Mini-burger Truck getting ready for the day

Two mini-burgers w/ a side of sweet potato tots

 

One really shouldn't critique a restaurant on one dish alone. So this is not a review of Golden Bear overall, only their fabulous Juicy Lucy Burger. Hopefully I'll be returning again soon to try some other dishes. But then again, I might be so hooked on the burger now that it will be difficult to try something else!

When I eat a burger I tend to use quite a bit of ketchup. My modis operandi is to pour out a mound of ketchup, not for dipping my fries in (I only dip those in a pile of salt - saltaholic!), but for dipping my burger in.

The Juicy Lucy is described as: "House Ground Niman Angus stuffed with Fontina, Bacon, Jameson® Glazed Onions, Avocado, and Lettuce." Yay! No tomatoes. I don't eat raw tomatoes and always have to say, "hold the tomatoes". This burger doesn't even come with them.

I apologize. No pictures. I was camera-less, it was dark, and I was hungry.

The burger arrived with a side of potato salad. We were sad and disappointed to hear that they had discontinued kettle chips!  What! I'm hoping this was meant as "we ran out" instead of them being taken off the menu permanently. After all, all the reviews have praised the kettle chips. The potato salad was pretty dull and there's really nothing more to be said on that.

But the burger! I was faced with a hearty burger with a nice sized, hand shaped patty. I was going to ask for my ketchup but went ahead and took a big bite. I forgot all about that ketchup. I'm telling you, if I consumed that burger without even thinking about ketchup, then it was one fine burger! It was juicy, salty, flavorful, and satisfying. It was everything you want in a burger. It was burger heaven.

For those searching for Sacramento's best burger, this is a contender!

Spicy Baja Smashburger with Sweet Potato Smashfries

Original post from July 2010 with Oct. 2010 updates in green.

I had been invited as Cakegrrl's guest to the VIP opening of the new Folsom Smashburger. I took the picture above, but have procrastinated blogging about them. I'm glad I did because now I have more to say.

Then I got a free Twitter coupon for a side item (gotta love Twitter). So did Poor Girl Kimberly. We decided that since we got a special deal and Kimberly would otherwise never get to a Smashburger, we would stop by to use the coupons on our way to Lake Natoma for the day.

You can select from a selection of hamburger combos or you can build your own burger. Some of the different selections they include are different weights of patties (1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 pound), brie cheese, guacamole, chipotle bun.


I opted for one of their signature burgers. I chose the Spicy Baja which included pepper jack cheese, guacamole, jalapenos, and was on a chipotle bun. Even the bun is spiced! Kimberly went for the Nor Cal burger with applewood smoked bacon, grilled onions, and brie cheese. We both agreed that we liked that the burgers were juicy and flavorful and that the meat to bun ratio was good. Kimberly thought there would have been a better spread on hers (mayonnaise) but couldn't decide what would work without taking away from the brie. Oct. Kimberly ordered the same burger again and says she knows what was missing. This time she had a balsamic soaked tomato and she says it made all the difference. Not sure why it was missing or not the same in the July burger.


We each had our coupons for free sides. I had had the sweet potato fries last time and so I chose the haystack onions. These were wonderfully thin and crispy with no grease. They were served with a side of spicy style ranch sauce. Kimberly chose the fries which are tossed with rosemary, garlic, and olive oil. We loved them! I could easily stop by just to pick up an order of those fries! Now when I had the sweet potato fries before, they had also been tossed with this mixture. But the sweet potato flavor overpowered the rosemary garlic. But on straight french fries, that rosemary garlic is the bomb!



So am I glad that Smashburger has arrived in the Sacramento area? Sure. When I want more of a fast food style burger I only go to In n Out or Suzy's. Smashburger has won me over and I will definitely be seeing them more often as they continue opening there three more stores over the next few months.

It seems like I've been doing a lot of burger tasting lately and that it always happens because I am in the neighborhood. Last night I was in Natomas to shop at Petsmart and remembered that the new Five Guys Burgers was open somewhere there. A quick check on my Droid and I navigated over to the corner of Truxel and Del Paso. I will admit I had about five minutes of frustration trying to locate it in the mess of stores in that complex. It really is, literally, tucked into the corner at Truxel and Del Paso. It's just that the signs weren't good enough as I circled through the whole complex searching for it.

For those of you who have never heard of Five Guys, it's Obama's place. As in, whenever you see President Obama venturing out of the White House in search of burgers, he's heading straight for Five Guys.

The joint keeps it pretty simple. There are burgers, fries, and hot dogs. The nice thing is that all the toppings are free. So you build your burger as you want. I also liked that they offered Cajun fries.

My order consisted of the cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard, onions, lettuce, and jalapenos. I ordered the smaller size of Cajun fries and a regular soda. It was pretty pricey - $11.06.

What I got was a bag with my burger on the bottom, and then an overflowing cup of fries. I mean, OVERFLOWING! It was a ridiculous amount for regular. In any other place it would be a large. But they were good! They were hot, not greasy, and covered in Cajun seasoning. My dilemma for next time, then, would be whether to order fries at all. If I'm by myself, it would be a total waste as I ended up throwing more than half of them away. I would definitely order them if with a friend or two to share.

