Munch loves this country. The pulsating cities. The excellent trout streams. The barns that say Mail Pouch Tobacco on the side. But I think it's fair to say the one thing America lacks, besides a comprehensive health insurance system and a college football playoff, is chefs who won't hesitate to put peanut butter on their hamburgers.

Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe is at 2518 East Carson, South Side. Information: 412-381-3698.
Munch can be reached at munch@post-gazette.com, or look for Munch on Facebook.

What are they so afraid of? The powerful jelly lobby?

Pittsburgh's long wait is over (unless someone out there is already making peanut butter burgers and Munch hadn't heard about it, which is extremely unlikely), courtesy of Over The Bar Bicycle Cafe, one of the newest entrants to the South Side's bar and dining scene. It is called the Dirt Rag burger ($6.95). Sounds appetizing, I know. But Dear One Of Munch (DOOM), perhaps the country's preeminent peanut butter junkie, saw it on the menu, and like any junkie, DOOM is always looking for that next quick fix.

Munch knows what you're thinking, and it goes something like this: Who, outside of Elvis Presley or possibly Michael Moore, would think of putting peanut butter on meat? But you're coming at this from a Euro-centric frame of mind. Asians know well the possibilities of meat and peanut flavors mixed together. (See Thai food, beef satay, peanut sauce, etc.)

Maybe the question shouldn't be, why? Maybe it should be, why didn't Munch think of this years ago? I spent the greater part of my childhood putting peanut butter on everything from grapes to Cheerios to household pets (my sincerest apologies, Puppers). You'd think just once Munch would have thought to give a hamburger the old Peter Pan treatment.

So, this peanut butter burger thing is an acquired taste. At OTB, you have the choice of one of three burgers -- beef, ground turkey or black bean. DOOM's turkey-and-peanut butter selection was oddly sweet, but the pickles on top offset that sweetness so that it wasn't cloying.

Munch's black bean burger, topped with just a slice of Swiss cheese ($5.95), is one of the best black bean burgers I've tasted in the South Side since Halo closed and was replaced by Charlie Murdoch's. Spicy, and minimalist.

Groupie of Munch (GOM) ordered a colossal beef and portobello burger ($7.95).

Here again we had a nice touch of sweetness (the portobello was marinated in balsamic vinegar) balanced against something sharper (in this case, it was the pungent bleu cheese). Munch liked it; GOM thought the mushroom was dull and undetectable, and the cheese too abundant. This, from a woman who considers cheese to be one of the four food groups.

The appetizers were preferred to the burgers -- the hummus platter ($6.95) features hummus from Salim's in Oakland, with its lovely, sandy quality, not a bland whipped puree that you see in so many other hummus dip variations. The sesame-crusted ahi tuna, joined with a small noodle salad and a septum-clearing wasabi drizzle, was a bargain ($6.95) for the size of the serving. The preparation didn't present any surprises, and that's a good thing when it comes to seafood. The last time I was surprised by a seafood dish, Munch spent the next six hours locked in the loo.

Party of Munch also sampled the "granny gear salad" ($6.95), so named because it contains bits of actual grandmother. No! It has Granny Smith apples in it, that's why. It's a hefty dish of spinach and apple slices, dressed in candied walnuts and a little cheddar crisp standing playfully upright in the salad, like a shark fin.

Sometimes, the way salads are tricked out these days with fruit and dried berries and walnuts and sunflower seeds and those awful canned mandarin orange slices, it's tough to know if you're eating greens or bowl of breakfast cereal. But OTB's salad showed at least a bit of restraint.

OTB has been open for about two months, in the former home of the forgettable Quagmire's Bar and Grill. The same group of owners runs OTB, and my, what a transformation. Yes, as the name implies, you ought to be expecting a bicycle theme if you visit -- gears on the walls, bikes hanging from the ceiling, and colorful biking murals. And actual cyclists seem to frequent the place; it's more than just cutesy decor

Munch's call? Go for the food and drink -- stay for the musky dude wearing spandex biking shorts, revealing a bit too much of his male figure and ruining your appetite in the process.