Five Napkin Burger, Atlanta, GA (October 2011)

Several months ago, I read in the local news about a new burger joint coming to town, Five Napkin Burger, in the old space where Nickiemoto's was located at the corner of 10th and Piedmont.  This New York based restauarant, with outposts in Boston, Miami and here, is an up-scale burger joint.   They even take reservations, for crying out loud.

Looking at the options for appetizers, Jo decided that we needed to try to the onion rings, so we ordered a "stack".  The corn meal crusted rings appeared atop a skewer with two dipping sauces - bleu cheese and a 5N sauce.  Not being an onion ring guy, I abstained, but Jo, and the couple we were dining with, said they were mighty tasty.

On to the entrees, I ordered a burger - what else?  Jo went with the fish tacos - always a suspect choice.  You never know what you're going to get.   So with the big choice out of the way, I had to decide on a side - french fries, tuscan fries, tater tots, sweet potato fries or rings.   

 


I'm a sucker for tater tots. But let's talk about these suckers.   They were HUGE.   Hard to tell from the picture, but they looked like jalapeno poppers (roughly 2" x 1" x 1").  So I took a bite and was I surprised.  First it was HOT.   After the cooling off period, I began to explore the taste.  These are fried blobs of chive mashed potatoes.   What a novel idea.  And a really good taste.



And then came the burger - ten glorious ounces of fresh ground beef, with pimento cheese (their standard burger has gruyere cheese - ooh-la-la) and a rosemary aoli on a buttered white roll. 

Wow is the only word that comes to mind.   It is one of the best burgers in the city.  I need to make a second visit to determine its place in the top five.   Let me get on that..
 

Grindhouse Burger, Atlanta, GA (October, 2011)

Looking back through my lists, I also realized that I've never blogged about Grindhouse Killer Burgers.   We ate at the original location (in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market) some time in mid-2009 and I'd been back to that location for lunch when I was in town on a couple of occasions.  They've opened a second location on Piedmont and I've eaten there twice over the past six months.  

The original location has a great "vibe", located in the market.    The counter is built out the wall of the West end of the Market and there's always a 50s or 60s "B" movie - think "Plan 9 from Outer Space" - projected onto the wall, sans sound.  You order at the register and find a place to sit at the counter after you get your order in.  CAUTION:  You do have to pay attention to where you sit at the counter so you don't have the pig parts at the butcher counter across the way in the view when you look up over your fries, but it is a good place to dine. 

The burger selection is typical (beef, veggie, turkey) with all the accoutrements and potato choice.

But the new location leaves me "flat".  It feels like it is trying too hard.   The movies are on the wall.  The burgers are fine, but not really worth the effort to drive there.   If I'm in the neighborhood, I'll stop in, unless I have a better idea...

Below?  A simple cheeseburger.

In -N-Out, Berkley, CA (October 2011)

No trip to California would be complete without a stop at the BEST chain restaurant in the West: In-N-Out.  


Heading back into San Francisco, we realized that we needed to eat and had no earthly idea what we wanted.   And then we saw the sign on the side of the freeway.  The clouds broke, a beam of sun shone through and trumpets sounded.  Take a quick look in the rearview, slam on the brakes, flip on the blinker and up the ramp we go.

"Quality you can taste" is their motto.  We were in the mood to taste the quality.  You see, we first discovered In-N-Out in 2004, when we took the girls and went to San Fransico and Yosemite.   We were staying at a hotel near Fisherman's Wharf and after a long day of sight-seeing, we were hungry and looking for someplace to grab a quick bite.    Just around the corner we saw something that resembled the golden arches and figured that we'd give it a try.

That night,  we first sampled the glory of the Double-Double.  Two 100% beef patties, two slices of American cheese, lettuce (off mine, on Jo's), tomatoes (look at the extra stack on mine!) and optional onions.  It's hard to describe what make an In-N-Out burger different.   In terms of great "chain" burgers, there are at least three - In-N-Out, Five Guys and Steak and Shake.   My buddy David would argue that Whataburger should be included, but I don't think they use beef ground fresh daily - an automatic disqualification in my book.  Back to In-N-Out:  the Double-Double is really good.  But the fries are great!  They're like thick Steak and Shake fries, cooked to a glorious gold.  Maybe some (glorious) day, they'll make their way this far east.

