Day 1, Caramelized Red Onions, Mozarella, Lettuce, Sesame Bun, and a Patty Confit (gone wrong, overcooked).

Day 2, Caramelized White Onions, Chedar, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Sesame Bun, Soft Boil and a Medium Raw Patty.

Day 3, Caramelized Red Onions, Swiss Cheese, Tomatoes, Butter Roll Bun, Soft Boil and a Medium Raw Patty Confit.

Had at a pack of Prime Rib Burger Patties a week or two ago and ended up spending most of it progressively trying to make the recipe better. Much as I’d like to say this was me, autonomously moving, what we see here is largely a product of Food Channel conditioning. And, after a friend’s run-in with the David Chang cookbook that inspired the Soft Boil, I feel like I’ve arrived at something I can be pretty proud of serving to anyone.

Back of my head though, it makes me wonder if most of the people studying to be chefs are half as geeked and engrossed about food as your run of the mill Internet Food Fanatic? They must be, no? Otherwise, what’s the point? It isn’t an easy buck either. I’m just recounting the times I’ve eaten terrible food. I was incredibly pissed off when I went over with the first batch of Pattys, and serving it, didn’t really sit well to me. And, here you have the rare occasion where people serve crap, to people who actually pay for it.

Anyways, its something mind boggle worthy. There’s something personal about serving, feeding other people that it doesn’t make sense to serve something one wouldn’t be proud of. Then again, come the 20th time that day, I’m sure standards have a little room to wane.

Going back to the burger, it still isn’t done and named yet, and as much as I’d like to just attached the word Bukkake in front of it and capitalize, I wont. As for comments, even with the lack of any veg on the Day 03 Burger, I deem it to be the best. Not only was I able to serve and share it to family, but also a couple (quite literally) of close friends.

Over The Span of Lunch, Photos courtesy of mer de noms.

That’s Steak and Potatoes, a pot of Ginataan, Paella, frozen Gellato ice cream cake, and a Longanisa burger, in respective order, in case you need details to go along with your drool. Grown up in a family that loves to eat, its almost the norm to wake up on a Sunday morning with 6-8 things to eat greeting you at the dining table. Be it almost jaded by the fact of, one thing never ceases to amaze me, that come Tuesday, its all more or less likely done, eaten and gone.

Over The Span of Dinner, photos courtesy of mer de noms.

Here’s what dinner over the weekend would roughly look in the Lotho household. Not so much a random potluck, its actually a very simple breakdown of more often than not 3 things. One, a household favorite. This more often than not will be something Spanish from the mum’s repertoire, Callos, Paella, and the sort.

Two, a request, usually placed by who ever is coming over. It’s dishes not typically had at a regular basis, but pretty damn desired with abandon as well. Choices would often range from something as Pinoy as Adobong Pusit, Kohol, Laing, and go as far off the reservation as Sukiyaki, Wagyu Burgers and Tacos.

Third, would be a guilty pleasure. Spent from a weekend on gorging, more often capped off with something as easy, cheap, simple and over the top as possible. For that purpose, we’ve a wad of possibly every imaginable food delivery in Makati, bundled brochures barely held by a frail rubber band next to the phone. Much as the family likes to repeat, it always seems to revert to this primal attraction to takeout pizza and Chinese food.

There was this debate before on where is it do you find the best Filipino food? And after a good hour of so and back and forths, it surprisingly didn’t come to rest at a high end eatery. It didn’t have any famous chef proponents, nor a Michelin star. And considering that the answer was home, it didn’t even have to travel very far.