johnny wrote:Mrs. Johnny has informed me the burgers have increased in size from 8 ounces to 10 ounces - to accomodate a larger pretzel bun.
Damn you, Kuma's. My stomach curses your name!
Were they really only 8 ounces before?

Although I didn't notice a larger bun, I certainly noticed a larger burger last night than Kuma's had been serving previously.

I'll preface the following by saying that Kuma's can do almost no wrong in my eyes. I absolutely love the place. However...Has anyone found their beef patty to be a bit too big lately? Last night the meat on both mine and my wife's burgers were so big that there was an imbalance to it. Their burgers are of course always an over-the-top arrangement, but this one just seemed a bit out of alignment. Anyone else noticed this ever? I'm wondering if it's the change above or just a random occurrence.

Hey! I was there last night, too. Mayhem to go was delicious. Wait for a table was an hours at 7:30. (I left my friends to finish at the table, I had to get home)

Cane and Abel on tap was crisp and fresh.

Eager to try the Lair of the Minotaur before it vanished, I hoofed it over to Kuma's for lunch. Pretty empty at noon, surprisingly.

As for the burger, the actually eating is a little less exciting than the concept of it all. Boursin and pancetta? Awesome. Pears? Not so much. I understand the idea of using sweet to contrast fat, but this ain't foie gras; the pears made for an odd texture contrast as well. If they bring it back in the future, order it without the pears.

I wasn't paying full attention, but it would appear that the March burger--"Sloth", I think--is a riff on a Cuban sandwich, with pork, ham, swiss, pickles, and mustard as the toppings. I'm sure someone on here will confirm, though.

Actually its brie, not boursin...sorry had to point that out. I wanted to try it last time I was there, but was worried it would be too much. I am one of those people who hate to be disappointed when I order, so I usually stick with my usual.

And yes, the Sloth is a burger with the Cuban sandwich toppings and as I was told by a friend, very good.

I hate to point this out, but the Cuban-burger is a Bobby Flay gimmick that I've seen him whip out a few times.

I'm a purist when it comes to Cubans, and I feel strongly that the Sloth is related to the horrid "taco" on the Saturday Night Live skit. Remember? "Pizza! Now that's what I call a taco!"

I have no problem with the Zeppelin (pulled pork, bacon and, of course, a gorgeous juicy patty of chuck) and other delicious combinations. I enjoy blaspheming and defiling others' gods just like the next guy. Iconoclastic gluttony is a hobby. But I worship the ideal reflected by La Ideal, the aptly named cafeteria in West Tampa. I might could have a moment of weakness, however, and I beg your pardon in advance.

I finally made it to Kuma's last night for the first time... following one of the recommendations I read somewhere about dining in restaurants, I decided to go with the item carrying the restaurant's name -- the Kuma.

Fried egg on a burger? Genius! I loved the mix of pretzel roll, beef patty, fried egg, cheddar cheese, bacon, etc. Not sure how my heart liked it though. The fiancee had the Motorhead... and finished the whole damn thing, too! Definitely one we'll be going back to again.

BTW, does anyone know the name/location of the bakery where they get the pretzel rolls? I asked the waitress, but she wasn't quite sure -- someplace in the 'burbs that started with a "p." I skimmed through this thread and didn't see any mention of who's creating these awesome rolls.

Service was a bit slow (30 minutes from ordering to food arrival) but very friendly. As for the music, it was very loud -- do they play the music more quietly during the day? I realize 9pm on a Thursday is more of time for a drinking crowd than dining crowd. I don't so much mind the metal (I used to listen to it in middle/high school) but would prefer it be easier to talk during a meal.

So we were at Avec the other night and one of the servers had on an argyle sweater, though none of the customers did (that I could see). Does that make it more or less desirable as a place to hang?

leek wrote:So we were at Avec the other night and one of the servers had on an argyle sweater, though none of the customers did (that I could see). Does that make it more or less desirable as a place to hang?

Argyle sweaters or not, Avec is CONSIDERABLY less desirable than Kuma's as a place to hang. One visit was enough.

blipsman, I asked when I was there a few weeks ago, and the rolls are from Labriola. They have some retail products, but I don't know if the pretzel rolls are available.

I love the co-op hot sauce they serve at Kuma's, actually I am sort of becoming addicted to the smoky flavor on the burgers.

So, in case anyone else is as fascinated as I am, I decided to go to the website and ask how to purchase some myself, this is what I got.....

