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Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger, Julia & Ming-Style

2010
03.07

People of Earth: hear me now, believe me later! If you love burgers, this recipe is gonna rock your world. I wouldn’t have even thought it was possible to improve upon the delicious and dead-simple cheeseburger we all know and love, but it is—and it’s not even crazy expeez, either! These are the tips (which we originally learned from watching episodes of Simply Ming and Julia Child on PBS) that will help you achieve godliness on the stove. Please note: today’s recipe is brought to you by the mad cooking skillz of Celebrity Intern, who taught me everything I know about burgers.

  1. Get good beef. What does this mean? Don’t buy the non-specified mystery meat; if they don’t tell you it’s ground round or ground chuck, you’re getting lips & assholes. Buy the good stuff: Angus beef (at least here in Texas) doesn’t cost that much more, and it’s so worth it.
  2. Baby your beef. Don’t handle the meat too much when you’re actually forming the burgers into patties. Pat it into a roughly rounded shape, but don’t try to make it perfect. The more you handle the meat, the more moisture you press out of it, and the more dry your burger will be.
  3. Searing-hot pan. Make sure your pan is hot and ready to go before you put your patties in. It should be hot enough that when you put in a pat of butter, the butter will melt but not turn brown before you put in the beef. (And yes, you are using butter to grease your pan. None of this Pam or margarine or olive oil horseshit. BUTTER!)
  4. Set it and forget it. Put in your patties and leave them be. Do not slide them around, press down on them, or otherwise meddle with the beef once it is in the pan. Let them brown for between 4 and 5 minutes before you flip them over. Do not mash them down once you’ve flipped them! Just let them do their thing. This is the secret to moist, delicious burgers.
  5. Use a thermometer. You’ll know your burgers are ready based on their inner temperature. Insert a meat thermometer and take your burgers off the heat when they’re around 130 degrees F. (Don’t worry; although most recipes will tell you to cook ground beef to 165 degrees, we’ve been eating these regularly with no ill effects, mostly since they’ll eventually get that hot even without the help of the stove. You may want to abstain, however, if you’re knocked-up—just to be on the safe side.)
  6. Cheese and cover. Put your bleu cheese on top of the burgers, which are still resting comfortably in the pan, and then cover the pan with a lid. Let the burgers sit, cheese slowly melting, for at least 5 minutes before plating them up. Use a good quality bleu cheese; we like the Salemville Amish Blue Cheese (available at Randall’s), which has been aged for 60 days. Delish!

Those are the basic steps to great burgers, even if you’re not big on the bleu cheese idea. But if you are, let us also recommend additional toppings (which you really MUST do) of bacon strips (easy to make in the microwave!), some romaine lettuce, and a bit of mashed avocado. Pure decadence, pure bliss.

Wine pairing: a delicious ($5) Chilean wine, the Frontera Carmenere, tastes fabulous with this bleu cheeseburger. Yum!

There should obviously be a tasty and succulent photo of our burgers here, but we were salivating too much to take pictures and gobbled them up before a photo shoot could be arranged! We’ll try to get one eventually, but no guarantees.

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Good to the Bone Country-Style Ribs

2010
03.03

Here at Shoestring Austin, we are nothing if not cheap gourmands. Except for one other thing: sometimes, we are pretty darn lazy. Cooking occasionally takes a back seat when you’re going about your daily business, get swamped with work, or have a family member in the hospital in another state whom you’re concerned about. (Hi, Mom! Hope you’re feeling better!)

In any case, we’ve come up with a completely fool-proof recipe, for fools like us who can’t concentrate on cooking all the time.

In honor of the motto on the BBQ sauce we elected to use in this recipe, we’ve named it Good to the Bone Country-Style Ribs. Here’s what you need:

  • * 2 lbs. country-style pork ribs
  • * 1 jar Texas-Texas BBQ sauce
  • * 1 large shallot (that’s a fancy onion; you can substitute a red onion as you see fit)

That’s it, that’s all! We told you this was easy, right?

Here’s the entire set of directions: Cook for 5 hours on high in your slow-cooker. Seriously, what could be simpler?

Okay, here’s a couple of notes for y’all: layer onions, ribs, and more onions on top so you can soak up the tasty goodness. Trim off the fat a bit, cus gnawing through the gristle isn’t very nice (but a little fat is pretty tasty). And then just let ‘er rip!

