An oasis in a desert – Stuffed Grass Fed Burger – Montclair, NJ

My recent obsession with finding true grass fed beef has resulted in spending way too much time looking for places that advertise grass-fed on their menu so that I can satisfy my cravings for burgers without feeling to guilty that I contributed to Factory Farms profits.  When I adopted this philosophy I also started to think about when I eat out and since I travel for work quite frequently I started to think about where I would eat when I travel.  One of the areas of the US that I travel to frequently encompasses a radius of about 10 miles around Newark, NJ.  This area includes town such as Rahway, South Plainfield, Florham Park – not known for its scenery – more known for strip malls and industrial areas.   One day in September I was in this area for work and had time for a late lunch and I found a place called Stuffed Grass Fed Burgers in Montclair, NJ which is about 15 miles north of Newark airport.  With a name like that I had to check it out.

The restaurant is in a small strip mall and would be easy for you to drive by and not notice.  The seating area is small and casual, the menu clearly states:  100% Grass Fed Beef, Antibiotic and Hormone Free.  Their thing is that they stuff the burgers with cheese and that is the default option so if you don’t want that you have to ask.  I ordered a plain cheeseburger with the fixings (I learned my lesson to keep it simple if I truly want to judge the taste).  After I ordered I asked the young guy behind the counter (who I believe was the owner’s son) where they get their beef from. He replied that it all comes from Australia, when I asked why Australia he replied that it is cheaper and he thought it tasted better than US grass fed.  Fair enough.

Didn’t take long for the burger to arrive – cooked to order, you can see the kitchen.  My first bite ejected a stream of molten cheese into my mouth which burned like the fires of hell.  Was painful too.

After the burn subsided and I could taste again, I have to say it tasted very good – could defiantly taste the difference.  They had a bunch of other interesting burgers on the menu – apparently they are well known for their Bacon Jam burger (Seasoned Grass Fed Beef, Stuffed with Havarti Cheese topped with Bacon Jam) which I would get next time.  They also have a Berlin’s Donut Burger which is as it suggests a burger with a glazed donut instead of a bun – that to me sounds disgusting but I can see how it would be popular.   I was kicking myself later on after looking at the menu more carefully that I didn’t get the Bacon Jam fries.  They also have a grass fed hot dog topped with grass fed chili (get the point!) which should make feel better about eating one of the most unhealthy foods you can think of (except the donut burger).  Sounded delicious to me.  I left feeling quite satisfied with my choice and felt as though I would definitely come back if I was in the area.

Later on I thought about the guy behind the counter comment about Australian grass fed beef.  I quick search came up with an article from NPR titled: ” Why lots of grass fed beef in the US comes from Down Under” – sounds like a good place to start.  The article confirms that Australian beef is less expensive and says why.  In Australia the weather allows cattle to graze on grass all year round.  Also there is a lot more open land which is in less demand than the US.  It really comes down to the price of grass.  In Australia pasture-raised cattle is the norm, its cheaper to feed a cow grass than grain there.  In the US there is a big push to support local farmers and the import of overseas grass fed beef is frowned upon with purists.  The question is how can US farmers compete with overseas prices?  A common dilemma in many industries.  We should also consider the environmental costs of shipping food all the way across the world.

Oh and I bought this t-shirt too (not kidding)….

Search for grass-fed beef – BRED gourmet

Recently I wrote a post about the definition of grass-fed beef.  Now that we are (sort-of) clear on the definitions, where can we find grass-fed beef at a restaurant?  Well you won’t have to look too hard to find the term grass-fed on a menu.   Very few restaurants state the actual farm they get their meat from (there are some exceptions, stay tuned for future posts) but there are plenty of restaurants that will state grass-fed beef on their menu, particularly for burgers.  So how can can you know for sure?