Hey, Ashley you can get it in two ways from the Co-op Image Art Center, or we can ship you the sauce. Let us know how many you need and we would be happy to help you out. The bottles are $4 individually or 12 for $36.


Thanks for finding us


Mike B

I'm not sure if it's proper or not to post Mike's phone number, email, so I guess if you're interested I can send it to you.

hot sauce requests can also be made here:

hotsauce@coopimage.org

(from co-op website)

blipsman wrote: As for the music, it was very loud -- do they play the music more quietly during the day? I realize 9pm on a Thursday is more of time for a drinking crowd than dining crowd. I don't so much mind the metal (I used to listen to it in middle/high school) but would prefer it be easier to talk during a meal.

Does anyone from Kuma's read this thread? If so, 1) I love your place, but 2) The high frequencies are so high - i.e., I can really hear that high-hat over everything else - that it's painful sometimes.

Assuming the speakers are decent, you can probably fix this with a quick EQ tweak behind the bar.

Thanks!

JohnnyConatus wrote:Assuming the speakers are decent, you can probably fix this with a quick EQ tweak behind the bar.

Thanks!

Yes, but how long was the wait?

Yes, but how long was the wait?

Is this the new "But how were the portions?"

whiskeybent wrote:

Yes, but how long was the wait?

Is this the new "But how were the portions?"

For Kuma's, yes.

I'm going tomorrow for a birthday dinner. I've been in the past and loved it, however, burgers are no longer in the diet. I'm planning on basically eating celery all day (well, not literally, you get the point) so I can eat here and remain to my calorie plan, so there's a LITTLE room to splurge, but not much. How's their chicken, or anything else "healthy" for that matter? I saw the chicken discussed way upthread, but that info's a few years old and any new info would be appreciated.

The chicken is good, but it's no burger.

Instead, I'd recommend either the mussels or the calamari. I think Kuma's hits them both out of the park.

Love,
John

I love mussels, great idea. I forgot they had them there.

birthday boy hates seafood, but, he'll be happy w/his own burger I'm sure!

I believe they used to offer a veggie-burger option instead of the normal burger patty, but I don't know if that's still on the menu. You could always ask, of course.

I saw "garden burger" on the menu. Does anyone know if they actually make their own veggie burgers there, or if I'm just getting a defrosted Gardenburger patty like from the grocery store? I'd definitely be game if it's hand made. A well made gardenburger is delicious!

PlayItGeorge wrote:I saw "garden burger" on the menu. Does anyone know if they actually make their own veggie burgers there, or if I'm just getting a defrosted Gardenburger patty like from the grocery store? I'd definitely be game if it's hand made. A well made gardenburger is delicious!

It is a regular old Gardenburger you buy frozen from the store.
Jamie

This past Saturday I made my first trip to Kuma's with some friends. We arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon and had to wait 45 minutes for a table, no big deal though, but I did find it shocking, I don't think I have ever waited anywhere for a table at 3:30 in the afternoon.

The visit was mostly good, but there was one bad part and that was the bitch of a bartender we had to deal with. I was thinking of posting her picture but I guess I wont go that far. Her attitude was so bad that when I was paying off my tab, a lady sitting at the bar (not in my group) actually commented to me and my friend "Your not actually leaving her a tip are you?".

I waved at her once to get her attention and she took it totally the wrong way and got pissy. Let me repeat that, ONE wave, a small flick of the wrist, in a packed bar, to catch the eye of a bartender who seemed to be looking for someone to help. Apparently this was horribly offensive and resulted in bad service. I guess she just prefers to pour weak drinks, look snotty, and pull her pen in and out of her hair all the time instead of giving decent customer service. There are pictures of her on their website, black hair, huge hoop earrings, ugly eyeliner.


Onto the good parts. After we were seated, everything was an excellent experience. This was our waitress and she was really friendly, and very good at her job:




I ordered the Goblin Cock and it was a great burger. It was cooked really well and I liked having a Chicago style hotdog on top of my burger. The pretzel rolls really are awesome there. They hold up so well to those big burgers, many buns would simply tear apart and the pretzel roll held strong the whole time. Those are really a great idea for such giant burgers.

My friend got the Minsk and he really enjoyed it, I did not try it though. Our wives split the Clutch burger. My wife couldn't finish her half so I got to eat a 1/4 of the that and thought it was really good too. The fries were tasty (to me at least), but my wife and my friends life did not like the seasoning salt or spice that they put on there, so I ate their fries too. 1 and 1/4 burgers and two orders of fries at Kuma's and I was stuffed, it was a slightly uncomfortable walk back to the blueline.

