Wheat and Rye and Bigg Burger

Tried a couple of new places this week. Wheat and Rye in Romulus and Bigg Burger in Livonia.

The Wheat and Rye is a bar near the airport in Romulus. Nice bar. Good menu with lots of specials. We got there for lunch and they have a half pound burger for $3.25 if you purchase a beverage. I was good. I had a Coke. There were conferences that night. Anyhoo... Nice fat burger on a large bun. Very flavorfull beef flavor, no spices detected. Like way too many bars, though it had a slice of crappy cooking onion, which killed my taste buds on the first bite. I got past it but it was by far the overpowering flavor. It would be a good bar to hand out in. Lots of screens good service. I will try the burger again. It was above average and worth a try.

Bigg Burger is a new fast food joint on the bend of Five Guys or Fatburger, in that it has a simple menu with fries, burgers and shakes. They cook it as you order, so you wait a bit, which is good. Their fries have skins on the end, are cut thinner than Five guys and are salty. I didn't check, but I would guess it was peanut oil. They offer a lot more free toppings. The usual condiments plus a blue cheese mayo and a garlic herb mayo. Fresh veggies galore including; tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cucumbers, and alfalfa sprouts. Grilled onions, grilled mushrooms and more. There was an extra charge for bacon and guacamole. A single cost about $3.25 and was probably about a quarter of a pound patty. It was $5.89 for a single burger with cheese, a small fry and a regular soda. Good and juicy. I will try a double next time as the temptation to put a hundred different toppings on is strong, because they are all free! Very comparable to Five Guys, I liked it better than Fatburger. Nice, fresh toppings nice flavor on the burger. Some seasonings, but really overwhelmed by the relish, mayo, tomatoes and onions I put on mine. next time I will get a double to have more of the burger taste. I would put the fries a close second to Five Guys. Really nice flavor. I didn't eat mine until I got home and they should have been terrible, but they still tasted pretty good. I will definitely be back.

Remembering Sparky

Sparky Anderson lived my boyhood dream. His career was baseball. He surrounded himself with friends, and he just had a joy about himself that I am envious of.

Quick story(obvious lie). I lived in Florida from 1993-1999. From 93-96 I had a job that allowed me to sneak over to practices at Joker Marchant in Lakeland. I used to put my quarter in that egg-yolk yellow box get my Free Press, park my carcass amongst the Detroit retirees and just breathe baseball. I loved it. I went in one day and decided to sit behind home plate. I was enjoying Trixie's(Dick Tracewski) banter as he harasses the half asleep infielders into taking some ground balls, when up pops that white hair right in front of me. He starts talking to me about "the boys" and says "Hey, little feller" to a boy who has walked up to see the field up close. Sparky then says it was nice talking to me, winks, points over the boys shoulder and then drops a ball at the boys feet and tells him to get it quick. I am not sure who had the bigger smile, the boy, me or Sparky. That's what made him great. He enjoyed that moment as much as I did, maybe more. I need to find that joy. We all do.