Salt House~: 545 Mission Street in San Francisco
http://www.salthousesf.com/
Cost: $15.00 (cheeseburger, onion rings included)
~ Honorable Mention
Image Source: blogger's own Earlier in the week, a coworker, fellow burger enthusiast had sampled the Salt House Burger and recommended it highly. Although he's fairly new to the Bay Area, he did seem quite enthusiastic. Judging from the $$$ rating from online reviews, and the more upscale decor, I decided to invite a former coworker, fellow burger enthusiast to survey this burger and compare notes.
The interior exudes a very classy, lofty-restaurant aesthetic; not dissimilar to my own office, located about a block away. We were glad to be seated immediately, although we didn't have a reservation for that particular lunch. After surveying the menu, we both settled on the Salt House Burger. I was a little wary though, because my friend has a tendency to be a little unpredictable. Needless to say, it kind of defeats the purpose when I premise the lunch meeting as a new burger survey, and someone orders a non-burger menu item. Luckily, it didn't happen, this time. I requested mine medium-rare, my friend, glared at the server and insinuated in his mannerisms "as rare as bloody possible" as he typically does.
For some reason, I totally blanked, and forgot to order the requisite bacon. Also, the Salt House only offers one type of cheese, cheddar; and instead of fries, they offer a unique ball of deep-fried, salty onions, (for lack of a better description, see picture above).
After a pretty long wait, our orders arrived. I can attest that my "medium-rare" burger was grilled to my exacting expectations. It was a very tender, juicy patty, that oozed with just enough burger juices and had a good amount of color in the cross section. I can also attest, that my friend's "rare" burger was pretty bloody-red, but the cross section looked like a quality cut of steak you might expect at a fine steakhouse, rather than a wormy, raw-ground chuck you might get at a cheaper, institutional burger establishment.
The burger patty was one of the most tasteful, I've ever sampled. It was so tender that morsels of patty started to disengage from the patty into the third or fourth bite. Next, the bun started falling apart, and it was at about the midpoint when I had to attack the rest of the burger with a fork and knife. The specially seasoned pickle, also really didn't do it for me. But, all-in-all, a very fine burger.
