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July 22, 2005

Newport burger on a roll

GQ July 2005: The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die

Alan Richman traveled 23,750 miles and consumed more than 150,000 calories while taking the measure of 162 burgers across the country -- with one goal: to find you the best damned assemblage of ground beef and buns this country serves up

Call it a gimmick, call it a goal, but Number 3 on this list of wonders of ground cow cuisine is in Newport:

Not Just a Burger in the Spiced Pear Restaurant at the Chanler Hotel, Newport, RI

Reviews by patrons at Providence Citysearch love The Spiced Pear or hate it.

Only one mentioned the burger:

This was easily the worst most overpriced brunch I have ever eaten. I ordered the Kobe hamburger ($ 25) the burger was good, but not worth the money. I could have closed my eyes and could not tell it was not one from my home grill. The burger came with Lays potate chips.

Okay.

The issue seems to be value -- whether what you get is worth the price. If you're not from the neighborhood -- the oceanfront mansions of Cliff Walk -- you'd call Spiced Pear very expensive. Dinner for two cost one couple over $400, which ended the romance. Another thought the $69 five-course prix fixe menu which, with supplemental charges and a bottle of wine, came to $250 for two, was a good value.

Meridith Ford reviewed Spiced Pear in The Providence Journal October 16, 2003, but didn't mention beef. She did deadpan,

By dessert, it was obvious that I had been found out. I'm usually tipped off to that when I order two desserts and wind up with six. (For the record, a telephone interview with (chef Richard) Hamilton, later confirmed that the staff had found me out, but he said this didn't happen until the entrees had been served.)

That's Hamilton at right, photographed last year by Journal photographer Bob Thayer.

Paula Bodah, reviewing Spiced Pear for Rhode Island Monthly two months later, came close:

Kurobuta is to pork what Kobe is to beef. It comes from Berkshire swine, actually, but it’s been prized in Japan since the British government sent some Berkshire hogs and pigs over as a gift back in the 1800s. It’s richer than most pork, slightly darker and much more moist, thanks to extra marbling. And that means it can arrive alone on a plate as it is here, pan seared, seasoned only with salt and pepper before being finished on the grill, and be just wonderful.

But it's not the burger.

If you've eaten this elusive Not Just a Burger yourself, please leave a comment about your dinner.

Leading GQ's list was the sirloin burger at Le Tub in Hollywood, Fla.; the Luger burger by Peter Luger in Brooklyn took silver.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 4:15 AM | Permalink