I’ve hunted down a few more burgers in the city to try and determine if they can snag the top spot from the burger at Black Sands Brewery (which was still in the lead in Part 8). For this round, I tried burgers from Ziggy’s Burgers, Hamburger Mary’s and The Steamin’ Burger Truck. Will any of them end up on top?
1. Ziggy’s Burgers
I’ve passed by here a few times, and while I hadn’t heard if the burgers were any good, I figured it was something worth checking out. They advertise having Halal meat (it’s definitely not as common to see here as it was in London), and they also advertise having the best burger in San Francisco. (Although who knows how they were judging it!) I went for the South of the Border Burger with grilled onions, avocados, jalapeno peppers and pepper jack cheese with a side of curly fries. I’ve now decided that curly fries are clearly more nostalgic than they are amazing, as they really aren’t anything exciting, even though I always wanted them as a kid. The burger was much better than I thought it would be, even though it was cooked more than I would have liked. The toppings added a nice kick, but didn’t overpower the flavor of the burger, which had a nice beefy flavor and a good amount of char with a soft, yet sturdy bun to hold it all together. The more I ate it, the more it grew on me, and I definitely could see myself coming back (although no curly fries next time).
2. Hamburger Mary’s
Next up, I decided I had to hit up the newly opened Hamburger Mary’s in the Castro. After being closed for 20 years, it’s now reopened for your burger and drag queen pleasure. I went with some friends, so we tried out the mac and cheese balls and I ordered the black and blue burger with blue cheese, bacon and blue cheese dressing and a side of tater ta-tas. (Honestly, it’s a toss up between blue cheese or spicy toppings on a burger as my favorite). The burger was much better than I expected it to be honestly, as it had a good amount of blue cheese flavor going for it. Overall though, it definitely wasn’t a spectacular burger. The tater tots were also fairly standard. The upside was that I got to see a fairly entertaining drag show during dinner, so I wasn’t just having dinner, but also having a bit of a show!
3. The Steamin’ Burger Truck
I found myself at Spark Social SF one day and I was fortunate enough to find The Steamin’ Burger Truck there. (I did have a conundrum on whether to do a Food Truck post or a burger post, but I think it’s more appropriate here.) They are pretty well known around the bay area for steaming burgers (in case you couldn’t tell by the name). They are also usually jalapeno stuffed, although if you don’t like it you can get it without. I ordered the regular burger with the addition of an egg and a side of fries. When it came out, the cheese was nice and oozy and melty (as they steam it on top), and the fries turned out to be curly fries. The fries were nothing special and convinced me even more that curly fries are not the way to go. The burger was okay. Every once in awhile I got a nice hit of heat, but the problem with steaming the burger is that everything was really soft. The meat was soft, the bun was soft, the toppings were soft. The burger really needed some texture for me, and maybe just grilling the buns with butter would have given the burger a bit of crunch. While the flavor was okay, I just didn’t really get why there was a massive queue for the burgers, as in my opinion, there was nothing really special about it.
Winner: Black Sands Brewery
Black Sands Brewery still has the best value-for-money burger around with amazing fries and a nice, crunchy toasty bun. Ziggy’s Burgers was much tastier than I expected, so it’s sneaking in at the bottom of the top ten. Will I ever find a new burger to top all the ones I’ve tried?
Ranking:
1. Black Sands Brewery
2. Wayfare Tavern
3. Gaspar
4. Wes Burger ‘n’ More
5. Epic Steak
6. Umami Burger
7. ABV
8. 4505 Burgers and BBQ
9. Super Duper Burgers
10. Ziggy’s Burgers
Even as a kid, I had that same feeling about curly fries– I always wanted to order them, but never wanted more than a bite!
I checked back on the Black Sands post (http://www.gaygastronaut.com/the-great-burger-hunt-part-3/) to recall what was so dang impressive about that burger! and noticed that there was a good conversation in the comments between you and Oshyan Greene. He let you know that he recently had a great burger in a pop-up, and that they were going to be opening a restaurant soon. FYI, Looks like they’ve opened!:
Theorita
834 Divisadero St
San Francisco, California 94117
Maybe that’s why the stray curly fry was always appreciated when you found it mixed with your regular fries.
Oh wow! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll definitely be checking them out soon!
OMG, the stray curly fry was a freaking GEM!
That stray curly fry was always looked upon with gratitude!
Turns out that Theorita isn’t actually open yet, but they have the location, so it looks like it should be coming along soon!