Tag: burgers (Page 2 of 3)

Review: Hello Fresh’ Tex-Mex Cheese-Stuffed Burgers with Tomato Salsa and Potato Wedges

May 7, 2019 / marga / 0 Comments

Rating: 8/10

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I decided to get this kit after really enjoying the last Hello Fresh burgers I got. They were definitely better than the ones I made myself. It occurred to me after I order this kit, however, that my burgers may not be as good because I usually use low fat ground beef. I tried making them with 27% fat ground beef and it was a completely different story – they were delicious!

And t

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his is a good thing because I ended up using my own ground beef to make this recipe – I had used the one from the kit earlier in the week to make plain burgers, and yes, the meat was great. Really, I couldn’t tell the difference between the two.

These burgers were also very tasty – though the tex-mex spice sort of overwhelmed the meat. I particularly liked the tomato-cilantro salsa. It gave the right counter of freshness to the spiciness of the “crema,” but it was hard to keep on the burger, it just kept sliding off!

I also ended up using my potatoes – having made the ones from the kit previously – and the addition of the tex-mex spice worked very well on these.

All in all, it was a very satisfying lunch, but really, one you don’t need a kit to make it. Still, I paid a tad over $11 for this kit with a “welcome back promo”, so I’m not complaining. I would if I’d paid the $20 standard price.

Review: Hello Fresh’ Melty Monterey Jack Burgers with Red Onion Jam, Garlic Mayo, and Crispy Breaded Zucchini

April 11, 2019 / marga / 0 Comments

Rating: 9/10

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I made this kit for my husband and daughter, and they were both very pleased with it. A burger may seem like a trivial thing to make, but making a new and exciting burger and getting the right amount of fat in the meat – and the right quality meat – is not always easy. Given how expensive burgers have become, even at the regular price of $21 per kit this would have been a good meal, but I got the whole kit for $11 with a promo (make sure to always check on the right hand menu for referral links with promo), which was a super bargain.

BTW, keeping the buns in the oven and then toasting them seems to work very well.

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Plated Hack: French Onion Burgers with Salad

October 15, 2018 / marga / 0 Comments

Rating: 5/10

I have recently started trying “meal kits” and while I love the idea of simple meals I can make in under an hour, I hate how expensive they are. At $20-$28 per entree for two people, they cost about the same as take out and there are no leftovers! Still, they are super convenient.

Today, I decided to try to recreate one of those kit-meals buying the ingredients myself to see how they worked and whether I saved money. Now, if you are a professional billing $500/hour (or even $100), the time spent at the supermarket hunting these ingredients will surpass any savings you may have – so these meals are really ideal for people for whom time is literally money. But my time is far cheaper than that.

I chose this recipe for French Onion Burgers with Gruyere and Arugula because I had read good things about it while looking through Plated reviews and it has fairly common ingredients, which I hoped I could easily find at the quirky discount grocery store near my house. I wasn’t able to get all the ingredients I needed, but I think the substitutions worked well enough. I haven’t tried the Plated kit dish, so I don’t know how it compares to mine as far as flavor goes, but I don’t think it’s likely to have been significantly better. My version was far cheaper, however. While the Plated meal for 2 costs between $22 and $28, depending on where you buy it, I spent a mere $15 in groceries and had enough food for 3 people (alas, neither of my kids would eat this, so we have leftovers for tomorrow) with groceries remaining.

Here is a list of the ingredients in the recipe, what I bought and the price.

PLATED Ingredient	My Substitution	Cost
Beef Stock, 1 container	Beef broth, 1/2 cup	pantry
Yellow Onion, 1 small	Yellow Onion, 1 regular	$0.70
Thyme, 1/8 oz.	Living thyme plant	$2
Lemon, 1	Lemon, 1	$0.80
Ground Beef, 12 oz	Ground Beef, 16 oz	$3.50
English muffins, 2	English muffins, 3	$2.80
Baby Arugula, 3 oz	Mixed Greens, 5 oz	$3
1 Tbsp	Flour, 1 Tbsp	pantry
Gruyere, 2 slices	Processed Gruyere Cheese product, 7 oz	$2.20
Unsalted butter, 3 packets	1 Tbsp	pantry
Dijon mustard, 2 packets	Coarse Dijon mustard	pantry
TOTAL		$15

Note that I had to substitute baby arugula for mixed greens as all the packages of baby arugula at the grocery store had expired yesterday. The price was the same than for the mixed greens, however.

