In Sync With The Shack?

My first visit to Shake Shack came at an advantageous time - on a weekday, just after the prime lunch rush. Even better: most of the electronic kiosks were open, and seeing a tiny bit of a line at the front counter, I figured this would be as easy-peasy a time of ordering the ballyhooed ShackBurger, a creation hyped to outdo all other burgers in this whole wide world.

Shake Shack's touch-screen menu ordering kiosk gave me a bit of a rude
surprise during my first visit into their Easton Town Center location

I slid my payment card in the slot, and punched in my order: a Double ShackBurger and a side of fries. I wanted a milkshake badly, but seeing I'd be pushing 2,000 calories with that trifecta, I figured I'd give my waistline a break by ordering a Fifty/Fifty, a half lemonade/half iced tea combo that sounded pretty refreshing on what was a fairly warm day.  After punching in my personal info, I submitted my order, ready to start my countdown clock for this first time experience

The screen went black, that familiar white swirl holding court in the center. And then, puzzlement, as I tried to decipher the message in front of me.

"Your Order Is Out of Sync"

I duplicated the order again, this time starting without the card in the slot and then inserting it at the end. Again, no dice. I tried again a third time at a different kiosk, and again, the Shack would not abide. Were the burger gods sending me a warning message of some sort?

Do Fries Go With That Take: The Funk Master and The Galley Boy

The cover of George Clinton's 1986 album "R&B Skeletons in the Closet"

While driving around a few weeks back, I caught a song on the radio from noted funk/R&B guru George Clinton. While his solo efforts are considered not quite up to his works for super groups Parliament and Funkadelic (his first album, “Computer Games”, comes awfully close though), Clinton’s albums for Capitol Records contained inspired efforts that melded the then modern electro-synth sounds of the 1980s with his traditional instrument compositions of the years prior.

George Clinton’s 1986 album “R&B Skeletons in the Closet” was the fourth and last full-length studio effort for Capitol Records before his dalliance with the late Prince and his Paisley Park record label at the turn of the decade. Perhaps the second best of his solo efforts for Capitol, Clinton balanced old and new instruments well in songs like “Cool Joe”, the title track, and my favorite song from the album in “Do Fries Go With That Shake.”

It's Not Valentine's - Let's Grab A Burger

This glass mosaic creation via a class at Franklinton's Glass Axis has
been one of the more fun St. Valentine's Day excursions in Columbus

Out of the major non-vacation holidays, St. Valentine’s Day initially came to rank lower on the likability scale. From the handing out of mini-cards to mostly strangers in elementary school (not a fun task for introverts like me) to the annual reminder it provided as a “yep, you’re still single - you suck” for many years afterward, endearment for the day proved difficult.

There was one small benefit in that I avoided the crass commercialism that this day has gained over the years, but even then that would occasionally rear its unpleasant head. Perhaps the nadir of my feelings for the day arose when, not too far after a tough breakup, I caught wind of a billboard in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood. A jewelry store ad featuring a woman’s hand and a big shiny sparkly on the ring finger, the company's slogan taunted, "Have your friends live vicariously through you.”

(That might be the only time in my life I seriously considered arson as an option, but I digress...)

My feelings toward the day have mellowed some; with my spouse not being the biggest fan of the day through the years either, we've come to recognize the day in a somewhat sideways manner. We'll do things for and with each other (dine out, send flowers, participate in special couples events, etc.) but not generally on Valentine's Day itself. And in a nod to this tradition, I purposely kept this post separated from this year's festivities by a couple of weeks.

You Can't Spell Nostalgia without L-A-G

Just one of the numerous albums put out by Jandek, perhaps the most
cultiest of cult artists in the music world today

Does owning one album from a cult artist count as nostalgia?

Back in college, my favorite place on campus was not the outdoors and most definitely not the classroom, but rather either of the two listening rooms deep inside the bowels of the college radio station. I couldn't imagine much better than cozying up by my lonesome a couple hours with a few dozen vinyl albums, both new and the previously unexplored, prepping for the week's show.

One day, a colleague of mine asked me if I had heard of Jandek.  The Jam, John Lydon and Jesse Johnson, sure. The Jesus and Mary Chain? Joy Division? Yep. But Jandek? I shook my head no.

My colleague's eyes rounded like large saucers. He touted his love of Jandek (almost certainly one Sterling R. Smith), his reclusive nature, and his rambling, weirdly bluesy compositions. In fact, Jandek, who sports Texas roots, might be the cultiest of all cult artists; through his Corwood Industries label, over 100 albums have been produced since the first LP was released in 1978.

An inquiry from an interested party might be reciprocated with a bundle of copies of his latest work, and generally his work can be obtained at relatively low prices. Before I knew it, a copy of his latest album, "You Walk Alone" (the album pictured above) was in my hands.  He looked a bit like Beck, though I would not reach this conclusion until several years later when Beck released his 1994 debut "Mellow Gold." Best of all, the album was free: for a broke-ass college student like me, anything free was indeed gold.  And now for nearly three decades, I've owned a piece of Jandek.

