Category: Ypsilanti

I was incredibly sad to hear the news yesterday that John Sebestyen, owner of The Bomber Restaurant in Ypsilanti, had passed away on Wednesday at the age of 68.  Mr. Sebestyen bought the bomber in 1995 and brought it to local and national prominence, with multiple appearances on the Food Network.

I have been visiting The Bomber since I was very young, but only in the last five years have I really appreciated it as a special Ypsilanti business.  Every city should have a great breakfast joint, and The Bomber was our great breakfast joint.  I would always see Mr. Sebestyen working at the restaurant and randomly all over town.  He was a face I knew because I loved his business and he always seemed proud of his restraunt, his service in the military and to be a business owner in the city of Ypsilanti.

Even though I didn’t have much personal contact with Mr. Sebestyen, I respect and appreciate all of his hard work for The Bomber and our city.   His family will be in my thoughts and I hope you can do the same.

Thank you for reading.

I’ll admit it.  I’ve been a complete TupTim groupie lately.  I’ve eaten there several times over the last couple weeks, convinced my parents to order takeout from them, plugged them on my Facebook status, and tried to aid in a promotion they recently had.  Many have begun to question my motives.  Is TupTim paying me?  Am I secretly a part owner?  Do I own stock in TupTim?

The answer is no.  I just believe that they serve by far the best Thai food within a 100 mile radius.  I have yet to find a Thai restaurant that serves food that is anywhere close.  Plus, the owner is a cool guy.  I’ll just throw that out there as a side note.

Anyways, now that you know my motives are not for financial gain(although I would never turn down a free Massaman Curry), I thought I would take it a step further.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you a collection I have been working on for some time.  I give you……

Greatest Hits of TupTim. Sorry, I couldn’t think of a better name and Google Translate makes it way too hard to translate from English to Thai.

Just in case you weren’t aware of this place and are currently putting your coat to run out the door, TupTim is located on 4896 Washtenaw Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108

Jessica French recently shot me an e-mail containing an invite to come and try their new Amtrak Double Decker Cheeseburger.  This excited me, of course, because Sidetrack has easily the best burger in the area.  They meet all the criteria needed to produce a delicious burger:  fresh, quality beef, a large selection of toppings, and an almost ancient grill top.  If that doesn’t get you excited, the fact that the burger made an appearance on Oprah should.  If you’re not an Oprah fan, it was also featured in GQ as one of the 20 hamburgers you must try before you die.  Still not excited?  Something must be wrong with you.

Instead of creating some enormous monstrosity, Sidetrack simply replaced Jesse’s Burger, an 8 oz. version of their standard 4 oz. burger, with the Amtrack Double Decker Burger.  The Amtrak Burger consists of two 4 oz. patties, so the size of Jesse’s Burger is maintained.  Don’t get me wrong, this burger is huge.  It may not be eating challenge material, but you’ll definitely be full after eating it.  In my case, this burger and a side of sweet potato fries is almost the perfect sized meal.  Especially with a Darkhorse Raspberry Ale or a Huma-Lupa-Licious to wash it down.  Most do not possess similar obese eating abilities, but honestly, I would recommend ordering this over the regular burger.

Even if the thought of a half pound burger doesn’t get you going, the amount of toppings, which are also doubled, should.  I topped my Amtrak Burger with goat cheese and caramelized onions, which are my sidekicks on every Sidetrack burger I order.  I should mention that I got it medium rare but there really shouldn’t be any other way to cook a burger.  That’s a dig at you, well done burger eaters.  You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Kudos to Sidetrack for making their already amazing burger even better.  I’m always impressed that my favorites remain on the menu but new items appear regularly.  Now if I could get the spinach, artichoke and crab dip back on the menu I just might be in food heaven.