A parting photo for posterity...


Check out this gem that I just discovered from 2007

As I said above, we discovered In-N-Out in 2004 when we were out west.   When Madison and I went on her Excellent 16th Birthday Adventure, she and I found an In-N-Out drive thru and swung through for burgers and fries.  I just ran across this photo looking for something else.  Serendipity!

Nation's and Andie's, Napa, CA (October, 2011)

Since we'd already hit all of the burger spots on my list, I did some wandering around town while Jo was antiquing.   The first place I stopped in was Nation's Giant Hamburgers.  With a name like that, how could I drive by?    I didn't know this going in, but they're a chain out of the Bay Area with 25 locations.   

The first thing I noticed was the pies.  They sold pies by the slice, along with half and whole pies from behind a giant cooled baker's shelf (on the right side of the photo).   Lots of pies.  In fact, most of the people that came in while I was eating my burger ordered some part of a pie (or more) and left.   

I refrained from the call of the pie and went with a basic burger.  The sign said that they were 3/4 pound burgers.  That would qualify as a GIANT burger, if that was the patty.   But that's the entire burger loaded (and their tomatoes were HEAVY.)

It was perfectly fine - kind of like a Sonic burger.  Nothing awful, nothing spectacular.  I ate half, saving room for whatever came around later.

So I wander back and find Jo in an antiques shop and while she's wandering through, I strike up a conversation with the store-keep.  Chat-chat-chat-chat and in the midst of the "what brings you here" and "weather-talk" and all, I mention the burgers.   She says, "Have you been to Andie's?  I'm a vegetarian, but Susan swears they're the best burgers in the Valley."   I get directions, find Jo another spot to shop and head off in the car.

As I follow the directions (turn by  the car wash), I dreve right by it.   Then I look back and realize that it is actually in the parking lot of the car wash.   Right there under the "Drive Thru Espresso" sign.  How could I have missed it?   I find a place to park across the street and walk back.  It is late for lunch (3:30-ish) and there is no one else inside.  Good thing - I don't think they'd have fit.  

Oddly, there are four people behind the counter with some kind of running dialogue that apparently has been going on for quite some time.  They actually were debating, while cooking my cheese burger why one of the ladies wrote "CH burger" on the ticket and the other wrote "CH burger with cheddar."   The cook insisted that they were the same, but the owner settled it - CH = chuck, so only one of these two (mine) actually had cheese on it. 

On to the burger (a chuck burger with cheddar).  It was good sized, cooked like I ordered it and fairly tasty.    The bun was really good.  It was definitely better than Nation's.  I don't think it was as good as Gott's, and there was one of those in town, so Gott's gets my vote as the best burger in Napa.  I ate half of this one, too, and went back to pick up Jo.   We were heading into San Francisco to fly out the next day and I didn't want to spoil my dinner.

Val's, Hayward, CA (October 2011)

One of the places that I did have targeted on the trip west was Val's Burgers in Hayward, just south of Oakland.   Val's has been in business serving burgers and steaks since the 1950s.  We headed down that way from Sonoma and arrived just ahead of the dinner-time rush.   When we got there the waitress told us to pick a spot, so we climbed into one of the red booths against the front window and took in the scene.

At the front right was the soda fountain with a grill at the right rear, counter running down the right side, booths on the windows and tables in the middle.   When I was reading about Val's in Hamburger America, they said that you had to try the signature shake, a "rootanana" (a root beer banana milkshake).   They had tons of choices.  Jo went with a vanilla malt, I decided to go with the root beer banana.  So I tell the waitress that I want the root beer banana shake and she looks at me like I have two heads.  Says no one has ever ordered one of those in the eight years she's worked there.  I guess you can't believe everything that you read.

It was amazing!  I don't know that I've ever had a shake that tasted any better.

The burgers at Val's come in three sizes - the Baby Burger (third-pound), the Mama Burger (half-pound) and the Papa Burger (a full pound).  Jo and I both went with the Mama Burger.  In retrospect, I would have appreciated the challenge of the Papa Burger, but I don't think I could have eaten it.  I was stuffed after the Mama Burger.   

This was one big juicy burger.  Right up there with the burger at Kincaid's, Western Steakburger, Miller Union and Ray's Hell Burger for the best that I've had in 2011.   I'd go back, in a heartbeat.  And I might even order a burger to go with the shake...

