Just when you thought you could get started on that diet after all your comfort food eating, Burger Week rolls around. (So, yes I’d recommend you put that diet off just one more week.)
From Sunday, July 12th through this Saturday, restaurants throughout L.A. and Orange County are joining forces to celebrate the great American burger. More than 100 restaurants are participating with offers of everything from beef to beet and prairie-based to plant-based.
Mozambique & Skyloft Featuring 6 Burgers
Here in Laguna Beach, three restaurants have officially partnered with Burger Week.
Mozambique is offering three types of “burgers,” including the 10-ounce Mozambique Steak Burger with cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon, a Grilled Herb Chicken Sandwich with Swiss cheese and smoked bacon, and my favorite sandwich at Moz – the OC Prego Steak Sandwich with 6 ounces of grilled beef filet, Provolone cheese, sautéed mushrooms and grilled onions.
Mozambique’s Grilled Chicken: A lighter side of Burger Week
Mozambique’s Grilled Chicken: A lighter side of Burger Week
Add in a side of fries, sweet potato fries or spinach salad and it’s all just $15 (minus tax and tip) through this week.
Bartenders at Mozambique have also come up with a Burger-specialty cocktail, a Roasted Lemon Sour with Makers Mark bourbon, fresh squeezed lemon and agave with a roasted lemon garnish.
Mozambique’s little sister, Skyloft, has come up with three new burgers exclusive to Burger Week. (My bet is that if you like what you try, there’s a good chance they’ll find their way to the Skyloft menu.)
For $20, choose from either a Smoked Pulled Pork Burger (see above – pulled pork on a beef burger patty with crispy fried shallots), a Blue Sky Burger featuring a double patty, melted blue cheese, fried egg and buffalo sauce, or a Beyond Meat® Burger, a quite yummy plant-based patty with roasted garlic portobello mushroom, Swiss cheese and black peppercorn aioli. The $20 (tax and tip additional) includes a side of Cajun tater tots, sweet potato fries or baked beans.
Skyloft’s bartenders, ever at the ready, are also featuring their best-selling Southern Mule for just $13 during Burger Week – a smooth blend of Maker’s Mark Bourbon, raspberry liqueur, ginger beer and lime.
Both Mozambique and Skyloft offer roof deck outdoor dining as well as pick-up and delivery.
Teemu’s “Duck” Lands at Selanne
This summer, Selanne Steak Tavern is still featuring its “visiting team” restaurant menu from Teemu Selanne’s Garden Grove-based Penalty Box.
Penalty Box “flies in” The Duck Burger to Selanne this week.
Offered Wednesday through Saturday at lunch on its patio, the Penalty Box has three great burgers already on the menu with two participating in Burger Week (Hall of Famer and Major Penalty).
This week, however, the “Duck Burger” comes to roost in honor of Burger Week. Fashioned from Wagyu beef, its totes duck salami, cherry compote and Oregon blue cheese. Add in “The Rookie” twig fries and it’s a great buy at $15 (tax and tip additional).
Tonight – Another Burger Week Participant Cooks Virtually
In related Burger Week news, I’ve been writing about a recent series of virtual cooking classes that have proven quite the hoot.
The series, “In Chef’s Kitchen,” is produced by Illumination Foundation, the non-profit entity that provides housing and related services for homeless individuals and families.
These last several weeks, Illumination Foundation has been honoring many of their chefs who regularly participate in their annual Disneyland® gala, OC Chef’s Table. Because I help them with marketing around this, I’ve had the pleasure of participating in the first two virtual cooking events and they’ve been an absolute delight. These chefs are phenomenal fun! I’m sure you’ll be a much more organized cook than I’ve been, as evidenced in the photo below:
My attempts at the first IFHomeless.org cooking class. Thank goodness my video was turned off!
Tonight, Tuesday, July 14th new Scarlet restaurateur and fabulous Chef Paige Riordan will be teaching a 5 p.m. class on Vegan Pulled BBQ Carrot Tacos.
Chef (extraordinaire) Paige Riordan teaches her virtual cooking class tonight (Tuesday). All proceeds benefit her restaurant.
To add to her busy week, Chef Paige’s Ladera Ranch restaurant is also participating in Burger Week with three crafty burghers – a Scarlet Burger with maple bacon and garlic aioli, a Lamb Burger with feta cheese, and an Eggplant Parmesan Burger, which sounds so good I might have to make a short commute to her restaurant this week.
As for other Chef’s Kitchen events, this Friday, July 17th, longtime OC favorite Chef Leo Razo of Villa Roma will be teaching the art of the Argentine steak with homemade chimichurri sauce.
And, on Thursday, July 23rd, Chef Linda Johnsen of popular Filomena’s will be teaching the craft of skillet-cooked Italian sausage with peppers and potatoes.
Participation is just $100 with all proceeds going directly to the chefs to help them through this crisis. The virtual ticket can include any number of people you want on your side to be cooking along with you.
Support these great chefs and enjoy a really fun cooking class at the same time. Go to IFHomeless.org to order and receive your short grocery list, too.
Send Me Your Burger Week photos!
Enjoy Burger Week and be sure to send me your burger discoveries at Diane@TheBestofLagunaBeach.com to be featured in my social world. Be sure to also search for my recent “Best Burgers of Laguna Beach” column at my website for even more great Laguna burger creations!