Adventure Nine: Thoughts on Food blogging

My agenda for this blog is to bring you guys a new place to try out each week, however sometimes doing so can be very hard. I've lived in this area for a long while, it starts to get difficult to find new and interesting restaurants hiding in the back alleys of the place you've lived since birth. Even as such I still try to find new places to write about. Of course I could write about some chain restaurant or something along those lines, but I feel that the only reason I would have to write about something that everybody has already been to a million times is if I find something chaotically interesting and or awesome about the whole deal. Nobody wants to hear about that hamburger they ate at Wendy's; however I'm sure that there is somebody got a hamburger made for them by a one armed midget who ended up throwing 6 patties of beef on it(true story). However finding unique restaurants is getting increasingly difficult as more and more things become franchised. There is something to be said about being able to get that one dish you like in Tyson's Corner Virginia, all the way out in New Haven Connecticut . But in the end, doesn't the fact that each town has its own unique cuisine help give character to that area? I could go on and on about the bitchin' barbeque chicken pizza rolls from Radford, or the Lasagna from Marie's in Sarasota Florida that really ties me to these places. The food is something that you can remember just as much as you would the times that you do other things there, sometimes more. Searching out these little glimmers of culinary character can be quite difficult, because it requires a sense of adventure, an open mind, and a little prayer to make sure that you don't order the beef with broccoli, only to find some sort of meat, and some sort of mystery vegetable with a scent too terrible to behold. But regardless I press on, and next week I will bring something a lot more solid than one armed midgets, pizza rolls, and mystery Chinese food.

Adventure Eight: The Counter...of doom

This week I went to a burger joint nestled in the heart of Reston town center. I am referring of course to the one restaurant in that area whose sole occupation is to provide ornate and over the top burgers: The Counter. My initial thoughts upon approaching the crowded little restaurant were a tad skeptical, the place was really small, and it was really crowded. My initial distaste was further fueled when I saw the price of the burgers, when everything was said and done I believe I spent $20 on a burger and milk shake, which is a tad obscene. However for the burger enthusiast I will say that this is a place that definitely needs to be on your list. There is a large selection of options for you to create your own ½ lb, 2/3lb and 1lb burger. Ever had a chicken burger with goat cheese and guacamole on it? Me neither, I wouldn't want one but there may be someone who does! They give you a piece of paper, not unlike a sushi bar, and you pick a meat, dressings, cheese, vegetables, and secondary meats(such as bacon). This way ensures that your order really is never messed up, which Is fairly important when you have such complex burgers. One thing that I thought was interesting was that they had the option to put your burger in a bowl and apparently mash it up or something, like some sort of burger salad. I did not have the guts to try this one. The counter also offers a verity of both alcoholic and non alcoholic milk shakes. Which is helpful to those who want to spend just as much on their drink as they spend on their burgers.

The atmosphere gives me the sense that they may have wanted it to be a sports centric restaurant, but it ended up being full of families with the occasional group of twenty somethings. It was loud, rowdy, and the waitresses seemed to be overwhelmed and under appreciated. There was also no coffee in sight, which was to be expected. If you are skimming this post all you need to know is The Counter, burger place, expensive, good, crowded.

Scores:
food: 3.7ish/5
service: 3/5
coffee: N/A
Cost: Expensive

Image: Don't worry guys, that is just the largest burger I've ever had the displeasure of receiving from Wendy's, not actually from The Counter

Map Time!