Should've Ordered Chicken

24 July 2008-
Il Pollaio: 555 Columbus Avenue in North Beach San Francisco
Cost: $8.75 (cheeseburger, fries or salad included)

Image Source: blogger's own

I took Latin in high-school, and unfortunately to this day, I can't claim to have possessed the ability to speak, read or write a word of latin. Therefore, I don't even try to read or comprehend foreign language signs. When "Il Pollaio" was recommended as a best burger from a burger enthusiast acquaintance, I didn't think twice about the literal translation. I just thought, 'shoot I have to try this burger.' Famished, one day after work, I decided to trek up to North Beach to sample the Il Pollaio burger.

I walk in this dining establishment, and the place is packed. There's an open-flame grill in the corner with about a dozen whole chickens getting fired up. I sit down, and the whole menu is chicken. I couldn't find any burger anywhere on the menu. I was a little nervous, and started to perspire; however, I was confident there must be a burger, or why else would this person recommend this spot to me!?

The waitress arrived, and I asked meekly if they had a burger. She pointed to the very bottom of the menu, and in tiny print, there's a description that alludes to some sort of burger. Without relooking at the menu description, I ordered their cheeseburger "medium-rare". When I asked them if I could add bacon, there was no bacon. I began to sweat even more.

So, the place was packed, there's dozens of chickens on the grill, everyone is eating chicken and drinking wine, and I've just ordered their burger in fine print on the menu.

Verdict: The order was taking way longer than expected. It was an open kitchen in the middle of the dining room, and I noticed that the cooks were on their smoke break every 2 minutes. 'Someone should be carefully monitoring the grill' I thought. There is a very fine line between rare and medium-rare, and medium-rare and medium, and medium and medium-well...

The order arrived, and I saw a huge, honking slab of meat between two Italian bread rolls. There were no condiments, just the slab of meat, two pieces of bread and lettuce, tomato and onions. It looked dry to me. I requested mayonnaise on the side, and was handed four squeezable packets. As soon as I saw these packets of squeezable mayonnaise, I kind of knew what to expect.

The burger was completely dry and over-cooked. This was probably the first time in my life where I didn't even get half-way through the burger. I thought the whole time, 'should've ordered chicken'...

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.

Made to Order

18 July 2008-
Fat Apple's Restaurant and Bakery~: 7525 Fairmount Avenue in El Cerrito
Cost: $9.10 (bacon cheeseburger, fries extra)
~ Honorable Mention

Image Source: blogger's own

On my Friday off from work, I had my heart set on trying out Circus Pub in Kensington which was a tip from some local burger enthusiasts that I met recently. To my dismay, the kitchen at Circus Pub was closed when I arrived a hair before five. Rather than wait, I decided to try out Fat Apple's down the street since a coworker friend, fellow burger enthusiast mentioned it was designed by the renowned architect David Baker (who happened to be a guest critic in one of my architecture studio finals at UC Berkeley). I thought I'd at least go check out the architecture, although I kind of expected a comparable standard of quality to my positive experience at the location in North Berkeley. Anyway, in contrast to Circus Pub's stark and desolate interior at the time, Fat Apple's was already bustling, but it was soon to get even more crowded.

The instant I got seated, I knew exactly what I wanted. I ordered their bacon cheeseburger "medium-rare" (medium-well is their standard) and a side of fries. The wait seemed endless. I was concerned that they might have been over-grilling the burger since I was waiting a little longer than expected.

Verdict: By the time the order arrived, and the requisite side of mayo was delivered, I dug in. The bread was extra soft on the outside, but toasted on the inside. It was kind of fluffy and soft when I collapsed the burger composition with all the fixings inside. Upon the first few bites, I could tell immediately that the burger was cooked quite rare. It could have passed as completely and unadulterated "rare", but it's not a complaint, since the burger patty was delicious and juicy. Similar to the Fat Apple's in Berkeley, they really deliver the fixings for the burger.

