The joy of Monte Cristo
from Mama’s, San Francisco.
This thing was a fucking revelation. Roam aren’t scared to shift from burger tradition and introduce a few unorthodox ingredient combinations, and frankly they nail it every time.
[2011 HONOURS LIST] Simon’s Best Burger Pick / Roam Artisan Burgers / San Francisco, California
Read the full review. Mind that drool.
[ON TOUR] Cheeseburger / Gott’s Roadside / San Francisco
But the sauce…
This place is nestled within the Ferry Building Marketplace, which fells like a cross between Borough Market and the arty-farty food court at Stratford Westfield. Only more awesome. Than both. See #AmericansDoItBetter. It has a canteen/trendy bar/workshop vibe about it, which works since it does indeed manage to be both trendy and comfortable at the same time.
I like that they are attempting to blur the line between the restaurant burger and the fast food burger here - It was pretty quick to arrive and looked great, the yellow colouring of the bun innards popping on first glance.
It was a solid effort. A well cooked patty and wicked gooey American cheese with all the necessary extras. But the sauce… well, the sauce just added a *meh* factor.
Yeah, most ‘special sauces’ have their basis in a version of Thousand Island. But, don’t just use Thousand Island, which it tasted like Gott’s did. Maybe I’m being harsh and they do create their own sauce, but it’s so uncannily Thou’land that it just detracted from the positives of the rest of the burger.
I’d go back to try their other offerings, and their bacon cheeseburger, because it’s such a neat place, in a really neat place.
- Rob.
![[ON TOUR] Cheeseburger / Gott’s Roadside / San Francisco
“Great buns with sadly average thousand island sauce”
Rob.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsacc0Ej1O1qh62x4o1_1280.jpg)
[ON TOUR] Cheeseburger / Gott’s Roadside / San Francisco
“Great buns with sadly average thousand island sauce”
- Rob.
★[ON TOUR / REVIEW] Roam Artisan Burgers / San Francisco, CA
“You’ve got to do something pretty remarkable for the hyper-connected SF populous to notice you…”
Straight off the plane after a delayed flight, we dump the bags at the hotel, hail a cab and head straight for Roam Artisan Burgers which sits more or less in the middle of Union Street. The next time you’re in San Francisco, I recommend you do exactly the same thing because Roam has my top burger of 2011. It’s called the French and Fries, and here it is:
A luxurious combo of creamy California avocado, dijon mustard, melted gruyere and watercress with a few truffle-oiled parmesan fries poking out just for the sheer hell of it. This thing was a fucking revelation. Roam aren’t scared to shift from burger tradition and introduce a few unorthodox ingredient combinations, and frankly they nail it every time. You’ve got to do something pretty remarkable for the hyper-connected SF populous to notice you (and form the consequent, ever-present queue out the door) and Roam have done that with laid-back aplomb.
Each burger is put together with genuine care, and all the individual ingredients are the best they can be. The bun is firm but squidgy, the patties are flawlessly cooked and the meat flavour is never masked by the addition of various homemade sauces.
To gush further, all of Roam’s speciality burgers cost eight bucks each.
Eight dollars.
It’s so unfair.
I’ve not had anything as confidently brilliant as the F&F anywhere else this year.
For the sake of comparison, we tried the Heritage burger. It’s a slightly more traditional bacon cheeseburger, albeit with fontina cheese instead of Swiss or American. It was also effortlessly competent.
A quick mention must also go to the ‘Fry-fecta’, a selection of all three types of fries: russet potato, sweet potato and courgette with onion. Supermodel looks, salty more-ishness and not a hint of grease anywhere to be found. Sharing them almost broke out into a fight. Heaven as starch.
I cannot stress enough how much of an SF must Roam is.
EIGHT FUCKING DOLLARS!
- Simon.
[REVIEW] The Draft House / Pub / Tower Bridge SE1
…much more Pacific coast craft beer infused interpretation of gastropub.
It’s not too embarrassing to admit the only reason I wanted to go here over my usual Thursday night Bankside beer haunt is because of Jay Rayner’s glowing review the other week. Beer, booths and burgers is a combination I’ll always seek out.
The most surprising thing about the Draft House is just how bloody busy it is. It’s in that particularly dead bit of Tower Bridge Road, just over the bridge itself, that was previously home to a few shaky pubs, some takeaways and a generous helping of city folk living in gentrified warehouses. Not quite Bermondsey, too far down Tooley Street to be London Bridge and away from the after-dark madness of Bermondsey Street.
But despite that, it’s rammed full of the after work crowd. Maybe they’re members of Boris’ team nipping over the road, or maybe they’ve schlepped it over the bridge for a decent pint, since Tower Hill is completely devoid of anything resembling a decent public house.
Having gone through a few jars of Meteor from France and a New Zealand lager I can’t remember the name of, we managed to get one of the green apple coloured booths in the restaurant section. The combination of beer menu, food selection and general ambience immediately reminded us of San Francisco’s own Monk’s Kettle. The whole vibe is here is much less the typical London gastropub, much more Pacific coast craft beer infused interpretation of gastropub. For London, this is by no means a Bad Thing.
Being a burger guy, there was only one real option on this menu, which was this:
It’s a 10oz burger with smoked cheese and bacon. It came with some brilliantly crispy french fries and a sharp, silky home-made mayonnaise to dip them in. There are some very notable things about this burger, especially considering it’s from London and not San Francisco. The patty was confidently cooked and held itself together well. The various accompaniments were just right and most importantly of all there was absolutely no skimping on the cheese. It had a beautiful melt with just enough tang to compliment the patty.
The only minor disappointment was the brioche bun. It certainly looks the part: I’ve not come across a burger brioche this convincing on this side of the Atlantic. Unfortunately it was just a teeny bit past its best; not completely stale but certainly not fresh enough to compliment the other constituent parts of what is otherwise a superb sandwich. A liberal smothering of their excellent mayo helped soften it back up.
There are two other Draft Houses in other parts of South London I’ll never visit, so I’m really pleased to have one in Tower Bridge. Go here to eat and drink. The attention to detail is highly commendable and I’ll be back to try the celebrated pork belly as soon as I can feasibly get away with it. And they have Ghostbusters wallpaper.