Here’s a photo of our results:

Delicious Good to the Bone Country-Style Ribs

Final bit of advice: check around at your local grocery store, as sometimes the packages are mislabelled and you can score, like, 5 lbs of ribs for something crazy like 30 cents. Um… not that we did that. At a store that shall remain nameless. (Tip: Be calm at the cash. Don’t give yourself away. Channel Bart Simpson. You didn’t see me do it. Nobody saw anything…)

Wine recommendation: pair it with a nice Chardonnay or Pinot Gris. Superb! Or drink beer if you must. This is Texas, after all.

The Dining Companion (DC) and I will be fighting over the leftovers tomorrow!

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Greening Austin Daily

2010
02.23

Hey Shoestringers! I just found out about an awesome new blog called Greening Austin Daily, which is offering tips and tricks to Austinites looking for fun and practical ways to go green. They’ve recently posted about everything from “It’s My Park Day” (coming up on March 6), my new fave Torchy’s Tacos, and the actual launch (at long last!) of the CapMetro rail line—which is apparently going to be free to riders during its first week of service next month.

Definitely add this blog to your hit list, as it’s chock full of information on how to get groovy and get your green on right here in Austin, and it’s not at all preachy or warrior-vegan in its approach. Bloggers and BFFs Katherine and Carsi even bust out their tasty recipes every Tuesday, like the Double Broccoli Quinoa that I’ve got to try with the rest of the quinoa I’ve got squirrelled away in my cupboard. Broccoli + avocado = winner in my book.

Got any other awesome Austin blogs you’d like to share with the Shoestring Austin crew? Get in touch and we’ll swap links!

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Torchy’s Tacos

2010
02.19

Celebrity Intern didn’t want to go check out Torchy’s Tacos, originally, because he claims he can “make a mean taco, like the concentrated essence of 1,000 Mexican chefs.” (I must give him that he does cook up a mighty fine taco, even though he is handicapped by his non-Mexican heritage.) Despite, the truly horrible parking, I was starving to death after a long study session day of hunting down obscure noir films at the Fine Arts library, and insisted we go.

After several attempts at parking, involving much hand-waving and finger-lifting at various psychotic Austin drivers (seriously, the 2801 Guadalupe location is a nightmare at rush hour), we were able to leave the BBT safely behind and head inside.

The atmosphere sucked, but on the plus side, the music was loud enough to drown out the cacophony of several half-retarded UT students in Uggs.

We were delightfully surprised by the tacos themselves. We got them to go, as we couldn’t stomach the crowd and its relentless burnt-orange tides. Upon unwrapping, we found our tacos slathered in fresh cilantro—the mark of deliciousness.

Celebrity Intern and I ordered three tacos amongst us: the Baja Shrimp, the Democrat and the Beef Fajita Taco. After devouring my Democrat (shredded beef barbacoa, onion, queso fresco, avocado, cilantro, lime and green sauce), I demanded half of the shrimp taco. Celebrity Intern was loathe to let go, but I wrenched it from his paw and took a bite. Sublime, the fresh snap of the shrimp! The egg-roll reminiscence of the cooked cabbage! The perfect spiciness of the pickled onions and jalapenos! I think I had a mouthgasm.

Celebrity Intern remarked that his Beef Fajita had “glorious, charred strips of beef,” so much so that although he hates grilled peppers, he didn’t even notice their presence amongst the cheese and the pico.

We both wanted to go back for another round. Or five. Torchy’s, we salute you and your Damn Good Tacos.

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Guest Post: Angry Monkey Butler!

2010
02.17

This review comes courtesy of my intern/Angry Monkey Butler. Observe his rage!

so, when you order a pizza, do you then have “reasonable expectations” as to when said “order” should arrive? hmmmm well in the deep dark case of red brick pizza (tech ridge location) it’s left to the ether. when, maybe … YES… hmm… grrr, NO! do they offer an alternative? no. do they tell you about billing (online) when you have selected your wares? ummm, NO. do they EVER deliver a pizza? well, if that day ever comes i pity the delivery guy. will he scuttle back to base with tales of my blacklisted ass-hole-io-ness?? most certainly. i order a pizza, i get confirmation of said pizza, i wait for pizza, i call the outlet and ??? 2.5 hours later but NO pizza!? also no explanation. no “customer service.” nada. i mean, i could just go to HEB and get that kind of abuse WITH  my purchase. i wonder, what do you offer to the consumer, “red brick oven”??? i can always get a kick in the @#@$@ from the IRS. you lost your only chance. i hate you.

