Thanks for sharing, Jeremy!

also via thedailywh.at

This looks hysterical. The game is: they put out a challenge, hundreds of people upload videos of themselves preforming the challenges and hundreds of others judge the results. Top 50% stay on until there's only one left. Game show for the interwebs.

New Buffalo, MI: Bite Into a Legendary Burger at Redamak's

Posted by Todd Brock, August 16, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Todd Brock's regular burger beat is Atlanta, but a trip back home to the Midwest took him to within striking distance of a favorite hotspot from his youth. He returned to give it the full-blown AHT treatment.

[Photographs: Todd Brock]

Redamak's

616 East Buffalo Street, New Buffalo MI 49117 (map); 269-469-4522; redamaks.com
Cooking Method: Skillet
Short Order: World-class burger joint in a tiny beachside town on Lake Michigan
Want Fries with That? Yes, preferably smothered in chili and cheese...but there are 38 other sides to try, too
Price: Hamburger w/fries, $4.50 (double, $5.75; triple, $6.50); Cheeseburger or Swiss Burger w/fries; $4.75 (double, $6.25; triple, $7.25)

Hold up your right hand so you're looking at your palm. Fingers together, like you're putting on a mitten. That's the shape of the state of Michigan (minus the Upper Peninsula). And when you're describing a specific locale in the Wolverine State, you can do it based on the visual reference of an outstretched hand. "He lives up on the ring finger," or, "Our cabin was out near the tip of the thumb." Well, this burger review takes place down around where hand becomes wrist on the pinkie side. On a real map, it's the spot where Michigan, Indiana, and Lake Michigan all meet. In Burger World, it's the home of one of the all-time legends, and an absolute must-do on every serious burger lover's bucket list.

New Buffalo, Michigan, is a quiet beach town of ice cream parlors and bicycle rental shops. Just over 2,000 people call it home, but since the 1940s, its most famous resident has been the sprawling hamburger shack on East Buffalo Street. And, like every small town's most famous resident, Redamak's has some unique character quirks that the rest of the world simply has to deal with. Like being a cash-only establishment. Or closing down just before Halloween each year and staying closed until spring. (Think about that for a moment. Want the best cheeseburger in a 100-mile radius in November? Sorry, come back in March.)

The burgers at Redamak's are world-renowned (a quick pass through the parking lot on this particular Monday showed license plates from Ohio, Iowa, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, and Arizona), but the menu is exhaustive. It's famously round, with microscopic type crammed into just about every square inch.

Turns out that 18-point Garamond doesn't really work when you have 39 sides (!) to describe. There are some wild choices: mini tacos, breaded mushrooms with ranch dressing (a staple in this part of the world), batter-dipped apple crescents, and a deep-fried cheesecake/brownie bite/bananas Foster trio (yes, those are all "sides"), but truthfully, I've never found a reason to stray from the chili-cheese fries. Crinkle-cut and smothered in chunky homemade chili and industrial-strength cheese sauce, they require a fork to eat and border on heavenly.

They may blow it out of the box with sides at Redamak's, but the burger menu is surprisingly and refreshingly spartan. You can get a hamburger, a cheeseburger, or a Swiss burger. You can get it as a single, double, or triple. That's it. "With everything" gets you ketchup, mustard, raw onion, and pickles. Lettuce and tomato aren't even available. There's a list of other add-on toppings for building your own "legend," but the choices are pretty basic: grilled onions, chili, mushrooms, jalapeños, green olives, or—and this is still the only place I've ever seen this—round bacon.

The burgers are "presented" bundled in wax paper (and not even on trays). When you unwrap it, you'll find that the oozy cheese has melted all over everything (much like a recurring dream I have). Mine had lovely brown burn spots dotting the cheese, which was smooth, thick, creamy, rich... and unpretentiously familiar.

"Is that...?" I asked Jaime, my server.

"Yep, Velveeta," she confirmed.

Don't knock it 'til you try it, cheese snobs.

You won't be asked how you want your burger done. Even on request, you won't get a rare or medium-rare burger served to you. Still, my heavy triple cheeseburger (they use third-pound patties) was phenomenally juicy.

The place is always busy, even with a capacity of 400 in its multiple rooms. They keep adding on over the years to meet demand, despite protest from die-hards. The outdoor beer garden was enclosed in 1998, a "three-seasons room" added in 2002, and it's only been air conditioned since 1995, much to the chagrin of old-timers who complained that Redamak's was becoming "way too modern."

