Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Armchair quarterbacks & cheese inside burgers (Good Dog Bar & Restaurant)

Good Dog burger

Don't be deceived by the title of this post, it will be heavy on bitching, with only a side of commentary regarding burgers. Yet again... if you want to read a more factual depiction of my meal at Good Dog, then do show some love to AHT, here. Nah... instead, today I'm gonna complain about the rise of the 'armchair quarterback.' In case you're not familiar with the term, here's what Urban Dictionary says it is... "some d-bag who is certain that he or she can make better decisions than the coaches or players while watching a competitive sport on television." This isn't just applicable to sports. No, this is way bigger than that. We all know someone who does it, the guy who criticizes everything, all the time, regardless of their expertise on the subject. Evidently, this exists in the blogging world too. Enter... the armchair quarterback on blog commenting.

See that burger at the very top? It's stuffed with cheese. I thought it was cool in concept, decent in practice, but not entirely perfect. Some would disagree with me, but hey... that's what opinions are. I found mine to be undercooked (and my cheese less than melted), so understandably I wasn't overwhelmed with the experience, but I could also understand why someone would fall in love with it. Moving on.

Plain cheeseburger (Good Dog)

The traditional burger was also pretty good. I talked about the bits and pieces that go into its construction of AHT, so we'll have none of that here, but it is what it is... a thick grilled gastropub burger.

Cheeseburger innards

In my opinion, that burger is not medium-rare. Everyone has a different definition for that, but if I had to quantify that on a scale, it'd be like a 3 on the Richter of well-done-ness. Putting aside the fact that such a scale doesn't really exist, and that my rating of a 3 means absolutely nothing, I'd argue that it's closer to rare than it is to medium. Not that the burger didn't taste good, just that I would've preferred it to be slightly more well done, even at the risk of slight overcooking on the fringes.

Anyway, back to the point about the armchair quarterback (of blog commenting). By no means do I qualify myself as an expert on anything related to food, but I do feel like I've eaten enough of certain things to have built up a pretty decent picture of what's good, and what's not. If someone disagrees with me on something, I'm down with that... some of the best meals I've ever had came about because someone introduced me to something I didn't know about. The way in which someone does this however... is my main point of annoyance. Things that do irritate me... criticism of an opinion (I won't call something perfectly medium-rare just because it matches someone else's expectations), listing of credentials to prove said person's expertise, and linking to your own post to tell me why I'm wrong (these gripes aren't limited to this post alone/specifically). That last one's just like slapping me in the face... I mean, HOW CAN SHE SLAP? Maybe I'm being overly bitchy about this, which is likely, but it's something that's bothered me as of late. In this specific case... maybe the Good Dog burger is the 'best burger you've ever had,'  (maybe you should eat more burgers? Har har) but sorry... it's not mine.

I should add that 99.7% of commenters (that's 3 standard deviations of irritability!) are plain awesome. Reading their thoughts is, more often than not, insightful and filled with humor. It's unfortunate that the remaining .3% of asshats exist, but I guess you can't make everyone happy.  Luckily, I don't think anyone who makes those comments would like reading my blog to begin with... so I'm safe to rant.


Paul said...

Was it the same person that had recommend the burger that was giving you a hard time?

Sherm said...

I just read the comments directed towards you on AHT, and I have to say I feel for you. There are few things more frustrating than stating your *opinion* and being told by some know-it-all douche that you are wrong. Sorry, idiots, but by definition, my opinion cannot be wrong. Opinions are my own personal feelings regarding things. You are free to disagree with my opinions and present your own opinions, which are also not facts.

Sorry for the rant - but, yeah, I thought you wrote a fair review of a restaurant you seemed to really enjoy. Was it perfect? No, but few things are. Have these people read some the truly negative reviews on AHT?

Nicholas said...

Paul - nah, I mean... I liked the burger, so there's not much issue with that. I just don't understand how someone can say with absolute confidence that my burger was perfect when 1. that's an opinion, and 2. they didn't eat it. As for how well done something is, unless you carry a meat thermometer in your pocket... there's a huge margin of error when it comes to guessing. You can't go entirely off the tint of the patty in a photo since... well I edit the shit out of those.

Sherm - Most of them are actually fine, since everyone has their own opinions as to what constitutes a good burger, the only issue I have is when people say with 100% certainty that what I said was entirely wrong. It's subjective.

Danny said...

yea it's super annoying when people link to their own post especially if they never ever comment. and it's just like a link bait. haha. oh well, the good thing is that they don't come back that often. i'm down with a little rawness in the middle of a patty though, but i think it's personal preference. as for cheese stuffed patties.. you gotta get that shit well done. if the cheese doesn't melt, it'll be suck

Nicholas said...

Danny - Yeah, self-linking non-commenters need to have their shit checked. I mean, sure you might get like a few additional page views, but you come off as an asshole in the process. Rawness is chill with me, but cold beef is not!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, that's fascinating ... your knowledge in this area goes way beyond mine. I can't think of anything to add except how wonderful crosswords are for provoking such discussions.
English Bulldog Puppies

Abby said...

Looks so delicious! Wish to have a chance to try it.

Post a Comment

oh snap. I can control the text here?