Steak Sandwiches

Today was a perfect summer day. I spent the afternoon at the beach with my parents, Brittany and friends Erin and Kelli. The sun was actually out today, something we've been missing here in Orange County lately. It's wasn't too hot or too cold. And I think I even got a little color on my way too white for this late in the summer skin, without getting burned. After the beach we headed to the pool and hot tub, a perfect way to rinse all the sunblock off our faces and SPF 4 tanning oil off our legs. While at the pool we decided to make dinner and thought that nothing says perfect summer dinner like corn on the cob and watermelon. And so to go along with that Britt suggested steak sandwiches, something I made a few times last summer, and we loved.

Tonight's sandwiches were even better than we remembered. We made a few changes from the first go around. I got the recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, and it instructs you to cook the steak in a pan on the stove, which I did the first time. But tonight my mom and dad barbecued the steak and it was so much more tender. When you cook the steak in the pan, you then remove the meat and saute your onions in the juices. Since we did it on the barbecue I added a little olive oil to a pan and the poured in the juices that were on the plate of the finished steak. This makes the onions have amazing flavor, don't skip this step. Dad sliced the steak into thin pieces, last time I did thicker slices. The thinner slices were easier make the sandwiches with and way easier to eat. I make the sandwiches on the country French rolls from Trader Joe's. Top these little lovelies off with the dijon mustard, mayo, and sour cream spread, and a little arugula and you have one tasty summer sandwich. A perfect way to finish off the perfect summer day.

Steak Sandwiches Recipe

Umami Burger

On Friday Brian had the day off work, so I decided to ditch out of my day job and we spent Thursday night and all day Friday playing in Los Angeles. When we were deciding what to do while we were there I couldn't come up with any specific activities, just a list of restaurants I've been dying to try. So as it turns out, food was the main focus of our quick LA get away.

On Thursday night we hit up our first restaurant, Umami Burger. I've been watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network and I practically drool for the 30 minutes it's on. On the show, chefs just sit around and tell you about the best food they've eaten and where to get it. The topic was hometown favorites when Giada was singing Umami Burger's praises. The thing that got my attention, besides how amazing the burgers looked, was that they make their own ketchup. I love ketchup. Brian constantly makes fun of how much ketchup I consume during a meal that involves hamburgers, fries, or quite a few other menu items. If the bottle at the table isn't full when I sit down, I'll always have to ask for more. Umami Burger is a simple, but gourmet burger restaurant, with extremely friendly staff and simple but hip atmosphere. (What is Umami?) Their burgers were a nice size, much smaller than your average restaurant burger, but I liked that. I ordered their Umami Burger, (also what Giada had) and it comes with tomato, mushroom, a thin, crisp slice of Parmesan cheese, and homemade ketchup. It was so soft when I bit into it, it was sweet, salty, juicy, oh so good. Brian got the Manly Burger that is topped with beer-cheddar cheese, smoked salt onion strings, and bacon lardons. He loved it. We also ordered their hand cut fries. They were very thick, which was fun, but we both would have preferred the regular size fries (which they do offer). The fry to ketchup ratio was off since the fries were so thick. Their menu has a lot of other delicious sounding burgers and the price is definitely right. The burgers range from $9-$11. We even got some dessert. I had read that their ice cream sandwiches were very good, so we ordered one up. We got vanilla bean ice cream, which came between two macaroons, with half dipped in chocolate. To die for. I'm still thinking about that one. Bottom line, if you are ever in LA, stop by. They have three different locations plus a burger truck. Visit their website for more info. And if you need a little extra incentive, I read online that a Jonas Brother was spotted eating there.