Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The sort of meat you’d expect to find at an upper-tier butcher shop

Tickled every part of my palate

Brigantine burger
Brigantine burger

When I’m having folks over for burgers, I like to buy the premade ground-chuck patties at Iowa Meat Farms ($4.99/lb). The pack and portion are perfectly consistent, the price is close to supermarket ground beef, and the meat is the sort of meat you’d expect to find at an upper-tier butcher shop. I took a similar approach with this round of burger tasting: two of my picks are steakhouses, and two take their ground beef from an adjoining butcher shop. The move made intuitive sense, and I was not disappointed. As for the other three, well, you have to allow for surprises (a seafood joint), show-offs (hello, Hash House!), and old favorites in new locations (the wilds of Willow Glen Road).

Place

Ruth's Chris Steak House

1355 North Harbor Drive, San Diego

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

Nota bene: you won’t find the burger on the menu: it’s a $14 bar item. But it’s a lovely bar, with cozy tables and a Harbor View. Two things make a burger “wet” — grease and juice. Grease is easy: just start with fattier ground beef. And grease is good, delicious, fine. But juice is trickier: how to trap it in a porous patty? And juice is what Ruth’s Chris has, along with a grind so fine you can crush it with your tongue. Complemented by perfectly precise quantities of lettuce, tomato, red onion, and tangy cheddar, and dusted with black pepper.

Place

Brigantine La Mesa

9350 Fuerte Drive, La Mesa

Brigantine Seafood & Oyster Bar

Why eat a burger in a midcentury local chain restaurant that features a ship’s prow in its foyer? Because (surprise!) the burger is every bit as juicy and beefy as any high-end steakhouse offering — hence the menu’s title of “Steakhouse Burger” ($15.25). Compared to, say, Ruth’s Chris, the bigger grind and grass-feed render it a little chewier, and there’s more char. But the meat holds up, shines through, and justifies its place. The onions are soft, the avocado relish carries jalapeño heat, and the bacon is especially thick and smoky.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Place

Hash House A Go Go

3628 Fifth Avenue, San Diego

Hash House a Go Go

If Ruth’s Chris perfects proportion with its burger, the Hash House explodes it. (“The food always defeats you here,” said our waitress, smiling.) The stuffed burgers (two patties, $16.95) are not a challenge to finish; they are a challenge to surround with your mouth and bite. So much muchness, including our stuffing of bacon, avocado, and cheddar. This is burger as event, as theater, as performance. And it’s tasty! The meat oozes melty fat, teasing you to press on despite the density (both yours and the burger’s). Airy, seasoned waffle-cut fries are notable.

Place

Tip Top Meats

6118 Paseo del Norte, Carlsbad

Tip Top Meats

Don’t fret when you see the defibrillator across from the sausage case as you wait in this old-world deli’s dinner-rush line; it’s only there to restart your heart after you behold the shockingly low price for the Big John’s Cheese Burger. A half-pound of butcher-shop beef — lean, almost sirloin steak-y — on a rich, springy, eggy, best-of-the-bunch bun: $4.98. Besides the meat and bread, what you’ll taste most are the onions, grilled to the point where they are mild and tender but not yet caramelized. Add light-bodied fries and a soda, and maybe get bacon ground into the beef, and the cost rises by $2.

Place

Junction Steakhouse & Sports Bar

777 Jamacha Road, El Cajon

The Junction Steakhouse & Sports Bar

It was a hard day when I heard the Junction raised the price on its lunchtime burger special from $6.99 to $7.99, but that’s just the way things go. To cheer myself up, I went to the Junction for lunch and ordered their excellent burger special. I left happy. A great burger starts with great ground beef; the Junction gets theirs from the next-door Harvest Ranch Market. Probably my overall favorite in terms of texture: pebbly and yielding. And while my wife favors the house-made chips, they do a mean tater tot.

Place

Butcher Shop Steakhouse

5255 Kearny Villa Road, San Diego

The Butcher Shop Steakhouse

At $17, the Stuffed Charburger was the most expensive I tasted. And the process of cooking the delicately fused Angus patties so that they melted the American cheese center to the absolutely correct temperature for warm gooeyness left them unavoidably medium instead of medium rare. But the experience was appropriately exalted: red leather banquettes, dark wood paneling, exquisite service, garlic bread, soup or salad, hearty fries, a toasted sourdough bun, and the general feeling of a happy time-warp to a time when the term “class joint” could be used without quotation marks.

Place

Nicky Rottens Bar & Burger Joint

3773 Willow Glen Drive, El Cajon

Nicky Rottens Bar & Burger Joint

It’s rare that a fancied-up burger can turn my head; I like the straightforward pleasures of meat and cheese too much to chase distractions. And I sometimes wonder: what are they hiding under that frou-frou? But I trust Nicky Rottens’ beef, and so I risked “Da Goat” ($13.95), which added goat cheese, tomato relish, and mixed field greens in a balsamic glaze to the more standard caramelized onions and bacon. It tickled every part of my palate: sweet onions and relish, sour cheese and vinegar, salty bacon, bitter greens, and the umami richness of the meat.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Top Websites To Buy Instagram Likes + Bonus Tip!