One day I was home with the kids (school holiday) and we went bowling in the morning to kill some time and get them out of the house on rainy day.  I was looking for a place to take them to lunch and I found – Bred Gourmet, a burger place in Lower Mills Dorchester, close to my house.   They had “grass-fed beef”  all over their menu and good reviews on Yelp, and a kids menu!  We were there at lunchtime and it was not that busy.  They had a small eat-in area and the menu looked interesting –  three grass-fed burger options, a hormone-free turkey burger, bison burger, salmon burger and a veggie option and you can also add a free-range egg.  Lots of the right terms being used here for sure.  I decided to go for the Maui burger, the combination of grilled pineapple,  plantains and BBQ sauce was intriguing to me, but I decided to omit the ham.  Kids got a plain cheeseburger.  Everything was made to order and while I was waiting I asked the young lady behind the counter, where did they get their grass-fed beef?  She replied that she couldn’t tell me, I said ‘can you not tell me or do you not know?’  Turns out she didn’t  know – fair enough.

The burgers were delicious, you could taste the quality for sure.  I wish that I got a plain cheeseburger after tasting my kids’ burgers so that I could really appreciate the taste of the beef.  The flavors of the Maui burger were awesome but I have found with good grass fed beef you don’t need too many other flavors.  The real taste test was the kids, I asked whether the liked BRED burger or Wendy’s and they overwhelmingly said Bred – must say I was a little surprised since they loved Wendy’s (which is now off the list by the way).

When I got home I did some research on BRED – there is a good video on Youtube with a review by Phantom Gourmet.  They show most of the menu and they look so good! In this video they mention that the meat is from Maine Family Farms.  A search came up with a website that mentioned that they buy grass-fed beef from farms throughout Maine.  I emailed them to ask if all their beef is pasture-raised and grass fed and got a prompt reply that is was.  I also emailed BRED gourmet to ask if they still use Maine Family Farms for their ground beef since the video was a few years old (still waiting for a reply).

Also found this article on the founder Tambo Burrow.   I like that he is a young guy from the neighborhood that is trying to make a difference making good food.

Why eat grass-fed beef?

Cows aren’t meant to eat grain and corn – they have evolved to eat grass.  Seems logical right?  Then why is it so hard to find true grass-fed beef?  Factory Farm cows are fed a complex mixture of ingredients that are far away from a cows natural diet of grass.  I won’t go into the whole story of what goes into this feed but here is a link if you want to know more.  What I will say is that in order for factory farms to trick a cows digestive system to eat a diet based on grains they need to be pumped up with drugs and you can imagine what that does to their digestive systems and overall health.  I used to get serious heartburn from drinking coffee (I used to drink 5-6 cups a day) and one day I asked my doctor what I could do to stop the heartburn.  He said, ‘I am not going to prescribe a pill to stop your heartburn, if you want to stop your heartburn stop drinking coffee’. Good point.  So I stopped drinking coffee and haven’t had a cup since.  If I would have taken Zantac to keep drinking coffee my stomach would have been ruined.  This is what is happening to factory farm cows we are giving them drugs to enable them to consume foods that are making them sick so they can produce meat and milk.  Why would we want to eat sick cows?

So it seems that it would be preferable to eat a cow that was fed its natural diet – cows don’t only eat grass they eat a mixture of vegetation here is a link that explains.  How do we find beef from such cows?  Not as easy as you may think. It should be noted that all cows begin their lives in more or less the same way – they all start out living on a farm, pasture-raised, as natural as can be.  It’s what happens at around 3-4 months that makes the difference.  Factory farm cows gradually get switched to a grain based diet in order to put on as much weight as quickly as possible.  A number of other possibilities exist for the grass-fed cow.  Firstly, they can be grass-fed but still on a feedlot in cramped conditions similar to a factory farm cow.  Diet is much better but living conditions are not.  This leads to another commonly used term, pasture-raised.  All cows begin their lives pasture-raised.  Factory farm cows are then shipped to these farms and gradually transitioned to a grain diet.  Also cows can be grass-fed, pasture-raised but grain finished – for the last 2-3 months of their lives they ate grain to fatten them up.  It is also very difficult for cows in colder climates (eg. New England) to have a 100% pasture-raised, grass-fed diet, they often need some grain supplement – which leads to another term – organic-grain or non-GMO grain diet.  Confused yet?