what happened here?! back to the burgers! recent l.a. trip highlighted by a trip to comme ca fancy pancy burger... a lot bigger than it looks. was VERY juicy. repeat visit to dave's giant burgers still one of the best burgers around my area another repeat visit to 4505 meats! my personal favorite. the fremont diner in sonoma was GREAT! all of their food comes from their farm or from farms around their area. great burger. the sauce was good and the meat was seasoned perfectly. disco volante holy. crap. delicious food all around, but the burger was amazing! the meat was out of this world good. never had anything like it, hard to explain. very soft, smooth, cloudy? seasoned to perfection. the bun was very tasty. the bacon jam was outrageous. alright, enough adjectives, on to the picture. rutherford grill LOVE the relish on this. the patty is good and the buns are nice and soft. best veggie burger (shown in middle)
Best 10 Burgers in the USA according to National Geographic: 1. The Apple Pan - Los Angeles, California 2. In-N-Out Burger - California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Utah 3. Big Nick's Burgers and Pizza - New York, New York 4. Blake's Lotaburger - Albuquerque, New Mexico 5. Burger Bar - Macy's Sixth Floor, San Francisco, California 6. Gott's Roadside - St. Helena, Napa and San Francisco, California 7. Burgermeister - San Francisco, California 8. Rare - New York, New York 9. "21" Club - New York, New York 10. Shake Shack - New York; Connecticut; Florida; Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania; Honorable Mention: P.J. Clarke's - New York; Washington D.C.; Las Vegas
sorry, but national geographic is just plain wrong. apple pan #1, really? the patty is tasteless. burger bar I thought was a heap of crap personally. very dry and just meh. burgermeister is another big meh as well. nothing special. i love in n out and gott's has a place in my heart
It's impossible to make a best burgers list that won't generate disagreement, but I found this one to be entertainingly odd. The upscale burgers make sense for NYC, but generally, in the S.F. area most folks prefer something closer to "traditional," which to my mind means riffs on the great 1960s burgers, e.g. In-N-Out. Sorry, Chef Hubert. Never been to Apple Pan but that's because it's been too long since I've been to L.A. On my last visit I went to some place on Sunset that served a "Foggy Bottom Burger" which included peanut butter and apricot jam. Sounds like a hideous error, I know, but I kinda liked it. I was really surprised to see both Burger Bar and Bugermeister on the list. I've never known a single person to think highly of Burger Bar. It just seems to be sort of a wacky tourist attraction, really. Burgermeister is VERY "meh." But yeah, we're lucky to have In-N-Out in the Bay Area, and let's be real ... National Geographic is great for beautiful location photography but food reviews? Nah. Has anyone been to Gott's Roadside?
Had Blakes for the first time a month ago. It was awesome. This list is generally a list of places that put diarrhea between a bun. The rest are either Top notch or meh. "A sly declaration of new classic status slipped into a bunch of safe ones- very pussy!"-Barry
if you plan on going, you gotta make a trip out of it and go to the one in St. Helena on a sunny day. it's a great place to have lunch and just hang. the food is great. way more than just burgers. i haven't had one thing on their menu that has disappointed. since last update, i went to Saruno Burger. a burger truck parked at the alameda antique faire. great tasting burger. the patty is fried japanese style and the condiments go perfect. went to habit. glorified whopper. crossroad burger. their main burger's special sauce is similar to marinara, so it was like taking a bite out of a meatball. their jalapeño popper burger didn't have jalapeño poppers. they smother the buns with cream cheese and add jalapeños.
Thanks for the tip, Jesus. Yet another list. This time from Grub Street SF ... The Best 50 Hamburgers in San Francisco The list is too long for me to type out here but the slideshow is fun to browse through. The site also followed up with a "5 Best" picked from the original 50.
Yesterday I was in the Upper Market zone, so I tried the new-ish Super Duper burger joint. Today I was in North Beach so I walked down to the Wharf and had a burger at In-N-Out. Put the two into the octagon, and whaddya get? SMACKDOWN! Guess who won? You'd think I'd have had a better time at Super Duper. More my native element ... urban hipsters and intellectuals, a smattering of happy gay bears and adorable young lesbian couples ... mostly local-looking types. Furthermore, the food aesthetic sounds right ... ground-daily grass-fed free-range locally-farmed beef. That should be great, right? It was just okay. I don't think they season their meat at all. It was bland. Most of the flavor came from their "Super Sauce," which is a bad thing. Burger sauce should be an enhancement, not The Main Feature. The fries were acceptable. The lemonade was awful. How on earth do you mess up lemonade? At In-N-Out I probably stuck out like a sore thumb among the dazed-looking ocean of touristas, the majority of whom appeared to be from countries other than the USA. I got a lot of curious stares. Why? Just because I was dressed like Velvets-era Lou Reed while toting a City Lights Bookstore bag while everyone else was wearing pastel short-sleeved Izod shirts and plaid shorts? I dunno, but whatever ... I live here. Anyway, the burger was pretty much awesome. No secret sauce necessary. Even the friggin' lettuce and American cheese slice were juuuuust right. Totally satisfying. The fries, ok ... Super Duper's were a little better, but whatever. In-N-Out's pink lemonade was the perfectly delicious and thirst-quenching accompaniment. It's In-N-Out for the gold. Sorry, Super Duper. I know you're the more politically correct option, but you just got owned.
