A Burger to Bank On

  I decided I needed a little break from crab meat and get back to my landlubber roots.  I went with some friends to "The Alewife", an old bank turned delicious bar and restaurant right down the street from the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore.  The atmosphere in this place was great.  They managed to keep many of the original doors, teller windows, lights, vault, etc. and incorporate them into a beautiful and very chill restaurant.  The Alewife is obviously a local favorite.  We were there at 5:00 and it was already full with a dinner crowd.  As we looked over all the amazing choices on the menu, we kept seeing the same thing coming out of the kitchen.  Plate after plate of a huge burger and incredible looking fries.  That was all the convincing I needed.  I ordered the "Smoke Burger and Duck Fat Fries" and waited anxiously.
   About 30 minutes later (they warn you it may take a while to cook this bad boy) this masterpiece was sitting in front of me:

  It is an 11 oz. house ground ribeye, brisket, skirt and filet of beef burger topped with smoked Gouda, Gruyere cheese, apple wood smoked bacon, caramelized Cipollinin Onion and chipotle aioli on a brioche bun.  And as the name implies, the fries are herbed and cooked in duck fat.  Yeah...

  Because of all the cheese and sauce, the burger had molded too much together for me to get a picture of the inside of it.  But I found this one online, just so you can get a better idea of what all was on this beast:

   This burger is a carnivore's dream.  The meat was super tender, juicy and flavorful.  The bacon was thick, but still slightly crunchy, not the chewy kind at all.  I love cheese in any form, but not when it overwhelms every other flavor it is paired with.  They put the perfect amount of each, smoked Gouda and Gruyere, so that they were more of an excellent accent.  The two worked beautifully together!  The chipotle aioli added just enough spice to help balance all the cheese, sweet onions, and meat.  And of course you can never go wrong with caramelized onions.  All the flavors hit you one by one as you bit into the burger.  The meat and gooey cheese, followed by the saltiness of the bacon, the sweetness from the onions, and lastly a little kick from the chipotle aioli.  The flavor was so wonderful (and the burger was so big) that I abandoned the bun completely and ate the whole thing alone with a fork and knife. I don't know if I can say this is the BEST burger I've ever had, but it certainly makes it into the top 5. Definitely one of the most unique. 
   The fries were pretty killer too.  The duck fat and herbs added a great, rich flavor.  I didn't need any ketchup or anything.  They were obviously cooked from freshly cut potatoes and had a great earthy taste with the herbs and fresh potato taste.  My personal favorite fries are the kind that have been cooked just long enough for them to be slightly crunchy on the outside but still soft on the inside.  The Alewife did not let me down.  They were cooked just the way I like em. 
  If you are ever seeing a show at the beautiful Hippodrome Theatre, The Alewife is definitely worth checking out.  I wish I could have gone back and tried out more of their amazing looking food!

http://alewifebaltimore.com/