This thread is now the top Google hit for "zuologist," and I'm proud to be reinforcing that status with this post.

If I ever win a Mega-Millions drawing, I'm going to see about having a Department of Zuology established at a major university, where those passionate about zu can realize their zuological dreams.

As for the zuologist who failed to slay the Slayer, poor guy had an eyes-bigger-than-stomach moment, and tried to cover it up with bravado and leftover-skillet-talk. We more-accomplished eaters should all be there for him, offering sympathy and words of encouragement, not angry words and harsh judgment. He's got it in him to join our ranks, I'm sure...after all, he mastered zuology, didn't he?

This thread makes me wonder how the % of LTH posters with heart problems compares with society in general. Sometimes we sound like the fat consuming equivalent of a Southern California brushfire crossed with a great white shark and a school of piranhas. God have mercy on anything that comes between us and a bowl of gelato or slab or ribs.

Cogito wrote:This thread makes me wonder how the % of LTH posters with heart problems compares with society in general. Sometimes we sound like the fat consuming equivalent of a Southern California brushfire crossed with a great white shark and a school of piranhas. God have mercy on anything that comes between us and a bowl of gelato or slab or ribs.

Have you met happy_stomach? I think we're ok as a whole, with enough movers to offset the, er, shakers.

I'd put our % inline with the overall population since we're relatively diverse (unless you believe QuantCast) and eat a lot of good fats, organic produce, and fatty acids while drinking good wine.

And we of course avoid the high blood pressure and stress of arguing on the interweb.

Dude, have you seen 'I Do It Daily'? He makes Olive Oyl look like Brutus.

NAV MAN wrote:Seebee, I...

NAV MAN, I'm astounded at this personal pronoun usage. I feel like I just saw Bigfoot.

You didn't offer to finish the Zuologist's leftovers? I guess that would have meant living without some PBR's, though.

Habibi wrote:I'm going to Kumas next week, ordering a Slayer, and then throwing it in the garbage.

My sides just split. I'll send you the hospital bill.

Adding to this thread seems like spitting into the Mississippi, but I finally made a visit here this week. My kids were off school for Yom Kippur and wanted to go to Uncle Fun, so we made a lunch time visit to Belmont on Monday. I had the Kuma burger; my son had the Kobe beef sloppy Joe, and my daughter had the calamari. I liked the burger a lot, but what stood out for me were the chips, which I asked for instead of fries. They were freshly made chips (not hot, but crispy and probably made that morning) and reminded me of my dad. He never had any interest in store-bought chips, but would always eat freshly made ones when the local bakery in my hometown in Wisconsin had them. As a kid, I thought this was a sign of something being weird about the old man. More than three decades later, I get it. I was briefly verklempt. My son ate every bite of his sandwich without sharing, so I guess it was good. I liked my daughter’s calamari. She seems to be more of an innate foodie than I (see above not liking fresh chips at her age) since when I asked her afterwards what she thought of the calamari, she replied, “It was good I guess, but I think I’ve only had calamari once before, so I don’t have lot to compare it to.” The jury’s still out!

The October Burger:

The October burger of the month is the Agenda of Swine. A 10oz beef patty topped with slow roasted pork belly, caramelized onions, and a sweet chipotle glaze!

Dammit. And I was vowing to be good next week. Is the patio closed yet? No more waiting in line for me!

Thinking about hitting up Kuma's tomorrow. I thought maybe going mid afternoon. 2-30 to 3:30 or so. Is this a bad idea? Will it still be a 2hr wait? I don't mind waiting if I can have a beer while waiting (once waited 2+ hours for pizza at Bianco in Phoenix but we just drank good wine at the bar).

Ive been once on a saturday - walked in, took a look around and walked out.

My general rule of thumb is that I pretty much avoid Kumas outside of this time range:

Monday-Thursday 1:30-3:00 pm

Now, i have no idea what Kumas is like outside of those times, but i can tell you that 100% of the time when i walk in mon-thurs in that time frame i've never waited for a seat and i always belly up to the bar.

