Great Burger!

BOBCAT Bite!
Santa Fe, New Mexico

One of the best burgers I've had in a long time was found in Santa Fe, New Mexico at Bobcat Bite. I found an article on-line "20 burgers you must try before you die" and Bobcat was rated number 12. Traci and I were in town for a conference and the Balloon Fiesta so we rented a car and headed to the Bobcat. We arrived on a cloudy cold day and as you can see the parking lot was full. As you step on the porch there is a dry erase board hanging next to the front door, that's the sign up sheet to get a table. You write your name on it, how many is in your party and have a seat on the front porch. The place is tiny, maybe 5 tables and then 6 or 7 seats along the bar. Our wait was about 1 hour but worth every minute freezing cold minute! Once inside the menu has several things on it besides burgers, but I was heading to the Green Chili Cheeseburger and nothing was getting in my way. Except the sides that were offered!

SIDE ORDERS
Green Chile............................................ .90
Home Fries............................................1.90
Potato Salad..........................................2.10
Pasta Salad (Summer Only)........................2.50
Cole Slaw..............................................1.90
Tossed Salad.........................................3.10
Salad Bowl (Includes Ham and Cheese).......7.50
Chile Bowl (Winter Only)..........................5.50
Bacon....................................................1.25
Grilled Onions....................................... 1.25
Chili Toreado (Grilled Jalapeño).................1.10

I hit the green chile, grilled onions, home fries and was flip flopping back and forth on the Grilled Jalapenos but figured I'd better not. About 20 minutes later, this was delivered to the table!!

I ate every scrap! I ordered mine medium and it was just a tad too pink for me, but still great flavor, juicy, and not too spicy from the green chile! We haven't hit any of the other 19 places on the list but hopefully someday we can see where Bobcat Bite is on our list of 20!!

Two things we asked the owner that I'm sure everyone that goes there asks:

1) Where did the name come from?
She said it was because bobcats would come out of the mountains every night and the cooks would throw them scraps. She said they still come down but not as often.

2) Why close at 7:50?
She said it was because during the World War II the country had a "lights out" at 8:00 p.m. and 7:50 gave them 10 minutes to close and turn out the lights.

If you are anywhere near Santa Fe we highly recommend it!!

Bobcat Bite
420 Old Las Vegas Highway
Santa Fe, NM 87505
(505) 983-5319

Almost a year and no post...

Things are crazy at work, crazy at home and crazy with a 7 year old and a 17 month old. But new posts to come from now on! Promise!

We competed in another BBQ cook off over the weekend in Mandeville, Louisiana and had a blast. Despite the 75 MPH winds we managed to pull it together and finish 5th in Chicken, 2nd in Pulled Pork and 2nd in Ribeyes, but dead LAST in ribs. Not sure what happened there b/c we fisnished 1st in Ribs in March. Oh well, goes to show you never know.




Thanks to everyone for all their help. Julie, Pat, Lila, Sarge, Gloria and Cleveland and of course my teammate and sweetheart, Traci, I would never have chased this dream without her!!

Oh did I mention we won Reserve Grand Champion (which means 2nd overall). We won about $300 and a huge trophy (pictures to come of it). Wow is all I can. We were on cloud nine!

Christmas Dinner!

For Christmas dinner I asked my Father in law what he wanted for dinner and he said "pork or ham". So I checked with a web forum buddy "Rumrunner" at Addicted to BBQ and he recommended a pork crown roast. So I went to this local butcher I found and he made me a 10 rib roast. It was about 8 pounds. So I found a rub in the newest Food and Wine magazine which came out good but if/when I make it again I'd leave out the crushed red peppers, they made it too spicy for our 6 year old. The day before I made a stock out of some pork bones from the butcher, got the recipe from Emeril's cookbook, it made a ton so I have a bunch in the freezer for future cooks.

Then with the help of my father in law we made a sweet onion and mushroom gravy. Came out great! We used the same kind of technique as the Mad Max turkey gravy but used the pork stock and not as much wine. We also added the sweet onions and mushrooms.

I Egged the roast for about 2.5 hours with cherry and pecan wood to an internal temp of 155.