Baseball and Burgers

Yesterday my buddy Will came into town for a friendly lunch. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I took him to some place close to the office and so new I was sure he hadn’t been there yet: Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar in Macy’s Union Square.

I’m working my way through the different meats they offer at Burger Bar (American Kobe yesterday, buffalo is next). Hubert makes a nice burger, and when you ask for medium rare, you get it that way. You can also build your own burger, and they have all sorts of stuff all the way to truffles to add and pay for. As an aside, I don’t find the fake Kobe worth the extra 6 bucks, but hey – you don’t know until you know.

I can’t stand an overcooked burger. I’m a big fan and long time patron of the Max’s chain (Sue and I actually ate at Max's Son, Dennis' first restaurant), but when you ask for a burger, they assume well done unless you request otherwise. Yucch. I guess they don’t like the liability of killing their customers, but even if you ask nicely for medium rare, you rarely see pink, let alone red in the meat.

This week Connie showed me an article online from 7x7 about the best burgers in San Francisco. They listed their ten favorites, and then they threw in 10 more. I’ve been tasting burgers all over town for years, and have decided that I’m going to add this as a regular subject of this space. Baseball and Burgers. Dolan, you're a genius. I think I’m just running out of things to say about baseball even with this great pennant race we’re watching right now, so I'll spice it up.

I love a good burger. The big problem is when you go to a great restaurant, do you really want to order a burger when they have other great things on the menu that aren’t so easy to make yourself? For example, I’m going with my pal Peter on Wednesday night to Paragon before the Giants’ game. I love Paragon, where they make some of the best comfort food in the City. I’m a guy who likes to taste different things on a menu, but at Paragon, I’ve only had two things: I ordered a burger once (pretty good), and every other time I have ordered the roast chicken. If you haven’t tried this roast chicken, you just don’t know what you’re missing. It’s a perfect dish. I’ve tried to emulate it, and I’m getting better, but I’m not there yet. So now that I’m committing myself to this burger analysis, do I really want to order a burger?

If you go to One Market, home of a supposedly great burger, do you want to order that? Or Zuni? Or Wayfare Tavern? Or Bar Tartine? Or Dottie’s? Rocco’s is on my list (see discussion below), but do I really want to order a burger when he’s really known for his Italian food? Kinda seems like a waste.

That said, as the owner of not one but two Nobel Prizes, I have to be committed to research on behalf of all humanity. It’s an obligation that comes with the hat. So I hereby dedicate myself to a burger by burger analysis of San Francisco burgers. I’ll try to post burger pictures.

And I’m going to focus on the basic cheeseburger with Cheddar. No blue cheese, no brie, and no bacon (god, I love a good bacon burger despite it’s less than kosher standard). Let’s taste the meat, the bun, the cheese, the veggies and the balance. Noah used to eat plain cheese pizza. I could never understand it, but he claimed you couldn’t taste the pizza if you loaded it up with lots of toppings.

I’ve made an initial list of 53 recommended burgers based on the 7x7 article (you can see it here) and the over 500 comments to a Michael Bauer article asking for the best burger places (you can see it here). I’ve had burgers at a few of them, including Zuni (7x7 top 10) and Perry’s and Burger Bar and Pearls and Mo’s (all listed by readers of the Bauer article). Plus as a member of the O Club, I've had their outdoor burger from the stand by the practice tees, which Herb Caen dubbed the best outdoor burger in SF. (I've had a lot of them!) I’ve also eaten at a number of the restaurants, but didn’t necessarily order a burger. Or maybe I did, but I can’t remember.

Right now, for me the gold standard is Eddie Rickenbacker’s on 2nd Street, with Perry’s a very close second. They both make a beautiful burger with a correct medium rare every time. I liked Zuni’s burger, but I think that silly roll is, well, silly. Bauer’s favorite is from Marlow on Townsend (pictured above). The 7x7 article favors Fish and Farm (though there has been a change of owner/chef recently).

Here is my initial list. This could get fattening. At least I’m leaving off the bacon.

Absinthe
Balboa Café
Bar Tartine
Barney's
Beale St. Bar
Belly Burger
Bix
Broken Record
Bushi-Tei
Campton Place
Chez Maman
Clement St. Bar & Grill
Crown Burgers
Darla's
Eastside West
Eos
Epic Roasthouse
Fish & Farm
Fog City Diner
Frankie's Bohemia Café
Frjtz Valencia (Hayes)
Frjtz Valencia (Valencia)
Hayes St. Grill
Hi-Dive
Hillstone
Jenny's Burger
Kezar Bar & Restaurant
Lark Creek Steak
Liverpool Lil's
Luna Park
Magnolia Brewery
Marlowe
Midi
Mission Beach Café
Namu
Nopa
One Market
Orson
Paragon
Polkers
Rocco's
Rosamunde
Serpentine
Slow Club
Spork
Spruce
The Bell Tower
The Connecticut Yankee
The Front Porch
The Pork Store
The Richmond
Zeitgeist
Zuni Café

I'm sure I'll drag some of my buddies along for this journey. If you have some ideas for places on the list, let me know. That said, I don't care about your opinion unless you go there with me.