Just because I found an amazing burger at Niku Butcher Shop in my last installment doesn’t mean the hunt is over. There are a bounty of burgers in the city, and I plan on trying even more. This time, I tried the burgers from The Grove, Patriot House Pub, and Automat to see if any of them could possibly take the top spot.
1. The Cheeseburger at The Grove
The Grove is tricky for me, I have been to the one near Yerba Buena, and well, it was a huge letdown. The one in the Design District, though, seems to make some excellent stuff, so I was eager to try the burger there someday. After their recent reopening, I grabbed one for takeaway and brought it home. For $16 you get the basic cheeseburger with a side salad or roasted potatoes. For additional money you can add other toppings like bacon, avocado or a fried egg. I went with just the basic burger and a salad for lunch. The burger was really tasty with the first bite. The aged cheddar really went with the meatiness of the burger, and the bun really held up well. There’s not really any interesting toppings, but when you made a burger patty that good, you don’t really need it. The salad was nice, but pretty much just a side salad.
2. Butcher’s Blend Burger from The Patriot House Pub
To be honest, the Patriot House Pub wasn’t the first place on my list when I wanted to grab a burger for lunch while I was out running errands. Sadly, my first choice was weirdly closed, so I stopped in here after reading some decent reviews for burgers online. For $18 you get their grass-fed burger with onions, secret sauce and gruyere cheese. There were a few options for sides, but the salt and vinegar fries really sounded interesting, so I opted for that. Again, this ended up being a pretty tasty burger, with a nice meaty flavor. The real surprise though were the fries, as they were thin, almost like a chip, with a great salt and vinegar flavor. I would come back just for the fries to be honest.
3. Cheezy Buddy from Automat
Finally, I headed to Automat, which is getting a lot of buzz right now for having some interesting casual style food. For $16 you get a double smash burger on a milk bread bun with garlicky cheddar and dill-pickled onions. It doesn’t include any sides, but they do have fries with automat sauce on the menu for an additional $5 (or $6, honestly I can’t find them on an online menu anywhere). The burger does look really great when it comes out, but unfortunately, there was a pile of grease on the plate which was a bit off-putting. I think it might have been from the melted cheese. It tasted pretty good though, at least to start. The burger had good flavor and nice char, but it got a bit samey with taste and really needed some texture as the bun was really soft and didn’t hold up well to the burger. The fries were amazing though. The sauce was a perfect mix of sweet and spicy and the crispy fries were very moreish.
Winner: Niku Butcher Shop
While there were strong contenders this week with both Automat and The Grove, they just didn’t really make the mark to enter the top five, especially since The Grove is right next to Niku Butcher Shop so it makes more sense to go there for a burger instead. (The things I do for this blog!) I did enjoy the burger at Automat as well, but I think it could use a bit of a revamp to really turn it into a wow burger. Will I find a burger to outdo that Wagyu Smash Burger? I can’t wait to find out, and don’t forget, I’m always on the lookout for burger suggestions so feel free to leave a comment with your suggestions!
My current top five:
1. Niku Butcher Shop
2. Monsieur Benjamin
3. Comstock Saloon
4. Fort Point Valencia
5. Wayfare Tavern
Honorable mentions:
Classic toppings/burgers:
The Grove Design District
Gaspar
Nopa
Epic Steak
4505 Burgers and Barbecue
Magnolia Brewing
The Showdown
Spruce
Little Creatures Brewery
Frankie’s Java House
Unusual toppings/burgers:
Automat
City Beer Store
The Saratoga
ABV
Biergarten
Son’s Addition
Rock Club Burger
Multiple toppings/burgers:
Papa Mak’s
Brickhouse
Super Duper Burgers
Beep’s Burgers
Hoopla Burger
Sides:
Umami Burger
Wes Burger ‘n’ More