Slow Club, San Francisco, CA (October 2011)

On Monday, we decided that the weather opportunity was as good as it was going to get during the rest of our visit to walk the three miles back and forth across the Golden Gate Bridge.   Into San Francisco we drove.  Man!  I thought Atlanta traffic was miserable - the ride in through Berkley and Oakland was equivalent to driving down 400.   After the bridge, it was lunch time and I was in a quandary.   I had two more burger places on my list, but neither was in San Francisco and Jo does get burned out on burgers fairly quickly.   So I googled San Francisco's best burgers and found this article from the local CBS affiliate.  We had been to Gott's the day before and while an In N Out was inevitable, I was looking for more.  That left 4505 Meats, Magnolia Pub, Slow Club, Umami (this one is on my LA list - didn't know that they had one in SF) and Zuni's Cafe.   When I looked at another list, the only dual entry was Slow Club, so it was decided.

When we got there, mid lunch hour, the restaurant was busy but not full.    The first thing I thought when I got there was, "This place is WAY too hip for me."   Chrome, polished wood, menu on a clipboard, beautiful people all around and wait-staff speaking in hushed tones.   What kind of burger could I expect here?  

This one - what a great burger!  Bun lightly toasted.  Red RIPE tomatoes.  Perfect pink center.  I don't care how upscale the place, they understood that to cook a great burger, all you need is a griddle (and according to Tammy at Motz's, that special ingredient - "love".)  Whoever cooked this burger had the love knob cranked to eleven.   Nice!

Gott's Roadside, St. Helena and Napa, CA (October 2011)

Opened as Taylor's Refresher in St. Helena in 1949, the restaurant was bought from the Taylor family by the Gott brothers and the named was changed to Gott's Roadside a few years back.   We stopped for a late lunch on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the original location in St. Helena.   At 2:00,  there were about forty folks in line for this walk-up restaurant.  While the menu was pretty fancy for a burger joint, it was not ridiculously broad.   

I had read in the Hamburger America book that the Espresso Bean milkshake was not to be missed. Not being a big coffee fan, I wasn't sure what the big deal would be, but living with one, while Jo waited and held our place in the food order line, I went to the bar and ordered an Espresso Bean shake for her.   She said it was a winner (more about that later).

On to the burgers: Jo went with a turkey burger (still on a beef-high from the visit to Joe's the day before).   I chose a cheeseburger.  Yep, a cheeseburger.  I know that's hard for y'all to believe.   Nonetheless, 20 minutes later they called our number and my burger arrived:

All burgers are Niman ranch beef and ground fresh daily.   This one was expertly prepared, with the cheddar melted ever so slightly.   Really tasty - I ate every bite.

On Monday, after lunch in San Francisco I asked Jo if she wanted to split a dessert and she said, "you know, what I'd really like is another one of those Espresso Bean milkshakes...."    

Conveniently, there was a Gott's Roadside outpost about 5 miles from our hotel back in Napa.  This one had inside seating, which was critical as it had started to rain one of those niggling Seattle-type drizzles just as we were leaving SF. 

When we got to Gott's (ha!) I decided I ought to sample a shake, too.   Being a man of simple tastes I chose strawberry.   And, since we hadn't had anything to eat in over ninety minutes, I sampled their daily special - a tomato and mozzarella sandwich.

Essentially, a caprese on bread.   Really nice.  and since the sign told me to E A T, I felt that I was just doing my job....

Joe's Cable Car, San Francisco, CA (October 2011)

When I found that I had to be in Northern California for a meeting, I consulted all of my "burger sources".  With diligent preparation, I had multiple places that I intended to hit when we were in the Bay Area.  Before we left, I looked at who was open on what days and ranked  my choices.   Joe's Cable Car was the first one we hit, on Saturday.
  
Open since 1965, in a trailer designed to look like a cable car, Joe's has consistently won awards as the Bay's best burger.   We were about to find out.  We arrived around 11:30, local time, a little ahead of the lunch crowd.  

We were seated in the dining room added in the early eighties, next to the original facade, which is now the wall to the kitchen.  Joe takes his burgers seriously.   And, as you can see,  they are quite proud of the fact that their burger is made from ground chuck and ribeye and ground fresh daily. 

