A Hamburger Today - AHT: San Diego

San Diego: Hubcap's Burger is Within Inches of Perfection

2013-05-23T14:45:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Hubcap

3926 30th St, San Diego CA 92104 (map); 619-291-1859; hubcapsd.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A tasty burger that, with a few minor tweaks, could easily be one of the best in the city
Want Fries With That? Nah, skip 'em.
Price: Hubcap burger, $9; fries with red eye gravy and fluffy cheese, $9
Notes: Pints and cocktails are $5 from 5 to 7 p.m., daily. Restaurant is closed on Mondays

When farm-to-table taco spot El Take it Easy switched concepts to a "grass-fed burger, cocktail and craft beer shack" named Hubcap almost overnight, I was cautiously optimistic. Enthusiastically captioned Yelp photos showed promise, and owner Jay Porter's other venture, The Linkery, already puts out an excellent burger (or so says my San Diego AHT predecessor).

If you want to know exactly what goes into the burger, simply flip over your menu, or click here and you'll be directed to a doodle that deconstructs the entire creation, noting the seven-ounce grass-fed beef patty, housemade pickles and mayo, and "fluffy cheese spread" (cream cheese mixed with cheddar and blue cheese). The final assembled burger is a beauty to behold, and within inches—millimeters, even—of perfection.

Normally, I'd start off by speaking to the merits of the beef, but the bun was so delicious that it deserves top billing. It's buttered, then grilled on the plancha (aka flattop), until golden brown, giving it a crisp, crunchy texture (much like the buns at In-N-Out). All of the vegetable toppings, from the house-made bread and butter pickles and the tomato, to the iceberg and the white onion (which I nixed), were cut razor-thin. This treatment transformed the vegetable portion of the burger it into what tasted like a mayo-dressed salad on top of the beef. It worked for everything except the lettuce. Cut that thin, it registered as wet, not crunchy. Fettuccine-sized strips, as opposed to angel hair, would be better. That being said, the flavors were totally on point. The knockout combination of sweet and tangy pickles, fatty mayo, and salty, savory cheese was excellent. This is easily one of the best burgers I've had in months.

Not being one to question the infinite wisdom of a burger doodle, I went along with the suggested temperature: rare. The loosely packed, lightly seasoned patty I received had a moist and juicy pink center and a barely-browned exterior with almost zero crust. If your personal preference is for a patty with more char, order yours medium-rare or even medium. There's plenty of mayo to make up for any moisture gap that might result from a longer cooking time.

You can add a side of fries for $4, but I had to try the poutine-esque fries topped with fluffy cheese mixed into the red eye gravy, with sliced ham on top. The first few bites were great, but the high salt factor makes this a dish you'll want to split with four people (and drinking a beer with it is not negotiable). Next time, I'd skip the fries entirely. They're serviceable, but the burger outshines them and is more than enough to satisfy any appetite.

Tweaking the lettuce and getting some more char on that top-quality beef would put Hubcap's burger squarely within "best in the city" territory, but as served, it's still going to blow your socks off. Might want to spare them the carnage and opt for flip-flops.

About the author: Erin Jackson is a food writer and photographer who is obsessed with discovering the best eats in San Diego. You can find all of her discoveries on her food blog EJeats.com. On Twitter, she's @ErinJax

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San Diego: The KGB at D Bar is Stunning, Minus the Beef

2013-05-16T14:00:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

D Bar

3930 5th Ave, San Diego CA 92103 (map); 602-381-7632; dbarsandiego.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A waffle burger that's missing a tasty patty
Want Fries With That? Garlic parmesan fries come standard, but you'll still need to order crüe fries
Price: KGB, $15; Crüe Fries, $5 for a small portion during happy hour, regular size, $9

When I sat down with Keegan Gerhard at D Bar to watch him assemble the Sunshine on a Plate, he clued me into a menu item that I just had to try: the KGB. It's from D Bar's secret menu and features a grilled beef patty sandwiched between two cheese and herb waffles, topped with bacon, caramelized onions, cheese, mayo, and the standard veggies.

Enough time had gone by for me to recover from the waffle woe that was Pete Mayo's Waffle Burger, so I placed the order with full confidence that a restaurant that specializes in awesome desserts (including a few with sweet waffles) could do the genre better justice.

In many ways, that's exactly what happened. Toppings were of a high caliber, the burger was carefully constructed, and the waffle was flawless...but the beef never really showed up to join the party. D Bar uses American Kobe (aka wagyu), and based on the burger I received, it's not money well spent.

The patty was striped with hash marks from the grill, but otherwise it was an unappealing shade of gray. The grind was so fine it looked pulverized, and while there was some crust on the exterior, the interior was cool and mushy, and any flavor the beef had was totally overwhelmed by the bacon. I'll forgive the restaurant, a Denver import, for not knowing about local farms like Brandt Beef and Sage Mountain Farm, and to be fair, Keegan did let it slip that they're considering reformulating the burger by looking into local producers (as well as adding it to the regular, printed menu). Hey Keegan, if you need a beef consultant, my fee is one Cake and Shake.

Garlic parmesan fries come standard. They're tasty, but the garlic was imperceptible, and the cheese wasn't melted, so it felt separate, like some random flotsam strewn about the thin-cut spuds.