Where I did save a lot of money was by using “Gruyere cheese product” instead of Gruyere. Unfortunately, my discount grocery store didn’t have it and I decided to substitute with this product as at least it had Gruyere as its main ingredient. Alas, it didn’t take anything like Gruyere and rather it was a more solid version of Laughing Cow cheese. Delicious, but far cheaper and different than real Gruyere. In reality, I don’t think the substitution mattered – the flavor of the onions was so strong that I doubt any cheese would have broken through. The cheese did add to the creaminess of the burger, however.

All in all, I felt the burgers were interesting and tasty but the combination of burger and fresh onion flavors wasn’t a big winner for either me or my husband. I sort of liked the English muffing for a bun substitution, but that’s because I was smart enough to eat the burger with knife and fork. My husband didn’t and wish he had a bun instead.

Neither of us were that fond of the lemon juice/olive oil dressing on the greens, however.

Still, I’m left with 4 English muffins I can have for breakfast, some newly discovered and delicious cheese “product” I’ll eat as a snack (indeed, it’s so fun and unexpected that I may serve it as part of my Xmas cheese course), some more greens to eat as a salad and a very cool thyme plant. I can’t complain at all.

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger & Cheeseburger w/ Avocado & Bacon

The Habit Burger Grill – Walnut Creek – Review

January 4, 2014 / marga / 4 Comments

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger & Cheeseburger w/ Avocado & Bacon

Habit Burger is a newish chain of “upscale” fast food burger joints that is trying to spread throughout the Bay Area. One may be opening in San Leandro in a year or two, a fact that Mayor Stephen Cassidy considers a major accomplishment of his administration (I kid you not!). We were driving by Walnut Creek, and my husband decided we should stop by one of its restaurant and find out whether Cassidy’s characterization of the restaurant as “a hip, healthy and delicious” was accurate. It wasn’t, but then again, I can’t say I am surprised.

As far as fast-food chains go, Habit Burger is definitely a step up from McDonalds and their ilk. Its flavor profiles are closest to In-N-Out, but the restaurant is classier and it offers greater choices. The burgers ($3.50) were tasty, though the patties were small, thin and dry. They are charbroiled, which gives them a flavor similar to Burger King’s whoppers. My youngest daughter, who had hers with cheese & ketchup but nothing else, found it too small and too dry. This is a child that’s eaten her fair share of school cafeteria burgers, so criticism from her says somethings. I ordered my burger with guacamole and bacon ($1 extra each) and that made all the difference. The guacamole tasted fresh and vibrant and the bacon was crispy; the two combined completely redeemed the burger – but the patty was pathetic. My husband had the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger ($4.60) and he also thought the burger was just OK.

My 11-yo had the chicken sandwich ($5.75) . She found it “OK”. The chicken itself was dry and the sandwich was a bit too peppery. She wouldn’t return, even if we had one here.

Neither my husband nor kids liked the fries ($1.85). They had a hard/chewy outer part and had a strange flavor. To me, they tasted as if they’d been cooked with their peels, but that wasn’t actually the case. Still, they did remind me (flavor wise, not texture wise) of In-N-Out fries. The portion was generous, but we didn’t finish them between the four of us.

We had different opinions with respect to the shakes ($3), however. Hubby ordered the vanilla and he found it too thin and tasteless. I shared the mocha with my oldest, and we both enjoyed it. It had a nice flavor, and while it was thin, I guess you don’t expect mochas to be thicker.

The food was ready fast and, as I mentioned, the restaurant was quite nice and clean. It did smell horrible, though, like old, stale oil. Maybe that’s why their fries were so unappetizing.

In all, I’d say this place is marginally better than In-N-Out, but nowhere as good as Nation’s. It’s probably a good fit for those who like Burger King but want nicer surroundings. But if you want a burger that looks like it’s made of beef, then Habit Burger is not for you.

