Burgers are just that good

Just thought you should know.

Balboa Cafe -- San Francisco, CA

3199 Fillmore Street
(at Greenwich)
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-921-3944
website

The Balboa Cafe's site promised the following: "...The elegant bar and interior decor remain relatively untouched, retaining the magic of times gone by, while the menu offers both treasured favorites and savory new dishes. On any given day -- for lunch, brunch, cocktails, or dinner couples, singles, old-timers and newcomers can be found reveling in the joyful din of this San Francisco icon."  Blah, blah, blah---it was a toilet; it reeked of stale booze; it had a movie theater floor stickiness to it.  This did not deter the intrepid Tess of the B'Urgervilles or myself from soldiering on to sample the well-reviewed cheeseburger at Balboa Cafe.

They had a burger, and Gayot.com proclaimed it to be the best thing in that city of vegan self-righteousness.  Sorry, for the grainy pic--the place was very dimly lit (below, there is a great shot of a really awful burger at SFO.).

The burger came out a perfect Med-Rare, and the blood was already soaking into the crusty baguette upon which it was served.  The baguette really worked, because of the texture that it brought to the party. On top of that, the crunch of the crust gave way to something much more yielding as the blood, fats, and other cow juices soaked into it.

The sear was just right on the oval burger--all you Father's Office fans, do not get excited--this burger was NOT an absolute pile of crap--it tasted good.  They hit it with salt and pepper. The beef was well-aged, if not a little (lot) on the oily side.  The burger was, in fact, greasier than the cast of the Jersey Shore, but the unlike that crew, the burger had substance and was enjoyable.

Burger Review : Good enough.

Rating...3 Bites

L.A. Burger -- Los Angeles, CA

6001 Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
323-938-4300

Today, after an unsatisfying trip to the tar pits with Happy Meal (age 7), I decided to perk him up with a trip to a burger stand.  Note:  the tar pits are pretty GD uninteresting to 7-year olds--now you know.  How could I go wrong?  The sign clearly stated that this was LA's best hamburger.  A total no lose situation.

We placed our order, and after an undue amount of negotiation and back and forth to get the order straight, we sat at the counter and watched the process.

The meat was in a tub, and they formed the patties by extracting a wad of a ground beef blend, making a ball, and smashing it flat on a seasoned griddle.  This imparted an even and deep sear to the burger. The cheese was tossed on when the burger hit the toasted, sesame seeded bun, and it melted just fine.  They did not season the meat when it was cooking.  The beef blend was pre-seasoned, and there was a fair amount of greenery in there.  They also used some sort of bread in the mix as filler, so the mix of spices, bread, and ground beef was not unlike a well-seasoned meatloaf patty on a toasted bun.  The texture was a little gummy, since the bread in the mix got saturated as the burger cooked, but this made it juicier without being greasy.

Frankly, this was a pretty good burger.  The lad was not pleased with it, but he did discover that he really liked the rings there.  Also, the fries were hand cut and pretty good.

Burger Review:  By no means was this the Best burger in LA, but it was a great deal for 5 bucks, and a decent burger--I'm coming back with some friends to double check on this one.

Rating...3 Bites

Excerpted from an Article on Five Guys from INC.

How I Did It: Jerry Murrell, Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Along with his sons, Jerry Murrell of Five Guys Burgers and Fries built a 570-store chain that enjoys a cult following.

As Told to Liz Welch |  Apr 1, 2010

Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French fries. Don't cut corners. That's been the business plan since Jerry Murrell and his sons opened their first burger joint in 1986. When they began selling franchises in 2002, the family had just five stores in northern Virginia. Today, there are 570 stores across the U.S. and Canada, with 2009 sales of $483 million. Overseeing the opening of about four new restaurants a week, the Murrells are proof that flipping burgers doesn't have to be a dead-end job.

There was this little hamburger place where I grew up in northern Michigan. Almost everyone in our town, except the uppity uppities, ate the burgers. Even though the owner had a cat, which he'd pet while cooking. People called them fur burgers, but they still ate them because they were good.....Read More Here