The Counter

The burgers at The Counter are pretty good, but sometimes -- especially when I'm super hungry -- I just don't want to deal with all the choices (too many items, too many checkboxes, too many rules). So I ended up ordering the Tuesday special, made of a quartet of beer and slider pairings:

From left to right (quoted from their menu, with a couple of corrective grammatical points added by me):

1.  Hefeweizen: Unfiltered beer with smooth wheat flavor and a light, crisp bite. | Burger: Beef mini, brie, organic mixed greens, julienned basil, tomato, apricot sauce.

2.  Brown ale: A well-balanced brown ale with roasted malt notes and a nice hop flavor.  It pairs nicely with the bold flavors of the mini-burger. | Burger: Beef mini, thinly shaved celery, bleu cheese, fried onion strings, buffalo wing sauce.

3. Pear cider: Tangy aroma with a distince pear taste and lively mouth feel.  | Beef mini, herb goat cheese, raosted apple, prosciutto, balsamic reduction.

4. IPA: This India Pale ale has a medium malt character with a crisp hop flavor.  It counterbalances the spicy flavors of this mini-burger. | Beef mini, lettuce blend, roasted corn and black bean salsa, Jalapeno Jack cheese, freid jalapenos, chipotle aioli.

I liked the last pairing the least, IPA having too much of a bite for my taste.  The very different sliders were examples of choices to make for regular-sized burgers at future visits, and the pairings were quite thoughtful.  Four diminutive glasses and mini-burgers doesn't look too filling, but add an order of 1/2-french 1/2-sweet-potato fries and it's more than enough.

Have you been to your local Counter lately?  Try it out on a Tuesday!