Saturday, July 19, 2008

Salmon Burger

19 July 2008-
Christopher's Burger: 5295 College Avenue in North Oakland
Cost: $6.50 (salmon burger, fries extra)

Image Source: blogger's own

Rumor has it that Christopher's Burger is owned by the renowned chef Christopher Cheung who also owns the prestigious Marica Seafood next door. For the many years that I've been frequenting Christopher's I've also noticed a salmon burger on the menu board, but it's always been unavailable when I'm there, until this afternoon. Not believing my eyes, I reconfirmed the availability of the salmon burger today, and was reassured of their availability. With great anticipation, I ordered the salmon burger and a basket of fries.

My expectations were certainly high. I was trying to make a correlation between Christopher the chef and Christopher's Burger. If seafood is their main forte, I was expecting that the salmon burger would be their tour de force. Perhaps they always had a certain amount of salmon patties each day, but would sell out quickly from the first customers of the day. Unfortunately, I was never one of the first of the day, to get to Christopher's. It was always a lazy weekend afternoon sort of an affair for me.

Equipped with three different types of homemade mayo, aioli and chipotle sauce, I was ready to attack the salmon burger. They also provided me with a secret sauce container, which I suspected was tartar sauce. Honestly, I didn't know how or what to dress the salmon burger. I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure whether I needed mayonnaise at all. How would the chipotle sauce taste on fish?

I ended up dividing the patty into thirds and using the sauce evenly divided on the bun. I realized at the end, that I forgot to use any tartar, so I added that to the equation at the end.

Verdict: The salmon patty was actually quite dry and tasteless. I didn't even feel that any seasoning was added to the salmon at all. The bun, though slightly toasted, crumbled when I grappled the burger. The combination of mayo, aioli and chipotle sauce did nothing for me either. After years of anticipation, Christopher's salmon burger really let me down.

2 comments:

daveB said...

Christopher's on College was started by Christopher, who started and sold lots of places. He sold this one about six years ago. Despite pleading and careful instruction, they could not cook a burger less well done than medium. The concept is utterly foreign to them.

Bay Area Car Service said...

That looks exactly like an In N Out burger, except on a baguette instead of a bun. Will have to try this place out.