Closing Out the Festivities with a Burger

The longest birthday celebration of my life has finally come to a close. We began commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of my birth at the beginning of June, when my wife and I hopped into our car for a Midwest roadfood trip. The festivities concluded July 19, when we went to our annual birthday lunch for my brother-in-law and me with my wife’s family. 

This year’s outing was at House and Barn of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, which is in the Lehigh Valley, next to Allentown. Both the house and barn, the latter of which is reserved for private parties, are on a fairly large property that also is home to a shed that will be used as a cigar bar at some point according to their web site. 

The house used to be the setting for a fine dining establishment, but they have since changed course to specializing in burgers made of beef and an array of game meats, as well as barbecue and other hot sandwiches. 

That being the case, it’s the nicest burger joint I’ve ever been to. The interior of the over century-old house consists of multiple small rooms with a limited number of tables rather than one or two large dining rooms. 

While we all perused the menu, my father-in-law suggested that we get appetizers for the table and settled on a couple orders of corn ribs, which were new to me. Beyond that, it was just a matter of settling on a burger, sandwich or barbecue. That is, unless one was inclined to go in the direction of a salad, as was the case with my wife. 

I’m fairly open to eating various game meats and couldn’t resist the opportunity to order a burger made with something other than beef. My choice was the Pronghorn venison burger, which comes topped with Cheddar cheese, bacon, sautéed onions and smokehouse mayo, although I requested mine without the mayo. I’m a ketchup guy when it comes to burgers. 

The corn ribs arrived first, with each end of the table getting an order to share. These were a bit of a curiosity. I like corn a lot and the flavor, which was intensified by Cajun seasoning, worked for me. But there was very little food to eat. I’m not sure if it was the cooking method of frying that caused this, but it didn’t feel like I was winding up with much corn in my mouth after each bite. 

Good flavor or not, I’m not sure I’d order corn ribs in the future.

Our main courses arrived by the time we were finished with the corn and I immediately snapped photos of my father-in-law’s extra-tall smoked pork shoulder sandwich. He said the smoke flavor was subtle, but that it was still a very enjoyable sandwich. 

My brother-in-law, Dave – the other birthday boy – and his wife, Sophy both went for barbecue. He ordered smoked kielbasa and chorizo with pierogies and mac-and-cheese, while she opted for brisket and pulled pork with Brussels sprouts and sweet potato fries. I didn’t hear any comments on the food from them, but they both seemed to enjoy their meals. 

As previously alluded to, my wife, ever the healthy eater, bypassed the various meat options on the menu and ordered a Mozzarella-peach salad. She was most pleased with it. 

My other brother-in-law, Mike, as well as my mother-in-law and I went the burger route. I didn’t get a shot of Mike’s, but my mother-in-law loved her beef hornet burger, which was topped with sautéed mushrooms, crispy onions and roasted garlic spread. She ordered it medium-rare and the grill chef was right on target. 

I also generally order my burgers medium-rare but was a little more cautious than usual given that this one was made with venison rather than beef and requested it medium. The result was an extremely juicy and flavorful burger. The bacon, Cheddar cheese and grilled onions worked very well in combination with the venison patty, which didn’t strike me as gamey at all. 

The fries were also very good, as was the onion ring my father-in-law passed my way. 

As is our family custom when going out to celebrate a birthday, rather than ordering dessert at the restaurant, we went back to the home of my in-laws to eat something prepared by my wife. 

I had requested that she make one of my favorite desserts – banana pudding – for the occasion. But she took it a step further and made banana pudding pie on a ‘Nilla Wafer crust with a layer of freshly made whipped cream on top. 

To say this pie was up my alley would be a significant understatement. I had three slices. 

Lucky for me, there was enough leftover banana pudding – sans the crust – at home in our fridge to last me the rest of that week.