June 30, 2016
SPARE TIRE REVIEW BY JONATHAN ROSNER
At my first BEU, a couple years back, I mentioned to Rebecca that I’m not rating the bun cause I don’t eat the bun. She said this was totally fine as we were not at “bun eaters united” and informed me that’s a different group entirely. Thanks for that Ms. Rienks. It’s really a fine thing, being united in beef eating, which makes me wonder – why are some of us – who are united in beef eating – not actually consuming any beef at all at Beef Eaters United where the consumption of beef is celebrated by eating beef in the form of a hamburger the very evening we get together? Look, I get it, maybe you don’t eat anything with a face, and neither do I, I mean rarely (no pun…), and when you get a severed a hamburger, I can assure the face is long gone. Sometimes at sushi place I’ll get that sweet shrimp, I think it’s called, and they serve up that face separately, fried, but that’s really not eating something with a face – that is in fact a face.
And speaking of shrimp – let’s hold that thought for a second – I want to stop and say I really enjoyed the folks at my table – very nice – salt of the earth – as interested as they were interesting…. So – the dude at the end of the table who shall remain nameless cause I forgot his name, how did he celebrate our being united in beef eating? Bring on the LOBSTER ROLL – “New England roll, butter lettuce & fresh dill” What the….?? What about that celebrates beef eating unity – or anything at all really? And sitting right across from me – nothing says Beef Eaters United like a piping hot Vegan Pizza. There’s a song I like very much called I Respect Your Feelings As a Woman and a Human Being, and this is true, but come on now – what’s up with that? As a child in NYC I ate Pizza Burgers all the time, but guess what? – those are burgers not pizza. And the lay to the left of me, “Shaved Market Veggies” – really? I have no words. Mara “Soft Rock Saturday” Schwartz Kuge was sitting to the right of me eating a hamburger – a tiger in Africa? Good job.
Alright, the Spare Tire. I lucked out parking wise and got a nice space on the street – that’s important to me – easy parking – good start – could have turned ugly as there was construction and what not. The place itself was not bad. Looked pleasant enough. I guess gastro pubs are pretty popular, and that’s fine with me. I had to eat up high – not my first choice – cause everything was taken down low. The waiter immediately started my very own tab – nice work! To my knowledge, they (the waiters) did that for everyone. That’s the best. And I normally show up early (to get a good seat – didn’t work this time) and leave, well, no earlier than 8:25, and not having to deal with the group check is a bonus. This was one of the moistest BEUs ever on account of the weather – oh man.
The burger itself was unremarkable – especially for us bunless types. It was cooked fine, tasted good – really small, I thought. When you go bunless, you want a substantial meat offering. I could have dealt with 2.5x the size. Upward and onward! I really loved that place in Korea Town.
Out of 45 people in attendance, here’s how Spare Tire fared:
Appearance: 7.25
Patty: 8.0714
Taste: 7.5357
Creativity: 6.1428
Bun: 6.7857
Toppings: 7.0357
Value/Price: 7.3214
Service: 7.1428
TOTAL: 7.1607
Sriracha beat out a Slurpee in the “who would win in a fight?” category.
Additional Comments:
Koichi: #squad
John Moses: I don’t appreciate being called a pig in Item #2: BEU Survey Instructions. I’ve been going through a lot and just want to eat my burger without any additional judgement from Brayden.
Vitaly Shenderovsky: Not bad…not bad.
Alison Lieber: Alison Rosenfeld is an angel. Catarina Da Vinci is an angel.
Cory Shackelford: “Life’s a garden. Dig it.” -Joe Dirt
Alison Rosenfeld: Chicken + waffles = A++. Overall: good! But nothing ~*special*~
Laura Katz: Excellent central location!
Lauren Weis: Have faith!
Peter Wade: Fun spot. Loud tho. Kinda a little bit of a burger fuckfest! Had fun tho. Burgels. Burglary. Iceburg.
Patrick Clancy: It was so crazy, we had to order at the bar.
Garrett McElver: This burger made me tire-d, but I wouldn’t spare it for a second.
Brayden: A $30 lobster roll better be a damn good lobster roll.
Chris Piccaro: Anarchy on the free table.
Jess Ruoti: The lingering party at the tables near us should have been kicked the f*ck out! Also, my fries were overcooked. Sadsies. +5 style points for playing Dumb & Dumber on the TV.
Michael Sherwood: The patty was cooked perfectly, and the meat was excellent quality, but the bun was dry, and the onions were overpowering.
Binks: Jesus, this place is loud. Ok, can we just go ahead and re-state a couple of things: 1) RSVPing is polite, so don’t be a dick. 2) Ordering pizza at BEI like this is motherfucking PEU is a fireable offense – don’t let me find out who did that. O-ver.
Eric Kalver: Not enough seating for us to be together. Burger was mediocre.
Natasha Albert: Thanks for the invite! (First timer, SO FUN)