M & O Station Grill.

Yesterday, I was introduced to what I think may be the best hamburger in town, which is kind of embarrassing for me, even given that I have been out of town for two years, because they have been in town for four years. I should have have known about it, and now thankfully, I do.

The fine establishment to which I refer is the  M & O Station Grill.

My son told me about it and that M&O had received the Fort Worth Weekly, Readers Choice award for best hamburger, 2009. I said, "let's go," and go we did, expecting good things and finding better than we expected.

I'll go this far: I could easily place M&O as my favorite hamburger in Fort Worth and will do so if, after returning a few times, it is as good as it was yesterday.

The reason takes a little explanation. My biggest beef (sorry) with the "premium" hamburger place is that in order to accommodate our American need for fast service, the burgers are pre-cooked, at least, partially. This is not a problem during the lunch rush because they are being served at the same rate as they are being cooked. But if the restaurant is not crowded, or if one arrives early, the burgers can be dry and overcooked, even though they are made from quality ground meat. Good food is not just the ingredients, but temperature, texture, and other less material things, as well.

M&O has a good solution. When we ordered I noticed, ball-shaped, slightly baked (?) hamburger meat dropped on the grill and then flattened to fry. Result: juicy, hot burgers, cooked through with slightly pink centers, and served in about 5 minutes. The bun was grill warmed and not too greasy. All together, I have to say, fantastic.

The french fries were whole cut potatoes and fried. Very tasty and not greasy, although I think they could be a little less stingy on them.

The staff is friendly and the service was excellent. The restaurant is small, about ten tables, but comfortable.

I loved it.

The M & O Grill is next door to Leonard's museum, just north of the Montgomery Plaza, Super Target on 7th.

From the M&O Grill website

The 7th Street Station Grill, a popular Fort Worth eatery for the past four years, has moved a few blocks north of their old location and been renamed M&O Station Grill. That's "M" for Marvin and "O" for Obie as in the Leonard brothers, well known for that Fort Worth icon, Leonard's Department Store. The restaurant adjoins the Leonard's Department Store Museum and M&O owner Rose and her husband Chef Danny Badillo wanted to show their appreciation for their good neighbor, Marty Leonard and also to building owner, Jimmy Jenkins for their part in helping make "M&O" happen.

The Badillo's are "hands on" restaurant owners with Chef Danny giving every recipe the very best flavor and assuring the highest quality, traits that were acquired during 24 years as sous-chef at Fort Worth's prestigious Petroleum Club. Rose is the smiling lady greeting all of her guests and making menu suggestions while taking their orders. The 50's style setting throughout makes the restaurant feel like home and outside you'll find umbrella shaded tables for dining on the patio.

http://www.fwscreen.com/fwscreen.com/M&O_Grill.html

Favorite News Picture of the Year, 2009.

The Star Telegram website has posted their "most-read stories of 2009".  Our favorite, and a surprise favorite worldwide, is their number seven, the story of  soldier and local boy, Zachary Boyd.

I was in Philadelphia at the time the picture and story first appeared and saw it on television news

Just in case someone hasn't read the story, here's a summary from the Star Telegram: "Spec. Zachary Boyd, a 2007 graduate of Keller Central High School, was in his sleeping quarters when the Taliban attacked in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Boyd rushed to a defensive position clad in his helmet, vest and boxers -- the pink ones decorated with the "I Love NY" slogan."

You gotta love this guy.

http://www.star-telegram.com

(As a matter of interest, he is also wearing sandals -- obviously no time to don the boots, and is wearing a red t-shirt, which probably can be seen clearly from 5 miles away -- not exactly desert camo. The middle soldier looks to be wearing silver running shoes.)

Why I Believe. A Christmas Reflection.

 The Ecstasy of Saint Therese

Marian and I have an elderly friend in Philadelphia who speaks freely about his dislike for religion and the religious. He is a lover of the arts: music, opera, the visual arts, and he knows them, from the good to the bad, and the lives of the painters, singers and actors who have played the roles. We enjoy his company very much. One evening at our usual coffee shop meeting place, my wife asked him the obvious, but heretofore unasked question:

"When were you first bitten with the opera bug?"

