Hungry Pete's Burgers, Bacolod

There's nothing like a fat juicy hamburger to tide one's hunger, especially when one craves for some gourmet burger.  The great thing about Bacolod is that the locals take pride of their food- they cook well and serve it well. This is the case of Hungry Pete's.  Husband and wife tandem Peter and J.Anne Mirasol started venturing into the kiosk style of selling burgers a couple of years ago, and since then, there had been some changes and now, it's the star of the ground floor of Piazza Sorrento (corner of 13th & Lacson Sts.)

Their burgers are just as good as those pretentious "gourmet-daw" monstrosities in Manila where the prices just way way exorbitant. I mean exoticism doesn't mean excellence. It's that faux elan that's being peddled by crass people (read: noveau riche) of Imperial Manila that disgusts me. Wouldn't you be frustrated that your siopao-sized burger costs $15 just because some shmuck says it's from grass-fed Batangas-born "Angus" beef with the jus of red wine reduction sauce and a slice of WakaWaka cheese homemade by Laurent Gbago. It's a burger, not a degustation. Anton Diaz elaborates more the highs and lows of Manila's (wink! wink!) Best Burgers here.

Going back to Hungry Pete's, their burgers are great and heavy. See the menu for the price and compare it to the ones from Manila. The prices are fair considering the heft of its pure beef patty.  McDonald's quarter pounder on the other hand has that great great taste of 100% meat (of what creature, I do not know).  The only burger on this level that gave me pause is Crave Burger. Same style, almost the same taste, but w/o the soul.

Hungry Pete's burgers are juicy and beefy with their surfaces having that nice charred look and the inside nicely cooked. The buns are, sorry to say, meh. And the sidings like the pineapples and the bacon and the cheese, a welcome addition to it.

The taste is honest and not at all cloying or condescending.  Besides, with the beer stations nearby the kiosk, their burgers are great drinking food- makes the alcohol go slower.   Besides the booze-guzzlers and regular foodies who rave about Hungry Pete's, it's also a hit with Koreans and "people who play golf all day and watch their sugarcane grow."

With its taste and market already secured under its belt, I don't think another burger joint will be able to knock this one off.

Bacolod Provincial Capitol

This is the Bacolod Provincial Capitol at night...

Even at night, the place looks stunning and regal albeit a little eerie. How I wished they would opt for the sodium flood lights instead of the white light because if they did so, then it would have lent the place a more picturesque character.

The building of the Capitol spanned the first quarter of the 20th century.  Planned by Burnham and executed by Arellano, this neoclassical monument is a testament of the lost grandeur of Negros.

It was fortunate for the people of Negros that on the tail end of WWII, the Americans captured Bacolod before the Japanese had the chance to blow up the Capitol.

Now, the building currently houses the office of the Governor and its subordinate offices.  The insides of which has been renovated with modern tiles and A/Cs and roman blinds in order to service the wants of the modern political lifestyle.  I wonder if they consulted conservation groups like the Heritage Conservation Society or even the NCCA if the remodelling they did inside the Capitol was in consonance with sound restoration processes and was sensitive to the history of the building. Painting the walls I believe is ok, but to change the tiles into cheap green Mariwasa ones is highly contemptuous. But who gives a sit about it? No one.

  So, instead of killing my neurons over tempests in a teacup, I'll just comfort myself with taking these pictures.