The burger itself was good although not exceptional. It was a normal size burger and bun whereas I believe Smashburger's were larger bun/burger. I did like that the onions were chopped versus left in rings -  it makes it easier to eat. The jalapenos are fresh, not pickled. I was a bit disappointed that my slice of cheese was apparently added right before bun because it was not nice and melty.

Some other things to note about the place... They have shelled peanuts to eat while you wait. There's a large box with paper bowls so that you can fish out a load of peanuts and sit, shell, and eat. There was also a sign posted with where the potatoes of the day came from. This day they were from some farm in Idaho.

I like that the place keeps things simple, I just wish the price was simpler too. It got #1 from Zagat's for burger chains while In & Out got #2. But In & Out is about half the price. Yes, they have their differences and I did enjoy Five Guys, but for myself, if faced with both restaurants sitting across the street from each other, I'd opt for the cheaper In & Out.

Squeeze Inn Cheeseburger

Squeeze Inn has always had quite a reputation and following in Sacramento. I never went because part of that reputation included a small place, long lines, and difficult hours for me to make. Now they not only have a new, bigger location, but they also have two sister restaurants in Galt and Roseville. There also appears to be a copy cat in Napa, but they aren't listed on the true Squeeze Inn's website, so I think they must be fakers.

I figured that Roseville was going to be the easiest for me to experience. Since I was on that side of town, I dropped by for lunch. I found a clean, bright place with plenty of tables, a counter, as well as outdoor seating. I also found that at Saturday early lunch, they were pretty full with a short line for me to wait in. I ordered their famous Squeeze Cheese and took a seat at the counter so I could watch the grill action.


The chain is famous for their cheeseburgers with cheese skirts. Basically they have so much cheese that it creates a melted cheese 'skirt' around the burger on the grill. As I sat on the counter I witnessed the process. The burgers are grilled to almost done and then well spaced on the grill. Next the cook takes a heaping handful of shredded cheddar cheese and piles it on top of and overflowing the patties. The cheese quickly melts creating the skirt. The chef throws a few ice cubes on the grill and then quickly covers all the patties with a bin cover to trap the steam. I guess the steam keeps the cheese from burning.


The end result is the messiest burger I've ever eaten. But it was good! The problem is that the burger is so big with all the toppings and the cheese skirt that it was unwieldy. Basically, you need to rip off the cheese skirt and then take it and stick it back into your burger over the other melted cheese. The skirt is an interesting thing. It's well cooked so that it is almost hard, but just a little flexible, without being burned. This gives it a chewy texture. It can be compared to cheese crisps that are sometimes made for salads and other dish garnishing. But all this cheese plus the beef does make for a very greasy beast and I looked down when I finished to find a pool of it in the bottom of my paper basket.

I did enjoy the burger and yet left feeling overstuffed and wondering how my arteries were doing.  (Have you ever seen the news story where they take a person's blood before and after a burger lunch and then spin it to separate the blood and fat and measure it? Scary.) My one recommendation for the place, provide wetnaps. You'll go through lots of napkins and still end up with very greasy fingers.

Squeeze Inn deserves its well earned reputation.

Don't you hate it when something gets a lot of hoopla and then you don't like it yourself? Or you think, "What's so special about that?" Such is the case with Nationwide Freezer Meats and their burger.

Now before I continue I should say that burgers, like pizzas and ribs, are very personal dishes in that people like things their way. NWFM has a lot of devoted Sacramento fans and lots of good reviews by others and on Yelp. So go ahead and judge for yourself.

I've heard of NWFM for many years but never could seem to locate it. (Not that I was looking very hard in the first place.) Then on a recent meeting at The Urban Hive I noticed that they were right across the street. I made a mental note that I finally would have to venture over. That day was today, sans camera.

The place itself is on the corner in a duplexy commercial building. Inside it is bright, clean, and very spacious. They could pack more tables in if they wanted to. I think it appeared so spacious today because tables had been pushed together for a large party. The counter is way toward the back.

I asked for a combo order of their French Ground Steak Burger with fries and soda. My order was written on a paper bag. There are no plates, trays or baskets here to worry about washing. Talk about a minimilistic approach, forget the salt shakers, on the tables are set the big round containers of iodized salt. And to the side there are bottles of mustard and special sauce, but no ketchup. I began to worry until my order came out with a small dental spit cup filled with ketchup.

The burger is made with Harris Ranch beef, ground on site, then hand shaped into patties. Considering this, I was really disappointed. I found the meat dry, tasteless, and overcooked. The patties were large because they had been pressed flat and thin. Therefore, it seemed that they had squeezed and cooked the taste out of it. What I did taste was salt. There was a definite saltiness upon first bite. I can also see the appeal of ordering a double-burger to get more meat per bite considering the thinness of the patty. The bun was good, though. It was able to stand up to the burger and toppings while not falling apart.

The fries were disappointing as well. Expect potatoes that have been cut lengthwise into thick, one-inch sticks with skin left on. Sure, they are hefty suckers, but not all that appetizing. I left more than half of them behind.

For those of you who love Nationwide, so be it. You can have my servings while I go elsewhere.