I concur with his findings: Red Brick Pizza SUCKS. Also, their number is apparently listed incorrectly both on the flyer we received AND in the “confirmation email” that told us our pizza was being processed. Who DOES that?!

UPDATE: 22 FEBRUARY 2010

After forwarding a copy of this guest post to Red Brick Pizza via their online contact form, we received a voicemail message (duh, we screen all our calls) from someone claiming to be in charge of this joint, asking us to please return the call so he could apologize personally. We were a bit flabbergasted by this request, seeing as there was no particular incentive to do so (i.e. there were no mentions of a free pizza, in exchange for the one owed us), and thus have chosen not to respond.

As an aside, here are some helpful hints for those making phone apologies to us in the future: be sincere, leave an actual apology in your voicemail (i.e. don’t ask us to make the effort to follow up when you were the one who screwed up!), and make us a deal!

Perhaps there’s a free pizza out there with our names on it, but Angry Monkey Butler and I don’t particularly care, at this point. As my mama used to say: First impressions are often last impressions, Red Brick Pizza. Why don’t you go carve that on your tombstone, cus you’re dead to me!

Tags: , , , , , , , , Category By Cuisine, By Location, Food Type, For Delivery, Italian/pizza, North/Northwest, pizza |

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Thai Kitchen

2010
02.11

Despite my craving for Thai food recently, I have only just managed to sample some of the Austin area’s wares. This afternoon I was jonesing hardcore for the Pad Thai, and my Dining Companion (DC) and I were on our way home from the UT Fine Arts Library after a hard day of studying plundering their CD collection for AC/DC. We were within easy reach of Thai Kitchen’s 3009 Guadalupe location and had heard good things, so we pulled into the parking lot and took the plunge.

Our first impressions of the place were good. The service was super-friendly, and our waiter even offered us ice-water! (We’ve found it’s strangely rare for people to offer water in restaurants, and sometimes even harder to get them to actually bring you any, much less refill the glass. Happily, this was not the case at Thai Kitchen.) We gratefully accepted, and pondered the lunch menu, which was still in service at 3 PM even though it was clearly stated that lunch service ended at 2:30—score!

We knew we wanted Pad Thai, so we ordered 12A right away, then decided to add another dish so we could share #25, Green Curry with Chicken and Coconut (Hot-Hot). DC and I both enjoy a good green curry, so we were jazzed by the idea of one that was being billed as “hot-hot.” Along with our mains, we were also visiting on the right day for the soup du jour to be Hot & Sour (our fave), so we each got a bowl. DC thought the Hot & Sour soup could’ve been more hot (and sour, presumably), but I thought it was pleasantly understated. Hot & Sour soup is a great dish for warming you up on a cold, rainy day, and since Austin’s been experiencing a lot of these lately (including today), I was pleased with this dish.

Shortly after we’d slurped down the last of our soup, the waiter re-appeared with our mains. Super-fast service! We thanked him and got down to business, munching our egg rolls, and then digging into the Pad Thai and the Green Curry.

Now, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Green Curry, even though it made my nose run. It wasn’t über-hot, but it definitely had a nice kick to it, and the accompanying veggies (bamboo strips, zucchini and the odd green pepper) were quite tasty. We avoided the rice (evil carbs!), but devoured the rest. DC even sucked the excess green curry sauce straight off the plate. That’s how tasty it was.

Delicious-looking Pad Thai (photo via Closet Cooking)

Sadly, this was not the Pad Thai of our dreams. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the deliciously savory Pad Thai we had been lusting after for weeks. Instead of a mildly spicy dish stuffed with rice noodles, chicken, egg, peanuts, shrimp and bean sprouts, we got a more sweet, peanutty-flavored dish that mainly consisted of rice noodles, a bit of egg and bean sprouts, and some chicken. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t what we were expecting. And since the Green Curry was so delicious, we were kind of disappointed. I mean, you look at the photo of the homemade Pad Thai that we featured on our previous post, Where can you get good Thai food in Austin? (and shown above for emphasis), and you salivate. Thai Kitchen’s Pad Thai, unfortunately, looked nothing quite as sexy as all that.