"At one particular opera," he said, "I was about 20 years old . . . and the only way to describe it . . .  it was like the Bernini sculpture, in Rome, of Santa Therese in Ecstasy, I felt like I was pricked by Cupid's arrow. It was then, I fell in love with the music."

Given my friend's view on religion and God, and the overtly religious imagery of that particular sculpture, the statement surprised me. But it shouldn't have. Regardless of one's religious inclination, the beauty of the music that captivated him is attractive in itself. That is, Beauty exists, and our friend recognizes it.

This may may be an odd introduction to answer the question, "Why I Believe," but it is the discussion that started me thinking or rethinking the question. In other words, I not only enjoy the same works of art but I believe the Story from which they derive their inspiration. Why?

The reason in its most reduced form is that I believe the testimony of a few men and of one woman who lived and followed this Man Jesus, that is, I trust the writers of the biography of our Lord, or the Gospels, and of Mary, of Peter, and Paul. I am in some way a follower of the followers, those first friends of Christ. If they are misguided, so am I.

Historians and archaeologists have tried to disprove the authenticity of these biographers of Christ for hundreds of years, but to no avail. The Gospels make spectacular claims, but there seems to be no ulterior motive by the followers of Christ, no reason that it is being said but the obvious one. They believe it. No one was getting rich off this movement, no empires were being built. In fact, most of the men closely related to the Story died the painful death of the martyr. All the evidence points to death by stoning, or crucifixion and worse. The only one of the original twelve that died a natural death was John the Beloved, and he lived the life of a hermit; which does not in itself make them right, but this kind of sacrifice from so many people with such different backgrounds makes one pause to consider.

Another reason that keeps me believing is the distinctive quality of the human soul. The declaration that man was made, In imageo Dei, fits us. Nothing else seems to at least to me. The philosopher, the theologian, the scientist, and the social activist all attempt to answer this most fundamental of questions: "What or Who is man?" That he is made for this world seems apparent to me. But that he is "blinded and bent," as St. Bonaventure said, seems just as apparent. The possibility that he is both made in God's image and separated from Him seems more than a plausible explanation. 

But even given this blindedness, and maybe because of it, something else is observable to me, and it is man's capacity to enjoy beauty, if I may return to the interests of our coffee shop friend. Beauty is everywhere, in the splendor of the world around us, and in the worlds we create. In the work of Mozart, Van Gogh, Dante, Homer -- and Garrison Keillor, and Mark Twain. Somehow a man or a woman sees something and relates it in such a way that we see what they see and enter into a mutual enjoyment of it.  All this points me to realities not contra-rational or trans-rational -- but simply a truth I can know and appreciate just by an observation, a sound, a touch, or a smell. A kind of instant insight into something real and permanent. The reality of the non-material as well as material universes. No matter who proclaims it. The attractiveness of Being exists.

Of the great cosmological questions, the research into the origins of the universe and of man himself, I can speak with little knowledge. I will say only this. Something must exist on its own, that is, without prior cause. And that from nothing comes nothing, ex nihilo nihil fit. The idea of nothing -- and not the nothing of our imagination, the nothing of outer space, but absolutely nothing; no gravity, no light waves, no dimensions, no time, nothing -- can spontaneously generate something, by its very definition, is an idea that will always be undiscoverable. Something or Someone must be the Uncaused Cause.

I believe that Someone exists eternally. So I must at least profess a Christian faith imperfect as everyone who knows me knows that it is. John, the beloved friend of Jesus, Peter, and Mary, His Mother, went to the burial tomb and said that it was empty. That the God-Man had risen. And I believe them.

It is a simple answer, but it is the one that I have settled on.  May God be gracious to us and shine His mercy upon us during this most wonderful of seasons.

Merry Christmas. And thanks for reading. I enjoy all of your comments.

Congress Done with Healthcare. Now this:

Nation's Girlfriends Unveil New Economic Plan: 'Let's Move In Together'

New Walking and Bicycling Trail.

The Star Telegram reports today that a new expansion of the Trinity Trails along Farmers Branch Creek is completed and open.

I look forward to seeing it, especially the waterfalls, and will post on it as soon as I do. If anyone has walked or biked through please let us know.

"It’s as pretty a stretch of the Trinity Trails as there is," said Darrell Beason, Fort Worth operations superintendent for the water district. Photo and quote from the FW Star Telegram.

http://www.star-telegram.com/189/story