{"id":16983,"date":"2017-04-24T08:57:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T13:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=16983"},"modified":"2017-04-24T08:57:29","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T13:57:29","slug":"billy-goat-frozen-burger-review-from-devanco-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=16983","title":{"rendered":"Billy Goat Frozen Burger Review – from Devanco Foods"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Billy<\/a>The restaurant part of the legend of the Billy Goat Tavern began on Chicago’s South Side in 1934. Greek immigrant William Sianas paid $205 for the Lincoln Tavern.<\/p>\n

In 1964, Sianas moved the bar to its current subterranean location, and it’s here, underneath Chicago’s Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue, that the modern part of the legend originated.<\/p>\n

The bar was located midway between the Chicago Tribune Tower and the rival Chicago Sun Times building; it became a popular hangout of reporters trying to steal each others scoops (or brag\u00a0about their own).<\/p>\n

1978,the 3rd season of Saturday Night Live, and cast members John Belushi, Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray did a sketch about the fictional “Olympia Cafe” which paid homage to the proprietor and staff of the Billy Goat. At the Olympia there was no food choice other than cheeseburgers and chips, no drinks but Pepsi, and the refrains uttered comedically by Belushi (with a “Greek accent”) were actually heard frequently at the Billy Goat.<\/p>\n

Fast forward today the Billy Goat has multiple locations, but the ambiance of the original remains intact. As you walk down the stairs from Michigan Avenue, you might think you’re walking into the river or some dark hell, but at the bottom the welcome neon of the Billy Goat beckons you in.<\/p>\n

They have apparently made a licensing deal with Devanco<\/a>, a Chicago foods company that started in 1993 and was purchased and amped up in 2004. Previously, they sold mostly supplies to Greek restaurants, like gyro meat, pitas, and sauces<\/a>.\"Billy<\/a><\/p>\n

They’ve expanded to the retail arena, and in addition to \u00a0Greek offerings like a home Gyro Ki<\/a>t, they manufacture and distribute foods for Mike Ditka’s brand. Their (his) version of Italian beef<\/a> is superb.<\/p>\n

This week (4\/24\/17) Devanco started selling 2 pound boxes of 100% ground beef patties with Billy Goat’s name on them; there are two versions, 5 patties to a pound, or 3 patties to a pound. The two pound boxes check out at over\u00a0$12, and that’s a lot.<\/p>\n

The patties are made in Devanco’s suburban Chicago plant (pictured below).<\/p>\n

I’ve tried quite a few ‘heat and eat’ burgers, and not really been happy with them, and especially those that are restaurant branded like Trader Joe’s<\/a>, Pasture Perfect Kobe<\/a>, Fatburger<\/a> or Steak N Shake<\/a>.There are both raw products (like Billy Goat’s) and there are some fully cooked patties available as well, like Ball Park brand<\/a>‘s version. I’ve also tried maybe dozens of microwave, c-store, vending machine burgers, you can find those on the site by searching for “gas station food” or “heat and eat.”<\/p>\n

The cooking instructions for the Billy Goat are no different than most frozen patties, skillet, medium heat, 3-4 minutes one side (until the juices start to ooze through), flip, couple more minutes.<\/p>\n

I was eager to taste these since they have zero additives. \u00a0As in NONE. Some brands of \u00a0frozen patties include beef broth, cow heart(!!) and liquid smoke. Here I’m getting cow only. \u00a0So what’s the verdict?<\/p>\n

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. I am not going to, under any circumstances I can think of, pay \u00a0$12 for frozen burger patties. No matter if they were the best burger you ever had, that’s a good 30-40% above their largest competitors.<\/p>\n

Second bit of ‘bad news.’ The patties are packaged in 5 packs inside the box. Which means I have to separate, put in a different bag or container and refreeze any that I don’t use at the time. Luckily, the patties are separated by what the industry calls “patty paper,” which makes them easy to separate.<\/p>\n

So I removed one and semi-followed the instructions. With a frozen patty at medium heat, I flipped after 3 minutes and went 2 more. I tasted the plain patty first before dressing it and putting it on a Martin’s Potato Roll (not what the Billy Goat uses, tho). Dressed with a half sour dill, raw onion and yellow mustard.<\/p>\n

Flavor was very beefy, which is good, seems most frozen patties have some sort of strange “undercurrent” of taste, at least to me, and this one doesn’t. I’m also happy with the texture, which closely resembles the grind you’d find in grocery ground beef. \u00a0Some competitors reduce their “beef” and other ingredients to a slurry before sending them to the patty forming machine.<\/p>\n

In other words, I’m happy with the product, and it does justice to the burger\u00a0served in the restaurant. I think they’d be great on a charcoal grill.<\/p>\n

I’ll be interested to see how this product does. \u00a0You have to be a certain age to get the whole SNL connection, and outside of Chicago, it’s not that the Billy Goat is a global iconic brand name.<\/p>\n

I said this post\u00a0was about one part of the Billy Goat legend. There’s a whole other story there. Think Chicago Cubs. \u00a0Here’s the dope<\/a> if you’re interested.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/a>
Frozen Patties<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Billy<\/a>
3 minutes at medium, flipped<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Billy<\/a>
All dressed up, ready to go!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Billy<\/a>
Box instructions on constructing your burger<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Billy<\/a>
Devanco’s suburban Chicago plant<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Billy Goat Frozen Burger Review<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The restaurant part of the legend of the Billy Goat Tavern began on Chicago’s South Side in 1934. Greek immigrant William Sianas paid $205 for the Lincoln Tavern. In 1964, Sianas moved the bar to its current subterranean location, and it’s here, underneath Chicago’s Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue, that the modern part of the… Continue reading Billy Goat Frozen Burger Review – from Devanco Foods<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,13,14,16],"tags":[1489,1722],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16983"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}