My New Favorite Burger: Panini Pete’s Eastern Shore Burger
Last year I made a pair of Burger Crawls, one in Los Angeles and the other in Mobile. I waxed poetic about the Stout Burger at Stout, a gastro pub in the heart of Hollywood. Likewise I gushed about the Wagyu Burger at Shamrock, Rose & Thistle Tea Room in Mobile’s Spring Hill neighborhood. I declared Shamrock’s burger the best in the Mobile area and the Stout burger was the best I had ever eaten. All that has changed.
Well a few months ago, Pete opened up a satellite of his famous eatery in downtown Mobile. Showing off the Tinsel Town flair that he picked up from his buddy Guy, Pete did a soft opening of his new digs last November and was nice enough to invite me in to take a gander. The evening featured bite-sized versions of his popular menu items including his infamous turkey panino and some of his outstanding burgers.
One nibble in particular has haunted me since that night, Pete’s Eastern Shore Burger. A simple but eloquent offering of 100% Fresh Ground Certified Angus Beef on a perfectly toasted bun with onion confit and herbed goat cheese. That’s it, folks – a bun, a patty and two condiments. Best. Burger. Ever.
The other day I slipped back by the new location to chat with my buddy and to try the full half-pound version of the Eastern Shore Burger. Bigger is better. It’s hard to put into words how perfectly the juicy burger, savory-sweet onions and the pungent goat cheese come together. It’s poetry on a bun. It is officially my new favorite burger.
I also sampled Pete’s one-of-a-kind shoestring fries. Shoestring is putting it mildly. These fries would make fat jokes about your typical shoestring fries and on bite number one it was obvious these were fresh cut. They were fried crispy on the outside and tender in the middle then seasoned with an inventive blend that was a bit spicy (not unlike a Cajun Seasoning) and with the distinct air of cinnamon. It was different yet comfortable.
There are a lot of cheflebrities out there who are heavy on the celebrity but light on the chef. One stop at Panini Pete’s proves that Blohme is not one of them. His creativity and attention to detail is evident in every morsel you shovel down your gullet.
Last spring Pete, Guy and I had dinner with Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and a few hundred of our neighbors in Gulf Shores. Check out the festivities.
Panini Pete Does Mobile
Almost six years ago a CIA grad named Pete Blohme opened a casual little sandwich shop in the Fairhope French Quarter. Blohme’s “everything from scratch” approach was a refreshing addition to the Mobile/Baldwin dining scene. His mixture of upscale ingredients and novel flavor pairings were tailor made for the artsy Eastern Shore crowd.
The chef’s panini were so good that people started to take notice. Important people, like the Food Network. A few years ago Panini Pete’s was featured on the hit food/travel show Diners, Drive Ins & Dives. Pete and host Guy Fieri made fast friends and it is a friendship that has open a few doors. Doors I’m sure Pete had never even considered back when he was the Executive Chef at the University of Alabama.
Since being featured on Triple D, Blohme has appeared on numerous TV shows on the Food Network and CMT. He is also a member of Fieri’s culinary caravan called the Traveling Road Show and a member of America’s Chefs, a group performing cooking demos for and feeding our troops.
Pete’s fame these days is enough that he is bringing his act across the bay to the state’s second largest city, Mobile. Occupying the old Loretta’s space in the heart of LoDa. It’s a prime location with a lot of history, the perfect fit for the guy who has reinvented the sandwich.
For the second week in a row downtown Mobile has been treated to an age old tradition that is rarely seen in South Alabama, the soft opening. Last week it was Culinard’s new training restaurant the Kitchen on George this week it was Pete’s place.
The interior is comfortable and trendy while the exterior is pure Mardi Gras, the ivy covering the brick walls is adorned with hundreds of beads from carnivals past. Pete was of course on hand to meet and greet and was kind enough to give me a private tour of the new kitchen. I’m a chef; I geek out on stuff like that. The crowd was happy and full. Notables on hand from the local food scene were Bob and Buffy Donlon (the folks who rescued Wintzell’s Oyster House) and LuLu’s at Homeport owner Lucy Buffett.
For guests there were ample samples of Pete’s culinary genius being distributed like his amazing beignets, inventive burgers (I was blown away by the Eastern Shore – onion confit and herbed goat cheese) and of course his name sake panini. So many panini in fact I didn’t get to try them all. I did make sure to try the famous ones – the Pete’s “Muffaletta” Panino and the House Roasted Turkey (see video below for the 411 on that). Also available for noshing was Pete’s homemade potato chips. See what I mean about everything made from scratch? Oh, for the record Pete makes his own mozzarella cheese, too.
The new Panini Pete’s is a welcome addition to the Port City. This town has earned the right to have fast food that is also good food. The restaurant is located at 19 S. Conception Street and Pete plans on opening to the public Thursday; once open they’ll be serving breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday.
Guy Fieri Helps Celebrate Gulf Oil Spill Anniversary
This weekend I’ll be covering the Guy Fieri Road Show in New Orleans. I thought I would share here a short film I shot in April at a dinner I was invited to that celebrated the efforts of the volunteers who helped during Gulf Oil Spill clean up.
One year a blow-out preventer on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig failed. Just weeks before federal inspectors had given the rig the “all clear.” They were wrong and because of that mistake eleven people lost their lives. Over the next few months 200 million gallons of crude oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico destroying both economy and ecology for 2 million Gulf Coast residents. So far none of the responsible parties have offered much except broken promises but the people of the region have battled back just like they did after Ivan, just like they did after Katrina and just like they did after Rita.To celebrate the return of the Gulf and to honor the heroes of the oil spill a party of 500 took to the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama for dinner, music and laughter. Among the honored guests were Mayor Robert Craft of Gulf Shores, Mayor Tony Kennon of neighboring Orange Beach, State Attorney General “Big” Luther Strange, U.S. Representative Jo Bonner and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley. But the three stars at this affair were not politicians but chefs – Lucy Buffett (owner of Lulu’s at the Wharf and kid sister of singer Jimmy Buffett), Chef Pete Blohme (owner of Panini Pete’sin Fairhope) and Food Network Star Guy Fieri. Oh, there was one more star, the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.Enjoy this short film in honor of those who gave their money, their time and especially their lives on 4/20/10.
