Friday, October 14, 2011

A Pretentious Burger

Last night, my friends Sarah, Lisa, and I went to a new place here in SF: Umami Burger. Umami Burger has a few locations in LA and this is their first spot in SF. The burgers have received rave reviews including "Burger of the Year" from GQ and featured on "Best Thing I Ever Ate" so we had to try it out!
Yesterday was a warm day in SF so we knew the Marina district would be packed with people wanting to be out & about. We arrived at 7:20 and put our name on the list for a party of three. We were told it would be a 30 min wait. At 40 min, they called us but had only written us down for party of 2 so we had to wait even longer because they couldn't find any chairs to add to a table so we could sit.

Upon sitting after an hour of waiting, our server came to the table to tell us about the restaurant and menu. He was very nice! Umami makes everything in-house, from scratch. They grind their own mean, make their own cheese, and pickle their own veggies.

The restaurant has some restrictions on making adjustments to your order. The menu has ONE turkey burger and you cannot switch the turkey burger onto any other burgers. You must get the burgers as they come. Also, you "really shouldn't" add anything to the burger i.e. avocado because "the chef prefers that you try the burger as is" because "each burger is created based on different ingredients put together to make the burger"

I was disappointed because I really wanted to try the mushroom/swiss burger with a turkey burger. The burgers come alone and you must buy fries separately. I had the:

Greenbird Turkey Burger


It was so delicious. Very juicy and the waiter was right - they are concoted with certain flavor notes and ingredients to make everything taste delicious!

The ketchup is served in a small spoon. They do have an array of other dipping sauces, which also come in a small spoon.


They also had somewhat of a secret menu items i.e. cheesy tots!


I might come back but it would be on an off-day and time. The burger was that good, even if this was probably the most pretentious burger place I've ever been to!

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