See if your server will upgrade to the Crüe Fries, or go during Happy Hour, when a small serving is $5. The addition of creamy mac sauce, ranch dressing, cheddar jack, and bacon doesn't just elevate the spuds, it blasts them to another dimension. Even if you don't plan on eating every last one, you will...and then you'll use the fries that come with your burger to swipe up the remaining sauce.

With a beef upgrade, the KGB would be a hot little number. Here's hoping D Bar gives that wagyu the boot.

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San Diego: Delux's Burgers (and Burger Dogs) Mostly Hit the Mark

2013-04-25T14:45:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Delux Dogs

943 Orange Ave, Coronado CA 92118 (map); 619-319-5338; deluxdogs.com
Cooking method: Griddled
Short Order: Classic cheeseburgers served on brioche or hot dog buns that hit the mark on most points but could use more char
Want Fries With That? Get the 50/50 tots instead (half sweet potato, half regular)
Price: Crown City Burger, $5.99; Burger Dog, $5.99; 50/50 Potato Tots, $2.99

In Coronado, Delux Dogs specializes in tricked out hot dogs with regional (and sandwich) inspired toppings, like The Border Town, a TJ-style dog wrapped in bacon with nacho cheese, hot sauce, guacamole, salsa, and crema; The Tokyo, a Teriyaki-glazed, seaweed and sesame-topped dog that's the closest thing you'll get to Japadog in SD; and my personal favorite, The B.L.T., with crumbled bacon, lettuce, tomato, and Japanese mayo. If you want your beef in burger (not frankfurter) form, you've got two choices: a classic cheeseburger or a Burger Dog.

I was psyched to see another operator offering something as delightfully kooky as the Wiener Burger at Dog House Diner in Encinitas, but it wasn't to be. The Burger Dog ($5.99) isn't a burger in the shape of a hot dog—it's a cheese-topped patty cut in half and stuffed into a hot dog bun. Still, it, and the traditional cheeseburger ($5.99), are worth trying.

Burgers at Delux hit the mark more than they miss it: toppings are fresh and well portioned, and the beef is moist, juicy, coarsely ground, cooked properly to order, and reasonably well seasoned. The only thing that's lacking is some real char. Aside from a bit of browning around the edge, there's no crust or char on the patties. They're moist, but mushy. Once assembled on a barely-toasted brioche bun (or an even softer, un-toasted hot dog bun), the lack of textural contrast becomes even more apparent as the mushy factor approaches near-total. The lettuce is this burger's only real hope for crunch, and that's just too big a burden to place on a few leaves of iceberg.

With their top-notch veggies, tasty buns, and well-seasoned beef, both the traditional cheeseburger and the burger dog have potential to steal business away from the Coronado Burger Lounge outpost, practically a straight shot across Orange Avenue, but not until there's more char in their game.

Until then, the best argument for choosing Delux over other nearby competitors is the wide array of sides, drinks, and desserts. For starch, I'd go with the 50/50 tots ($2.99), a basket of tater tots (half sweet potato, half regular) lightly seasoned and served with a mustard and mayo-based dipping sauce. For drinks, go with the Orange Avenue Whip ($2.75/$3.50), an Orange Julius-meets-Creamsicle drink that's both frosty and creamy. If you can take any more sugar, there are intriguing cookie and ice cream sandwiches ($4.99) for dessert, like key lime ice cream squished between two coconut oatmeal cookies. For my money, they're a better option than a scoop at Mootime Creamery, the Island's main ice cream shop.

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San Diego: Beef Blunder at Saltbox

2013-04-10T14:45:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Saltbox

1047 5th Ave, San Diego CA 92101, inside the Palomar Hotel (map); 619-515-3003; saltboxrestaurant.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A well-conceived but poorly executed burger
Want Fries With That? Rosemary-heavy fries come standard, but they're not great
Price: Hamburguesa Grande, $16

With spring comes the arrival of many more tourists and convention attendees to the Gaslamp Quarter, all seemingly facing the same dilemma: where to eat lunch. Being a one-time out-of-towner myself, I have a soft spot for this lot and make it a point to regularly check in on downtown burger offerings in hopes of finding an appointment-worthy patty. And though Saltbox (in the Hotel Palomar) does offer the sustenance-seeking crowd certain advantages (solid cocktails and a sleek dining area), the Hamburguesa Grande is only great in theory.

The behemoth of a burger starts with a hand-formed patty of Brandt beef that's topped with roasted salsa, guacamole, and jack cheese. True to its name, it's gigantic, likely around 1/3 of a pound. Conceptually, it's a great burger. The combo of roasted salsa and avocado is delicious, and the torta roll is a nice little hat-tip to the Mexican influence in San Diego's food scene, even though it really should have been toasted to stand up to all of the juices.

But the minor bun flub could be easily overlooked—it was nothing compared to the heartbreakingly bad treatment of the Brandt beef. It's ground much too fine, to the point that the interior of my medium-rare patty tasted like a cool beef paste. It's also lacking seasoning and, consequently, flavor. Despite waiting 30 minutes for the burger to come to the table and being so hungry my hands were shaking, I ate less than half of it.

