Burger didn't make the cut? Now I'm feeling bleu
Ground chuck stuffed with Gorgonzola and crisp bacon crumbles, topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion and Dijon mustard.
I wish I could tell you where you could purchase that delicious burger, but it's not on any menu.
It was the "Bacon and Bleu Burger" that I chose last week during an opportunity to try one of the burgers made by students in the culinary arts program at Elgin Community College. Fifteen students prepared burgers in hopes of becoming one of the six finalists competing to have the burger on the menu at Prime Burger House at the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin.
My burger was delicious, but didn't make the cut last week. Others in the Spartan Terrace Restaurant at ECC that day were surely raving about their choices, such as the Jalapeño Crab Cheese Burger, the Southwest Turkey and Black Bean Burger, the Mediterranean Burger, the Gynormous Gyro Burger and many others.
The Prime Burger House is inviting the public to the 2 p.m. Oct. 28 judging when the winning burger is announced. Those who attend will be able to sample burgers on the Prime Burger House menu, while a panel of judges will taste the student entries and declare a winner.
That winner will receive a $2,000 prize from the Grand Victoria in addition to having the burger placed on the menu.
A Geneva flavor: I was rooting for the hometown chef in the burger contest last week at Elgin Community College.
Culinary arts student Christian Fencl of Geneva was in that competition, hoping for a chance to have her recipe of a Mediterranean Burger added to the menu at Prime Burger House at Elgin's Grand Victoria Casino.
Unfortunately, her burger didn't make the cut in judging at ECC, in which 15 entries were narrowed to six advancing to the Oct. 28 finals before a new set of judges.
Steven Droesch of South Elgin is advancing, with his "TBG&C" entry a turkey bacon guacamole and cheese burger.
Dining and dancing: It wasn't long after the owners of Eñye, the new Latin American restaurant in Geneva, were telling me about eventually adding salsa dancing to their weekend activities, when I noticed that Milano's Italian Restorante and Banquets in Campton Hills is offering salsa lessons tonight. The following Wednesday, the restaurant will be offering Fox Trot lessons with instructor Jamie Vargo.
I've long felt there is a need in the Tri-Cities area for places to do real dancing and this could be a welcome trend.
That haunted place: Scarecrows definitely rule the roost at Scarecrow Fest this weekend in St. Charles, but there are always other interesting vendors and artists to visit during this great autumn event.
One you may find to have an interesting display at the festival is Faly Colaizzi of Bartlett, who has written a book called "Haunted Nights at Drumheller Castle a St. Charles Tall Tale."
Colaizzi calls her book "a fiction tale set in St. Charles, Geneva, Wayne and parts of Bartlett that is an historical look back in time."
It sounds scary and educational. Not a bad combination.
dheun@sbcglobal.net