Like some of my favorite bourbons, I believe I get better with age. A little over a week ago I turned 35 and it’s kind of a scary thing. It’s not all bad though, I’m probably in better shape than I was 10 years ago even considering the fact that I eat multiple burgers a week. In fact, I even won a Summer Body Challenge recently while maintaining this all-burger diet so my readers can continue to get my opinion on all things burger in Vegas. My birthday really hasn’t gotten much attention in the last several years aside from a few phone calls from immediate family and the dozens and dozens of Facebook ‘friends’ that come out of the woodwork to post an obligatory ‘happy birthday’ comment. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, as that thought is still much appreciated, but it isn’t quite the pomp and circumstance that some of my other friends often receive around their birthdays.

This year was different though; my lovely girlfriend threw me a great mystery-themed birthday party that turned out to be surprisingly burger related. I moved about two months ago so this was a great way for a small group of friends to come check out my new spot, celebrate me becoming a little bit older and actually call some attention to it for once. Here’s a bit of what my friends got to enjoy:

Mini caprese burgers – cherry tomatoes cut in half as buns, with a small slice of mozzarella for the burger, basil as lettuce and a balsamic glaze.

Idaho burgers (she’s from Boise) – tater tots, cheese and jalapenos. The tots were a bit too tough to cut in half, but the intent was still there and they were super tasty!

Grape burgers – grapes cut in half as buns, with a piece of bread and cheese in between. These are still great several days later.

Ketchup and mustard Jell-O shots – cherry and lemon Jell-O shots in ketchup and mustard cups with a little slice of pineapple to look like a French fry. These are incredibly simple but so creative to me.

Crinkle-cut veggies – a variety of veggies cut to look like crinkle-cut chips.

Then of course, there were actual sliders inspired by some of our favorite burgers we’ve had lately. The first was served with brie, greens and fig marmalade similar to one we recently had at The Dillinger.

The second was marinated with teriyaki sauce, topped with an asian slaw and served on a Hawaiian sweet roll kind of similar to the flavors at Bachi Burger.

Probably the most delicious menu item were the burger cupcakes – sesame-topped buttermilk cupcake buns, brownies with mini dark chips for the burger, strawberry slices as tomato, and 2 different colors of cream cheese frosting as toppings. So incredibly rich, and so delicious!

Overall this was an amazing menu, and took a tremendous amount of prep and work for someone that has a full time job and was incredibly busy with an industry trade show in town all week. This was far more than anyone has done for my birthday in some time and was very much appreciated. I’ll also note that a few people that had RSVP’d didn’t show up, so we’ve been eating extra sliders for the past 5 days now and they’re still delicious! Thanks babe!