After abandoning the burger, I hoped the visually striking hand-cut fries would be the saving grace of the meal (or at least quiet my still-starving stomach), but the rosemary was portioned with the same vigor as an 8th grade boy applying body spray before a school dance: far too heavily. Making matters worse, the spuds were served at room temperature and tasted like cardboard.

Pricing burgers at a premium sets expectations high, and when they're not met, it's a substantially worse letdown. At $16, a burger needs to be reliably awesome every single time, with no "off days" allowed. I still think Saltbox is worth a visit, just not for the burger. Stick with the daily lunch special ($12) and Moscow mule.

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San Diego: In Pursuit of Poutine and a Classic Burger at Heights Tavern

2013-03-28T15:00:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Heights Tavern

3377 Adams Ave, San Diego CA 92116 (map); 619-302-8178; heightstavern.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: Your basic bar burger on a better than average bun
Want Fries With That? The fries will be the highlight of the meal, so yes
Price: Burger, $10.50; Canadian Poutine, $9

San Diego is so packed with burger purveyors that I'm often faced with the same dilemma when it's time to file a review: hit one of the established joints or try a place that's completely new. Last time, spurred by a conversation on Twitter, I went with the former. This time, it's the latter. Namely, Heights Tavern, the newest bar in Normal Heights.

Burgers are a core part of the menu, along with sandwiches, salads, and "wet fries"—including one option that'll send a speeding nostalgia bullet straight to the heart of any Canadian expat: poutine. Ah, the flawless confluence of crisp fries and squeaky cheese curds covered with chicken gravy (or sauce brune) is the stuff of dreams, and since the only place I've really been able to get a taste of home for the past three-ish years has been in my imagination, I hightailed it to Adams Avenue ASAP.

Along with the poutine, I got a classic burger ($10.50), with two four-ounce patties, lettuce, tomato, and house sauce. All burgers are served with regular or sweet potato fries, and assorted pickles, including a pickle spear, pickled red onions, and two spindly-looking green beans that seem totally out of place.

With its brioche bun, rosy tomato, and neat stack of iceberg, the burger at Heights Tavern makes a good first impression, but peel back the bread and it dissipates in a flash. The patties are an unappealing brown-grey, massively under-seasoned, and have zero-point-zero char. I wasn't asked how I wanted them cooked, so it appears that medium-well is the standard. Sandwiched together with the onions, tomato, and sauce, the beef completely vanishes. I'd say you might as well be eating a veggie burger, but that would have a lot more flavor.

What you get with this burger is the appearance of beef, and a hint at the texture, but that's it. My friends across the table had the same meat malfunction on their Bacon Bacon burger, saying its only saving grace was the bacon.

Burgers come with regular, skin-on, medium-cut spuds, or sweet potato fries. Both are crisp, lightly salted, and tasty enough that they easily outshine the burger. Ask for extra house sauce on the side or bacon mayo for dipping.

The "wet fries" covered in a spicy cheese sauce with brown sugar and maple syrup bacon and a few melted blobs of cheese were delicious. Unfortunately, they're calling the dish Canadian Poutine ($9), which just isn't accurate. Like most attempts at the dish around town, two (out of three) of the core components don't pass muster. The "house gravy" is a cheddar cheese sauce with a bacon fat-based roux and the curds weren't fresh enough to squeak or hold their shape. Naming this plate of topped fries Canadian Poutine is tantamount to wrapping up ground beef in a cold tortilla with pico and guac and calling it a carne asada burrito.

Semantics aside, it was a tasty dish. The execution of the bacon was delicious, the ingredients were complementary, and no fry was left standing. All it needs is a new name. One of my table mates had a great suggestion: Faux-tine.

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San Diego: A Beauty of a Burger at Beaumont's

2013-03-14T16:45:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Beaumont's

5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla CA (map); 858-459-0474; beaumontseatery.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A tasty classic burger with a few unique tweaks
Want Fries With That? The burger comes with mixed greens or fries; go for the fries. They're simple but good
Price: Char Burger, $11.50; Beaumont's Burger, $12.50

If you needed a reason to visit Bird Rock (besides getting a latte at Bird Rock Coffee Roasters and staring gape-mouthed in wonder at the beauty of this perfect little slice of the Pacific coast), the opportunity to have a burger at Beaumont's more than qualifies making the trip.

You've got two options: the Char Burger, an Angus patty with aioli and the traditional fixings, or the Beaumont's Burger, a three-meat patty mixed with sun dried tomatoes and topped with balsamic glazed onions, feta, and basil aioli. It's one of Jason McLeod's top picks in the city.

Actually, scratch that, there's also a third, best-of-both-worlds option that's not technically on the menu: a beef patty, Beaumont's-style (i.e., topped with feta, onions, and basil aioli). That's the route I took, because despite my curiosity about what sun dried tomatoes would bring to the party, for my own (emotional) reasons, I just couldn't pull the trigger on a patty made with beef, pork, and veal.

As it turns out, subbing the straight-up Angus patty for the three-meat blend worked just fine. The feta doesn't exactly melt, but the salty flecks of cheese make for a more savory flavor that contrasts nicely with the balsamic onions, which were so sweet and caramelized that I ate every last one of them (as opposed to those terrible rings of raw, white onions that I always want to fling, frisbee-style, onto a neighboring table).

