About 3 weeks ago, the progeny and I attended their elementary school's "Spirit Night" at our favorite local burger joint, Burger 21. Restaurants in our community that agree to host Spirit Night (which occurs around once a month and is, of course, highly publicized by the school) donate a portion of the evening's profits to the school, so these affairs are generally bedlam, with parents and kids hanging from the rafters and beleaguered servers/cooks straining to meet the outsized demand. Anyway, the three of us were in the middle of this semi-organized chaos trying to eat our dinners when I realized that I'd missed out on Burger 21's Burger of the Month - in this case, it happened to be a luscious-looking Southern-style creation with fried pickles or something. When one of the managers happened by our table to check on us, I quizzed him as follows:
Me: "So, when do you guys stop selling the current Burger of the Month?"
Him: "Today, unfortunately. But, don't worry - starting tomorrow, we offer our new Burger of the Month, a turducken burger."
Me: (jaw drops) "No!"
Why, yes, in honor of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, Burger 21 developed a turducken burger, inspired by the duck-inside a chicken-inside a turkey popularized by New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme (but with roots extending back into 19th Century-France). Burger 21's meat patty consists of ground duck nestled into a layer of ground chicken, which is then further surrounded by ground turkey, grilled on a flattop, and topped with melted Brie and a cherry/red apple/cranberry chutney. I vowed right then and there to return in December for one of these bad boys, which I did just yesterday.
You can see the turducken burger above in all its glory. My impression? Well, it was good, but sadly fell somewhere short of life-changing. I felt they were pretty skimpy on the duck meat (my favorite poultry, I couldn't really tell it was in there at all) and was a tad put off by the added flavorings that I suspect were intended to evoke stuffing (sage?). There was enough chutney on the burger that they didn't really need to include extra on the side (although that was appreciated when it came time to consume the remainders of the bun). I admire the kitchen staff's chutzpah; however, I look forward to subsequent Burgers of the Month that include the more-traditional ground beef...
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