Fundamentals are a crutch for the talentless

Dark Lord '09 bottle #7 last night.




















Hung the hell over. Working through it remembering my culinary highlights and low lights of the past week.


Last Weds went to Kuma's Corner.

2900 W Belmont Ave

Chicago, IL 60618

Get Directions

(773) 604-8769

Kuma's is the now "legendary" north side metal burger bar whose burgers are covered in ridiculous toppings and named after metal bands. I.e. the "Lair of the Minotaur" the "Pantera" etc etc. They have been spotlighted on diners, drive-ins and dives as well as some other local shows and have become so popular there's now an average dinner time wait of 2 hours.

For a burger.

LMAG and myself attempted to go there for dinner a while back and there was still a 2 hour wait at 8PM. We ended up going somewhere else, but gave it another try as we figured a Weds at 10 was probably one of the least crowded times we were ever going to be near it. Still a 30 minute wait, but we persevered.

I had the 'Swine Flu':














LMAG had the veggie 'Iron Maiden':














On the whole the food was good, definitely huge portions but the burger was the driest medium rare burger I think I've ever had. No idea how something could be that pink and that puck like at the same time.

Also had one of the worst tasting Alpha Kings I've ever had...something was definitely wrong with it.

In a nutshell, way over-hyped. Tons of people with beards mixing with clean cuts and identity crisis pin-up girl waitress types. If you're in the neighborhood and can actually get in the door....give it a try, but definitely not worth a special trip.


Saturday went to Firkin in Libertyville.

515 N. Milwaukee Ave
Libertyville, IL 60048
(847) 367-6168

Thanks to wiki, we know the following: a Firkin is an old English unit of volume...also, that it's equal to half a kilderkin. Yep, apparently that's a word.

Casks this size are the most common vessel for cask ale, a purists ale delivered through a beer engine (hand pump) without the aid of additional Nitro or CO2. Served at a higher temperature than standard beer/ale it can easily be dismissed as warm beer. In my opinion this style can be hit or miss, the more flavorful the beer the better it lends itself to this style. I've had some lighter styles like reds that basically tasted like a warm Killians, I've also had some stouts and brown ales that really shined.

In any case, both casked beers at Firkin were out, which seemed a bit odd being it's their namesake...but with 20 something other quality beers on tap, I couldn't complain.

Enjoyed a few (beer content):

Tyranena Bitter Woman IPA - Flavorful IPA, nice hoppy bite but pretty smooth at the same time. Not overly citrusy. Would drink again.

Bells Two Hearted Ale - Respectable IPA but I'm not really sold on this. It's definitely drinkable, but I've had this on draft and bottled and haven't really been impressed. Surprising since Bells Hopslam is pretty much my gold standard IPA.

Had some chips and guac for an appetizer and for dinner had a turkey pastrami sandwich (real hammer of a sandwich, stacked with turkey pastrami, bacon and cheese (yep, both food groups)). LMAG had a goat cheese salad thing, which began an unprecedented veggie devouring rampage for her over the weekend. Off the charts good on the food (though the guac was just average), would return for the grub alone...even w/o the beer list.