Burger Joint
website - 807 Valencia in the Mission, at 19th st. It's a reasonably retro little burger joint, exactly as it says, and the menu is about as extensive as the one you'd find at an In-n-Out. Your options are:
hamburger with fries
cheeseburger with fries
gardenburger with fries
chicken breast with fries
beef hot dog with fries
fries

Yup. That's it. OK, so they know what they want to specialize in. How is it?
Well, the burgers are all Niman Ranch beef, and it is damn tasty meat, cooked to order. Unfortunately, the buns are reasonably ordinary sesame seed rolls, and have nothing on the bunny goodness one encounters at Mo's. The fries are thick steak cut, and are fried almost to the point of being crispy outside, but not quite, which is too bad in my opinion, but then I'm picky about my fries. They also make shakes (basic flavors only), which in the case of chocolate is really like drinking semi-liquid chocolate ice cream. Very ice creamy.

So how do I rate it? Well, the meat was fantastic and cooked perfectly medium rare, as ordered. The toppings are simple but sufficient - red onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle (optional mayo), though another tomato slice would have been nice. But the bun was lacking in fancy consistency or flavor, which was disappointing, though in its defense, a cheeseburger is only $6.95. I was also annoyed that there was no burger only option, as I really don't like fries and wouldn't have gotten them given the option.

So while it's reasonably priced, you're forced to get extra food you might not want, and the poor bun reduces the overall burger quality.
Mo's is still the SF King of Burgers.
- posted by Hoff @ 12:34 PM