What I Ate: September 7, 2009 (Coco's Cafe, Burger King)

Lunch: Braden and Kelly drove up from San Antonio and we met up for lunch at Coco's Cafe (8557 Research Blvd # 118, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 833-6588‎). Originally, they had suggested Din Ho Chinese BBQ but we had a couple of bad experiences there and Tina flat out refused to go back. We suggested Coco's Cafe next door to Din Ho which has a good reputation. We didn't know it was the same Coco's Cafe (in a different location) that we ate at a couple weeks ago.

We ordered several things to try. I had the pork belly with rice for my main dish (they called it Bacon Pork w/Rice - but I don't think it's bacon unless smoke is involved or it has been cured). My pork belly was chewy and tough.

We also had the Spiced Kelp, Green Onion Pie (scallion pancake), Pickled Vegetables, and Rice Ball (Pork & Bamboo Shoots). I liked the kelp (it wasn't special though - tasted like kelp), scallion pancake, and pickled vegetables (even though it wasn't what we expected and quite sweet with a little bit of spice).

Dinner: Between errands, we found ourselves next to a Burger King, so we ducked in to refuel - I had a Whopper and shared fries with Tina. The Whopper's meat patty was cooked through, but there was very little browning of the surface of the patty looked a little like it had been boiled or cooked in its own steam. There were a couple of grill marks, but most of it was a bit pale. Biting into it, it tasted just like how I remember Whoppers tasting - there is a particular flavor to the beef that triggers my brain to think it's been cooked over an open flame and has been nicely browned. BUT, having seen the patty, I knew this was not the case. So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Burger King adds something to their ground beef to make it taste like it's been browned. What it is, I do not know. (I just looked it up in Burger King's Ingredients Declaration and they say the Whopper patty is 100% ground beef… I don't know…)

Updated (2009/09/08): A realized that it might be a bit hard to see why I thought the burger wasn't flame-broiled. Here's a close up showing that the patty has the pattern that I associate with boiling or steaming ground beef.