Now I can't order a rare cheeseburger?!!

[szweig]

Lat Sunday in Long Beach, California, I stopped by a popular watering hole for a sandwich and a beer. I ordered the $8.95 1/2 pound cheeseburger. The bartender asked how I wanted it cooked. "Medium-rare" said I. She then informed me that it was their policy not to serve burgers less than medium. I replied that it was MY policy not to eat them more than medium-rare. She informed me that there was a new city/county (I'm not sure which) ordinance that requires restaurants to cook burgers to 165 degrees (medium). After a short go-round I left. I wandered a few blocks to a Rock Bottom Brewpub. They said no problem to a rare burger.

[TXBubba]

Wrong. I got e-coli a couple of months after giving birth. I just assumed I was still sluggish from recuperating. Then I decided I was losing my mind with the cramps, pressure in arms etc. Went in deciding I had some flu or parasite. Low and behold I had e-coli. I never had any vomiting or runs so it wasn't something I was immediately worried about. Scary. Just glad I went to the doctor.

[grumpster-dumpster]

OK...I can understand a bunch of civil servents trying to stick their noses into every aspect of life (I do not approve...but I do understand). What's worse though:
End Rant....thanks for your patience.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I agree, even though I love a rare burger, I have had two in my life that made me as sick as a dog. If a restaurant will not cook rare, that's fine. I won't throw a hissy.

[eastsider]

I think the key is where you order from. Order a fast-food burger and you take your chances, no matter how well done. JMO.

[mercy]

Boy are you late to the party. I live in the country where I pump my own water from my own well and after I run it over my bod it goes back into the ground where it came from. But can I buy a decent shower head? NO. Same with toilets. I routinely flush three times now because the damn thing doesn't work and it's the best low flow model on the market supposedly. Isn't gubmint wonderful?

[hymanrothretiredinvestor]

Well, the government already regulates our toilets. It's just good govenment to further regulate what goes into them.

[OldFriend]

NJ Governor ordered no restaurant or diner to serve eggs over easy.....well cooked or else!!!

[B Knotts]

Hmmm...I've had a couple very nice medium-rare steaks at the Bird of Paradise Pub in Victoria...so either they're in violation, or that woman is pulling your leg.

[Grammy]

Here's a little secret for you. You can order a rare hamburger at a Marriott. Mr Marriott likes them that way, so ALL hamburger is shipped in frozen, after having first been tested for e-coli. They don't advertise that fact, but that is what we kitchen people were taught. In fact, serving hamburger from somewhere else is a firing offense.

[VMI70]

Bump!

[VOA]

Lat Sunday in Long Beach, California, I stopped by a popular watering hole for a
sandwich and a beer.

I love the same type of cooking for beef...but folks pointing out the potential
danger of E. coli and other nasties have a point.
And after seeing some of the expose' on Channel 2 in LA, I have trepidation about
eateries here in LA (and other places).

Suggested alternative? Not only order what you want at the place that will prepare to your
request...also ask your regular doctor for a prescription of antibiotics to
keep in the refrigerator in case you get unlucky (cook or the butcher screw up).

[Bommer]

Just be lucky that you can eat meat! PETA will change that in the next 10 years~!

[Scythian]

You're an idiot if you want to eat ground hambuger in any fashion other than well done, that meat is dirty on the inside, unlike a steak that's meat is not exposed internally, again, stupid, stupid, stupid, and you don't have the freakin' right to be that stupid, period.

[stlrocket]

Not to many people know about this story. It seems that McDonalds tried this and it had a very serious backlash!

RONALD MCDONALD HUNG?

It's a scary world out there!

[GotMojo]

Its a free country. Go home and cook the burger any way you like. Restauarants don't serve 4 week old milk for the same reason.

[ihatemyalarmclock]

No over easy eggs, either. Salmonella, you know.

Don't you mean - sunny-side up? :-)

He probably doesn't. Each is a softly-fried egg (with the yolk left uncongealed.) But "over-easy" in most diners means the eggs are carefully turned and cooked on the other side for a few seconds. "Sunny-side up" is an egg that is cooked only on the bottom (though hot cooking juices, melted butter or fat, may be gingerly spooned over the yolk to complete the process.)

To many customers, it's a big difference, hence the different names.

[onedoug]

Turkey-burger, medium well, please.

[steveegg]

You notice how all these people who haven't had the old "normal" childhood diseases all of a sudden can't handle a burger that isn't charcoal, or an egg that you don't need to cut with a chainsaw? I mean, people have been eating pink hamburger and runny eggs for millenia with almost no instances of food poisoning, and this was before antibiotic soap, sterilized knives, and refridgeration. Only when something went terribly wrong was there a threat of a food-poisoning outbreak.

Now, the average "hyper-healthy" in-duh-vidual can't even handle a burger that only hit 164.9 degrees, can't handle an egg that isn't quite rock-solid. Of course, I've got a rather mean case of the flu as I type this (picked it up Sunday, should be gone by tomorrow, which makes it a mean case of the flu), but I can't blame that on the food I eat.

[Mark de New Brighton]

I'm in the foodservice business. I also work for a Fortune 50 company. I wouldn't serve you a rare burger, either. Especially in California.

E coli is bad stuff - people die from E coli every year and restaurants that give people E coli get sued, big time. I don't want to assume your risk for you. If you want to cook your own cheeseburger rare, that's your business, but don't ask me to sell you something that could land me in a deposition a year later.