Yesterday, we focused on the difficulty of getting a medium-rare burger in Alberta, home of AAA beef and exotic wild game meat.
Now, the conclusion of how I finally found a medium-rare elk burger in a restaurant.
My standard for cost was an establishment in Banff that offered an elk burger for $15. A lot of places had what seemed to be overpriced food, so $15 for an elk burger seemed pretty reasonable. The burger came with melted pepper jack cheese, pineapple relish, lettuce and tomato on a pretzel bun with chili mayo. You got your choice of two sides, including soups, salads, cole slaw, and fries.
So my quest was to find a restaurant that would offer me a medium-rare burger with cheese and fries for a comparable price. The exchange rate between the two countries was about even. Chicago's sales tax is about 10% while in Alberta, 5% is all you pay (all federal).
I had remembered a specialized place where I could get an elk burger. I hadn't thought about getting one there since the house prime blend was quite good. But it was a place where buffalo and elk were options.
We are assuming the burgers in question were all 8 oz., but we don't completely know. The elk burger cost $13, cheese included, with fries being an extra $2.75. While this would put me over, especially with tax, I factored in that I didn't have to tip at the place in Chicago while I would have had to do so in Alberta. The soup or salad in Banff probably gave that burger the edge, ever so slightly.
The place in Chicago offers spice blends. They offered a woodsy blend but worried that the spice would dominate the elk. I went with the simple salt and pepper, but regretted that choice.
As it turned out, getting a medium-rare elk burger in Chicago was pretty easy. Walked up to the counter. Ordered an elk burger medium-rare. Paid. Sat down. Had medium-rare elk burger with fries brought to my table. Ate said medium-rare burger. The End.
The burger came up perfectly medium-rare. I ate the burger and enjoyed the meat (despite the spice blend). Elk has a really nice taste, more similar in taste to beef than bison/buffalo.
Maybe the elk in Canada would have tasted better. Maybe the elk steak would have been worthwhile, even at twice the price. But if a place had so little faith in its wild game, why should I trust them even with a steak?
You can't expect every restaurant to trust everything it serves, though you would hope for some standard. Unfortunately for Canadians and Canadian tourists, the country of Canada has set that standard so artificially high, the true connoisseur will walk away disgruntled 98% of the time. And served with extra attitude in some establishments in the Canadian Rockies.
Comments