ayokay's Profile
Knife Sharpening - Avoid Sur La Table
As long as you stop once each side raises a burr, there shouldn't be any problems. It's when you mindlessly drone on with the sharpening, and stop paying attention that you run into problems.
Knife Sharpening - Avoid Sur La Table
It has almost nothing to do with the quality of the steel, although the edge will last shorter or longer depending on which steel is used and how hard it is used. It has more to do with the skill of the person who is doing the sharpening. It's extremely easy to take off too much metal with the sharper grits, ESPECIALLY if you're using a machine and not hand sharpening.
Knife Sharpening - Avoid Sur La Table
Ahhh, the beginning of wisdom about cheap sharpening service; you get what you pay for. As mkaufman duly notes, once a sharpener becomes concerned about not taking off too much metal, the whole game changes. It now requires more care and a more exacting system of sharpening. Once you folks learn what it takes to sharpen a knife PROPERLY, you'll understand that nobody in their right mind would do it for $2-3 dollars a pop unless they were gonna do it quick and dirty by running it thru a machine, on a bench grinder, or on a belt grinder. Oh, and if you're gonna do it on a bench grinder, you're gonna hollow/concave the grind...which is ok if your knife came that way, but most do not. Like I said, you get what you pay for. When I do a knife, I use a very expensive $350 system and it takes me at LEAST 15-20 minutes to do it right, which includes precision angles, proper deburring, and final stropping with multiple compounds. I also take care to only remove as much metal as is absolutely necessary for the required edge. It's a labor of love, and why I charge between $1.50 and $2 per inch. Even then, it's barely worth my spare time, which is why I only do it on the side. Trust me, you do get what you pay for, so it's only worth it to do a good sharpening on expensive "user" knives, not the cheap stuff. For the cheap stuff, yeah, $3 is about right. gotoran@gmail.com
Five Guys Burger in Park Slope
It's kinda funny that nobody differentiates between a fried burger and a grilled burger. All high quality restaurants do their burgers on a regular flame grill. Fast food joints do it on a flat griddle...ie...McDonalds. There are a million local neighborhood joints that'll do up a burger on the flat griddle..ie..fried, and most of them are as good as 5 Guys here in Chicago.
Yes, 5 Guys is good for a fried burger, but their patties are tiny and the price is ridiculous for what it is...almost $10 for burger, fries, and drink. Yes, the fries are indeed good, and gargantuously portioned, but personally, I like White Castle crinkle cut fries best. If I want a real burger, I'll go for a half pound flame grilled burger (NOT BK), not a fried burger. In my humble, yet correct opinion, 5 Guys is WAAAAAAAY overrated. Gimme a good steakhouse burger any day of the week, and twice on Sundays. Jackson's Hole is a great example. Haven't tried In-N-Out yet, but I suspect it's fried as well, yes?
