Brave Horse Tavern – Seattle, Washington

I was back in Seattle on a business trip, and met up with a friend for dinner. We initially tried to go to a couple different pizza places, but they both were packed so we ended up at Brave Horse Tavern. I have never heard of it before, but it is owned by Tom Douglas, who owns a ton of great restaurants all over Seattle, in every style of food. Sounded like a good sign.

Their food menu is pretty simple. They have homemade pretzels with some interesting dipping sauces – peanut butter and bacon being my favorite. They also have an apple mustard, which I hadn’t heard of before. When I asked about that, the waitress said, “Why, do you think it’s strange? Well your face is strange.” It was odd, and I was wondering if they had a thing where they talk like that to customers, but they don’t. It was just strange, more so than my face.

Anyway, their burger menu is basic; you can pick from beef, veggie or chicken. Beef is $6, cheese is $1 more, and bacon, a fried egg, or avocado are an additional $2 each. I went with cheddar and bacon for a total of $9. The burger is not that big, and was interestingly served only with lettuce and pickles (the pickles were quickly removed).

First bite in and I knew it was a winner. The buns are nice and buttery, with the perfect amount of crisp skin to them. But the real star here was cheese treatment. As you can see, they really melt the cheese down over the meat, but what you cant see is the crunchy cheese that melted off the burger and was scraped off the grill along with the meat, just hanging off the side. This definitely was a high quality gourmet burger made like a true fast food burger. The bacon broke apart easily, but the only real difficulties with this burger was the lettuce. The giant leaves of lettuce went awry on my first bite and never fully recovered for the rest of the burger.

The only issue I really had was it seemed a bit small. I also ate a pretzel and the fries (which were separate and $3) and was pretty full, but putting away two of these burgers would be doable, save for the $18 that would cost.

Brave Horse Tavern is a pretty cool place, and if you drink beer it’s probably even cooler as they had a ton of beers to choose from. I got a root beer that was on tap and it was decent, but nothing all that special. They also have a shuffleboard table, so there’s another plus. But it was very nice looking inside, albeit dark, if I have led you to believe otherwise. Definitely the best burger I have had in Seattle so far, and would consider eating there again next time I’m in town.

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More info at bravehorsetavern.com

Straw Carnival Fare – San Francisco, CA

Fate works in strange ways. Every week I drive across the city to get to the Bay Bridge. Always in the left lane going across Octavia, not paying much attention to whats passing by. But recently I glanced over and saw a wonderful site. A tilt-a-whirl seat in a window of a small restaurant. I glanced up and just barely caught that the place was called Straw Carnival Fare. That was more than enough to pique my interest. Growing up, I was convinced I would design rollercoasters, I had bought Coaster, a floppy disk based rollercoaster building simulator from the Scholastic Reader, and I was set. I later found out that excessive math skills would be needed, and dropped that idea pretty quickly.

But I have always had a love for theme parks, fairs, carnivals, games, all of that stuff. Rides, and corndogs; there is little else I need. I even built the website for the Marin County Fair a few years back. So I called my girlfriend right away and asked her to check it out. Reservations were made, and two weeks later we were there with 2 friends of ours.

The reason?

The Ringmaster. I have heard about burgers like this before, but it was only from a chain, and maybe only a combination of food from one chain with food from another chain. But when served up at a proper restaurant, it just seems much better.

What is the ringmaster exactly? A cheeseburger (that I obviously got with bacon) served on two glazed donuts. Many words can be used to describe this. Some would say “that’s so American” or “Gluttony”, but those people are annoying and should not be here. I would say Awesome and Must-try. There was a lot of anticipation for eating this, as we had made plans a few weeks ahead, so it had been lingering around in my mind for awhile.

I was definitely wary of how this would actually taste, as some things that are both awesome don’t always work together (i.e. those bacon chocolate bars). But first bite in, and you could just tell it worked. The sweet and savory was balanced just right. The burger was very simple; bacon, cheese and meat, which has to be deliberate. The only thing that bothered me was having some of the grease end up on the donut buns, but the burger was really not that greasy. I don’t know how often I would describe something as being fun to eat, but this definitely was.

Recently, if you are getting a burger that is way out of the ordinary, it’s either got some stupid gourmet thing going on like a caviar aioli, or it’s all about how massive this is. The Ringmaster is neither, and it’s one of the most fun things I have eaten in years. On their own, the burger ingredients are tasty with the bacon being done very well. The patty was a really good size, not too thick, and thankfully not too greasy. The donuts were… well donuts. I can’t say I’ve really had a bad one, and these were no different. For buns, they are a bit tall, so you have to do the ole burger squash method to make it work, and you are going to get messy. But this restaurant definitely caters to that. The Ringmaster and a side of homemade chips is $11.75 and it’s another $1.50 for bacon. Pretty standard for an SF restaurant.

For non-burger lovers (ridiculous I know) there are still plenty of options, and some that are close to as interesting as the Ringmaster. A friend order the fried chicken and waffle monte-cristo, and that looked pretty delicious too. Everyone had fun here, and it’s just a great atmosphere for a smaller group of friends. Straw is very small, so it’s best to make a reservation, but I can’t recommend this place enough if you can’t decide between a nice dinner out and a burger place. I’d say the Ringmaster, or an equivalent, is something all burger lovers must try at least once!