True to its name, the half-pound patty had a full coat of char, but remained moist in the middle. It was cooked a bit past my requested temp (medium-rare), and while I could have gone for more juice, I wasn't missing any flavor. On the side, you get tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, and red onion, but I was so satisfied without them that I didn't even notice their presence until the second-last bite. The tomato would have completed the picture that the salty feta and sweet onions started with a little pop of acidity, but even without it, this was a tasty burger.

The light and somewhat spongy bun is flecked with sesame seeds, and provides an ideal bread-to-meat ratio, but I wished it had been a little bit more toasted to add some crunch and dimension.

On the side, you can get mixed greens or fries. You want the fries. They're light, crisp, and delicious—not life-changing, but they really do make the meal. If you want your spuds a bit more spiffy, try Guy's Fries, with blue cheese crumbles, garlic, and basil aioli, or the Truffle Fries, with grana padano cheese, lemon aioli, chives, and parsley.

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San Diego: Old-School Greatness at The Grill at Torrey Pines

2013-02-28T16:15:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

The Grill at Torrey Pines

11480 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla CA 92037 (map); 858-453-4420; lodgetorreypines.com
Cooking method: Griddled
Short Order: An old-school drugstore counter-style burger, masterfully prepared
Want Fries With That? Definitely. They're delicious and well worth the extra $2
Price: Drugstore Style Hamburger, $12

Sometimes when I'm writing up an AHT review, my temptation is to just insert a bunch of photos with only the word "GO" underneath in 24-point font that's bolded, underlined, and bright red. Partly because in a lot of cases the photos speak for themselves, and also because reading the review will delay your enjoyment of a spectacularly delicious burger by a few important minutes. This is one of those times.

Inside the grounds of famed La Jolla golf course Torrey Pines, there are two restaurants: schmantzy-pants A.R. Valentien and The Grill, a more casual spot with a traditional set-up out front, and a cozier, dark bar in the back. You can get the Drugstore Style Hamburger in both areas. Please do, because this is easily one of the top burgers in San Diego.

Executive Chef Jeff Jackson designed the burger to mimic the kind you'd get at drug store counters in the 1950s. It starts with a half-pound of loosely-packed, deliciously fatty 70/30 Niman Ranch chuck that's generously seasoned with salt and griddled on the flat-top, resulting in a beautiful brown crust. Finely diced onions cook up underneath it, so you get a little bit of the flavor in every bite. The toppings (the standard LTP, plus house-made mayo) are all stacked underneath the patty to bring them to "mouth temperature" so you don't get jarred out of your burger haze by ice-cold lettuce.

What makes the burger particularly unique is how the bun is handled. Instead of being toasted, the top half is laid on the patty and covered with a pan towards the end of the cooking process. The steam makes it soft and squishy, so that when you pick it up your fingers sink into the warm bread. I thought I'd miss the crunch that would have come from toasting, but the char on the patty lent enough textural contrast. It was different, in a good way.

Admittedly, my burger came out a bit shy of my requested medium-rare, but with beef this high quality, I wasn't fazed. That little rare spot in the center sent a happy little jolt up my spine, and besides, it was easy enough to avoid. Order yours medium if you can't risk a too-rare center. There's plenty of fat in the beef to keep the patty from drying out.

Fries are an optional upgrade from the defacto mixed greens salad, and they're well worth it. Thin cut, crisp, and golden, these spuds are dusted with just enough salt and are so tasty that you'll have to push the plate out of reach with half of them remaining if you want to leave lunch anything less than gut-bustingly full.

If you're a golfer, playing a round at Torrey Pines is probably already on your bucket list, but if you're not, it's still worth visiting the course, if only for a drugstore-style burger.

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San Diego: The Blind Burro's Chorizo Burger Brings the Heat

2013-02-14T16:00:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

The Blind Burro

639 J Street, San Diego CA 92101 (map); 619-795-7880; theblindburro.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A tasty burger with a spicy, Mexican flavor profile
Want Fries With That? No fries, but you get a side with the burger (go for the street corn off the cob)
Price: Chorizo Burger, $11; churros, $4.50

Chances are, if you've heard about the food at The Blind Burro, it's the fish collars slathered with orange-chipotle barbecue sauce, skirt steak tacos, or the margaritas—all great. But another item worthy of praise is the chorizo burger ($11), a beef patty topped with strips of grilled poblano peppers, chorizo, oaxaca cheese, and cilantro pesto mayo, on a squishy torta roll.

The patty is made from brisket that's ground in-house and grilled reliably to order. My medium-rare patty was moist on the center, with visible grill marks and great charring. The beef flavor was rich and tinged with a pleasant fattiness, but where this burger really shone was in the delicious confluence of all the different toppings, and how well portioned and executed each element was. The creamy oaxaca cheese was perfectly melted, the poblano peppers were legitimately spicy, the house-made chorizo—arguably the star of the burger—was smoky, and the lively cilantro pesto mayo brought the whole thing together.

This isn't a burger tinged with Mexican flavors, it's a full-on flavor assault. You might want to wear a neck brace.

I thought the lightly toasted torta roll might be the burger's Achilles' heel when I halved it for the autopsy shot, but the soft, spongy bread gave the beef just the right amount of cushioning, and the bread-to-meat ratio was spot-on.

