Applewood Smoked Bacon Burger

Applewood smoked bacon is just one of the stars of this delicious hamburger! Blue cheese, caramelized onions, and mushrooms help to make it the best burger you’ll ever eat!

I think I am most awed by patrons of the arts. Art is not a “need”. Humanity will not suffer from lack of viewing a Seurat’s pointillism, touching Rodin’s sculptures, hearing Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade or experiencing Ansel Adam’s Yosemite. Or will it?
Art feeds the soul in a way that food and shelter cannot. It is indeed a luxury, and those unselfish souls who have decided to bestow their wealth on nothing more than “food” for the soul are remarkable. Here in Los Angeles, we have many such places. But we are not alone, every city, metropolis or town has benefactors of the arts who have built, supported or endowed museums dedicated solely to “art”.

I recently visited the Getty Villa at the insistence of my 16 year old daughter. Emma is taking AP Art History and is learning about Greek and Roman Antiquities. So on a recent, Sunday afternoon, Emma, Sophie, and Emma’s friend, Natalia and I drove to Malibu. There’s nothing like 30 extra credit points to get a teenager to beg you to take her to a museum! But seeing the art with her was indeed a new sensation. She excitedly gave us the tour through her eyes, stopping at was interesting and important to her. A bonus of 5 extra credit points would be awarded if she could find the last existing image of “Geta”, emperor of Rome, AD 209-202. (We found him…on a small coin.)

The Getty Villa is completely free…that’s another thing that amazes me! The Getty family endowed two museums, right here in L.A., for you and me to enjoy, in perpetuity, for free!
As interesting as the sculptures were to Emma, I was a bit more interested in the gardens and the beautiful setting.
Lily pond.
Autumn-y looking lily pond.
…and just another.
Eating at the Getty would be another possibility to blog. Hopefully the food would be good enough, the light, shady enough.
I ordered the Villa Salad, romaine and radicchio lettuce, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, feta, pistachios tossed with a lemon yogurt dressing.

Sophie ordered the Roman Burger, with smoked Gouda, applewood smoked bacon, garlic spinach, forest mushrooms and sherry glazed onion aioli.

Back home, that got me thinking about re-creating that burger again. Hooves don’t cross the threshold of my kitchen too often, but just about when the family starting growing fins and feathers, I bring in a little beef. Men need beef. Well, they don’t need it, just the same way we don’t need art, but they crave it…sometimes anyway.

I created this applewood smoked bacon burger, opting for Spencer’s favorite cheese, bleu, instead of the Gouda.

Do I need to give you the recipe? Nah!

Use good beef…not too lean…I use 80/20, (lean to fat ratio). Applewood smoked bacon? You can figure that one out! You don’t like Bleu cheese? Use something else!

Here’s how to make Caramelized onions. Just put together a big, fat, juicy burger that will make your significant other happy. I served this one with hand-cut fries, topped with sauteed, chopped garlic.