After a rough start our experience only went up, and I would go back to Kuma's for sure. I'd just stand in a different bar tenders area.

brandon_w wrote:This past Saturday I made my first trip to Kuma's with some friends. We arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon and had to wait 45 minutes for a table, no big deal though, but I did find it shocking, I don't think I have ever waited anywhere for a table at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Kuma's is really strange that way - when I've gone there in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, I've found there to a significant wait as well, which I found surprising. Maybe those burgers are such bombs in the stomach, people are timing their visits in between lunch and dinner (which is what I did, by the way).

Had an incredible lunch today, just the 'spouse and myself - and wanted to highly recommend this month's special, a fairly straightforward burger with peppercorns, stilton cheese, and a sharp german mustard. Given my well-documented love of stilton, it was a no-brainer, and the burger was enlightening: IMHO, stilton is so much better for this purpose than blue cheese, it marries well with the meaty burger and spreads better. Continuing the theme, the 'spouse ordered the Judas Priest, which is topped with a kind of blue cheese waldorf salad - also very, very good; just a hint of sweet from the apples. The burgers were huge, the fries were good (fried hard, yes) the chips were good, and the meal almost kicked my @#$, but we managed to finish anyway. The real artistry here is that, despite the flavorful toppings, the primary flavor is from the meat: cow.

Go sleep now.

(My obviously aged and meat-befuddled brain wants to say the special is called the "Electric Mayhem" but isn't that Dr. Teeth's band on the Muppet Show? It's Electric something...stilton...snore...)

There's a metal band called Mayhem, but the first metal band that comes to mind whose name starts with "Electric" is "Electric Wizard," masters (and monsters) of the crushing downtuned stoner groove. Please forgive this non-food-related post.

(And yes, Animal played drums for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. )

Hwahh? Wizard, mmm?..yes, Electric Wizard! Order early and often...meaty...cheezzzz...skronnk...ssss...

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:There's a metal band called Mayhem, but the first metal band that comes to mind whose name starts with "Electric" is "Electric Wizard," masters (and monsters) of the crushing downtuned stoner groove. Please forgive this non-food-related post.

(And yes, Animal played drums for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. )

Oh this gave me inspiration for a Kumas Kreation for another unknown band starting with "Electric" ... Electric Sun, the band of former Scorpions guitarist and German hippie Jimi Hendrix disciple Uli Jon Roth. This would be the massive patty (pronounced Hom-burger), topped with a split bratwurst from Paulina Market and a heaping scoop of sauerkraut. And of course, the pretzel plays a key roll (cue drummer).

brandon_w wrote:
The visit was mostly good, but there was one bad part and that was the bitch of a bartender we had to deal with. I was thinking of posting her picture but I guess I wont go that far. Her attitude was so bad that when I was paying off my tab, a lady sitting at the bar (not in my group) actually commented to me and my friend "Your not actually leaving her a tip are you?".

I waved at her once to get her attention and she took it totally the wrong way and got pissy. Let me repeat that, ONE wave, a small flick of the wrist, in a packed bar, to catch the eye of a bartender who seemed to be looking for someone to help. Apparently this was horribly offensive and resulted in bad service. I guess she just prefers to pour weak drinks, look snotty, and pull her pen in and out of her hair all the time instead of giving decent customer service. There are pictures of her on their website, black hair, huge hoop earrings, ugly eyeliner.

The exact same thing happened to my party there 3/20. And mind you she was slow as hell before we did that too. I won't be going back, I'd rather experiment with good burgers at home and without the attitude.

[quote="
(And yes, Animal played drums for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. )[/quote]

Was this the group that had the hit "Put Down the Duckie" My all time favorite?

Betsy wrote:blipsman, I asked when I was there a few weeks ago, and the rolls are from Labriola. They have some retail products, but I don't know if the pretzel rolls are available.

Labriola's 6-inch-long pretzel rolls and a larger round loaf are available in some of the grocery stores listed on their website--better chance at the non-Italian places, which won't necessarily be limited to the Italian breads that Labriola makes. Also, at least the Elmhurst Farmers Market has sold longer baguette-shaped pretzel loafs. There's a 6-inch pretzel roll that I found at Trader Joe's recently that was suspiciously similar to Labriola's.