All sandwiches come with a side, including options like beans, poblano rice, and Tuscan kale-cabbage slaw, but I urge you to go with the street corn off the cob, topped with a good dash of Tapatio, lime juice, and so much crema and cotija cheese that it's practically decadent.

If you make it through the burger and spicy street corn with stomach real estate to spare, you've got to try the churros ($4.50)—chubby prism-shaped nubs of deep-fried dough dusted with sugar and cinnamon and served with creme anglaise. If you're too stuffed, do a few laps around PETCO Park, and figure out a way to make it work. The churros are perfectly crisp on the outside and ever-so-slightly custardy on the inside. In a word: flawless.

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San Diego: Prepkitchen Delivers the Goods

2013-01-24T16:00:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Prepkitchen

1660 India Street, San Diego CA 92101 (map); 619-398-8383; prepkitchen.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A carefully constructed and seriously delicious burger that's well worth the investment
Want Fries With That? Housemade chips come with the burger
Price: WNL Burger with classic garnish, $13
Notes: There are additional Prepkitchen locations in La Jolla and Del Mar, and the burger is also available at Whisknladle. See website for addresses

There's lots of great stuff to eat in Little Italy. Roman-style slices topped with potato and zucchini "velvet" at Napizza and fluffy meringue floating on crème anglaise at Monello are two of the top entries on my list, but the burger options are also solid, from the griddled cheese curd-topped number at Davanti Enoteca to my latest find: the WNL cheeseburger ($13) at Prepkitchen.

It comes two ways: with classic garnish, or "WNL garnish" (bacon, caramelized onion, remoulade, Gruyère, and an egg, sunny side up). Either way, it's tasty, but I like the more straight-forward presentation because it lets the beef (deservedly) stand in the spotlight.

A herculean effort goes into making these burgers just-so; don't let that casually askew leaf of lettuce tell you otherwise. A carefully calibrated blend of Black Angus chuck and shoulder from Creekstone Farms is ground on site, and the buns, pickles, and sauces (remoulade on the WNL version; dijonnaise on the classic) are all made in house.

That intense attention to detail carried over to the execution of the patty, which was loosely packed, with plenty of char on the outside and a juicy, moist interior. The patties are grilled, finished in the oven to melt the Gruyère, and topped with well-matched ingredients whose flavors mesh perfectly. You get the earthy cheese, savory dijonnaise, tangy pickles, and sweet tomatoes, and just enough red onion to add an acidic bite. I wanted to weep with emotion and grunt with lust. I did neither, because this is one of those restaurants that's a public place and I am a lady (sorta).

One surprise was how well the unconventional choice of lettuce worked. The romaine, combined with the dijonnaise (which tasted like it was spiked with garlic) and the assertive cheese gave the burger a faint Caesar salad-esque undertone. Factor in the lightly toasted, yet still squishy brioche bun and you've got one of the best burgers I've had in a long time. You should get one.

One gripe? The chips. Sure, they were tasty, but after a burger that delicious, I want to see what the kitchen can do with fries. And I'll take a little remoulade on the side, too.

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San Diego: Go to Grant Grill, but Skip the Burger

2013-01-10T15:45:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Grant Grill

326 Broadway, San Diego CA 92101, inside the US Grant (map); 619-744-2077; grantgrill.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A tasty enough burger, but the real reason to come is for the atmosphere, service, and cocktails
Want Fries With That? Truffle fries are an optional side, but they'll cost you an extra $8. The chips that come complimentary are tasty enough to skip the upgrade
Price: Burger, $15

The restaurant inside the US Grant Hotel is one of my favorite places in San Diego. It's historic, stately, and timeless—a vastly different place than the tourist traps and "brostaurants" common in the Gaslamp Quarter. Service is excellent and attentive, the cocktails are as precisely crafted as they are strong, and the food, as a whole, is great. And while technically the Grant Grill is one of your finer options for dining, like most hotel restaurants, they also have a burger. It's made from a half-pound of fresh ground beef that's hand-formed and topped with aged goat gouda, confit tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, and onion marmalade, on a lightly toasted potato bun.

The grilled patty had a nice crust on the outside, and was seasoned well. Inside, the red center was flush with savory juices. Toppings were good to excellent, with the confit tomatoes at the top of the class, and the fairly flavorless iceberg lettuce earning a satisfying (though not exemplary) grade. There had evidentially been a run on the advertised goat gouda, but the sharp aged white cheddar substitution was quite tasty, and melted about as well as you could expect of such a stubborn variety of cheese. I wasn't keen on the potato bun. Normally, it's a good choice for a burger, but this one wasn't toasted enough, so the dense, doughy flavor overwhelmed the beef. It also crumbled apart, making it difficult to set down the burger between bites for fear of slippage. Even so, the complete package was tasty and totally acceptable, but for $15 you can do better.

Truffle fries are an optional side, and they'll set you back another $8, so I'd stick with the spuds that come complimentary: housemade potato chips. If you require your potatoes in french fry form, go for it, but you get more bang for your buck with one of the cocktails or a dessert.

[Photograph: Courtesy of Grant Grill]

After tasting the burger at Grant Grill and being satisfied but less than wowed, my overall impression of the place hasn't changed: it's still a place locals should visit more often and tourists shouldn't miss. But, if you're looking for a truly great burger, I wouldn't get it here. You'd be better to steer yourself to somewhere more casual, like the downtown location of Hodad's on Broadway and 9th for a mini bacon cheeseburger, then stroll over to Grant Grill for a sweet bite or a stiff drink in the lounge. If you're there for a full meal, I'd make it either a late-night sandwich or a proper, fancypants dinner.

