Building Trust With Coach Stevenson

Here we have an article written by attackman Colin Rosenblum on the subject of building trust with the new head coach. "LacrosseAllstars.com" said of the article,"the Red Hot Buffs staff takes on Coach Pete Stevenson's restaurant reccomendation and walks us through their experience, only to find out that Burger King is still high royalty. Classic Stuff". Click below to check it out.



As some of you may know, but most likely don’t, our new head coach is pretty active on the lacrosse-internet scene. He’s written two articles for collegelax.us since joining the Buffs, and another more recently for laxallstars.com. The man simply likes to write. But, as some of you also probably don’t know, he enjoys writing almost as much as he enjoys blogging. He was quoted recently saying he has four blogs all going at once, only one of which is open to the public. That particular blog, entitled “Stuff Pete Likes”, boasts in it’s heading “This is stuff I like, and I don't really care if you like or dislike it too. Am I a professional critic? I don't see why not - I mean I do have a blog.” This weekend, Junior Midfielder Steve Keyes and I decided to take some advice straight from the "stuff he likes". We realize he doesn’t care what we think, but, being that this is a new relationship being forged, that of player and coach, there is a lot on the line, and we are taking his blogged advice as a chance to build some off-the-field trust. His most recent liking, Larkburger, is a trendy new burger joint in Boulder. Over the weekend, Steve and I were in the parking lot at Tokyo Joe’s, ready to indulge in the teriyaki chicken bowls they make so well, when, on our way in, we were blinded by a strong neon green light to our right. It was of course, Larkburker. We remembered “Stuff Pete Likes”, and, hoping to build a bond over burgers and fries, decided to give the old “Lark” a try. Before I begin our review, here’s how coach feels:

Anytime you put truffle oil on a burger or fries, you are probably making it better. And Larkburger does it well. The burgers are reasonably priced and come with fresh ingredients. The atmosphere is very warm and inviting, even though they use a little too much green. This type of restaurant is the new face of quick casual. A very hip and inviting place, cool chairs, a small menu with cool fonts, and reasonably priced items. Expect to pay about ten dollars for a meal at this excellent burger joint.

I forgot to mention the food. They offer all the burgers to be cooked as rare or as well done as you would like. Complete with descriptions about how warm the internal temperature will be. I had the truffle burger and I was not disappointed, it was cooked medium and had amazing flavor and texture. The fries were even better. Truffle oil, Parm cheese and parsley topped a box of fries that were fantastic. I couldn't help but eat some of the parmesan cheese and truffle oil mix that was left over after I scarfed down the fries.

5 out of 5 stars. Eat at a Larkburger next time you are in Boulder.

Seeing that coach went for the Truffle burger, Larkburger’s Whopper, Steve and I both had to give it a try. Walking into the place, it had an oily smell to it, a sort of hash-brown at Sewell after lifting smell. Is that the pleasant aroma of truffles we thought? Maybe? We had no idea what Truffles were to begin with (turns out it’s a fungus). The whole idea of ordering food and asking them to cover it with something you've never heard of is exactly what "the new face of quick casual" does best. Everything is truffle this and truffle that.

 “One Truffle burger please.”

“Would you like some cheddar on that?”

 “Sure”

 A $12.50 hole in my wallet later and we rushed to the receipt, only to find we were scammed for 50 cents of cheddar. It's not like the cheddar was a substitute for American, Larkburger simply doesn't put cheese on their signature burger.  This was 50 cents just to get me to the base level, 50 cents gone when we walked in the door. Somewhat disgusted, we tried to put the ordering experience behind us and stay focused on the burgers sitting in front of us. The first bite, not all that bad,  the second, a catastrophe. Tomatoes fall out, the bottom bun already appears as though its disappearing faster than the top, and a gooey ceasar-like sauce, which I guess they call truffles, was everywhere. Long story short, our minds were made up and Larkburger was not "something we like"...nothing quick or casual about the place if you ask us. But, we know some on the team are a fan of Larkburger, Marty specifically of their chicken sandwich. So, we at RedHotBuffs can't sit here and tell you not to go, but, if you do need some help deciding, we instead offer up some comparative research between Larkburger and the true face of quick and casual as we see it, Burger King:

· 2 slices of cheddar at larkburger = $1

· A double quarter pounder with 1 slice of cheese at BK= $1

· From the BK website about their current signature burger: The Steakhouse Burger is packed with flame-broiled beef, melted cheese, crispy onions, lettuce, and red ripe tomatoes, all smothered in A.1.® Thick & Hearty Steak Sauce. It's the burger that thinks it's a T-bone.

· From the Larkburger website about theirs: (nonexistant), but what was under the column entitled "Our Products" : Larkburger™ is proud to serve Black Angus Beef; chosen for its superior marbling, depth of flavor and consistency. All cups and salad containers are made with a 100% Biodegradable corn-based product. The Spudware utensils are made from potato or corn starch. Our Eco-Friendly Packaging is made with unbleached paper pulp. (And the most important) The interior wooden paneling is Monterey Cypress from Live Edge in Oakland California. This Reclaimed Timber is salvaged from Urban Forests in the Bay Area.

· Definition of “burger” from dictionary.com: burg⋅er  [bur-ger] –noun a hamburger.

· Definition of “lark” from dictionary.com: lark2  [lahrk] –noun innocent or good-natured mischief; a prank or joke

· Burger King slogan: BK, Have it your way

· Larkburger slogan: Nonexistant

· And, to add insult to injury, just to find out what truffles actually were, we had to go to Wikipedia, where it sites this article and talks of how the majority of places today who offer truffle oiled products at reasonable prices are only claiming to do so, and are in fact using olive oil and artificial flavoring.

A truffle worth $216,000

So, if you’re in Boulder and you’re looking for a burger, think twice about Larkburger, and if you’re lucky, grab a chipotle elk burger from attackmen chef Doug Lilburne. If you can’t get you’re hands on one of those, which you probably can't, there’s always this:

and if your still reading: