4505 Meats - San Francisco, CA

4505 Meats Best Damned Cheeseburger with a side of fries at their store on Divisidero in San Francisco.

4505 Meats has always proclaimed the have the "Best Damned Cheeseburger" but I am so in love with their BBQ that I had never tried it. I decided to change that. 

I ordered the single quarter pound patty burger with normal fixings ($9.75). You can add bacon ($2), egg ($2), or another patty ($4). We took our seat out in their great patio dining area. This is always bustling on Divisadero in the lower Haight. 

The burger arrived very pink, medium rare. The meat was good, just salty enough and not too smokey. The Gruyere cheese was nicely melted. Lettuce onions were crisp and fresh. The secret sauce luscious.  The best thing was the bun. Pillowy soft but it held together. It was nicely toasted. 

A rare sight, so line at 4505 Meats in San Francisco.

Fries were medium cut with skins in. Crisp and salty and hot. Very nice. 

Note, my wife got the brisket sandwich. I liked it better. 

Burger 4 spatulas out of 5

Fries 4 Spatulas

4505 Meats

705 Divisidero

San Francisco, CA 94117

415-231-6993

4505meats.com

Note: All the photos here were shot with the DxO One camera connected to my iPhone 6. 

The sign at 4505 Meats in San Francisco.

Volta Gastro - Berlin, Germany

The Volta Burger cuts a handsome figure with its tasty onion ring stacked on top. 

Volta Gastro in the Wedding district of Berlin elicits many questions. Is it an old train station? Old Jack in the Box? (They have a menu item called Jack in the Box.)  Turns out it was a bakery. We took the long taxi ride to the remote Wedding district for a taste of the burger touted by a recent New York Times article. We were treated to annoying German rap music - too loud - and service typical of the "German Service Desert”, as alone local called it.  

But we Americans love our burgers and we ordered none-the-less. The Volta burger is €13 with fries, a pretty steep price.  The burger arrived as an impressive looking stack. The patty was large - probably 6 ounces. Ground loosely and not overpacked, the beef was rather bland, but juicy. Savory mushrooms added nice flavor. The greens were spinach mixed with bbq sauce and mayo giving it an unusual note. Cheddar cheese melted in nicely. A fresh tomato slice made an appearance.  The Kaiser bun was toasted and held up well. The onion ring on top was the best thing - a crispy sweet ring of yum. 

Shoestrings fries with skins were hot, but limp and not impressive

In the end, I enjoyed the burger. Our initial aloof server was replaced with a charming young british woman and things ended on an up note. One other thing, they have full cocktails and the Dark and Stormy was pretty good with the burger. 

Burger 3 our of 5 spatulas

Fries 2 spatulas

Volta Gastro

Brunnenstraße 73

Berlin, Germany

0176 77 55 64 22

dasvolta.com

Burger de Ville - Berlin, Germany

The Burger de Ville double cheeseburger features 100 percent organic Angus beef and is an oasis for burger eaters in Berlin.

Burger de Ville in Berlin, Germany is an Airstream Trailer in the middle of the Kurfurstendamm shopping district. It's weird seeing food trailer in the middle of glass buildings. I had never had such luck with burgers in Europe, but it appears that Berlin is serious about Hamburgers. There we burger joints everywhere. 

The Burger de Ville cheeseburger (€4,60)  and double cheeseburger (€7,00) are from organic Black Angus. They are fabulous. Meat is tasty and fresh, griddled rather than flame broiled. Cooked medium well but still very juicy. Green leaf lettuce, pickle, tomato slice cheese special sauce top the patty. The sesame bun by Meisterbäckerei of Berlin toasted. Someone did their research. This burger would kill in the U.S.  

This Airstream Trailer is the home for Burger deVIlle in Berlin and is surrounded by tall glass office buildings. 

Fries were piping hot. Medium cut with skins, they tasted fresh cut.  Very tasty ketchup accompanied the fries. 

No smell billowed from the trailer. Their clever system pumped the air from the grill vents and filtered it. So if you get to Berlin, it is worth searching out one of the Burger de Ville Airstreams. You will feel right at home.

Burger 5 out of 5 spatulas.

Fries 4.5 spatulas. 

Burger de Ville

Kurfürstendamm 22

Berlin, Germany

+49 30 68073949

25hours-hotels.com/de/bikini/restaurant/burger-de-ville.html

Hot tasty fries from Burger de Ville. Great with their special ketchup. 

Grumpy's - Ketchum, Sun Valley, Idaho

The 1/2 Pound Cheeseburger at Grumpy's in Ketchum, Sun Valley, Idaho

Grumpy’s in Ketchum, Idaho’s Sun Valley is a place everyone told me I had to go. I had been to Sun Valley many times over the last 22 years, but for some reason had never heard of Grumpy’s.  Why didn’t I hear about it before? “Sorry We’re Open” proclaims their website. The people working at Grumpy’s were not grumpy, as advertised but were very pleasant, calling those in our party “honey” and “sweetheart”. 

Grumpy’s location has a classic burger joint lived-in feel, pleasantly dilapidated. Beer cans line the wall. Lots of memorabilia litters the walls. Graffiti, wall carvings and mementos abound. Most of the seating on this sunny day was outdoors. 

I ordered the 1/2 lb burger ($7.75 added) and added ham by suggestion of the woman at the counter, since they did not offer bacon. I added fries ($1.50). Everyone else got the 1/4 pound burger. We grabbed our seats outside under an umbrella. A golden retriever who seemed to know its way around came over and greeted us. Within a short time a young man emerged from the restaurant and yelled “Scott” and brought us our burgers. 

The burger and fries shared a basket lined with white paper. The sesame bun, lightly toasted, surrounded the burger patty along with shredded lettuce, onion slices, pickles, special sauce and american cheese. The burger patty itself was charcoal-broiled, charred crispy on the outside and cooked medium on the inside. A very smokey flavor masked the meat flavor. The patty was not very juicy and was relatively unremarkable so maybe the smokey taste was a relief. By comparison the 1/4-pound burgers were cooked clear through and grey in the middle. Get the 1/2 pound burger and eat half of it. 

The thin fries were your typical frozen, industrial style fries, slightly under-coooked and not that hot.  

Overall, I was unimpressed with Grumpy’s but it was a pleasant place to have a family burger on a beautiful day in Ketchum. 

Burger 2.5 spatulas out of 5

Fies 2 spatulas

Grumpy’s 

860 Warm Springs Rd. 

Ketchum, ID 83340

208-720-3171
grumpyssunvalley.com

http://www.grumpyssunvalley.com

Assembly - Santa Cruz, CA

The West Coast Burger at Assembly in Santa Cruz, CA, featuring artfully crispy bacon, cheddar topping and poutine  fries as photographed by the HoosierBurgerBoy.

Assembly in Santa Cruz beckons on a sunny afternoon along the coast. The doors open to a bustling downtown full off pedestrians. A breeze blows gently through the door. Chandeliers fashioned from deer antlers hang from the ceiling. This is a high-end dining experience. The burger is as well.

After being seated, I order the West coast burger with home made brioche bun, cheddar spread, pickled onion, secret sauce, salad and fries. ($13.50) I add bacon for $3. Avocado is $2.50, but I decline. The burger comes with fries, but they also have Poutine with aged cheddar and duck gravy for $8. My server says she can make my fries into poutine. 

Antlers form a Chandelier at Assembly in Santa Cruz, CA.

I order a glass of wine and wait for my burger as the restaurant starts to fill up. The burger arrives with bacon draped artfully around the patty; the smokey slices thin and crisp. The burger is grass fed and grass finished. It comes prepared to medium. Cooked perfectly, my burger tastes salty and delicious. The cheddar mixture gives a nice grace note of sharpness. I don't really taste the secret sauce, unless it's in the cheddar sauce. The bun holds together well under the juice until the last few bites when it falls apart on the bottom. This is a big win of a burger. 

The poutine fries are a work of art. The light duck gravy works as a condiment, not heavy and greasy but airy, salty and delicious it is spread sparingly over the hot, medium cut fries. 

I recommend this burger highly if you have the extra bucks and are in Santa Cruz looking for a great burger. There are lots of great things on the menu besides, so bring the whole gang and everyone can enjoy. 

Burger 4.5 spatulas our of 5

Fries 5 spatulas

Assembly

1108 Pacific Avenue

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

831-824-6100

assembleforfood.com

The front view of Assembly in Santa Cruz, CA. A great place to have a burger.

Burger. - Santa Cruz, CA

The Syd Barrett Burger at Burger. in Santa Cruz comes in a metal pan with Fries. 

Burger. in Santa Cruz is a regular stop for me when I am in Santa Cruz. They have an imaginative and creative offering and a very comfortable and fun bar atmosphere in the restaurant. The moment you come in, you are presented with a huge chalkboard behind the counter with lots of burger combos named after the famous and semi-famous. My favorite name is the obscure Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett whose eponymous burger is the mushroom swiss. The Kim Kardashian ($14.75) is a double Phatty, which is two bacon cheeseburgers between two grilled cheese sandwiches.

I ordered the Hank Williams ($7.75),  a 4-ounce Humboldt grass-fed beef patty, onion rings, bacon, cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce. All burgers come with lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles.  And shoestring fries. I also bought a chocolate shake ($5.25). The five of us finished ordering our burgers and were given a picture of Ozzy Osbourne as our "number" for our order to be brought to our table. 

 

The Shake at Burger was luscious. 

The shake came first, exquisitely topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. We had five spoons and the shake was quickly consumed. It was cold but still creamy. The shake was made with chocolate ice cream, not vanilla with syrup. It was sublime. 

The burgers came, nicely packed in small metal loaf pans: face up for easy photography with fries nicely tucked in. The burger was very good, the meat nicely spiced with pepper. The onion inside the ring was sweet and soft, bacon crisp, bbq sauce a nice accent rather than overwhelming. All the vegetables were crisp and fresh. The toasted bun was firm and fresh. 

 

The Menu is Considerable. No end of choices at Burger. in Santa Cruz.

The fries were disappointingly cold. We told our server and she cheerfully brought a piping hot mound of fries as a replacement. The hot fries were too thick to be called shoestrings. They were thin-cut, salty and crisp. Good if not remarkable. 

Everyone really enjoyed their burger. We had a good time hanging out. We all agreed we will come back next time we are in Santa Cruz. 

Burger 4 out of 5 spatulas

Fries 2.5 spatulas

Shake 4.5 spautals. 

Burger.

1520 Mission St.

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

(831) 425-5300

http://www.burgersantacruz.com

The interior at burger is well lit and inviting. A bar in the back is quite popular.