On your way out, be sure to check out the historic photos of downtown San Diego outside the lobby restrooms, and have a swig of the fresh, herb-infused juice at the front desk—it's like a virgin version of one of the seasonal cocktails, and it's free.

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San Diego: Great Burgers Don't Come Cheap at Bankers Hill

2012-12-20T16:00:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Bankers Hill

2202 4th Avenue San Diego CA 92101 (map); 619-231-0222; bankershillsd.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A tasty burger crafted with best-in-class ingredients hat comes at a steep price
Want Fries With That? Yes! The thin-cut truffle fries tossed with parmesan and parsley are served with a delicious chunky garlic aioli
Price: Burger, $15.75 +$3 for truffle fries

For my last San Diego burger review of 2012, I wanted to avoid suffering through a botched burger with bouncy meat, a patty of indeterminate animal origin, or a flavorless flop—all things I've done too many times this year. So, when two people I trust (Jason McLeod and San Diego Magazine food writer Troy Johnson) both praised the burger at Bankers Hill, I felt secure in closing out the year with a BH Burger—a half-pound patty topped with aged white cheddar, with pickled red onions, olives, lettuce, tomato, and a pickle spear on the side.

At $18.75 (including the $3 upgrade for truffle fries), the burger at Bankers Hill doesn't come cheap. In fact, you can get a flat iron steak with garlic mash and roasted vegetables for 25¢ less. When buy-in costs are this high, it's impossible not to start doing the math, just like Kenji did with his $26 chicken sandwich...but in this case, with an In-N-Out burger as the baseline. I couldn't help but wonder if the BH burger was 5.6 times better than a double-double. It's not a fair comparison, but at a certain price-point, I can't help but run the data (which, sadly, detracts from the pleasure of eating the burger that is right in front of me).

Here's what I know to be true: Bankers Hill does some amazing things with ground beef. The patty was loosely formed, coarsely ground, well seasoned, and everything that was on top of it (that perfectly melted slice of white cheddar), surrounding it (a squishy brioche bun), and beside it (assorted vegetable roughage, including pickled red onions and olives) was spot-on.

The one thing keeping me from heartily endorsing the burger is my patty was leaning towards rare, rather than my requested temp (medium-rare). Had the beef hung out on the griddle a little longer, it would have potentially developed some char (as delivered, there was none to speak of). I've sent back my share of burgers, but given the quality of the beef, I made an exception that paid off. Even though the patty was a bit soft (and mushy, in spots), the sharp cheddar and bitter bite of the onions made for a seriously tasty burger. I can only imagine how much better it would have been if the star element—the beef—was properly cooked to order.

The thin-cut parmesan and parsley-covered truffle fries were so spectacularly delicious that I lost all sense of everything around me, including my own stomach capacity, and could only think about dunking the crisp spuds in the chunky garlic aioli and getting them into my mouth as quickly as possible. Conversation halted, and I had to remind myself that the extra set of hands roving over the fries belong to my husband, whom I love very much (whereas my first instinct was to swat them away and growl, like a hungry cheetah protecting a fresh wildebeest kill).

In the end, whether or not you're willing to shell out nearly $20 for a burger and fries is up to you, and the relative weight of your wallet. If you're intrigued but not completely sold, I'd suggest hitting up Bankers Hill at happy hour for a cheeseburger slider ($3) and a bowl of truffle fries ($5).

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San Diego: Swing and a Miss at The Corner

2012-12-06T15:45:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

The Corner

369 10th Avenue, San Diego CA 92101 (map); 619-531-8804; thecornersd.com
Cooking method: Grilled
Short Order: A burger that over-promises and under-delivers
Want Fries With That? The thinner sweet potato spears were tasty, but their thicker companions were still partially raw in the middle. Pass.
Price: Corner Burger, $9.50 (+ $1.50 for cheese); Jalapeño Burger, $10.95; sweet potato fries, +$1

The Corner isn't shy about extolling the virtues of their burger, calling them both "the tastiest, high-quality burgers in San Diego" and "the best damn burgers in town" on their website. It's a place I've walked by at least a thousand times, but since I never heard much about it (good or bad), I filed it away for a future visit. Over 100 burger reviews later, that time finally came.

The Corner may be proud of their burger, but the pickings are surprisingly slim. The line-up includes a classic burger, a serrano and jalapeño variation, a BBQ sauce and bacon burger, and a turkey burger—that's it. This wouldn't be a problem if the quality and execution of the burgers was excellent, but unfortunately, that's just not the case. I tried 50 percent of the burger options on my visit (the baseline burger and the jalapeño burger) and still left hungry.

Burgers are made from fresh (never frozen) USDA Angus beef that's pattied daily and grilled to medium (unless you request otherwise). You can choose a side (regular fries, sweet potato fries, or tater tots) and a white or wheat bun. I opted to have my beef fired to medium rare, which could have been the burger's undoing, for a simple reason: The beef wasn't that great, and it wasn't even executed well.