Non-upscale burger lunch Day 3: Bill's Place, "Home of the Hamburger," Clement St. near 25th St. in San Francisco. Bill's has been open for business in the same location since 1959. It's one of the increasingly rare "lost in time" gems in the city ... stepping through the door, I felt like it could almost be '59 inside, with the exception of some details like the flatscreen TV showing Olympics highlights. The crowd was a far cry from the well-groomed hipsters of Super Duper or the squeaky-clean innocent-looking tourists of In-N-Out ... definitely a red-blooded oldskool SF working-class/family sort of spot. But despite being a bit frayed around the edges, it's not grimey or dive-y at all. The staff is super-friendly and there's a nice outdoors patio in the back. Up front there's an ice cream station ... sundaes, shakes and scoops (Dreyer's) are available. I ordered pretty much the most basic burger on the menu ... there must have been about thirty different burgers on it, many named for local luminaries like Carol Doda, Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins, and others who were definitely semi-famous before my time. I didn't recognize at least half of the "celebrity" names despite being a lifelong "local." This might look pretty homely in my bad iPhone photo, but believe me, everything about this plate tasted real and delicious. Burgers are cooked to order (neither Super Duper nor In-N-Out even bothered asking how well I wanted mine done) and are available in three different sizes. Fries were tasty, although for whatever reason the lemonade had an "off" flavor. I think I need to stop ordering lemonade with burgers. Just not much of a soda fan. Anyway, this was the best of the burgers on my little adventure this week. If you're thinking "Dean shouldn't be eating so many burgers," all I can say is that I've been craving them since becoming ill last April. I haven't been able to handle food like this since then ... I lost over sixty pounds very rapidly, so I don't mind filling up on some fattening comfort food for now. I'll go back to healthy eating next week.
nice! never heard of bill's place... i'll give it a go one day. i've been drinking more iced tea (although i'll try lemonades id they're made in-house). a bit more refreshing in my opinion. i LOVE soda, but have cut back on it (too many empty calories,carbs) but i will go for sodas that are made in-house or an interesting sounding flavor.
im not a SF local- but im sure some place has to brew this themselves- some of the best drinks ive ever had are fizzy lavender lemonade and lemon ginger beer. bills hamburger looks great- i will love in n out until the day i die.
Not exactly SF related, but their trucks have made it to the bay area so there's a chance people might have the opportunity to eat here. Went to the Power of the Riff fest in LA and the Grill Em All truck was there. http://www.grillemalltruck.com/ Fries were great, but the burger was too thick and too juicy for my taste. Though sitting outside trying to eat at a fest in 100 degree heat might have not been the best first time experience. And maybe I should have gone for the Molly Hatchet over the Waste ‘Em all. The art on their truck is very Skinner'ish too.
Hey guys, I was checking over my site data and saw that my burger site got hits from skullbrain, thought that sounded vaguely familiar, checked it out and realized it was awesome! I am a toy collector, hardcore kid, bmx riding burger eating dude, and I love super7. And also glad to see that when Lalo mentioned my site he didn't say it was shitty or anything! Awesome. I was just trying to find this thread tonight to post in, and got distracted by like 10 threads about things I love. Crazy. I haven't been able to keep up on burger and destroy much lately, too many other projects, but still have been eating plenty of burgers. Just ate at Big Mouth Burgers in the mission, that is one of our go-to spots. Not necessarily a favorite, but consistently good and a nice atmosphere, and my gf likes their burger alternatives. I live right by Bill's place and have only had it 2 or 3 times. I think I've always been underwhelmed, but maybe it is time to go back! Anyway, I am stoked to be on here and share some burger love!
When I go to America I will make my life's mission to go to all these burger joints. God knows I live to eat meat between two buns. *drool*
Just found this picture of the Ringmaster from Straw SF. They are a gourmet carnival themed restaurant, and even have a tilt-a-whirl car as a booth. Pretty awesome. This was a wild burger, and something I think everyone should try at least once. Don't know how often I could eat it though. If anyone cares, the full review is - http://burgeranddestroy.com/2012/07/16/the-ringmaster-straw-carnival-fare/
I pass by bills place every morning on my daily run. I wish they were open at 8am. A few burgers that I don't think have been mentioned yet: -broken record's burger -The burger at Corner spot(Geary & Masonic). Not bad, everybody wants to be the next Marlowe burger and no one is gonna do it. I like it without the pickles on it. It's also a block from my place. I'll upload photos later