The servers move quickly to keep tables turning over; the kitchen reportedly bangs out 2,500 burgers a day. But lest you think that this is a straight-up food factory/tourist trap (their array of T-shirt colors is impressive, to say the least), get a load of this personal touch. According to the revised 2011 edition of Hamburger America, each burger at Redamak's is cooked in a skillet...by itself. I'd prove it with a photo, but my camera and I weren't invited back to the kitchen (I don't have a fraction of George Motz's clout). The current owners (in their 36th year) told George that they do it "to keep the juices with the burger," and I'll vouch for this labor-intensive method's effectiveness. The cheeseburger at Redamak's is among the best on the planet. Just remember to bring cash, get there before Halloween, and keep your right hand handy in case you get lost.

About the Author: Todd Brock lives the glamorous life of a stay-at-home freelance writer in the suburbs of Atlanta. Besides being paid to eat cheeseburgers, he's written and produced over 1,000 hours of television and recently penned Building Chicken Coops for Dummies. When he grows up, he wants to be either the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys or the drummer for Hootie & the Blowfish. Or both.

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Tags: AHT reviews, Michigan, New Buffalo, recommended, Redamak's, reviews

Buy your tickets here!

The Young Irish Fellowship Club knows how to throw a party and this year is no different. Proceeds benefit some very deserving groups - Dignity Diner and Raising Awareness. Please help us help them by having a great time with the bizarre people you know and love.

Photos:

 

The 36th annual celebration includes Miller products, wine and performances from the Larkin and Moran Brothers, Missing Ted, the Shannon Rovers and the World Academy Irish Dancers. VIP tickets ($60-$65) include Jameson and Svedka drinks.

 

From Start-up to Industry Leader and Beyond

Written by Ed Scanlan

Friday, February 11, 2011 00:00

If you’re familiar with Total Attorneys history, you know we’ve been through a lot of changes in the past eight years. In 2002, I started the company with little more than a laptop and a credit card, creating websites and helping a variety of businesses with online marketing. In the intervening years, we grew from a one-man show to a handful of dedicated people in a tiny office with a concrete floor to over 150 employees in the Chicago loop servicing over 1000 lawyers. In 2005, Kevin Chern joined the company as President, and we refined our focus and dedicated ourselves to serving the needs of small law firms and solo attorneys. We even changed our name in 2008 from Infra-Strategy to Total Attorneys. The following year, we added a new dimension to our services with the acquisition of Virtual Law Office Technology LLC (VLOTech). And now, we’re taking another giant step forward with new support from BIA Digital Partners.

But the thing that defines our company and that I am personally most proud of is our purpose. Our mission statement, “to improve lives through innovation in the access and delivery of legal services” reflects something very significant about the way Total Attorneys does business: we’re looking to improve not only the lives of our attorney customers, but their customers’ lives, as well. Everything we do is designed to further that goal in some way. Our marketing solutions for solo attorneys and small law firms have been developed with the dual goals of allowing attorneys to run profitable businesses and grow their practices while also reaching more consumers who need legal services. Our upcoming SaaS platform gives lawyers the flexibility to work from anywhere and serve clients from further geographic locations, thereby increasing attorneys’ client bases and making legal services more accessible to consumers.

Today, we’re on the brink of yet another exciting new era for Total Attorneys. The new, integrated law office platform we’ll launch later this year will give our attorney customers a competitive edge and help them to profitably provide services to a wider range of clients. The combination of a dedicated team, an influx of new capital and the insights of Stephanie Kimbro, co-founder of VLOTech, have put us in a position to set a new standard in the use of technology to deliver legal services. Total Attorneys has the marketing solutions that small law firms and solo practitioners need to grow their practice, and gives them the software tools needed to succeed. We’re looking forward not just to taking our services to the next level, but to partnering with our attorney clients to increase the profitability, accessibility, and efficiency of their practices.

It's an exciting time to be part of this company. We're breaking new ground in several very focused directions. It creates a tangible hum when so many great people are working together in lockstep towards a common goal.

Here's to "beyond."

This is an amazing statement:

For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By Jason Kottke  •  Jan 25, 2011 at 12:45 pm  •  military   suicide   USA   war

This is truly sad. Thanks to all of our best and brightest and the struggles you endure daily.

Bear Down

A great recounting of the Jay/Conan late night debacle. It's like a portrait of principle in the middle of a cutthroat corporate knife fight.

Conan's been inspiring in the wake of all this. He seems reborn, humble, and like he's just hitting his stride - even after 17 years on the air. Looking forward to great things from his new show.