Yeah, they’re quite a good deal if you’re inclined to milk them. My husband and I just add an extra patty to a burger of choice when we’re feeling poor. Works out well especially since I can’t eat meat -and- bun due to TMJ so I just have the patty.
Turns out it’s only $2 extra to double on the meat, and no split plate charge.
I’m asking how one gets a burger hot enough to kill bacteria but not hot enough to cook it past rare. What kind of technique can there be to do this and do you have a cite that this can actually be accomplished safely, especially since you’re claiming it can be done without a thermometer?
I could be wrong because I haven’t looked it up, but I’m pretty sure that high quality hamburger, especially that served in higher quality hamburger places (note: I have never heard of Red Robin and can’t speak to its quality), sure as hell isn’t going to be made from the steaks that couldn’t be sold in the grocery store. I’m pretty sure that they grind up good quality meat. Something that is effectively saying “all hamburger meat is on the verge of spoilage” is kind of an absurd statement.
According to Alton Brown on Good Eats, ground beef (at least that sold directly through major supermarkets) can sometimes be of BETTER quality than any other ground meat sold in the store, because it’s made from the scraps of other trimmed cuts, some of which are very high quality.
Personally, I don’t live my life like that. I could die in a wreck on the way to the eatery, get struck by lightning on the way in, slip and break my neck on the way to the table, and choke to death on a fucking cracker. Screw it, I like lean beef, and if I die from eating a rare burger, then I will die happy.
Are you sure it is the case? Normally, grounded beef should at the contrary be the freshest meat, precisely because of the risk of food poisoning.
My second job is serving at such a type of restaurant. The official policy is that we are supposed to bring the check just after the food is delivered - ie, let the customer take a few bites, come back to see how the food is and drop the cheqck. Something about this irks me, and I just can’t bring myself to do it - every server bone in my body wants to wait until the folks are finished eating. That being said, I do this at bar rush, when I frequently seat 12 tables at the same time. In these cases, I’ll drop the cheque and explain that I want to make sure they have it in case I don’t get back right away, but to stay as long as they like and that I can reopen the bill if they need anything else.
However, regardless of restaurant policy (idk if Red Robin has a check back check down policy), a server should be able to pick up on cues. And most servers, imho, are tuned into senior’s needs (or should be) a little bit more carefully. They tend to be the customers who might require a little more assistance and more time etc. Perhaps this server was new and just trying to follow her training.
No you can’t take my plate! Gaddemmit… back-the-fuck—OFF!
Whew… glad I got that one off my chest. Thanks.
I’m not a fast eater by any stretch, nor am I slow. But here’s the thing: If I’m eating with someone or a group and somebody isn’t finished yet, I politely decline a waitstaff’s attempt to “take that for me.” I don’t think it’s rude of them to ask per se – it shows a bit of attentiveness. But I think it’s the other side of waiting to start until everyone is served. I don’t want someone I’m dining with to feel like they’re, I don’t know, holding everyone back, or eating alone, or … or … I don’t know, it just feels right. I don’t make any kind of deal out of it (that would kind of defeat the whole purpose, no?), but once in a while though I get a waitperson who seems overly confused by my wanting to hold on to the last two carrots or a sliver of meat.
I have no idea where I got this from. Maybe my dad.
Trust me, you won’t.
It is a miserable way to die.
It should be noted that both e. choli and salmonella are risks associated with ground beef. So stop “correcting” people who refer to salmonella.
I wonder – can gamma irradiation eliminate the threat in ground beef? I wonder if they do that in Europe.
ETA: About the OP – you waitress may well not have any choice about that; you should probably be mad at the management for forcing that policy on the waitstaff.
I get the personal preference/personal responsibility thing, but you know the restaurant would have a lawsuit on its hands if someone got salmonella poisoning from eating a ‘too rare’ burger. I don’t think there’s any kind of disclaimer you can sign to get the restaurant off the hook should something happen.
Signed,
Kalhoun…a “medium-rare” kinda gal
Which reminds me…ever since this new panic about rare meat kicked in, medium-rare is a lot more well-done than it used to be. Anyone else notice that?
I am just going to ignore most of the topics here and chime in to say that I hate Red Robin. I have recently been a quest for an excellent hamburger in my area and eventually came around to trying them. They were billed as a “gourmet” hamburger place, so I was, of course, surprised and dismayed by their cooking policy. The explanation was even stranger though.
The server explained that they had little control over how the burger was cooked even as far as medium well to well done because they insert the patties into the conveyor belt of their special burger cooking machine. The burgers aren’t even the thicker ones you normally see at a place where they care about a good burger, but closer to a McDonald’s style. OK, McDonald’s style burgers cooked like McDonald’s burgers. I think I have a case for false advertising here. Gourmet my ass.
I started seeing ads for Red Robin a few months ago; they ad is all about their fantastic gourmet burgers (I think they use the phrase “outrageously good”). But there aren’t any in my area.
So on a roadtrip last month, I saw a sign for Red Robin and suggested stopping there for lunch. Very underwhelming. I can get a better burger at any number of local places that don’t base their entire marketing plan on their “outrageously good” burgers. (E.g., Rock Bottom Grill in Buckhead, which also has a generally good menu, and some pretty good beer brewed right in the restaurant.)
Well, that’s depressing. Not that I go to Red Robin specifically because their burgers are so damn awesome, but you’d think they’d do a little better than fast food.
Exactly - the problem isn’t that you get sick because the meat is undercooked, you get sick because of a contaminent in the meat. Therefore, even if you order the meat “undercooked” and you get sick, the restaurant still faces the problem that it is serving you meat that was tainted in some way, which creates the possibility of liability.
A disclaimer that would state that a restaurant absolves itself of liability for serving you contaminated meat would seem to be pretty brutal for business, even if it would stand up to legal review (which I doubt).
It’s a shame. I love a burger medium rare, and a steak as close to raw as makes no difference. So I just order it that way from places I trust.
At not McDonald’s prices. I have nothing against a good, salty greaseburger once in awhile, when I’m in the mood, but I don’t want a McDonald’s burger in a sit-down restaurant.
We noticed the “cheque with your meal” thing when we first visited the US - that is never done here in Canada. Well, not anywhere in any of the six provinces we’ve visited. It surprised the heck out of us - what if we want coffees and dessert? We appreciated the efficiency of it, but it seemed fairly “here’s your hat and what’s your hurry?” to us. Not to mention that once your waitperson has dropped off the bill, they have no incentive to ever come back to your table again.
ETA: The cooking of burgers could be covered under food handling safety guidelines, as well - restaurants might not have a choice about how they’re cooking them. If the Department of Agriculture/Health Canada have decided that E. coli poisoning should be prevented by all restaurants cooking burgers to a certain degree of wellness, that’s how restaurants are expected to cook them or get a health code violation.
Stopped going to Red Robin when they stopped serving fried clams. I can get burgers anywhere.
“Come to Applebee’s… we serve everybody!”
“Clams got legs!”
Sorry.