Junk food gets no respect. Constantly blamed for our clogged arteries, obesity, and high blood pressure, junk food is the sworn enemy of healthy living. To make matters worse, most of it consists of inferior, synthetic ingredients carelessly slapped together, ready to stuff into our feed hole. It’s no wonder most of us feel guilty eating the stuff. But what happens when our favorite indulgences - pizzas and cheeseburgers and donuts - are prepared with deft precision by chefs who source only the best ingredients? The following are examples of junk food enlightened and elevated to new levels, made with quality ingredients and a skilled hand.
1. THE CHEESEBURGER AT MAC'S LOCAL BUYS IN TAMM AVENUE GRILL
Dry-aging beef is an expensive process. The longer the beef ages, the more weight and yield is lost. What is gained, however, is an intensified, lip-smacking, truly meaty depth of flavor. The average burger joint is never going to use dry-aged beef, but the burgers that come out of the small kitchen inside Tamm Avenue Grill, via Mac’s Local Buys, are nowhere near average. Hand cut, hand-ground, aged beef patties are smashed, griddle cooked, and topped with garnishes and a bun that are genuinely thought out and as delicious as the meat. A double patty topped with Mac’s scrupulously cured bacon, cheese, and all the extra bits will cost you an even $10.
2. CHICHARRONES AT THE GROCERY STORE AT TAQUERIA DURANGO
The crunchy, crackly, irregular cuts of blistered pork skin that are chicharrones are one of my favorite junk foods. You can find bags of them in the store, sometimes with flavoring powder to make them taste “spicy” or “barbecued” but they never taste fresh. Next to Taqueria Durango on Page Ave. is the small Durango Mexican grocery store. Ask the proprietor if he has fresh chicharrones that day and he’ll smile wide and lead you to the back of the shop where he’ll produce a container filled with the fatty, delicious treats. After urging you to sample one, he’ll explain that the reason they are so crisp and fresh is the daily frequency in which the restaurant next door makes them. These rich, addictive, and super fresh chicharrones sell for $7 per pound.
3. NACHOS SUPERIOR AT TACO CIRCUS
The aptly named “nachos superior” offered at Taco Circus is a riot of colors, textures, and flavors. A huge portion of thick, crisp chips is very generously topped with a luxurious blanket of queso blanco, ground beef or pork steak, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, onions, shredded cheese, sour cream and fresh, creamy, tangy guacamole. A small refrigerator in the restaurant holds an exciting collection of Taco Circus’ hot sauces and salsas ready to be added to your nachos. The $9.99 “Superior” could feed the most ravenous appetite or is perfect for sharing with a few friends. Bust the budget and add fajita meat for $1.50 more.
4. DONUTS AT WORLD'S FAIR DONUTS
We all need one now and again; a meltingly soft, sweet smelling donut, sticky with glaze. These are the donuts that have been prepared and sold at World’s Fair Donuts for over thirty years. Traditional varieties are offered here, no edgy flavor combinations or savory weirdness. Just yeast-raised and cake donuts that taste as if they were made by angels. In reality they are made by an elderly, sweet, but exhausted looking man in a white undershirt who flips the rings of dough that bob and float in the deep fryer. Don't miss the violet speckled blueberry cake donuts or the lumpy, clay-red hued, glazed red velvet. A dozen of these beauties cost $7.80.
5. PIZZA AT RED GUITAR BREAD
You may know the crusty, whole wheat-laden, wood-oven baked Red Guitar Bread from one of the local farmers’ markets. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings (and more to come), Alex Carlson fires up that same oven to create Red Guitar pizza in his brick-and-mortar bakery on Cherokee. The 10-12" Neapolitan-style crusts are tender yet chewy and have crisp, smokey charred edges. Topped with combinations like red onion, gruyere, pistachio, and rosemary; or sopressa, tomato, mozzarella, and hot honey pickled peppers, the rustic pies are equally elegant. Each of Alex’s pizzas is an even $10.