That's really the main take-away, and the reason both burgers floundered. The patties lacked char, flavor, and seasoning. They were also too tightly packed and not cooked to order. A rare burger is awesome when it's made from truly high-quality beef, but with the lower quality stuff, the middle of the patty just ends up tasting wet and a bit too cold.

A duo of pickled peppers, jack cheese, and chipotle aioli can save a lot of sandwiches, but it wasn't enough to revive the jalapeño burger, which was also undercooked and cool in the center. Though supposedly housemade, the jalapeños tasted mass-produced, and I couldn't detect the flavor of the serranos. Even the under-toasted bun was a bust. Momentarily deflated, I re-grouped and turned to the fries, hoping two types of starch could fill the void.

The Corner's baseline spuds are totally serviceable, and made better by the tingly wasabi aioli that comes with them. They're lightly fried, subtly salted, and perfectly good as a side, but it's the sweet potato fries that have real potential.

Instead of using frozen fries like most places, The Corner cuts giant sweet potatoes into thick wedges. The skins get crisped up beautifully and the interior is transformed into sweet fluff. They're excellent as-is, but a quick dunk in the chipotle aioli only makes them better. Unfortunately, hand-cutting the spuds results in some segments being thicker than others, and the heftier wedges didn't get completely cooked through, which meant they were starchy and crunchy in the center. Over half the wedges on my plate suffered from this fatal flaw.

It takes guts for any burger spot in San Diego to stand up and say they make the best in the city, and while I applaud The Corner for aiming to serve better than average burgers, their claim of having the best burgers in town just isn't justified.

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Burger City Guides: Jason McLeod's Favorite Burgers in San Diego

2012-11-26T15:30:00Z

View Jason McLeod's San Diego Burgers in a larger map.

[Photograph: Courtesy of Jason McLeod]

Jason McLeod is San Diego's only Michelin-star chef, having earned a pair of stars in Chicago. He's helmed kitchens and opened restaurants everywhere from Whistler to Costa Rica, but has settled down in San Diego, and was recently tapped to be the new Executive Chef for all of the Consortium Holdings restaurants, including Neighborhood, Underbelly, Craft & Commerce, and Polite Provisions/Soda & Swine, a dual-concept spot slated to open in December.

He loves a classic burger and says a great bun is essential (and often woefully overlooked). At home, he's all about the Dutch Crunch buns at O'Brien's bakery, and when it comes to toppings, he plucks a few items from the fast food column (Thousand Island dressing and American cheese), but also loves homemade pickled veggies, like thin slices of zucchini, fennel, and carrot on top of his patty.

In-N-Out's Double-Double (Animal Style) is his go-to burger because it's cheap, quick, and tasty, but he also praised several other options. Here, Jason describes his top five burgers in San Diego:

Animal Style burger at In-N-Out. [Photograph: Todd Brock]

I'm a huge In-N-Out Double-Double fan, Animal Style of course. I could eat those all the time. I just love the simplicity of it all. I even love the french fries, which i know a lot of people don't. I love it when people visit because I get to take them there, especially my family, because we don't have In-N-Out in Canada.
Multiple locations in San Diego in-n-out.com

Burger at Bankers Hill Bar and Restaurant. [Photograph: Erin Jackson]

I like Bankers Hill because their burger is simple and pretty classic. They also serve pickled onions with it, and I love those. I love homemade pickles and I think that the onion brings a great pickle flavor. It's nice and a bit different than just serving regular pickles. A lot of burgers are really rich, so I like the contrast and bite the onion gives it.
2202 4th Ave., San Diego CA 92101 (map); 619-231-0222; bankershillsd.com

I love the burgers at Beaumont's. Their Beaumont Burger has puréed sundried tomatoes folded into the beef—it's got an almost tart, tomatoey bite to it. It's served with feta cheese and balsamic onions, and I'm a big fan of feta cheese. That burger is really great. They sell millions of them; it's their number one seller, by far. It's just a good value.
5662 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla, CA 92037 (map); 858-459-0474; beaumontseatery.com

Burger from Quality Social; AHT review [Photograph: Erin Jackson]

I love a fried egg on a burger. The first time I ever had an egg on a burger was back in 1999 in Coffs Harbour, Australia and I'm a huge fan. Quality Social adds some beautiful house cured bacon, fried onions, and Gruyère cheese. Hard to beat this combo.
789 6th Ave., San Diego CA 92101 (map); 619-501-7675; qualitysocial.com

Turkey burger from Burger Lounge; AHT review [Photograph: Erin Jackson]

Burger Lounge does a good turkey burger. I'm not a huge fan of their beef burgers, but I was really impressed by their turkey burger. Anything with Thousand Island on it is good; it really helps. I like the cheese they put on it, too.
6 locations in San Diego, full list at burgerlounge.com

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San Diego: Thanksgiving Burger, Fries, and Shake at Bunz

2012-11-20T20:45:00Z

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Bunz

475 Hotel Cir S, San Diego CA 92108 (map); 619-298-6515; bunzsd.com
Cooking method:Grilled
Short Order: Semi-confused burger featuring beef patty topped with a turkey dinner
Want Fries With That? Yes, try the sweet potato fries with pumpkin chipotle aioli, also a limited-time special
Price: Thanksgiving burger, $9; sweet potato fries, $4; pumpkin pie shake, $5

Turkey burgers topped with all of the Thanksgiving trimmings are nothing new (Slater's 50/50 had one last year), but Bunz's spin on the
seasonal special is something I've never seen before. For the week leading up to Thanksgiving, the burger spot tucked away in Hotel Circle is serving up 1/3-pound beef patties topped with a scaled down turkey dinner (stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish, and roast turkey). They've also got sweet potato fries with pumpkin chipotle aioli and a pumpkin shake.

