Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night Cheeseburger, starring this week’s host, Table 19 in the Pere Marquette Hotel and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now, please welcome this week’s host from beautiful downtown Peoria, Table 19!
Okay, it's a short trip tonight as the Pere Marquette Hotel is just a few blocks from where I work. We'll head up Main Street here...
Park the car...
And we'll walk up to the hotel. It's just up the block from here.
Wow, look at the full moon up in the sky. Pretty cool!
There it is, the Pere Marquette Hotel, it just re-opened about three weeks ago.
We'll cross the street and head on over.
Here's Table 19, the restaurant we're going to. I called and they said there's a bar in there that you can eat in and the kitchen's open till 11PM. Perfect!
There's the entrance...
We'll go through these front doors...
And there's yet another set of doors to go through in true Get Smart fashion.
These stairs lead up to the main lobby, but we'll check out the hotel on another visit. Tonight we're here to go to the bar...
And I think that's the bar right over there...
Yep, that's the bar all right and it's all filled up except for one seat there in the middle...
Let's go snag it and let Saturday Night Cheeseburger begin!
And the evening begins as Shelley the pretty and friendly bartender on duty serves up a cold bottle of Budweiser.
Here's the view of the back of the bar from my perch at the bar.
They have a varied selection of beer on tap in here, we'll see if we get a rating from Spike on these. We haven't heard from him in a while, he may be on vacation.
And as you can see from the cooler behind the bar, there's a large selection of bottled beers to be had here at Table 19.
As I take a shot from the en of the bar, Shelley points and lets this woman know that she's being shot on MBIP's Candid Camera.
This is Maegan, who work's for Marriott that owns the hotel. She was working at the bar at 10:33PM on a Saturday night. If anyone from Marriott is reading this, this woman deserves a raise!
Meanwhile, back at the bar, the table is set and it looks like it's just about cheeseburger time!
Last week we got surprised with an order of corn fritters and I was amazed that this week they had them on the menu at Table 19 as well, so I had to order them up and here they are.
Wow, these are insanely delicious!
And here's this week's cheeseburger, it looks good but...
There's a little case of bacon overhang happening on the cheeseburger. This really bugs me, I refuse to eat a burger with bacon hanging over the edge, it just seems wrong.
As you can see, I've corrected this situation and we're good to go now.
It was a good burger and you can read more about it in the review below.
And the full moon? It's still out here hanging in the sky as I head to my car. We'll see you all tomorrow.
My Cheeseburger
I had the T-19 Burger which consists of a slab of fresh Angus beef, aged cheddar cheese and Applewood bacon. The best part of the burger was the bacon, it was two large, thick strips of sweet and smoky bacon and it kind of overpowered the other tastes of the burger, not that that’s a bad thing. I could’ve done without the bacon overhang, but at least that situation was correctable. The one thing that brought the burger down a notch for me was the bun. It was a little too dense for my tastes. I like a lighter, fluffier bun, but it didn’t ruin the meal. I recommend the burger, but I implore you to try the Silver Queen Corn Fritters, they’re crunchy on the outside and sweet and flaky in the middle. And the spicy chili mayo sauce that comes with them really takes them to an unbelievable level of deliciousness. I noticed after the fact that they have deviled eggs on the menu, so I have to return to try them.
Cheeseburger Rating
Two and a half Wimpys. A decent burger, but I could’ve done without the bacon overhang and I thought the bun was a little too dense.
Table 19 (In The Pere Marquette Hotel)
501 Main Street
Peoria
Further reading: Trip Advisor, Community Word and Journal Star.
Bonus Photos From The Every Other Reception At The Peoria Public Library!
Last Saturday I went to the reception at the Peoria Public Library for the Every Other Photo Journal exhibit on display there. It was a lot of fun and here’s some photos from it. The EO exhibit will be on display until July 30th, so if you haven’t gone and checked it out, quit being so fucking stupid and get over there. Sheesh!
Here we are at the downtown branch of the Peoria Public Library. If you look towards the bottom of the photo, you'll see the loneliest bicycle in the world. That's pretty harsh, so let's just move on down the road.
Signpost ahead...Every Other exhibit!
There's a good-sized crowd here assembled for the reception and check out the shiny floor. It's kind of sparkly!
Here's Chris, who you may or may not remember from last week's Hot Dog Wars. He's here with a woman who is either a friend, a girlfriend or his wife. She told me her name, but I forgot to write it down and I've sent an email to Matt, but so far he hasn't responded back and I'm leaving soon, so it may be awhile till we get this information. Stay tuned! UPDATE: I just found out that this is Chris' girlfriend Jeannie, from an email from Adam Gerik. Thanks Adam! Where the hell is Matt?
Hey look, Bob Dylan signed the guest book!
There's a familiar face, it's Stacy Peterson who we had lunch with a while back.
Please ignore that Photobomber as Stacy and I pose with Matt Buedel, one half of the photographic duo that's responsible for this exhibit.
Here's Matt posing for the MBIP camera with his lovely wife Clare (or it could be Claire, I really need to start asking questions and writing shit down.) She drives tractors for a living.
Look at Stacy being a copycat and taking a photo of Matt and Clare/Claire just because I did.
Here's Matt with Scott Cavanah, who is the other photographer in this project. Check out the Every Other blog here. The reception was a lot of fun and I thank the Peoria Public Library for hosting exhibits like this.