2013 – The Year’s Best Eats – Burger Edition

We are all aware of the fact that it is no great secret: my inner Epicurean blossomed with great fanfare and rampant hedonism in 2013.

Or, wait – maybe that was supposed to be a secret. Ehhh…

I was introduced to a bevy of fascinating foodstuffs in my new home in San Diego, California. I also was blessed to do a bit of traveling for work – to Las Vegas, NV, Monterey, CA, Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Vegas was a whirlwind, Monterey afforded me a few, different opportunities to sample the local grub hubs- though i weighed a record-low 138 lbs at the time- and Canada didn’t really have much to offer, although I did visit a trendy, natural foods grocer that was attached to an Italian-style cafe and quaint, farm-to-table restaurant.

I have broken this post into two sections – one is simply a list of my favorite restaurant experiences of 2013, and the other is dedicated to the finest burgers I had in 2013. Because, for whatever reason, San Diegans are SERIOUS about their love of burgers. And surfing and skating and fish tacos and California burritos, and beer and coffee and art and love and peace and the sunshine, etc. etc.

But BURGERS. Burgers are an art form, and subject to a very high standard of excellence in America’s Finest City.

Hubcap Burger - Diagram — Hubcap Burger – Diagram

Not only is a burger a serious work of art, it is a punishing enterprise to try and sell said work of art in San Diego, CA. This was part of the challenge faced by Hubcap, the source of my #1 favorite burger in 2013. I ate it there during Comic-Con, and was blown away. Sadly, the restaurant never quite took off in such a way that maintained profitability, and they closed doors after only 4 months of service. The quality of ingredients and artisanal care that was poured into making Hubcap’s transcendent burger fare necessitated a much higher sticker price in a market where you could literally walk from any one point to a burger joint in 5 minutes flat.

Hubcap Burger - Detail — Hubcap Burger – Detail

I took photos of many of the other burgers I enjoyed in 2013. I was particularly happy to be able to go to Hodad’s on my 30th birthday, a local standby that has been cooking fabulous burgers in Ocean Beach for 44 years.

Hodad's Bacon Cheeseburger — Hodad’s Bacon Cheeseburger

My #2 favorite burger of the year was an inspired mash-up of nachos supreme with a Slater’s 1/3 lb burger patty, mixed with taco seasonings. Based on a request from a Make-A-Wish child, this burger was a dream come true for me – deep fried, coated in a thick layer of nacho cheese, topped with a dollop of sour cream and pickled jalapeños. Heaven.

Slater's 50/50 Supreme Nacho Burger — Slater’s 50/50 Supreme Nacho Burger

Behold, a few more photos of burgers:

Slater's 50/50 Peanut Butter & Jeallousy Burger — Slater’s 50/50 Peanut Butter & Jeallousy Burger

Sublime Alehouse - Southwest Burger — Sublime Alehouse – Southwest Burger

Slater's 50/50 - The Henry Winkler — Slater’s 50/50 – The Henry Winkler

Sea & Smoke - Niman Ranch Grass-Fed Burger — Sea & Smoke – Niman Ranch Grass-Fed Burger

And here is my ranked list of the top ten burgers that went into my body, nourishing it and strengthening it, in 2013:

Herbed Boursin Burger @ Hubcap
Nacho Supreme Burger @ Slater’s 50/50
Hubcap Burger @ Hubcap
Single Bacon Cheeseburger @ Hodad’s
The Compass Burger @ The Compass
The Southwest Burger @ Sublime Ale House
The Garbage Burger @ Urge Gastropub
Niman Ranch Grass-Fed Burger @ Sea & Smoke
Peanut Butter & Jeallousy Burger @ Slater’s 50/50
Farmhouse Burger @ Karl Strauss

And there you have it. Believe it or not, I actually ate more salad than anything else this year. For some reason, I couldn’t find very many photos of those…

2013 – The Year in iPhone Photos

If the photographic evidence dumped off my iPhone and stamped with a date that puts its time of origin somewhere in the year 2013 is to believed… I did a lot of eating and drinking this last year. Like, probably at least three meals a day, I bet. Shoo, that’s a lot of food photos, people. I did my best to weed out all the duds and leave you with only the finest, heavily-edited, shared-on-social-media pictures of edible items. Enjoy!

Salmon from some lake in the Canadian Rockies

Marriott Marquis downtown San Diego

Careful when you let girls shop together

Iron Mountain trail

Game of Thrones geographical trolley signs at Comic Con

Impossible Breakfast Glory at Brian’s 24

Behind the scenes at MM 2013

Point Loma and Cabrillo Monument with the fam

Lighthouse with the fam

Man Up 2

Hiking Daley Ranch at dawn during Man Up 2

Halloween pano

Ran into a few celebrities at The Waffle in Hollywood

French Quarter pano

Moonlight Beach pano

With bro and company at Chargers game

Company Christmas party behind the scenes with coworker Danny

2013 – The Year’s Best Music – Albums

An album is a vastly different critter than a song. Songs can scamper about and amuse. They can invade your space and distract you for a few minutes’ reverie. Albums, on the other hand, are an invitation to an in-depth conversation, or perhaps a commitment to traverse a certain distance. Good albums work hard to capture your attention in new ways with each listen. Albums have layers. Songs can have layers, too, but they’re over in a few minutes (rather, most of them are, I should say, setting aside Joanna Newsom and Sufjan Stevens, etc.)

I picked ten 2013 calendar releases. I wrote one line about each album. There were plenty more on my list, but time is finite. Here they are:

10. The Happiness Waltz by Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse first warmed his way into my young heart with his self-assured bilingual album Subtítulo.