Still, we ate it all and were reasonably satisfied with the affair. So while I would definitely return to Thai Kitchen for inexpensive Thai food (our total came to about $17, before tip), I am still searching for the elusive Pad Thai that haunts my dreams.

Any suggestions?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Category By Cuisine, By Location, Downtown, Food Type, Thai, noodles, soups & salads |

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Simple pleasures: Caesar salad

2010
02.07

Y’know, I had never been much of a salad freak, but when my husband started making me delicious—and easy!—Caesar salads with just a rotisserie chicken, some Romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese, and store-bought extra-garlicky Caesar dressing, I was hooked. I even wrote about this simple “recipe” in my previous blog. Since we’ve moved to Austin, the Caesar salad is still in regular rotation for dinners at our place, but without the dressing we’d been loving in Montreal, we’ve been sampling various American brands in a quest to re-create the deliciousness of our Canadian favorite, Renée’s Mighty Caesar.

Sad to say, so far we just haven’t found anything that measures up to that pure garlic kick we love. (Heck, I even emailed Renée’s to ask where I could find ‘em here in Austin, but so far their customer service department hasn’t bothered to reply.) We’ve tried Ken’s Creamy Caesar, Marzetti’s Supreme Caesar (they make a mean Ultimate Blue Cheese dressing that we use as a dip), Marie’s Creamy Caesar, and Safeway Select Fresh Garlic Caesar. The closest we’ve to the Holy Grail of the Renée’s Caesar is a mixture of Ken’s and Safeway’s Caesar dressings, and even that’s only okay.

What we really need to do, though, is whip up some homemade Caesar dressing, complete with anchovies!

Here’s the recipe I’ve got from Mark Bittman (the New York Times’ Minimalist) that I want to put to use, one of these days:

This recipe is, by the way, from Bittman’s How to Cook Everything: The Basics, which is an excellent book for anybody on a shoestring budget looking to get away from Kraft Dinner and ramen noodles on a nightly basis. It’ll teach you everything you need to know, and serves as a great Bible in the kitchen, the way some people look to Betty Crocker cookbooks or Julia Child. Since Bittman’s a lifelong minimalist, he’ll teach you how to produce big flavor from just a few good ingredients, and how to get the most of out of even the barest of kitchens (the dude actually cooks brilliant meals in a classically cramped NYC apartment with one of those miniature stoves and refrigerators, so he knows whereof he speaks).

In the meantime, I would suggest spicing up the Caesar with a turkey breast or even pork cutlets, pan-fried to perfection, if you think you’d be into it but don’t have the rotisserie chicken on hand. It’s a surprisingly versatile salad, and impresses people when you present it with real, hand-grated Parmesan cheese. I think that’s probably the key to looking good in the kitchen, in general, as a friend of mine once confided that her husband swore she was a brilliant chef solely based on her ability to buy the “good” Parmesan and grate it herself.

Rock on over London, rock on Chicago. Caesar salad in the hizzouse!

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Where can you get good Thai food in Austin?

2010
01.23

Shoestringers, I’ve got a question for you: where is the best Thai food in Austin? I ask not because I want to start some kind of crazy war between Thai restaurants, but because I would genuinely like to know what you think. Do you haunt some of the local chains, like Madame Mam’s? Do you tend towards Titaya’s Thai Cuisine? Is the Thai food really fresh at Thai Fresh? Have you ever tried the satay at The Satay Restaurant? How does Thai Kitchen stack up, with its Austin Chronicle Restaurant Awards? I want your opinions, because frankly, I don’t know where to turn for my Pad Thai cravings, and I’m in need of a fix!

In the meantime, though, I did find a pretty excellent looking recipe for a homemade Pad Thai via Saveur Magazine, over at the Toronto-based Closet Cooking blog, which I plan to try out this weekend. Check out the photo:

Delicious-looking Pad Thai (photo via Closet Cooking--click for recipe!)

Seriously, if that doesn’t make you want to bust out the fish sauce and rice noodles, I don’t know what will.

So share your Thai-style lovin’ with me, Austin. Where do you go to get your Pad Thai on?

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New Sprouts for an organic New Year

2010
01.11

It’s been a while since I last posted, thanks to New Year festivities, new job responsibilities, the darn Horns getting our hopes up and then not Hookin’ ‘Em (as per the local chant) over in Pasadena, and generally just not having any time to myself to jot down notes, so first I must apologize for my absence. I do plan to update at least once a week now that it’s 2010, though, just to keep the momentum going.

