Sometimes, you have cravings. We know this. Hence: Scanning the Menu, a new feature where the MenuPages Blog will do all the leg work for you. Every week or so, we’ll highlight a particular crave-worthy dish and illuminate restaurants around the city where you can indulge in it. Suggestions always welcome. This week: hamburgers.
A month ago, we celebrated the commencement of National Grilled Cheese Month. Today, we ring in National Hamburger Month.
1.) Who says Americans don’t value their health?
2.) Who comes up with these national months?
Anyway, here are our picks for burger destinations around our fair city. Enjoy.
• Zuni Cafe ($13.50): MenuPages’ most requested restaurant, Zuni Cafe, does the burger right. It’s ground in-house, cooked in the wood-fired oven, plopped onto a focaccia bun and served with Zuni pickles, aioli and garden lettuces.
• Nopa ($12): The heir apparent to Zuni as home of the best upscale burger in town, Nopa’s version comes with pickled onions. And you get it until midnight.
• Chez Maman ($9): We had to include at least one traditional French bistro on the list. Both Chez Maman locations serve up juicy bistro burgers with your choice of French cheese (including brie) atop the meat.
• In-N-Out Burger: A no-brainer for this list. If you’ve been, you know.
• Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers ($5.95): If it’s variety you crave, then Barney’s is the answer. Over 20 types of burgers are on the menu, from a Russian Burger (“sauteed mushroom, scallions, sour cream on dark rye” $6.75) to a Blackened Burger ("blackened with the finest Lousiana cajun dust–hot” $6.75).
• Rosamunde: The gourmet sausage destination expands their horizons to serve burgers every Tuesday at lunch. The line begins forming at 11:30 and they’re usually sold out fairly quickly. To flame your curiousity, one Chowhound describes the burger as “using good ingredients, transcending the genre, elevating the commonplace into the realm of the sublime.”
That’s our list folks. Who’d we miss?
