The Black Squirrel

We have another guest blog. enjoy.

A few Saturdays ago I was invited to a friend's beers and burgers birthday bash (say it 5 times fast!) at Black Squirrel, in Adams Morgan. The place was jumping and the hipsters were sucking down German beer and burgers. I returned on a calmer Tuesday night to test it out.

The menu makes a big deal of the burger: "Our Burgers - are made of hormone-free Hereford beef ground in-house. Hereford beef is an ancient bread of cattle that has not been genetically engineered. The result is a mouth-watering, natural-beef flavor. Hereford is an all-natural, hormone-free beef raised strictly on corn. It is allowed to mature naturally without the use of drugs, which results in a higher price." Having just read the Omnivore's Dilemma, I was skeptical about a place that touts beef raised on corn, but gave the burger a go.

The plus side : you can choose from a plethora of cheeses to go on your burger: brie, cheddar, blue, goat, gruyere, swiss. The negative side: they charge 50 cents for pickles!! Wot da wot?! The burger arrived and, unlike most places in DC, the medium arrived with some pink in the middle which I felt was a good sign. (See previous posts about Founding Farmers in particular). However, my optimism didn't last past the first bite. The meat had waaay too much salt and some specific spice (cumin?) in it. My dining companion agreed, miming the chef seasoning the meat while being distracted with discussions of the Sweet 16 rather than paying attention to portions. Also-- fries too well cooked so that they acquired the hue of an Oompa Loompa and the consistency of shirt cardboard. Between two of us dining, we didn't finish one portion of the fries. That says a lot.

Even though I did this taste-testing as an unofficial outing of the Burger Club, I would say that I took one for the team here. You don't want to bother with it. But the beer was good. Czechvar that came in a glass with its own name on it! Fancy.

- P. Deeks