As I was about to finish, my coworker friend, burger enthusiast (who informed me of this Fat Apple's) walked in with his family. I joined their table and postponed the final half of the burger until their orders arrived. At this point, the cheese started to solidify, and the burger blood drippings had started to clot well after platelet formation. It was evident, that this burger had lost it's "freshness". The bun which was previously warm and toasted, was still toasted, but no longer warm. The burger remnant felt kind of lumpy and seemed like it may have gained some weight from the long hiatus.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is the burger still tasted great! I couldn't believe I was eating the last portion of this cold burger, but it was still so, so good. I truly can't wait until my next visit to Fat Apple's in El Cerrito.

Thin Layer of Insecurity

17 July 2008-
Pearl's Deluxe Burgers: 408 Post Street in San Francisco
Cost: $7.15 (bacon cheeseburger, fries extra)
http://www.pearlsdiner.com/

Image Source: blogger's own

I've always wanted to survey the original Pearl's Diner in Mill Valley, but realizing that there's another location a little closer to home in downtown SF, decided to head out there after work one evening. The place has been hyped as one of the best burgers in the Bay Area. So, with high expectations, and equipped with a hungry appetite, I climbed up Jones to my destination.

Although Pearl's Deluxe is located a little ways above the Tenderloin, the area can be quite a bit sketchy. I remember seeing the place a while ago, and then trying to locate the restaurant again when the sun with setting and without directions or even a correct address - only to hurry my body quickly back down to Union Square's familiar territory. The surrounding vicinity is not for the faint hearted, I'd also recommend mapping a proper itinerary path up to Pearl's Deluxe since it's quite easy to lose your hungry appetite if you're not careful about your directions and meander into the wrong neighborhood.

Pearl's serves up a wide variety of burger permutations as "deluxe" or "mini" size. I ordered the deluxe bacon cheeseburger, and was waiting for them to confirm grilling preference. After an uncomfortable pause, I inquired about their grilling preference policy. Of course, it's possible to request burger patty preference, but one must know about this in advance since there's a sign on the menu board which states that 'medium' is their standard unless otherwise specified.

Verdict: You know 99% of the burgers that I survey could be improved if only the buns were properly toasted. I think it would be better for the environment too, since you'd actually injest the grease rather than waste napkins wiping the grease from their faces while chomping the burger. You might also be able to multitask while eating, and perhaps put your burger down for a second to work on the fries since a toasted bun acts like a sponge which both soaks up the grease in the cellular air pockets created from the act of toasting, as well as, supports the structural integrity of the burger.

I noticed that even if the buns were in fact properly toasted, I wouldn't dare put today's Pearl's Deluxe burger down on my red, plastic burger tray separated by a thin layer of wax paper. The 50's diner aesthetic is cute, but what's the deal with these reusable, red, plastic basket trays and a thin layer wax paper to serve burgers on? Maybe I missed something in home ec class, but what's so incredibly sanitary about wax paper? Can someone please explain what side of the paper the visible greasy mess is on the bottom of my basket tray? Is the wax paper protecting my burger from the leftover grease from a previous burger; or is the wax paper preventing my drippy, greasy burger mess from spattering the burger basket? Also, what precautions are then taken to prevent germs from transmitting between the reusable, red, plastic tray surface and my fries and that bacon draped over the edge (see picture above)?

Aside from this, the burger meat definitely had some redness, though the taste was a little bland. The fries however, are definitely blog worthy.

Sumo Burger Take Two

14 July 2008-
Oishii Embarcadero: 4 Embarcadero Center in San Francisco
Cost: $5.07 (angus cheeseburger, fries included)

Image Source: blogger's own

The first Oishii Cafe review was an utter disappointment (see 16 August 2006 review). Since their Sumo burger came as a recommendation from a former coworker and fellow burger enthusiast, I felt that I owed them a proper review since the previous Oishii is only a small take-out window that is literally smaller than a tiny newspaper stand.