Chicken Sandwich

Closeup of beef patty

The Habit Burger Grill
1255 S California Blvd
Walnut Creek, CA
(925) 279-2286
http://www.habitburger.com/

Marga’s Chain Restaurant Reviews

Nation’s Giant Hamburgers – San Leandro – Review

November 18, 2013 / marga / 0 Comments

Nation’s is a Bay Area restaurant chain offering burgers, fries, breakfast and pies. Mike and I have been eating at Nation’s ever since college – there was one near the UC Berkeley Campus, then we were within walking distance of another, when we lived in Richmond, and we found yet another one here in San Leandro.

I don’t know if Nation’s burgers have declined in quality since we were young, or if our expectations have risen, but I don’t think the burgers are nearly as good now as I used to think they were back in my 20’s. Still, they are better than anything else you can get at a fast food joint.

Nation’s menu is very limited: burgers, hot dogs, chicken and salmon sandwiches. They also have eggs and pancakes for breakfast. And they have pies and shakes. Prices are good, from $4.10 for a plain burger to $6.80 for a bacon cheeseburger.

The regular burgers come with very generous portions of mayo, lettuce, tomato and onions. They are huge and quite tasty. Their fries, fried in canola oil, are pretty good though not outstanding.

Their pies are quite good, with flaky crusts and thick centers. We particularly enjoy the chocolate cream and banana cream, though we dislike the artificial topping with which they are covered. Their lemon merengue pie is also very good and doesn’t suffer this problem (pies start at $1.80 for a small slice).
Mike has had breakfast once or twice. The breakfast are huge but, as you can expect, not particularly high quality.
Another advantage of Nation’s is that it stays open late.
Nation’s Giant Hamburgers
San Leandro Plaza
1335 Washington Ave.
San Leandro, Ca.
(510) 352-8820
Hours: 6am-3am Daily
Breakfast served till 11am
http://www.nationsrestaurants.com/

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews
Chain Restaurant Reviews

Buckhorn Grill Review (@ Stoneridge Mall, Pleasanton)

July 1, 2013 / marga / 0 Comments

buckhornsandwich When my kids were younger, I used to take them to Yerba Buena Gardens and we’d often had lunch at the Buckhorn Grill in the Metreon. I wasn’t super fond of that restaurant, but it served food they would eat. So when my husband suggested that we had lunch at the Buckhorn Grill at Stoneridge Mall, after a visit to the Apple store, I wasn’t extremely enthusiastic. But food options were limited and it was Father’s Day, so he had the right to pick the place. I have to give him credit, he picked right. Not only was the food at this Buckhorn Grill excellent, but it was reasonably priced.

I had the “bacon cheddar buck” ($8.50) and it was pretty much the perfect sandwich. The roast beef itself was delicious, and the bacon and cheese complimented rather than competed with the meat. Mike liked his “big buck” ($9), which came with caramelized onions and he also thought it was great, at least until he tried my sandwich.

My daughters had the burgers, and while the old one was pleased with hers (at least until she tried my sandwich), the younger one didn’t like it at all. It was a plain burger, so my husband, who finished it, didn’t find it particularly exciting.

In addition to sandwiches, Buckhorn Grill offers platters of their BBQ meats. A whole take home tri tip (feeds 5 to 6) is $25. You can even order online.

Buckhorn has ten restaurants in the Bay Area/Northern California. I think they would do great if they came to San Leandro, and if our business development unit at City Hall wasn’t so lame, they would be trying to entice them to come to town.

Buckhorn Grill
Stoneridge Mall
2245 Stoneridge Mall Rd.
Pleasanton, CA
925-463-2825
http://www.buckhorngrill.com/

Marga’s Chain Restaurant Reviews

Marga’s Bay Area Restaurant Reviews

City Center Grill – Oakland – Review

December 10, 2011 / marga / 0 Comments

We went to the City Center Grill for lunch a couple of weeks ago when we took place in an Occupy Oakland protest (as you can see, these protests do bring business to nearby eateries, we saw several cops eating around as well). As it was in the weekend, our choices for lunch were limited. Unfortunately, City Center Grill wasn’t a good one.

