Summer bodies don’t matter here, summer is the season for pizza and burgers. Whether you’re Vegan or carnivore, hit the Fierce Bites for your guide on where to eat out this month.
We here at Knotfest have scoured the country to find some of the best metal-themed restaurants, bars, and cafes. Fierce Bites spotlights a monthly menu highlighting some hard-core menu items that will you chomping at the air.
You’ve put in the work to get your summer body ready for beach, but now it’s time to treat yourself. This month, we have some returning favorites with new dishes and we wanted to introduce a new burger spot to our menu. LA’s Evil Cooks is back and this time their serving up a dessert taco. Kuma’s Corner and Sizzle Pie are coming strong with their monthly specials. Fierce Bites new comer, The 4th Horseman, has returned to the menu with another unforgettable pizza pie. Burgers are a summer staple so we’re introducing the Knotfest faithful to Full Metal Burgers out of San Diego. If you’re a fan of hot sauce, we got you covered with another first timer, Lou’s Hot Sauce out of the UK. Enjoy this month’s menu!
Lou’s Hot Sauce is slanging artisanal sauces out of Manchester, UK. Lou’s offers a variety of hot sauces, jalapeño jams and merch. The hot sauce brand has collaborated with the likes of Bring Me the Horizon, While She Sleeps and Dobby Club.
Lou’s Cowboy Candy – Candied Jalapeño Jars are made with simple ingredients: Jalapeños, Cider Vinegar, Sugar, Turmeric, Black Pepper, Garlic. These sweet and spicy jalapeños go with pretty much anything – salads, wraps, pizza, nachos, fries, cheese and crackers, and according to Lou even “momma’s over-cooked Sunday roast.” The candied jalapeños come in a range of heat levels and flavors including Original, Maple Bourbon, Salted Caramel and the seriously hot Extra Hot.
Full Metal Burgers was born out of a love for food, friends, and Southern California craft beer. Company owner, Ben Burley, spent years working a desk job in a stressful industry, but was happiest when he was cooking for his friends and sitting in the backyard enjoying a cold one. After a year of perfecting the right burger strategy and trying it out on roommates and friends, the idea to start a burger company was planted. The idea became reality in the Summer of 2016 when Full Metal Burger when they became a vendor at an auto show. That first event started a string of other bookings and by January of 2017, they were a full time operation, trekking to breweries, parties, and events all over San Diego.
This month we are spotlighting the Legion of Shrooms Burger. This offering takes a single beef patty, two slices of Swiss cheese, grilled onions & mushrooms with Dijon mustard. Don’t let these simple toppings full you, this burger is a beast.
Founders Matt Jacobson and Mikey McKennedy came together and envisioned an independent pizzeria that would serve up the perfect slice. In 2011, they opened up their first location on East Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon. Since then, they have consistently ranked in the top 10 independent pizzerias in the country. They serve East Coast style slices and pies with a healthy blend of West Coast flair by turning the freshest, highest-quality ingredients into tried and true classics with bold new pizza visions in a variety of meat, veggie, and vegan options.
If you’ve been following Fierce Bites, you know Sizzle Pie offers a monthly pizza special. This month they’re offering the Vegan Banh Mi Pizza. If you’re wondering, yes, like the famous Vietnamese sandwich. The pie has a Sriracha mayo base and is topped with roasted cauliflower, jalapeño, pickled daikon, cilantro, lite drizzle Vegan Hoisin Sauce.
Kuma’s started in 2005 with its flagship location at the corner of Belmont and Francisco avenues in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood. From their origins as a corner bar with solid American bistro fare, they’ve grown to five locations that offer the finest burgers available on this planet or any other.
Our Fierce Bites faithful know Kuma’s Corner comes correct with a crazy burger of the month inspired by their favorite metal bands and charities. This month, proceeds from the burger go to the Live Like Roo Foundation. The Darkest Hour takes Kuma’s 10oz burger and dresses it with Nashville Sauce, dill aioli, pickles, Nashville dipped chicken tender, blackened frizzled onions, lettuce, tomato and red onion.
The 4th Horseman was started by Ryan Hughes and Martin Svab formerly of the craft brewery Phantom Carriage, Chef Adam Schmalz and Dark Art Emporium owner Jeremy Schott in the heart of Downtown Long Beach, CA back in 2018. The apocalyptic pizzeria is an ode to horror films and all things macabre. The decor includes shrunken heads, vintage monster posters and probably the creepiest thing of all… old TV sets blasting static (thanks Poltergeist). You can’t have a horror themed pizzeria without the appropriately named pizzas. Some of the names include ‘Death to Piggy,’ ‘Pastrami Dearest’ and ‘Momento More.’
The Hellfire is sure to make you sweat and keep your belly hot. The XXX hot pizza is topped with bacon, mozzarella, house made ricotta, habanero, jalapeño, roasted red peppers, basil and Apocalyptic sauce (in pentagram shape).
Fierce Bites favorites, The Evil Cooks, are back! Pobre Diablo and La Bruja have been in business over a decade but in the past few years they’ve decided to focus on food production on a smaller scale to give more attention to their customers. LA has some of the best taquerias outside of Mexico but their concept is a little different than most. They specialize in street gourmet tacos and are notorious for their Black Al Pastor and Black Octopus.
We’ve showed you their savory tacos and tots, but this month we’re showing you their sweet side. The flan taco takes a hybrid tortilla and loads it with a beautifully dense flan, coconut candy, Polvorón, orange peels and mint.
Sign up for the Knotfest Email List for exclusive access to news, tours, interviews, pre-sale codes, giveaways and more.