Joe was actually sitting at a table across the half-wall from us, having his "daily burger" - a six ounce patty on a bed of lettuce.  In the menu, there's a blurb from him saying that the best way to see how good his burgers are is to slice a bite off and eat it without the bun.  I intended to try that, but I simply couldn't. 

On to  the steak-burgers.  You have a choice of a four, six or eight-ounce (serving weight) patty.   Jo asked our waitress what was her favorite and she suggested the country burger, with a fried egg.  She decided on a four ounce patty,

which was proclaimed to be a winner along with side of onion rings.  

For me, I  went with a six ounce chili cheese burger, with a side of fries:

It was excellent.  Great tasting, perfectly cooked, incredibly filling.  Great way to start a burger road trip.

Keller's Hamburgers Beer, Dallas, TX (September, 2011)

Keller's was the last stop on my DFW burger tour at the end of September.   When I read about them in Hamburger America, I'll have to say they were high on my list of prospects, just based on the restaurant itself.  When I pulled up, my expectations were met - this place was a true drive-in.   There was no "inside" at all.   Pull up under one of the awnings and turn on your blinkers when you're ready to order, (per the sign on the front)

So I turned my blinker on and a young lady walked up and took my order.   I went with a basic cheeseburger.   While I waited, I watched the people around me.   The funniest thing was this guy next to me in a pickup.  He pulled up, about 3:30, and when the hop came up, he ordered a longneck.   Then he drank it.  Then he left.   Who in the world drives up to a restaurant at 3:30 on a Tuesday, orders a beer, drinks it and  then leaves?  The guy that parked next to me, that's who.

So the food shows up, on a tray wrapped in wax.  Looks incredibly promising.  I open it with bated breath and what do I find?

The worst burger I ate this summer.  The meat was thin and tasteless, the bun was nothing but seeds.   I was bummed, but then I took one more look at the outside seating and it made my heart smile, just a little.

Maple & Motor, Dallas, TX (September, 2011)

When I knew I was heading to Dallas in late September,  I called my friend (and professional photographer) Chris Moseley, and asked him where HIS favorite burger was.   He did what any reasonable person would do - created a Facebook poll.   The consensus was that we should meet and eat at Maple & Motor.   So we did, for lunch. 

When I got there, he was waiting inside, camera in hand.  See, some of the photos in this blog post were PROFESSIONALLY TAKEN!  The first thing he did was take me back outside to look at the sign on the door:

Photo by Chris Moseley

From the outset, I knew that I was going to like this place.  Any place that is that clear about the priority of the burger is near the top of my list.  (The small print in the sign directs parents to take their screaming kids to the Purple Cow, a Dallas chain that is know for being kid friendly.) 

Photo by Chris Moseley

We went in and scouted for a table.   Even at 11:30, it was packed.   But the burgers smelled good.   The menu was  burger-based, but with a big list of "must-adds": chili; double meat; bacon (mmm.  bacon); fried egg; grilled onions; and grilled or pickled jalapenos.  But what caught my eye was the alternatives: flat top brisket; fried baloney; grilled cheese; BLT; chicken or sockeye salmon.

Photo by Chris Moseley

Chris asked the order-taker-person (I don't know what to call the guy, he wasn't a waiter, or cashier and may have been the owner), whether he should go with the fries or the tots.  You know me, I'm all about the tots.  But OTP said the fries were actually better, so Chris ordered fries, with cheese, bacon (mmmm.  bacon) and jalapenos.

Photo by Chris Moseley

They were good.   

Being the practical man I am, and torn between tots and fries, I did what I believe that Solomon would have done in the same situation.  No, I didn't ask they split an order and half and see who loved it more.  Instead, I ordered a fried baloney sandwich as my side.

It was really good, too.   I don't know what they do to the buns, but the bun was perfect for the sandwich and the burger.   Hard to tell in the photo, but that beautifully seared slab of baloney is about 3/8" thick.

And then, came the burger.   A bacon (mmmm. bacon) cheeseburger, to be exact.   When I ordered the burger, OTP didn't ask me how I wanted it cooked.  He said, "you want it pink in the center.  Right?"  

It came out pink in the center.  It was a mighty fine burger.   Great burger.  Great company.  I'd go there again.