Case Study #3: Over The Counter (Worthington)

Though I didn't know it when I started, Worthington's Over The Counter is the third of a trifecta of places I had targeted in this mini-series. The first blog post, featuring Pat and Gracie's in the Graceland Shopping Center, is a great neighborhood-style hangout in an place I always expected to have a little more restaurant action than it does. Meanwhile, Old Beechwold/Clintonville-based Bareburger and its burgers that strive for something higher (grass-fed beef as well as more exotic proteins like elk, duck and boar) had been a bit on an culinary island in the metro but now find themselves surrounded by competition.

Over The Counter (OTC, as I'll call them from here on out) turns out is in a location that I never even considered for a restaurant, but succeeds not only because of that location but also because of its quality-for-the-price comfort classics focus.

Doubling Down on Graceland: Pat & Gracie's

Pat Murnan: gambling guru of Columbus and one of the most colorful
characters in the city's history (photo from the Columbus Dispatch)

As you may have noticed in my blog posts, the history behind an eatery is something I always try to include to some degree or another.  In some ways, that has been spurred on with my increasing interest in my current hometown's history, which has increasingly become an unofficial pursuit of mine since I've moved here.

One of the more interesting stories for me relates to a retail center I have found myself passing early and during my city travels. The Graceland Shopping Center, located close to where Columbus and the southern border of Worthington meet, has its origins in one of the most colorful and famous people from the Prohibition days in Pat Murnan.

As the story goes, Murnan, a railroad worker with a flamboyant personality, ended up winning ownership of a local casino club after one exceedingly lucky night. From there, he parlayed that fling with Lady Luck to emerge as Columbus' unofficial guru of gambling during the Prohibition era.

A satellite view of the Graceland area, as shown on Google Maps

Murnan created a stir when he started a romance with one Grace Backenstoe, who earned her keep near Murnan's main operation as the madam of a downtown brothel.  The two clicked so quite well, they moved up to settle in at Murnan's 700-acre horse farm in the Clintonville area. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murnan dubbed their homestead Graceland in honor of his gal shortly thereafter.

As it turned out, both Pat and Grace Murnan would not see the year 1940, with Pat passing away in 1937 and Grace two years later. In 1952, local developer Don Casto announced that a retail center would be built on the land that the Murnans had called home.

Burgers and Beer Week, Traveler's Edition - Part 2: In-N-Out Burger, and Twinburger MSP

With (614) Magazine's Burger & Brew Week starting to wind down for folks in the Central Ohio area (you have until the Saturday the 24th to enjoy this event), we heartily finish off this national hamburger mini-series with a West Coast staple and a regional variation on the burger.

For almost all my visits, I stuck to the basics - burger and a fries and a beverage, with little in the way of enhancements for either of those two items.

In-N-Out Burger
Facebook     Instagram     Twitter     Website
First Opened: 1948 (Headquarters: Irvine, CA)
Number of Franchises: in-N-Out features 300+ locations in six southwestern states (AZ, CA, NV, OR, TX, UT)
Branches Visited: 8202 N. IH-35, Windcrest, TX/1364 Holiday Ln, Fairfield, CA

Initial Reason for the Visit: Not my first visits by any means, but the visits are getting fewer and farther between.

General Feel: I doubt someone walking uninitiated into the tiled, red and white trimmed interiors of this eatery for the first time, watching the nattily uniformed workers scurry behind the counter to knock out orders, would necessarily suspect the almost cult-like adoration for this eatery, save perhaps for the long queues that are generally the norm.

In fact, I doubt the founders of the eatery in the Snyder family would've themselves suspected their first modest stand established in Baldwin Park, CA would garner praise from numerous culinary celebrities, including but not exclusive to Thomas Keller, Anthony Bourdain, Mario Batali, and Julia Child.

Burgers and Beer Week, Traveler's Edition - Part 1: Five Guys and Whataburger

With (614) Magazine's Burger & Brew Week whetting Central Ohioans' appetites, as well as the arrival of National Cheeseburger Day this weekend, hamburgers will be on the forefront of many people's minds this week, including ours.

My recent travels back to the West Coast reminded me that I had stumbled into an unintended nationwide mini-sampling of some of the country's burger purveyors during this year's travels, with all but one being a first-time experience. If any week was the perfect time to flame-broil these mental tidbits back to the forefront, this was the week for certain

For almost all my visits, I stuck to the basics - burger and a fries and a beverage, with little in the way of enhancements for either of those two items.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
Facebook     Instagram     Twitter     Website
First Opened: 1986 (Washington, DC)
Number of Franchises: According to their website, Five Guys has 1,000 locations in 47 states and 6 Canadian Provinces (including 50+ in OH and 110+ in CA)
Branch Visited: 4116 Summit Plaza Drive, Louisville, KY

Initial Reason for the Visit: There simply ain't much open on certain holiday weekends.