The moment I decided on the re-review, I was already imagining the finest marbleized kobe beef steaks being grounded for these burgers. I knew that the Japanese weren't unfamiliar with perfection and technical precision. With this confidence, I gathered up my burger posse to head up the review at 4 Embarcadero Center.

The interior of Oishii is stuck in a time capsule that hasn't progressed with the times. It doesn't appear to have changed since the office towers were constructed in the early 1980's while the surrounding retail and commercial storefronts have all gone through extensive renovations and upgrades. Because of this visually unstimulating decor, we decided on a table outside overlooking Justin Herman Plaza.

Verdict: I really knew something was amiss when there wasn't any bacon available for my burger; and there weren't many (if any) burger permutations offered. Also, it was a sit-down restaurant and the wait staff didn't ask for grilling preference. Just to make sure, I asked if they grill their burgers to order, but I got a really strange look when I explicitly requested "medium-rare", and I felt like this was probably the first time anybody has ever made such a request to them.

Since I was the first one to order, I seemed to have started a trend about requesting personal grilling preferences, because then everyone else started tagging on their preferences to their orders. I could sense that the wait staff wasn't really following our specific requests very carefully, because there were a lot of us, and they didn't seem to be taking very many notes.

Sure enough, when our orders arrived, and I took my first bite, our orders got mixed up. With my luck, I probably ended up with one of the "medium-well" (tasteless) burgers at the table. I surely didn't enjoy the burger. The fries were pretty dry and tasteless too.

Ranchers in SF

8 July 2008-

Prather Ranch Booth: Ferry Building Tuesday Farmer's Market

Cost: $8.00 (cheeseburger, fries not available)

http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/prather_ranch_meat_co.php

Image Source: blogger's own

Every Tuesday, the San Francisco farmer's market is in full effect at the Ferry Building. The weather was beautiful, so my burger crew braved the weather on this gorgeous July afternoon. I've been eating at the Prather Ranch booth at the farmer's market for several years now, but have always forgotten to bring the proper photo documentation device. Equipped with my digital elf, I approached the Prather Ranch booth. However, today, I noticed that the booth raised their prices.

There's no grilling preference, but the fellows at Prather Ranch run the booth with an open charcoal, flaming grill. They offer an array of "organic, sustainable, humane, pasture raised" meats. They even have buffalo burgers and use ACME breads for their buns.

Verdict: Today's Prather Ranch burger was their best since I started frequenting this Farmer's Market a few years ago. The patty was pretty juicy and tender, the bun, although untoasted was pretty tasty. Unfortunately, the booth was lacking in condiments as they typically are, and it's also unfortunate that they don't have sufficient dedicated seating.

Default is Medium-Rare

7 July 2008-
Inn Kensington Restaurant: 293 Arlington Avenue in Kensington
Cost: $7.50 (cheeseburger, salad or soup included)

Image Source: blogger's own

Before today, I've never really had the opportunity to explore Kensington in the Bay Area. My gosh, am I impressed! In fact, I think I want to move here if I ever decide to move away from urban, city-life for suburban, single-family home life. Inn Kensington Restaurant was recommended by another burger enthusiast recently. I decided to survey it on my day off from work.

When I asked my server who seems to also be the owner, whether they cook to specific grilling preference, he responded "standard is medium-rare". With e. coli, mad-cow and other health-safety concerns, this is quite unprecedented for a burger establishment to claim. However, since I'm all for it, I smiled back and ordered it standard.

Verdict: The first few bites were great. The patty was thick and juicy, but a little singed and burnt like bbq standards. But the kaiser roll, wasn't toasted, and started to break apart towards the middle of the experience. I knife-and-forked the rest of the burger like a steak. Because I had a side-salad, the meal kind of turned into a burger salad. The quality was alright, but as my readership may know, a non-toasted bun which lacks structural integrity can't really compete.