Next Article

2024’s Best Bitcoin & Crypto Casinos – Play BTC Casino Games Online

Best Bitcoin Casinos (2024): Top 10 Crypto Casino Sites for BIG Payouts
Brigantine burger
Brigantine burger

When I’m having folks over for burgers, I like to buy the premade ground-chuck patties at Iowa Meat Farms ($4.99/lb). The pack and portion are perfectly consistent, the price is close to supermarket ground beef, and the meat is the sort of meat you’d expect to find at an upper-tier butcher shop. I took a similar approach with this round of burger tasting: two of my picks are steakhouses, and two take their ground beef from an adjoining butcher shop. The move made intuitive sense, and I was not disappointed. As for the other three, well, you have to allow for surprises (a seafood joint), show-offs (hello, Hash House!), and old favorites in new locations (the wilds of Willow Glen Road).

Place

Ruth's Chris Steak House

1355 North Harbor Drive, San Diego

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

Nota bene: you won’t find the burger on the menu: it’s a $14 bar item. But it’s a lovely bar, with cozy tables and a Harbor View. Two things make a burger “wet” — grease and juice. Grease is easy: just start with fattier ground beef. And grease is good, delicious, fine. But juice is trickier: how to trap it in a porous patty? And juice is what Ruth’s Chris has, along with a grind so fine you can crush it with your tongue. Complemented by perfectly precise quantities of lettuce, tomato, red onion, and tangy cheddar, and dusted with black pepper.

Place

Brigantine La Mesa

9350 Fuerte Drive, La Mesa

Brigantine Seafood & Oyster Bar

Why eat a burger in a midcentury local chain restaurant that features a ship’s prow in its foyer? Because (surprise!) the burger is every bit as juicy and beefy as any high-end steakhouse offering — hence the menu’s title of “Steakhouse Burger” ($15.25). Compared to, say, Ruth’s Chris, the bigger grind and grass-feed render it a little chewier, and there’s more char. But the meat holds up, shines through, and justifies its place. The onions are soft, the avocado relish carries jalapeño heat, and the bacon is especially thick and smoky.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Place

Hash House A Go Go

3628 Fifth Avenue, San Diego

Hash House a Go Go

If Ruth’s Chris perfects proportion with its burger, the Hash House explodes it. (“The food always defeats you here,” said our waitress, smiling.) The stuffed burgers (two patties, $16.95) are not a challenge to finish; they are a challenge to surround with your mouth and bite. So much muchness, including our stuffing of bacon, avocado, and cheddar. This is burger as event, as theater, as performance. And it’s tasty! The meat oozes melty fat, teasing you to press on despite the density (both yours and the burger’s). Airy, seasoned waffle-cut fries are notable.

Place

Tip Top Meats

6118 Paseo del Norte, Carlsbad

Tip Top Meats

Don’t fret when you see the defibrillator across from the sausage case as you wait in this old-world deli’s dinner-rush line; it’s only there to restart your heart after you behold the shockingly low price for the Big John’s Cheese Burger. A half-pound of butcher-shop beef — lean, almost sirloin steak-y — on a rich, springy, eggy, best-of-the-bunch bun: $4.98. Besides the meat and bread, what you’ll taste most are the onions, grilled to the point where they are mild and tender but not yet caramelized. Add light-bodied fries and a soda, and maybe get bacon ground into the beef, and the cost rises by $2.

Place

Junction Steakhouse & Sports Bar

777 Jamacha Road, El Cajon

The Junction Steakhouse & Sports Bar

It was a hard day when I heard the Junction raised the price on its lunchtime burger special from $6.99 to $7.99, but that’s just the way things go. To cheer myself up, I went to the Junction for lunch and ordered their excellent burger special. I left happy. A great burger starts with great ground beef; the Junction gets theirs from the next-door Harvest Ranch Market. Probably my overall favorite in terms of texture: pebbly and yielding. And while my wife favors the house-made chips, they do a mean tater tot.

Place

Butcher Shop Steakhouse

5255 Kearny Villa Road, San Diego

The Butcher Shop Steakhouse

At $17, the Stuffed Charburger was the most expensive I tasted. And the process of cooking the delicately fused Angus patties so that they melted the American cheese center to the absolutely correct temperature for warm gooeyness left them unavoidably medium instead of medium rare. But the experience was appropriately exalted: red leather banquettes, dark wood paneling, exquisite service, garlic bread, soup or salad, hearty fries, a toasted sourdough bun, and the general feeling of a happy time-warp to a time when the term “class joint” could be used without quotation marks.

Place

Nicky Rottens Bar & Burger Joint

3773 Willow Glen Drive, El Cajon

Nicky Rottens Bar & Burger Joint

It’s rare that a fancied-up burger can turn my head; I like the straightforward pleasures of meat and cheese too much to chase distractions. And I sometimes wonder: what are they hiding under that frou-frou? But I trust Nicky Rottens’ beef, and so I risked “Da Goat” ($13.95), which added goat cheese, tomato relish, and mixed field greens in a balsamic glaze to the more standard caramelized onions and bacon. It tickled every part of my palate: sweet onions and relish, sour cheese and vinegar, salty bacon, bitter greens, and the umami richness of the meat.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

Centennial Salute to San Diego’s Military, East Village Block Party, Birding Basics Class

Events March 29-March 30, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.