blab something to his friends that I tell him in confidence and put a rider on it by saying - Tom, you cannot tell anyone. He told two of his friends the very next day and somehow he thinks I am at fault cuz I got bitchy about it? He did not even apologize until I asked - why haven't you apologized? Then he gave me some forced half ass I am sorry. All he had to do in the first place was say... "Elise, I am sorry I broke your trust, I promise I will never do it again." Instead, he just kept saying how he had my best interest at heart, so then it was OK to break my trust??? I get weird when people lie to me or break my trust, I cannot help it, I take it very personally when someone disregards something that is very important to me. It was not his secret to tell, it was mine, and I did not even share it with people very close to me - why should his friends get to know when my friends do not even know??? Yeah, I am hurt, can you tell?

Now I am going to try to find something to do on this nice and sunny Seattle day.

Tonight I met a friend at La Carta De Oaxaca. It is a yummy Mexican restaurant in Ballard, also the restaurant I went to with Jeff a few weeks back. I love the salsa bar, especially since I love salsa. It is always so busy, so there is always a wait, but very worth it. I might go ahead and say... 3rd fav restaurant in Seattle thus far?

Oh, and that picture of the sign was taken outside of the restaurant...

After that we walked to this small, but cute, bar called Hazelwood. This dual level bar is intimate, dim and yet still inviting. The actual bar is downstairs and has maybe only 4-5 stools, which were all in use when I was there. To the left you can walk up the stairs to a dimly lit room adorned with a local artists photographs (I am assuming for sale). Chairs are foregone for smoky grey sofas that allow you to get intimate with your guests, or random strangers depending on how busy. There is also a red button upstairs that turns on a light when you look through the periscope type thing, it is just calling you to press it.

The cocktail list was anything but ordinary and I think I would want to try most drinks. They have beers, too, but you will not find your crappy Bud Light type of beers, thankfully. I have a feeling this is the type of bar you should probably keep to yourself, because if too many people know about it, then it wouldn't be as cool.

Upon leaving Ballard, while walking to the car, this man and women approached us with a sob story of his wife's purse was snatched, and they needed cash to stay at the Starlight hotel down the road. Being the nice guy my friend is, he said he didn't have cash on him. The man tried his best to keep being dramatic about his sob story and then said he would walk us to the ATM. He claimed he would send a check... but seriously, one - I don't buy the story and two - if you are the type of person that cannot random come up with 60 bucks to stay at the hotel, how are you going to be responsible enough to send a check to a random stranger? Perhaps I am just so sick of the street people...