The first thing we did was ask around town.  Everyone had a different solution for us.  Various meat shops were recommended; some people told us that we would never find what we were looking for here because there’s not enough fat on the cows and others told us to go well beyond the Corozal town limits to find our beef.  There were a couple options that appealed the most to us.  The first was a company called Running W that was located in the Cayo district (about a 3 hour drive from Corozal) and the second option was to contact the food buyer for the Las Vegas casino in the Free Zone because they get their meat brought in from the states.  First Will called the woman at the casino to talk to her about possibly getting in on their orders but that was an immediate dead end.  They didn’t get their supply from the states anymore and if we were going to tag on to their orders we would also need an import permit.  We didn’t want to put in that additional cost right off the bat so we went to option B.  We were told that the Running W had meat sent in to the stores in Belize City on a regular basis and since we were making some trips over there we decided that we would buy some samples and see what their deal was.  When we finally got to Belize City to buy these samples we found that there was no Running W meat in town because of all the flooding that was happening across the country.  Damn.  So we bought some random samplings of the beef patties that were in the store to try them out.  At this point we were all getting a bit discouraged because if we couldn’t find the meat we wanted then our whole vision would go down the drain. 

We got back to Corozal with our meat as well as all the other supplies we would need to create our first burger.  Will got the grill fired up and it would be our first attempt.  It was an exciting moment with mom and I sitting in the bar waiting anxiously to try out our product.  Will got the burger finished and presented it on a simple ceramic plate for us all to try.  It looked great, we were all optimistic.  Will cut up the burger in three pieces so we could all have a sample.  The three of us took a bite in a coordinated effort and we all knew right away that this wasn’t it.  My dreams were dashed – we would still be on the search for this non-existent beef.  The problem came in the taste.  It cooked up fine and the meat held together but the suppliers put their own blend of seasonings in the actual ground beef that gave the final product more of a meat loaf taste.  It would not be good enough.  Our goal was an all-American juicy burger, not a slab of meatloaf on a bun.  When various meat shops were being recommended early on there was one that was repeatedly mentioned.  Frank’s Meats right in Corozal town – we had been told they are the best in Corozal but even they most likely would not have what we were looking for.  Since we were already down the list to option C we didn’t have much choice but try them out.  So the next day we found our way to Frank’s to see if they could sell us what we needed.  Frank is an extremely friendly man and was more than willing to help us out.  He was excited to hear that there would be a new place opening up in town and also eager for the new business.  We purchased some of his ground beef and some ground steak, the plan was to try a burger made of purely ground beef, one of purely ground steak and one with a mix of both.  So we got back home and Will tried again – he was the one with all the burger cooking experience since he had been an assistant manager at Helvetia Tavern in Oregon where burgers were their specialty.  He got all three burgers made and we sat around again to sample the final result.  This was more like it – all three tasted like an American burger but they all had distinctly different tastes as well.  The meat would make a big difference.  We all voted and decided on the winner which I won’t divulge here since I’m sure all my competition are keeping tabs on this blog J

Our Burger

So it was a success.  We were yet another step closer to opening day which was tentatively set for November 15^th since we were still waiting for the liquor license to be approved.  We all sat around laughing at ourselves for being in a new country trying to open this restaurant up and not even knowing if we could get good beef – what were we thinking?  Either way we were learning a lot along the way and having some interesting experiences to go along with it.