So welcome to a new year, a new decade, and a shiny new Shoestring Austin space! This seems like a great time to talk about another new guy in town, at least up in my neck o’ the woods: Sprouts. This “farmers market” styled grocery store opened the doors of their new location at 10225 Research Boulevard (Suite 1000) on January 8, and started off strong with free drinks, food, and even a little music. My Dining Companion (DC) and I went to check it all out and were pleasantly surprised by their prices, which were even lower than those at the nearby HEB and Randalls—and for organic groceries, no less!

Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes, va MuirGlen.com

Month-long specials at the new store include:

  • -Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes at 2 for $5 (these are normally about $5 each!)
  • -Frontera salsa at 2 for $7
  • -Sprouts brand organic salad dressings are all 2 for $5
  • -Seeds of Change Indian-style simmer sauces are $3.29 each
  • -Brown Cow yogurt is 4 for $3
  • -15% off all Good Earth teas

You can also pick up a variety of discounted dog treats for all your furry friends. Plus many of their vitamin brands are between 20 and 25% off for the month of January, so now is a great time to stock up on all your Vitamin C, zinc, echinacea, etc. for cold and flu season.

Weekly deals, through 1/12/2010, via Sprouts.com

If you hurry, you can still score some of these specials (only until Tuesday, January 12):

  • -4 for $1 Russet potatoes
  • -$3.99/lb for smoked Cheddar cheese (sliced)
  • -$2.99/16-oz. bag of Torn & Glasser dried cranberries
  • -$2.99 each for Canadian petite lobster tails!!!

Obviously, you can tell which one of those specials is exciting me the most!

There were lots of great surprises in the store, like their mix-and-match 3-for-$10 wine selections, which DC and I snapped right up, as well as their brown eggs at 2 for $4 and a gallon of organic whole milk for only $3.99. Their prices on ground beef and chicken were the lowest we’ve seen in Austin, outside of Walmart, and their veggies were gorgeous, organic and über cheap (99-cent romaine and 39-cent avocados, w00t!). Since the new store is really close to our house, we’ll undoubtedly be shopping here frequently and loving the savings.

As an added bonus, I think the neighborhood HEB and Randalls may have lowered some of their prices, in response to Sprout’s unbelievable deals, as we popped in today to grab some butter at HEB and got 4 sticks for only $1.99. Even the cashier was double-checking the receipt, scratching her head over that one!

Oh, and if you go into the store on Wednesdays, you’ll score double deals—how sweet is that?

All in all, Sprouts really impressed DC and I, both because of their competitive prices and their “all-in-one” approach to nutrition. You can pick up quality vitamins and dietary supplements while you’re grabbing the basics like milk, cheese, meat and veggies, for one-stop shopping. Their vitamins were also competitively priced with the Vitamin Shoppe next door, which may mean some price wars between the two, and extra savings for consumers. Hooray! If you’re in the Great Hills area, definitely check out Sprouts for all your organic grocery items.

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Shoestring Austin’s bargain New Year’s Eve drink recommendations

2009
12.31

First Night Austin, an annual New Year’s Eve event, is scheduled to go on tonight as planned, despite reports that the event’s budget has been scaled back by one-third. Of course, for those of us who are too cheap (or intelligent?) to make the trek downtown, only to be anally penetrated by jacked-up NYE prices at bars and clubs across the city, or “revel”  in the cold with a bunch of strangers, there’s The A.V. Club’s Austin city coverage of some of the best and worst places to spend the transition from this decade to the next.

In a similar vein, and for all those out there who are spending New Year’s Eve quietly at home, Shoestring Austin presents some inexpensive holiday drink recommendations, plus great deals on wine and beer you can find at area groceries (get ‘em while they’re still open!).

MIXED DRINKS

Taaka Vodka (photo by Flickr user Swift Benjamin)

First on any drinks list at Shoestring HQ are the vodka standbys, the Screwdriver and the Vodka Cranberry. Utilizing even the cheapest of vodkas (we like Taaka, which costs only $9.99 for a 1.75 liter bottle at our neighborhood liquor store), mixed with your favorite OJ or cranberry juice, respectively, these two drinks are fast and easy to mix up for one, two, or even an army of drunkards.

