One summer in college, I went to Los Angeles to spend the week with a few friends. One of them helped open my eyes to the many wonderful uses of peanut butter.

I had only believed that you could use peanut butter for sandwiches and crackers until this point. Shawn showed me that it could really jazz up a bagel, an apple or even a banana.

Not all of these uses appealed to me, but it definitely made me open my mind a little. I thought back to that week the other day as I sat at a bar in Indianapolis.

I had to travel there for work. Before I left, I asked some friends who knew the city for dining recommendations. One pub showed up on almost every reply I received.

After settling into my seat on Wednesday night, just a few hours after my arrival, I began to peruse their extensive menu. I kept flipping back to one page, the one with all of their burger selections.

They had a burger special which a friend of a friend highly recommended. He worked at the newspaper in Indianapolis for a number of years, and I try to always trust suggestions from fellow journalists.

But this burger – the Shewman Special – had a unique combination. They topped the thing with bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato and onion. They also mixed jalapenos in with the cheese. Those aren’t my favorite, but I could survive.

The final ingredient kept me both interested and worried as I considered my order. The burger had peanut butter on it.

I had mulled this situation over ever since I found out about the burger a day or so before I left. I love burgers. I love peanut butter. Would I love them together?

I sometimes have very hard and fast rules about food. Pineapple is fine, but it does not belong on a pizza. Same goes for veggies outside of onions, mushrooms and, even though I don’t like them, green peppers.

Too many people try to mix and match different foods just to shock people, but sometimes the combinations work. Would peanut butter on a hamburger fit in that category? After all, the burger has been named one of the 25 best burgers in Indy.

I considered the fact that the burger had so many different things on it, the tastes might all just mesh into one. I also considered the fact that I would be drinking a beer so it might not really matter what I ate for dinner.

Seeing as how I don’t know when or if I will ever return to Indianapolis again, I bit the bullet and ordered the Shewman Special. I agree with the guy who gave me the recommendation – don’t knock it until you try it.

I couldn’t finish the burger, but that had more to do with how huge the thing was than the taste. Once in a while I got a taste of peanut butter. Sometimes a jalapeño hit my taste buds. Mostly, I just tasted burgery goodness.

So thanks to the recommendation and my college friend’s peanut butter obsession, I came away a winner.