But ultimately if you don't mind waiting, any time is a decent time to go - great beer, great bar and wait staff, good loud music - you can't really go wrong if time is not an issue.

I was there last Saturday afternoon right around 2:00.
The quoted wait was 1 hour and 15 minutes, with no space at the bar.
(We ended up at the Orbit Room)

If you are waiting inside you can drink. I don't know if you can drink while waiting outside.

Cogito wrote:This thread makes me wonder how the % of LTH posters with heart problems compares with society in general. Sometimes we sound like the fat consuming equivalent of a Southern California brushfire crossed with a great white shark and a school of piranhas. God have mercy on anything that comes between us and a bowl of gelato or slab or ribs.

There was an article in the NYT a year or so ago about a group of guys that were trying to find the best burger in NYC. I think they had a blog. I remember the founder of the group had to quit because he had high blood presssure and cholesterol.

Thanks to everyone on the time tips. Sounds like any time on Sat is going to be a long wait.

I went to Kuma's on 10/2 and one of us had the special - awesome. Our waitress remarked that it was her favorite special ever. With Kuma's usual restrained hand, the pork belly amounted to two - TWO - 1"x3"x4" slabs of pork belly. Two decks of bacon cards. Two meaty wallets. Two much awesomeness. Said dining companion consumed the entire thing, plus a plateload of waffle fries, and a heaping spoonful of regret upon foretelling the bellyache to come.

I restrained myself and went with the Kuma's burger, my first time after 4 visits, and left believing, as another dining companion noted, "everything should be topped with a fried egg." Truer words...

Lair of the Minotaur may still be my favorite. Something about that poached pear...

They really need to let people know when they're closed for a private party, which they were last night. Just throw a notice up on your site, guys...that's what it's there for.

And restaurants wonder why it's become standard practice for prospective customers to call first.

cccpr wrote:They really need to let people know when they're closed for a private party, which they were last night. Just throw a notice up on your site, guys...that's what it's there for.

And restaurants wonder why it's become standard practice for prospective customers to call first.

I agree, I had picked up a date in Hickory Hills and made the trek assuring her she would not be disappointed. We arrived late Saturday night (back in July/August sometime) and it was CLOSED for a private party. So I completely recovered and took her to the Chicago Diner - luckily she is really into that and she loved it.

Was just at Kumas, had the high on fire. I must agree though, Lair of the Minotaur makes me HAPPY!

Mike

Meeting friends at Kuma's last night, wait of about an hour tempered by a couple drafts of Two Brothers Heavy Handed and a couple Bitburgers for the wife.

2 Mastadons, one High on Fire and one Led Zeppelin made their way to our table shortly thereafter. All cooked to order properly and service was as pleasant and unflusterable as ever.

All still well at Kuma's if you don't mind drinking beer for an hour before sitting and getting a menu. Considering I will gladly drink beer in other places for an hour without the prospect of excellent hamburgers, it's no skin off my back but for others, if that's not your bag, I understand that.

The next Burger of the Month? The Pelican, featuring...scallops? Eeeeenteresting.

I'm not entirely sure that the Pelican will be the burger of the month next month, it may very well be a one night only kind of deal. Kuma's MySpace page has info on another record release party that took place earlier this month.

Come to Kuma's Corner to preview The Atlas Moth's devastating forthcoming Candlelight Records release "A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky" and try what is undoubtedly one of the biggest burgers we've ever done, The Atlas Moth Burger. The burger is a 10 oz beef patty topped with a waffle, butter, fried chicken, country fried bacon, collard greens, and bacon infused syrup. It's only happening tonight so get in before it's gone.

I'm headed to Kuma's straight from work after a half-month of drooling over the Burger of the Month description. Looking forward to it!

skess wrote: The burger is a 10 oz beef patty topped with a waffle, butter, fried chicken, country fried bacon, collard greens, and bacon infused syrup.

that is awesome, please report back on this masterpiece.

jimswside wrote:

skess wrote: The burger is a 10 oz beef patty topped with a waffle, butter, fried chicken, country fried bacon, collard greens, and bacon infused syrup.

that is awesome, please report back on this masterpiece.

