CHERIE INN BURGER--MICHIGAN COTTAGE--STYLE

As we journey through the adventure of Tom's disease, we are finding new places we haven't explored in Grand Rapids. On Tuesday after his treatment, Tom wanted bacon and eggs in the middle of the afternoon. I remembered reading about the Cherie Inn which serves breakfast all day in the Grand Rapids Magazine so we set out to try to find it.

We found it right next to where my Dad had first started his business in the 1930's. The Cherie Inn is Grand Rapids oldest restaurant. It was founded in 1924. They serve breakfast until 3pm which is when they close. I chose a burger off the lunch menu and was I thrilled with my choice!

We find one adventure usually leads to another. The Cheri Inn Burger is served on a pretzel roll. Pretzel rolls seem to be the new “in” thing. We search our little town and found nothing until we met the baker at Camburn’s Bakery on Washington St. in the East Town area of Grand Haven. The baker told us that all we had to do is call ahead of time and she will make whatever we need. Pretzel rolls, no problem; she also will make special sizes in sub-buns, etc. This opens up a whole new area of adventures in food.

The Cheri Inn Burger relates back to the Michigan Cottage Cook posting on Cooper’s Hawk restaurant. The ingredient which I thought made the burger so tasty was French fried onions. After dining at the Cooper’s Hawk, I posted a method for making flavored butter to put on steak which contains French Fried Onions.

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/06/coopers-hawk-restaurant-style-steak.html

The burger is made with Cajun mayonnaise. I know there are now flavored mayonnaises on the market, but that would be just one more jar to store in my crowded refrigerator so I made my own Cajun mayonnaise. I added Creole seasoning, to taste, to mayonnaise and found the flavor very sharp and a little unpleasant.  I decided to use an old food industry trick and added about a 1/2-teaspoon of sugar for the amount of mayonnaise I was making. Sugar smoothes out the flavor and the mayonnaise was now delightful.

Enjoy!!  I sure did!

CHERIE INN BURGER--MICHIGAN COTTAGE-STYLE

Pretzel bun, or other nice bakery hamburger bun
½-lb. burger
Lettuce leaf
Tomato slice
French fried onions
Provolone cheese
Cajun or Creole seasoning
Mayonnaise
Bacon, if desired, I found I liked it without the bacon

Ingredients:  Hamburger buns, ground beef, mayonnaise, Creole or Cajun seasoning, French fried onions, Provolone cheese, tomato, and lettuce.

Grill the burger.  The Cheri Inn burger was a half pounder.  We used ground round from Frank’s Market and the burger didn’t shrink from loss of fat so next time I will make the patties much smaller. Put French fried onions in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Slice tomatoes. Put mayonnaise in a small bowl; add Creole seasoning to taste. I found I had to add it twice as the first time it was too bland. Season to taste. Add a small amount of sugar to round out the flavor. Build the burger, bottom of bun, burger, French fried onions, cheese, tomato, lettuce, Creole mayonnaise on bottom of top bun. Press down to combine ingredients.

Crush French fried onions.

Slice tomatoes.

Put amount of mayonnaise you need in a small bowl.  I was making enough for two burgers.

Add seasoning.

Mix in the seasoning.  Taste.

Add more seasoning, if desired.

Mix together.

Add some sugar to round and smooth out the taste.

Make 1/2-pound burgers, I will make mine smaller next time.

Slice buns.

Grill burgers.

Put burger on bottom of hamburger bun.

Top burger with French fried onions.

Top onions with Provolone cheese.

Top cheese with tomato.  Spread seasoned mayonnaise on bottom of the top bun.

Top mayonnaise with lettuce and put the top bun onto the tomato.  Press down on the bun to meld the ingredients together.

Take a big bite and enjoy!!