Oh man! I forgot about MO’s. Delicious!!
Had a new fuckin burger at ABV in the Mission, SF. I believe its name comes from the fact that there was a chef change a couple years or so ago - the previous burger on the prior chef’s menu was a pimiento burger that I didn’t get to try, so I can’t compare. Comes on a poppyseed roll, with pickles, onions, a couple slices of white cheddar cheese, a Thousand Island like sauce, shredded lettuce. Good burger, a bit on the salty side due to the sauce, which was fine for me. Cooked pink in the middle, good beefy patty that could have been a little more seared on the outside. Conveniently sliced in half for easy picture taking. Cheese could have maybe been a little more melted. Pickles were nice and crunchy. A bag of chips that I think were house made came on the side, fresh and crispy.
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I had the burger at Bo’s Bistro in Albany today. For their tenth anniversary, they have a few dishes marked down to $10, and today the burger was one of them.
It was excellent in flavor and texture, and very juicy. At 8 oz, it was too big, but the leftovers will make a good dinner.
The sale will end any day now.
If I ever have a pre-show dinner at Monsieur Benjamin again, I’ll get the burger. I find the place sterile and the food soul-less in general.
Had a solid burger from Bandit on Geary near Leavenworth in the Tenderloin, a newish tiny hole in the wall restaurant with two counter seats and a couple more seats against the wall. I asked the man at the counter what his favorite burger was and he said either the cheeseburger with bacon or the Bad Mofo burger, which is a cheeseburger with bacon and grilled onions. I had the Bad Mofo burger ($13). Nice brioche bun. Melty muenster cheese, aioli, a thick slice of tomato, grilled onions and butter lettuce. The patty, which is made of American Wagyu beef, was medium rare and beefy. Could have used a touch more salt perhaps. Didn’t taste aged. The best part of the burger was the bacon, and I can see why he recommended a burger with it. Thickly sliced, smoky, with lots of flavor. Fries ($3) were pretty good - freshly fried and medium cut.
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Quite liked the burger at the Village Pub:
There are burgers…and, there are BURGERS…
This tasty burger is at Sweet’s aka Sweet Inspiration at 2239 Market Street/SF.
$5.49 cooked to order medium rare, 5 oz. patty. Double $7. Lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles and special zesty sauce. Cheeseburger $5.99. Fries are crispy $1.99. Good value. This is an Ike and Ryan venture.
Great half-lb. burger under $10 at The Pork Store on Haight Street includes fries or green salad - this is 8 oz. of beefy goodness. $9.99
My Go To BURGER is at The Morris $17 on potato bun with aioli (add Comte $2). Fries $4.
2501 Mariposa Street/SF. True love.
6/28/18 update
new favorite burger at Aracely cafe on Treasure Island at 401-13th Street.
1/3 lb. cooked to order medium-rare, with roasted potatoes on the side. $11. I love these roasted potatoes!
$7.50 burger at New Taraval Cafe - good burger!
$3.75 Double cheeseburger - best value at Hawaiian Drive In - 4827 Mission St.
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Berkeley Burger, Ninth St. at Gilman, has shut down. They never got the level of business that their predecessor, Farm Burger, had.
Israeli chain Burgerim opened a branch in the El Cerrito plaza a few months ago. It’s a little disappointing that they wouldn’t cook a burger to medium-rare, but the fries are excellent.
Grazzy Burger shut down last year, replaced by 310 Eatery, which claims to offer “LA Street Food”. I haven’t been to LA in years, but I don’t remember “street food” as a thing. Their burgers are good. Next door, the Albany Taproom continues to server the excellent burgers and fries that Grazzy used to have.
Probably mostly marketing gimmickry (see previous thread), but perhaps they are trying to capitalize on the popularity of Smorgasburg LA (kinda like Off The Grid Fort Mason, except bigger).
Really? from what i know/remember about L.A. (used to live there but I don’t go back regularly) is that there are tons and tons of taco trucks, bacon wrapped hot dog carts, churro carts, elote carts, tamale carts, fresh fruit carts, Filipino food vendors, a Korean night market, etc…
Grazzy’s burgers were a huge disappointment to us, something about the texture. I really like the burgers (and the people) at 310 Eatery but they get to be too much (they’re mostly all piled so high!) I keep forgetting to go back to Burgerim. they were pretty tasty.
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I lived there for most of the 1980s, and there was very little street food. Taco trucks were suspect (for Anglos), and the only carts had Mexican palletas. I think it’s only in the past 10-15 years that street food became common.
hmmm. i grew up there, moved to the OC in the 70s, but still hung out in L.A. a lot before moving up here in the mid-90s. Maybe just different areas, but i totally agree that the proliferation of food trucks - especially more upscale ones, is a newer thing.
A couple of recent burgers:
Nopa in SF on Divisadero at the communal table around midnight ($19 + I think a dollar for gruyere cheese). Very good, have had this a few times. Not the most economical burger at around 20 bucks but it does come with fries and considering the prices of the rest of the menu items is a comparative deal for the amount of food. A very thick patty that was pink in the middle and medium rare as requested. Juicy meat but not super juicy. Brioche like bun. Excellent fries. On the side there was lettuce, pickled onions, a green tarragon flavored aioli, and some chunky ketchup that I think is made in house. The burger with bun, cheese, and patty was quite thick already so I forgoed putting the vegetables inside the bun and just ate bites of the onions and lettuce between bites of the burger, whilst occasionally spreading a dab of aioli and/or ketchup on the burger.
Another burger from Maven in the Lower Haight. Pretty good, but not quite as good as the one from Nopa. It’s $17, comes in a sesame brioche-like bun dressed with Muenster cheese, mayo/secret sauce, lettuce, and pickles. It came with a choice of fries or salad (I got salad this time). Juicy patty.
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You mean the place on Gilman that was also Marin Pizza? Is the spot empty? They put in all those video monitors.
Nopa’s Fries are my all time favorite in SF.
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Yes, the spot on Gilman and Ninth in Berkeley. I don’t know what’s going into it now.
I remember doing a gig in downtown LA and there was a really greasy spoon lunch counter that was actually on the sidewalk with chairs. The place had the stench of … well, it had a stench, and the food was OK if you were drunk. That would have been within a few blocks of the Tower Theater, I can’t find anything like it on google maps…
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They were really good, light and crispy.
Anyone have any recommendations for South Bay/Lower Peninsula?
I had an excellent burger at the Oakland Museum (“Blue Oak Cafe”) the other day. It was thick and juicy, and they were able to cook it to a perfect medium rare. The fries were crisp and fresh. I was surprised that a museum cafeteria would be so good.
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