Fusing a burger with a turkey dinner is a bold move, but (just like you're probably imagining) it doesn't really work. Topping the seasoned beef patty with roast turkey is like setting up a cage match between the two proteins. The beef wins, while the bird gets lost in the stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. It's a sandwich with an identity crisis that would be much tastier as either a straight-up Thanksgiving turkey sandwich, or a burger with turkey trimmings. Since Bunz has turkey patties on site (and offers them as a substitution for beef), you could potentially opt for a double turkey sandwich instead of the standard presentation.

The execution needed some tweaks, too. The tart cranberry relish was excellent and I'd gladly smother a turkey burger with it, but the stuffing and gravy became a pulpy, soggy mess in minutes. Two bites in, the entire turkey dinner portion tasted like a uniform layer of mush. The patty was also on the dry side, even when cooked to medium rare.

Sweet potato fries with pumpkin chipotle aioli ($4) are an optional side (and another limited-time special that coincides with the burger). The thin-cut fries were decent but tasted fairly bland and could use some salt. And while the aioli sounded delicious in theory, in reality it had a strange pickle-like undertone that threw me off. I'll give the spuds a conditional pass because you might think otherwise.

One Thanksgiving special that went completely right was the pumpkin pie shake ($5)—vanilla ice cream buzzed up with pumpkin purée, topped with whipped cream and pie spice. The Thanksgiving burger is most suitable as a once-a-year experiment (if that), but the shake is something I'd order every time.

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Chain Reaction: Luna Grill

2012-11-15T15:45:00Z

Of course we love our mom & pops, and our favorite burger joints around the country are pretty much all independently owned, but there are certain times in life—overnight layovers, hungover Sunday mornings, all-day shopping trips at the outlets—that the only options around are the chains. Chain Reaction is here to help you decide when to go for the burger, and when you're better off sticking with the chicken fingers.

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

Luna Grill

2400 Historic Decatur Rd, San Diego CA 92106 (map)
6 locations in San Diego, 2 in Orange County, full list at lunagrill.com
The Schtick: Fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant that bills itself as "the ultimate kabobery"
The Burger: 1/3 pound grass-fed beef patty topped with ketchup, mustard, mayo, and the standard veggies
Want Fries With That? Go for it. Thin-cut fries come with the burger and are tastier than the other option (rice)
Setting: Modern furnishings, clean, and comfortable. Lots of outdoor seating, too
Price: Luna Burger, $8 (cheese and bacon extra)

Luna Grill, a homegrown (in San Diego) chain with a focus on healthy Mediterranean fare like kabobs, salads, and wraps, also has a small section of their menu devoted to burgers. There's a veggie burger, a falafel burger, and the Luna burger, made with a 1/3 pound of grass-fed beef on a gourmet (read: brioche) bun. Inside, it's nicer than you'd expect a chain to be. The high ceilings are decked out with oversized lighting features, and the furnishings are modern. It's a pleasant surprise, especially for a place whose priciest entrées are $12.50 (tiger prawn kabobs, salmon, or cornish hen).

Burgers are cooked to order, and topped with the standard vegetable roughage, plus ketchup, mayo, and mustard—something that, outside of fast food establishments, I haven't encountered too often. I opted for something a little more Mediterranean, nixing the wet condiments for some spicy cilantro hummus. I was happy to discover that the freshly prepared spread, which is spiced up with serrano peppers, is equally tasty as a burger sauce as a fry dip...and less excited that it was the best part of the meal.

Experienced AHT'ers probably spotted the main issue in the top photo: waaaay too much bun. The bread-to-meat ratio is way off in this burger, with the top bun approximately two inches tall. The bun was also overly sweet and eggy, and not toasted, which gave it the texture of a piece of foam.

That grass-fed beef patty that I was initially psyched about floundered, too. It looked like it had been steamed, not grilled. There was zero char on the patty, and the (mostly unmelted) cheese was covered with small spots of condensation. I requested medium rare, and there was a bit of pink in the middle, but the beef had a chewy, bouncy texture, and tasted flat and dull. Fresh produce, including some excellent tomatoes, and that delicious spicy hummus weren't enough to revive the burger. I abandoned hope halfway through and focused on the fries.

Like the burger, the fries are helped immensely by the hummus. The lightly fried, thin cut spuds were sprinkled with a bit of seasoning, and were pleasantly crisp, but dunking them in the spicy spread made them twice as tasty. Luna must agree that the fries are ripe for riffing, because they've done it with their "french fry crumble "($5), which features fries seasoned with lemon and oregano, topped with crumbled Feta cheese.

I expected a better executed burger from a place that is focused on grilled meats of all varieties, but ended up with sad, soggy beef on a foamy roll. If you're looking for a quality grass-fed burger at a chain in San Diego (or Los Angeles), I'd stick with Burger Lounge.

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