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Check them out at http://strawsf.com/

Johnny Garlic’s – Santa Rosa, CA

Love him or hate him, you all know who Guy Fieri is. Guy has been one of the heavy hitters in the super-celebrifying of the chef, and I am definitely guilty of going out of my way to stop at places featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. My girlfriend’s parents are fans of the show, and enjoy visiting featured places when they are traveling as well. So naturally they wanted to check out one of Guy’s own restaurants when they came up to visit.

So up north, beyond the outskirts of the Bay Area, is Johnny Garlic’s. It’s called a pasta grill, but the dishes are pretty all over the place, especially for its location. The menu has something for everyone on it, including vegetarians and generally picky eaters. But then it also has bison burgers, and some exotic animal as the Hunter’s Special. I’ve actually been a few times, and had things like the pizza, and everything has been pretty tasty. The bread they bring out is always a huge hit too. But that is not why we are here. We are here for this.

Checking their website and menu now, it looks like this burger has been updated. I had the Snake River BBQ Burger, but now it appears to have been replaced by Guy’s Big Bite Burger. They have added a pretzel roll (one of my personal favorites), and swapped the pepper-jack for cheddar. The BBQ burger was really good. Should this be surprising or not, I don’t know, but it really was solid. The bacon is thick and crispy, breaking apart cleanly with each bite. There’s some onion straws on top for some added crunch, though not overwhelming. The bun was actually really good, with a little bit of crunch to it. Almost a bummer that they went to a pretzel bun, when their regular buns were already rather good, and so many other places would benefit much more from it. What really pulled this burger together though was the BBQ sauce. Definitely a top notch and delicious sauce. It was sweet enough where it balanced the kick of the pepper-jack and brought the whole thing together. They use higher quality ingredients, and its definitely noticeable.

This messy burger caught me off guard, as it was a bit better than I was really expecting. I figured it would be good, albeit standard, but everything worked really well together. It’s a bit higher priced at 13.95 with a side of fries, but that is most likely a balance of local meat and a sprinkle of unicorn dust for that bbq sauce. As a whole, the restaurant is a good place for friends or family; it’s a little loud, there are tv’s up, and the waitstaff is pretty consistently great. The onion rolls they serve with oil and vinegar get devoured plate after plate, and if you can survive for dessert they have some pretty decadent options as well. Prices seem a couple dollars too high on some items, but it is good food and a good time.

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You can get more info at http://www.johnnygarlics.com/

Bacon Bacon Food Truck, SF Bay Area

Bacon Bacon is a food truck. Devoted to bacon.

This is exactly the reason food trucks are awesome. It would be very difficult for an actual storefront like this to exist, though if it anywhere could support it, I think SF might have a chance. When I first heard we had a bacon truck , I had to check out the menu to see how they were pulling it off, and was impressed. They have good lunch offerings, and a few tasty looking desserts. But the greatest surprise was the root beer they had on tap- Devil’s Canyon. It was real creamy and didn’t have an overbearing amount of bite; probably one of the best root beers I have ever had.

Now on to the burger. I have ordered it twice, and eating it again really cemented how i felt about it. The bacon bacon burger consists of two smaller patties, bacon, and cheddar cheese. The bottom bun was slathered in some almost melted cheeselike mayo-esque cream, which I believe the current catch-all is aioli. I, as usual, opted out of the grilled onions. The burger rang up at 8 bones.

So how does it stack up? Well, the first time I had it, the two patties weren’t the size of the bun, and instead covered different sides, and met in the middle. Took me a little while to realize it was indeed two patties, but it didn’t actually detract from the burger, and just recently that was not an issue. They give you some reasonably thick slabs of bacon, and don’t skimp with it either. The buns are nice and doughy, which I prefer. A good contrast to the melted cheese and sauce surrounding the meat. This burger is serious though. Not in a huge way or anything, it is decently sized and will fill you up for a lunch, but it will knock you off your feet. The whole thing tasted a little saltier than the average bacon burger, and throw in the cheese and mayo-cream on the bottom and you’ve got a heavy sitting burger. One of the burgers that make you really question eating it all too often. It is good, but it just tasted like it was dangerous. Is it not good for you? For sure. But that is not what we want to be thinking while eating one, so I guess I prefer my burgers a little less up front about it, unless  of course it is completely over the top. And in that case, by all means sign me up.

Worth giving a go, but be prepared to have a sit down/get the burger sweats after this one. And definitely get the root beer!
Also, upon further research they do indeed have a storefront now doing breakfast, and soon lunch. So I guess I am underestimating bacon.

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Find and follow Bacon Bacon on twitter and facebook to find out their current schedule.

The Chieftain – San Francisco, CA

My lunch buddy-coworkers and I are awfully indecisive about where to eat, so when one of them had a new recommendation, The Chieftain, an Irish Pub and Restaurant, we went for it. He had been there before and really liked the tuna burger, so away we went. I was in the mood for chicken strips, but that was a no go so I went with the good ole standby burger–$8.95 for a cheeseburger and steak fries.

The burger was very… whelming. Overwhelmed or underwhelmed I was not. The outside was a little charred while the inside was a bit too rare, frozen patties methinks? The bun was good, just above average to balance out the just below average patty. I don’t prefer steak fries, but these were fine, not crispy enough where they become real good, but not soggy enough to be a bummer.

All in all, and rather briefly, the Chieftain was average. I didn’t come in with any expectations, and I left with them being met. Unfortunately my buddy wasn’t as happy with the tuna burger this time around, but it was a nice place to relax and have a long lunch.

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Learn more about them at:
http://www.thechieftain.com/