If you’re looking to fancy it up a bit for the holidays, you could go for the gold and use a local favorite, Tito’s Vodka, instead of the cheap stuff. Or try a Sex on the Beach (vodka, cranberry juice, OJ and peach Schnapps) or classic Cosmopolitan (just add Triple Sec or Cointreau) to vary the recipes and get your booze on.

Basically, you can’t go wrong with vodka, OJ, cranberry juice and any assorted fruit slices you may want to wedge on your glass.

WINE

Almaden Chardonnay in a box - ghetto looks, fab price!

For those who prefer to stay away from the hassle of mixing drinks, wine is always a good bet. Here at Shoestring Austin, we enjoy a variety of bargain-priced wines that can be found at all area grocery stores, including a number that have been recommended by Consumer Reports for their tastiness.

{HOT TIP: Austinites can check out issues of Consumer Reports, including their “Holiday wine bargains” article free via the Austin Public Library—all you need is a library card and your PIN to read up online, even from the comfort of home.}

Check out the 1.5-liter-sized Frontera Cabernet Sauvignon if you’re having people over; it’s only $8-10, depending on where you pick it up, and it’s one of Consumer Reports’ “Top Value” wines for the holidays.

{HOT TIP: Walmart’s got it for only $8.47!}

If you’re looking for a nice white to keep party-goers refreshed, you can’t beat Almaden Chardonnay in a box. It may look a little ghetto, but at only $15 for a whopping 5 liters, it’s tough to beat the price. More chardonnay (box-style) recommendations from Consumer Reports include Fish Eye ($16 for 3 liters), Banrock Station ($19 for 3 liters) and Black Box Monterey County ($25 for 3 liters).

Non-boxed varieties recommended include Santa Rita 120 ($8), Beringer Founders’ Estate 2007 ($11), and their “Best Overall” went to Mud House Marlborough 2008 ($14), which is one we have yet to try, but with its description in CR as “excellent; a near-perfect blend of fruit flavors and acidity,” we’re looking forward to picking up a bottle soon!

BEER

Most hated beverage of 2009? The Budweiser Chelada (photo by Flickr user konomike)

Though we’re not huge beer drinkers here at Shoestring Austin, there are a few that have caught our fancy recently. Beer snobs like those at the Beer Advocate and The Onion’s A.V. Club will undoubtedly bash our love of the Budweiser Chelada, a relatively new offering that combines good ol’ reliable Bud with the relatively elusive Caesar (which is basically a Bloody Mary made with Clamato, a drink that seems to enjoy much more popularity in Canada), but we stand by our man. The drink is a kind of pre-mixed Michelada, a popular Mexican beverage (which you can make more authentically with a little Camaronazo from our affiliate, MexGrocer.com.) This unusual combo of beer, tomato, clam juice and spices is oddly appealing, and its tall-boy format makes it a great party drink for those who enjoy a good chug.

If you’re not one for mixing beer and spicy tomato/clam beverages, we’re also partial to Budweiser’s low-carb offering, Budweiser Select. It’ll keep the beer gut in check, even as you chug your way through a case of the damn things, and it tastes pretty much like plain ol’ Bud. Score!

For those who enjoy something a bit more stout, you can’t go wrong with a Guinness to ring in the New Year. Sure, it may be made of equal parts bog water and chocolate syrup, but it’s an Irish tradition!

CHAMPAGNE

Champagne? We may dream of one day being able to afford the $100+ bubbly that the likes of Lady GaGa guzzle by the case, but here at Shoestring Austin we’ve found an inexpensive alternative: Domaine Ste-Michelle Brut sparkling wine ($12).

As reported by Austin360’s Forklore blog, “Put together by Robin Goldstein and Alexis Herschkowitsch of the Fearless Critic restaurant guide series, ‘The Wine Trials’ reports, for example, that a $12 Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut sparkling wine was preferred over a $150 bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne by 41 out of 62 tasters when the bottles were hidden.”

If it’s good enough for The Fearless Critic, it’s good enough for us. Now we just have to find a bottle, as it seems this information has caused a run in the area!

For more bargain champagne recommendations to look for, check this article from Forklore to stock up.

Got any recommendations of your own for a happy New Year’s Eve celebration? We’d love to hear about ‘em, so feel free to leave us a comment! Happy New Year, and best wishes for a stellar 2010!

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