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Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2023 9:26 pm
by Mikey
What's your favorite burger?
Is it at a fancy restaurant?
Fast food?
Local dive?
Something you make at home?

Right now my favorite burger is the Baja Burger at Burgers Bait and Beer, a small stand on the waterfront in downtown San Diego. We ate there last Friday before a show at the Rady Shell, a new (maybe three years) old venue that holds several thousand people, in various configurations, and has state of the art sound and lighting systems.

This picture actually was pulled from Yelp because I didn't get a really good shot. The burger incorporates some smoked chorizo in a half pound of ground beef and comes with lettuce, tomato, onions, avocado, cotija cheese and some spicy mayo mixture. The thing is great, especially with a Lagunitas IPA on draft.

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Not only is the food great, but location counts as well. Here's our table, looking out past the fishing pier at Coronado Island and North Island NAS, with Point Loma in the far background.

My wife had the "All American" burger and I had the Baja burger. They have maybe half a dozen burger iterations, as well as several very large hot dogs with various toppings, some tacos, ceviche and who knows what else.

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This is where it sits, in relation to the Rady Shell (just outside the back gate), the marina and the convention center. Petco Park is on the other side of the convention center and a few hundred yards down the road.


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It's basically an open air street kitchen and a permanent kiosk where they sell beer, bait and some other stuff. There are maybe ten tables inside the fence, and two that are right on the water.

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We go to maybe half a dozen shows at the shell per year. It's a 50 to 90 minute drive from here, depending on time and day). We discovered this place last year when looking for a place to eat before a show. You can get decent food inside but it's mostly made in advance stuff dressed up to look fancy, and costs an arm and a leg,

BB&B caters mostly to the walk-up and fishing crowd and closes at 5:30 pm. Most shows start at 7:00 pm, so we just time our arrival to get there about 5:00 and have plenty of time to relax with some food and brews before the show. It's almost never crowded, at least when we get there at 5:00, because nobody in the concert crowd has bothered to venture past the front gate, which is by the traffic circle between the venue and the convention center. Most of the parking is at the convention center. I've seen a lot of road crew and venue staff eating there, though.

So, try this place if you're ever in DTSD but, please, don't spread the word.

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 12:29 am
by 88BuckeyeGrad
That venue makes me want to go hop on a plane. Never had chorizo in a burger. Mrs. 88 would freak. She is a huge chorizo fan.

Our current fave burger is home made. I have no pics. But is made from wagu ground chuck and a thick slice of Vidalia onion. You sort of form the burger around the onion so that the onion is one side of the burger but is encapsulate on three sides by the meat. You cook it on a black iron plate or skillet. The onion will burn if you do not put some beef tallow down at the start. It is a one flip burger. Cheese goes over the grilled onion after the flip. You could top it with bacon. We opt for a runny egg. And fuck the bun. Just fork it.

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2023 12:50 am
by Mikey
Damn 88 that sounds REALLY good. I have one of those plates out on my Webber and use it for lots of stuff. I will definitely have to try that one. TBH we have been eating some “Impossible” burgers at home. Eight minutes on a non-stick skillet and it’s ready to go. It’s not quite beef but with cheese, onion, tomato, pickles and whatever sauces you want it’s actually pretty good. My wife uses lettuce but I pile on a huge pile of microgreens (usually radish and broccoli), ketchup, Dijon and often some kind of hot sauce.

In an effort to cut down on red meat I usually don’t buy any beef at the store and save it for when we go out. This onion idea will call for an exception.

PS…thanks for taking the time to click twice and respond here. If you’re ever in the area let me know and we can check out Burgers Bait & Beer. They have a few other burger combos that sound pretty good but I just can’t give up my Baja.

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 12:21 am
by StrawMan
Just a few extra pickles.

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Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2023 12:45 am
by Mikey
Gorss

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2023 4:06 am
by Rootbeer
Went to a burger place on the pier at Monterey. Maybe it was Monterey. No wait... Santa Monica? Is that near Newport? I wasn't paying attention and it doesn't really matter. The kind of place that's great in the day but don't be out after dark.

They had a good teriyaki burger with grilled pineapple. Not bad prices either. Then my wife got suckered into buying prayer beads from a fake buddhist.

The burger was half the price of the beads.

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 4:38 pm
by Donnie Baker's Ghost
Donnie Baker reporting live from Texass: The San Antonio Intl airport is a shitpile but the folks at the airport Whataburger make a dang good patty melt.

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2023 7:20 pm
by Screw_Michigan
There's a neighborhood diner in my hometown that does an amazing olive burger. It's green olives, mayo, two ground beef patties and cheddar. Never thought a burger could be so tasty. Apparently the olive burger is unique to Michigan.

https://www.tasteatlas.com/olive-burger

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Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2023 7:42 pm
by Mikey
Rootbeer wrote: Sun Oct 22, 2023 4:06 am Went to a burger place on the pier at Monterey. Maybe it was Monterey. No wait... Santa Monica? Is that near Newport? I wasn't paying attention and it doesn't really matter. The kind of place that's great in the day but don't be out after dark.

They had a good teriyaki burger with grilled pineapple. Not bad prices either. Then my wife got suckered into buying prayer beads from a fake buddhist.

The burger was half the price of the beads.
There’s a chain called Ruby’s that’s all over SoCal. It’s been around as long as I can remember, like a 50s style diner that serves great food. Haven’t been for a while but they always had milkshakes made the old fashioned way and served in a big metal cup, along with a glass to pour it in. Good burgers, and a Cobb salad that I used to compare all others to. They used to have locations on a lot of the piers - Oceanside, Newport, Huntington Beach, maybe others. They closed the one in Oceanside during the pandemic. Maybe that’s where you got the teriyaki burger?

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2023 8:31 pm
by Screw_Michigan
StrawMan wrote: Sat Oct 21, 2023 12:21 am Just a few extra pickles.

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Love lots of pickles on my burgers

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2023 6:32 pm
by StrawMan
I think that one must come with a side of super glue.

Re: Your Favorite Burger

Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2023 11:59 pm
by The Whistle Is Screaming
Some burger place on Marco Island was rather spectacular at 3am in the middle of a multi day bender. Also, in Manhatten, there is/was a place called Burger Heavan, probably the best I ever had.