Actually, I think it sounds like a foolish gimmick and a ridiculous waste of $$$. But I'm sure Guy Fieri would love it.

I think it was pretty much a gimmick. The whole point it was that one night only for the occasion of the record release party, so unfortunately I won't be able to report back on it. The burger of the month I was referencing was this month's Agenda of Swine, with pork belly, caramelized onions, and chipotle glaze (but did you really have to read past pork belly?).

I'm not sure whether or not I'd want to try the Atlas Moth w/ the southern toppings. The chicken sounds like it could work, fried bacon and bacon syrup are a-ok with me, but I'm not sure I'm on board with the waffle. Waffle as bun, or waffle as topping, I'm not sure, but neither option excites me. Doesn't matter anyway, since (as far as I know) it's not currently being offered.

skess wrote:The burger of the month I was referencing was this month's Agenda of Swine, with pork belly, caramelized onions, and chipotle glaze (but did you really have to read past pork belly?).

my bad, this months sounds even better.

BR wrote:

jimswside wrote:

skess wrote: The burger is a 10 oz beef patty topped with a waffle, butter, fried chicken, country fried bacon, collard greens, and bacon infused syrup.

that is awesome, please report back on this masterpiece.

Actually, I think it sounds like a foolish gimmick and a ridiculous waste of $$$.

I agree. The collard greens are totally unnecessary.

I know we are being silly here, but collard greens, rabe, or the like sounds like a very nice "nontraditional" burger topping.

Call it: "And these hamburgers weren't the flat lunch-wagon jobs, eked out with cornmeal, but big pieces of meat souped up with plenty of garlic and fried to blackness. Covered with horseradish and chili sauce, they didn't go down so hard. This was the food of the house, in the system of its normalcy like its odors and furnishings, and if you were the visiting albatross come to light, you'd eat the food you ne'er had eat and offer no gripe."

Okay, I googled it to find out which book, but I figured it had to be Bellow. Only he would interrupt a rapturous proletarian ode to diner lunch with a phrase like "in the system of its normalcy."

Yeah, I was re-reading the classic Chicago novel and it struck me that this passage, which might well have described a kitchen near Kuma's, could push back the divergence of "30's style burgers" (the flat lunchwagon jobs) from the big, heavily condimented, bar burger.

Anyone up for a "guess food writing" game to go with "guess the restaurant" and "guess the Dolinsky"?

Santander wrote:

Cogito wrote:This thread makes me wonder how the % of LTH posters with heart problems compares with society in general. Sometimes we sound like the fat consuming equivalent of a Southern California brushfire crossed with a great white shark and a school of piranhas. God have mercy on anything that comes between us and a bowl of gelato or slab or ribs.

Have you met happy_stomach? I think we're ok as a whole, with enough movers to offset the, er, shakers.

This has gotta be a you-know-you're-an-LTHer moment. Over lunch today at Xoco, my friend and dining companion said to me, "Did you see? They were talking about you in the Kuma's thread." It was like she said, "OMG, did you hear what so-and-so said about you on the playground at recess today?!" My LTH reading is always spotty, so I rushed home to read the dish. I'd like to think I'm a mover and a shaker, but that's just the Type A in me. Always proud to represent. Thanks, Matt.

Yeah, I was re-reading the classic Chicago novel and it struck me that this passage, which might well have described a kitchen near Kuma's, could push back the divergence of "30's style burgers" (the flat lunchwagon jobs) from the big, heavily condimented, bar burger

It also makes me think I should have called them lunchwagon burgers, or better yet... dogwagon burgers. (Name that one. No fair searching for it here, I have posted a reference to it before.)

I don't suppose anyone knows if Kuma's is closed today? The only reason I'm wondering is that it looked a little dark when we went past on the bus earlier, and they aren't answering the phone.