Ypsilanti: Sidetrack Bar and Grill - #19 of Top Burgers

As I always do I began to research the restaurants that are available in the city that I am visiting.  To my surprise Michigan had 2 of my "top 20 burger places".  Unfortunately only 1 was open on Sundays.   This is Sidetrack Bar and Grill in Ypsilanti. I landed in Detroit, immediately drove my dinky little Yaris to Ypsilanti (probably should have gotten insurance).  Needless to say, I slid twice on the road and my anti-lock brakes came on every 5 minutes.  But I was NOT going to miss out on knocking out another burger from my list.  

 

It was snowing when I got there.  Apparently I caught the tail end of one of the worst snow storms that Ypsilanti had seen in years. However, it wasn't that bad compared to Seoul.  

 The inside decor.  Seemed like a really friendly local venue.  Incredibly large beer selection available. 

 The glorious "Our Famous Burger" cooked medium rare, with tomato, mayo, lettuce, onions, cheddar cheese, ketchup mustard.  Double fried french fries with skin.  I had called it in on my way to Ypsilanti.  Thankfully the fries were still warm when I picked them up.

 CLOSE UP!!!  (by the time I got to the hotel, the cheese was frozen... )

 

Totally worth risking my life for this burger.  Only 15 more to go on my list! 

My rental for Ann Arbor. Kind of missing my huge Dodge Ram rental in Dallas. 

 

20. Hamburger Sandwich
Louis' Lunch
New Haven, CT

19. Our Famous Burger
Sidetrack Bar and Grill
Ypsilanti, MI

18. Hamburger
Poag Mahone's Carvery and Ale House
Chicago

17. Double Bacon Deluxe with Cheese
Red Mill Burgers
Seattle

16. Hamburger & Fries
Burger Joint
San Francisco

15. Build Your Own Burger
The Counter
Santa Monica

14. Hamburger
J. G. Melon
New York City

13. Cheeseburger
White Manna
Hackensack, NJ

12. Hamburger
Bobcat Bite
Sante Fe

11. Grilled Bistro Burger
Bistro Don Giovanni
Napa, CA

10. Number Five
Keller's Drive-in
Dallas

9. Cheeseburger
Burger Joint, le Parker Meridien Hotel
New York City

8. Hamburger
Miller's Bar
Dearborn, MI

7. Buckhorn Burger
Buckhorn
San Antonio, NM

6. California Burger
Houston's
Santa Monica

5. Kobe Sliders
Barclay Prime
Philadelphia

4. Rouge Burger
Rouge
Philadelphia

3. Not Just a Burger
Spiced Pear Restaurant at the Chanler Hotel
Newport, RI

2. Luger Burger
Peter Luger Steak House
Brooklyn

1. Sirloin Burger
Le Tub
Hollywood, FL

Downtime with Soon-to-Be BabyDoctor Dr. Charity Pires at the Lazy Goat

Charity came to Greenville during her busy OBGYN interview schedule to catch up. Eating at Lazy Goat Downtown.  

 

 

 

 Daily Special: Salmon with red peppers, onions, asparagus, with citrus sauce

 

Lamb Burgesa: quince & feta spread, charmoula yogurt, lettuce & tomato, crispy red onions

Fort Worth during Christmas

Perhaps one of the prettiest places I've been to. I landed in Dallas late due to a flight delay so I got into Fort Worth around 9PM. I drove around the city for a bit looking for the hotel and parking deck.  And during this drive I realized that the city went above and beyond with their christmas lights.  Even though I was incredibly tired I wanted to take pictures of the Christmas lights at night.  So I dropped my things off at the hotel and headed straight out to the city center. 

Even at night the city felt quite safe. 

 

This is the hotel that the program provided. Really quaint and lovely hotel! 

Little decor outside of my room 

My room label. Every room was labeled with the person that used to occupy the room.

:-D

Even all of their toiletries has their hotel name on it. 

My favorite picture

Boomtown Cafe at Houston

 

This is the owner, barista, and the artist responsible for the beautiful chalk board seen on the back.  

 Apparent Houston has been growing a huge foodtruck scene.  This was the truck that was parked outside of boomtown. Grace is getting photobombed. 

Grace

One of the best things about the interview trail is that I got to see friends I hadn't seen in years.  Grace has been living in houston for quite some time after she finished her degree at GaTech.  She came to my white coat ceremony 3 years ago and we hadn't seen each other until my interview in Houston.  I hope to see her again under different circumstances next time!

Szechuan Hot Pot with Grace in Houston

Grace asked me if I wanted to go to a popular sushi restaurant or a hole in the wall chinese restaurant for my first meal in Houston.  I of course wanted the best hole in the wall restaurant that Houston could offer!  So we went to a Szechuan hot pot restaurant.  We ordered half mild and half spicy.  For $16/person, you can order anything for their hotpot (they had about 30 different meats, wontons, veggies, etc. to choose from)

 Grace preparing our chinese bbq sauce.  You apparently add the yolk to the brown sauce shown at the bottom.  

 

This is how much chili was in the spicy section of our hotpot

Brunch at Benjy's in Houston with Grace

Amazing brunch place that I got to go with Grace.  Located in Houston, TX, and they have an awesome website:

 http://www.benjys.com/

 They provide little petite muffin appetizers with delicious homemade butter (possibly apple flavor?).  We got 4 cornbread and 4 blueberry muffins. 

 My Choice: Asian Salad with grilled chicken, wontons, cashews, and soy garlic dressing

 The dressing had a very asian spicy flavor to it.  Reminded me of fresh kimchi.

Charity's dish: Cobb Salad with shrimp, crab claws, quinoa, egg, crushed avocado, green goddess

Dallas: Keller's Number 5

IT'S ABOUT TIME... I finally got to travel to a city that has one of my "Top 20 Burgers You Must Eat Before You Die" list: Keller's Drive-In located on 6537 E Northwest Hwy Dallas, TX 75231

Ranking at number 10 on my list,  the "Number 5" with the special thousand island-ish sauce was the recommended ultimate burger. I ordered it with the tater tots since they were also highly recommended by Alan Richman. 

Very unique place that allows you to order beer and drink it in your car as long as you are on their property.  They were grandfathered in since the restaurant was established before the "no drinking in your car" law was passed.

 I did not know they only take cash but the waitress let me take my food and go to an ATM without paying her first.  Needless to say I tipped her well.

The burger got squished on the way to the airport since I had to catch a flight to Houston.  Even though its state at the airport was not very photogenic, it was nonetheless very delicious. 

PS: The last picture is of me with my rental car in Dallas.   I rented a "small pick up truck" online since it was the cheapest option available.  I was not aware that a "small pick-up truck" meant a 2014 Dodge Ram Hemi.  I was scared I was going to hit about 7 people and I would never get into residency.  I was made fun of by the other Southwestern applicants when I had to valet the truck and jump out of it in my suit.  The picture was taken by the enterprise car rental guy.  He was very skeptical when he handed me the keys.

Jilly's Cupcake Bar and Cafe in St. Louis - Won Cupcake Wars Several Times!

I am trying my best to go to every city's best restaurant/dessert place on my interview trail.  This was Jilly's in St. Louis.  I was planning on only getting one of their signature cupcake, but I clearly could not help myself 

 Here is their website: http://jillyscupcakebar.com/

Every single one of them was OUT OF THIS WORLD!  

I got twisted pink (red velvet), apple pie a la mode, turtle cheesecake, reeses chunkage

Nuevo Laredo Cantina in Atlanta GA