A little under a year ago we started hearing about a start-up food truck in Los Angeles called “Grill ‘Em All” that served gourmet metal-themed burgers. Between then and now Grill ‘Em All’s mythos and popularity have exploded beyond the grimey streets of L.A. where they serve up burgers daily to the rest of the U.S. and even the world. Their latest adventures saw them face off against another L.A. burger truck on The Travel Channel’s Food Wars and endure a 6-week cross-country marathon to come out victorious on the The Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race. It’s safe to say that the duo of Chef Ryan Harkins and Matt Chernus are now burger — and metal — royalty, right up there with Kuma’s Korner in Chicago.

To celebrate their recent victory on The Great Food Truck Race, the Grill ‘Em All dudes are taking a “Victory Lap” in New York City this coming week, where they’ll be taking over the kitchens of various area restaurants and serving limited numbers of their patented metal burgers. You can get details about each of those events at Grill ‘Em All’s official website, right on the front page.

What’s this crazy whirlwind of burgers and metal and cross-country journeys in the name of both been like for Chef Ryan? Ryan indulged me with a leisurely phone chat this past Saturday; he spoke about the experiences of both shows, the brotherhood of metal, the brotherhood of food, and told us about the mouth-watering
“Pantera” burger he’ll be serving up this week in NYC. A Grill ‘Em All brick-and-mortar restaurant on the horizon?? A Grill ‘Em All fan club?? Could be in the very near future. Our chat, along with Grill ‘Em All manager and Burger Conquest maestro The Rev, after the bite.

Click to read more…

Any readers of MetalSucks that have been milling around here for at least the past year or so should know we love a good burger from time to time, particularly when it comes to the web’s premiere burger aficionado Burger Conquest. When combined with metal, we think burgers are just dandy — see our past “Burger Conquests” with the dudes from Shadows Fall and Mookie from Genghis Tron (who combined burgers and metal with a third love of Vince’s, The Mets). And with the three episodes released so far of our new metal-themed cooking show Cooking Contaminated, it shouldn’t be any surprise that we love good food.

With the commencement of this year’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival, Burger Conquest proprietor The Rev sees an opportunity to invent another of his delicious burger concoctions. Three patties of meat along with handmade fresh mosh-erella cheese, ground black pepper, crispy onions, and bacon… call it the Mayhem Burger. Sounds de-fucking-licious. Watch The Rev explain the recipe below, although you’ll have to sit through a cringe-worthy minute of live Korn footage first (or just skip to 1:20).

-VN

WRITTEN BY GUEST BLOGGER REVEREND DAVID J. CIANCIO OF BURGER CONQUEST

[Earlier in the summer, MetalSucks ran a special feature in which Shadows Fall went for a Burger Conquest at the Arctic Roadrunner in Anchorage, AK. You liked the story and demanded more like it. So: more like it. -Ed.]

With a 3rd Shake Shack location opened at Citi Field, home of the woeful MetalSucks favorite New York Mets, we had a perfect target for another Burger Conquest. But why stop at 2 blogs? We like to go big so we invited the Jose’s Chin Pubes from The Wright Stache (“The Internet leader in encouraging David Wright to grow a mustache”) and Mookie Singerman from the metal band Genghis Tron and our good friend Chuck — who somehow managed to hook up 5th row seats behind the 3rd base dugout, and also happens to run the road merch operation for Alice in Chains and others — to join in on our pursuit for a tasty burger.

If you’re a foodie like we are, you know all there is to know about the Danny Meyer “roadside” burger stand, the Shake Shack. If this is the first you have heard of it, there’s a reason for the hype; it’s awesome. You can read more by clicking here. One of our favorite summer pastimes is drinking and eating our way around a baseball park (See Yankee Stadium / Dodger Stadium Burger Conquests) this was lined up to be a lot of fun. With Mustaches adorned, we set off on our Conquest.

Click to read more…

[Reverend David J. Ciancio, owner of Yeah! Management (Shadows Fall, Cancer Bats, Poison the Well, many more), likes his meat as much as he likes his metal; the man has two meat-themed websites, Steak Club 7 and Burger Conquest, the latter of which is devoted to seeking out and reviewing the burgers of the world, an ambitious and worthy mission if ever there was one. Anytime I'm in a random city I'll text The Rev to ask him where the best burger is, and he inevitably comes through (aside: if you're ever in San Diego hit up Neighborhood). The Rev was recently on tour with Shadows Fall in Alaska and took them on a Burger Conquest, the writeup of which is below, exclusive to MetalSucks. Enjoy!]

Arctic Roadrunner Local Burgerman
http://www.lastfrontier.org/morsel_apr_2008.htm
5300 Old Seward Hwy
Anchorage, AK 99518

THE STORY
Before I go anywhere, I Google “best hamburger (insert city name)” and results for Anchorage seemed unanimous, Arctic Roadrunner Local Burgerman is reported to have the #1 burger in town. Located just South of the city center next to Campbell Creek, the Arctic Roadrunner has been slingin’ up burgers since 1964. It’s short-order counter service and cash only but it’s an award winning institution. Sparing no details in decorating the log cabin, you’ll find a tusk of a woolly mammoth, antlers, a fire place, pictures of famous patrons and all sorts of local oddities.

I was up here on tour with Shadows Fall who played 2 shows while in town with Family Tree Presents. We played a 21+ gig at the world famous Chilkoot Charlie’s and an all-ages show at Club Millenium. Both shows were fantastic and the fans were insane. Metal is alive and well in Alaska!

Click to read more…