9. Herein Wild by Frankie Rose

Haunting and self-assured.

8. Shaking the Habitual by The Knife

An album of perpetual left-hand turns and precipice-hugging navigation.

7. Love’s Crushing Diamond by Mutual Benefit

Tranquil and meditative, deeply reassuring and filled with questions.

6. At Home by Keep Shelly In Athens

An album of epic proportions that manages to feel intimate and DIY.

5. Limits of Desire by Small Black

Small Black are the new Nada Surf.

4. The Bones of What You Believe by CHVRCHES

This album shows up on every other 2013 ‘Best of’ list I have read to date.

3. Trouble Will Find Me by The National

Love the fact that it is a National album, through-and-through… entirely un-disappointed.

2. After Dark 2 by Various Artists

I was slain on the doorstep of Johnny Jewel and his cadre of musicians for many months.

1. Metrics of Affection by Bombadil

No two ways about it- Bombadil took the escalator up and friggin’ ARRIVED.

And there you have it. 2014 is already looking killer with forthcoming releases from The Notwist, Damien Jurado, and Death Vessel. I, for one, am stoked on 2014. I need a turntable. And good speakers.

2013 – The Year’s Best Music – Songs

In my mind, it seems like I was just sitting down to write this very same list from last year. Time flies when you’re wearing tank tops. This year marks the first time listening to music in my car eclipsed listening to it in any other setting. Also, I blew through a few zillion podcasts in the Honda. Podcasts are awesome.

I present, without further comment, the songs I most enjoyed listening to in Anno 2013:

Grammy by Purity Ring
Free At Dawn by Small Black
The Possessed by Glass Candy
Livin’ It Up by Ciara
Beloved by Say Lou Lou
In Real Life by The Ruby Suns
Graceless by The National
Golden Wake by Mutual Benefit
Line of Fire by Junip
Blue Crystal Fire (Originally released in 1978) by Robbie Basho
Beta Love by Ra Ra Riot
Sonsick (Magic Man Remix) by San Fermin
Born at 5:00 by Bombadil
One Half by Julianna Barwick
Childhood’s End by Majical Cloudz
Something About You by Dornik
Fool of Me (feat. Chet Faker) by Say Lou Lou
Recollection by Keep Shelly In Athens
Without You My Life Would Be Boring by The Knife
Sea of Love by The National
Mute by Youth Lagoon
God’s Children (The Kinks cover) by Woods
Boring Country Song by Bombadil
Demon To Lean On by Wavves
Tonight We Fall by ADULT.
No Stranger by Small Black
Stone Cold Coup d’Etat by They Might Be Giants
I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance (Tycho Remix) by Ulrich Schnauss
I Am a [REDACTED] by Kanye West
WIIW by Kirin J Callinan
Drive by Beacon
Let’s Kiss by Mirage
Science/Visions by Chvrches
A Violent Sky by Apparat
One More Ring by Bombadil
Branches by Chrome Canyons
Hurricane (Chvrches Remix) by MS MR
Madmen Love by Keep Shelly In Athens
Into Eternity by Farah
Just Desserts by Marina & The Diamonds & Charli XCX
I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance by Ulrich Schnauss
Youth by Daughter
Compliment Your Soul by Dan Croll
Varsity by Smith Westerns
Street of Dreams by Frankie Rose
Wanderlust by Polly Scattergood
Atlantis by Postiljonen
Menswear by The 1975
Oostende by Keep Shelly in Athens
Unbreakable (feat. Baaba Maal and The Very Best) (Baio Vocal Mix) by Yadi

Feel free to stream most of them here:

The Desolation of Smaug – Thoughts

Well, they’ve done it again. Those nerds at Weta Digital have conjured another fully-formed digital character that is expressive, fascinating, and generally quite evil.

Smaug, the stupendous.

After Gollum, Caesar, and all of those blue cat aliens, what else could they do to set the bar higher?

Get Benedict Cumberbatch to voice the character. That’s what.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug weirdly fractures its storyline and takes a great deal of focus away from the personal development of Bilbo, instead choosing to iris out for a much larger-scale view of the events which are so nicely encapsulated in the slender tome that makes up the printed, book-form story this film is based upon.

And yet it all works. There is a great deal more world-revealing going on in this film, and some of it even feels rushed. Gandalf virtually splinters off into his own, distinct storyline for the majority of the picture (which created something of an existential issue for Ian McKellan while shooting scenes for this particular installment.)

There are exotic locales and fantastic beasts of all kinds, and plenty of action. I found myself dreaming up a ridiculous sequence involving the dwarves’ Barrel-Rapids Escape® (future name of a ride at the inevitable Middle Earth World Theme Park) right on the cusp of when said sequence actually unfolded in the film. And my, what a cartoonish and incredible sequence it is. Full of Legolas and arrows and orcs and glory.

There are some vague, political themes floated at Laketown (pun intended) and Bard the Bowman is merely known as Bard the Barge-man. Stephen Fry does a delightful turn as the ignominious Master of Laketown, and Stephen Colbert plays one of his lackeys. Ryan Gage does his best to skirt the Wormtongue comparisons by pushing his character, Alfrid, into Gilliam territory.

Everything culminates in a ruined-Erebor action sequence that is really strange, but definitely awesome. And seeing this film in 3D is a must. The action is dizzying. And there’s Benedict Cumberbatch. His voice also utters the Black Speech of Mordor as the shapeless Necromancer.

No Gollum in this one. Kind of a bummer. Gotta love Smaug, though.