City Center Grill offers breakfast, burgers, sandwiches and salads. We went for the cheeseburgers, $7.50 with French Fries and a small drink. The fries were OK, but the burgers left much to be desired. I don’t think we even finished them, even though they were pretty small for the price. The fries were good, however.

Service (this is a place where you order at the counter) was very friendly. Still, I wouldn’t go back.

City Center Grill

1221 Broadway, #105
Oakland, CA
510-452-3100
M – F 6:30 AM – 3:30 PM

Marga’s Restaurant Reviews

Jaspers Café – Medford, Oregon – Review

December 4, 2011 / marga / 2 Comments

Picture "borrowed" from City-data.com

We stopped by Jaspers Café in Medford in our way back to California. I had researched Medford restaurants before we left and Jaspers got very good reviews – plus I’m always in the mood for a burger.

Jaspers offers the most extensive selection of burgers I have ever seen in my life, a couple of dozen at least. They also have tons of different hot dog combinations and sandwiches. In addition to offering different topics and combos on the burgers, from your regular patty & cheese to those covered with mole sauce and pot stickers, Jaspers offers several burgers made with more exotic meats. These include relatively common choices as Buffalo and Kobe Beef, but also elk, antelope and venison. Of course Mike and I had to try those burgers, which definitely was a mistake.

I had the “Widowmaker” burger ($8.20), which came with a 1/3 lb Himalayan antelope patty, covered with bacon, cheddar cheese and a peanut butter chipotle BBQ sauce. It definitely sounded interesting to me, but it was a total miss. I’ve eaten all sorts of wild meats in my day (and this reminds me I want to post a list of them) and have generally liked them, but Himalayan antelope had an off, gamy taste which I didn’t like. The closest thing I can compare it too is Indian goat meat (which I also dislike). As if that wasn’t enough of an issue, the meat was incredibly dry. I really don’t think I’ve had a drier burger. Perhaps fortunately I couldn’t really taste the meat or the other ingredients unless I made a special effort (and I did, because I wanted to see what antelope tasted like) because the flavor of the sauce was overwhelming. Really, that’s the only thing I could taste. It wasn’t bad, the BBQ sauce is pretty tasty, but it made the whole burger one-note. Needless to say I would never order this again.

Mike had almost as bad luck with the burger he ordered. His was elk and also suffered from dryness and an overwhelming sauce, though at least the elk meat itself was tasty.

Both kids had plain cheeseburgers. Camila liked it well enough, but Mika considered it the worst burger she had ever had in her life and didn’t eat much of it. It definitely tasted differently than other burgers, the taste of the meat might have been gamier. I thought it was OK, though it needed seasoning but Mike thought it was quite good – then again, he likes his food undersalted. We ordered fries and onion rings, both very tasty.

Another problem with Jaspers is that it’s a tiny place. I don’t think more than a dozen people can be seated inside (they also have outside tables). We stopped there around 3 PM the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the place was packed. It was pretty cold waiting outside, but fortunately we managed to grab a table before our burgers came.

In all, I’m glad I tried the burgers but I would definitely not eat them again. I’m curious enough to go back and try one of their whacky combinations with a beef patty, but given that Mika didn’t like them I probably won’t.

Jaspers Café
2739 N Pacific Hwy
Medford, OR
541-776-5307
http://jasperscafe.com/
M-Th 10:30am til 7pm
F-Sa 10:30am til 8pm
Sun 11am til 6pm

Marga’s Restaurant Reviews – Outside the Bay Area

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Harley’s or JDs Burgers & Mexican Food, San Leandro, CA – Review

February 12, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED

March 2012

This restaurant has once again changed names and, perhaps, ownership. I think it’s still Mexican. I haven’t tried it but given all the bad experiences we’ve had at that location I won’t go there until someone swears to me on their puppy’s life that it’s the best restaurant in San Leandro.

Feburary 2011

Harley’s Burgers has changed ownership and concept and is now a Burger & Mexican food joint. It sort of changed names, it’s menu claims it’s now “JDs Burgers & Mexican Food” but the Harley sign still remains. So does the modest building, and small dining room, though it seems to have been brightened up. Still, this is as modest and divish a restaurant as you can get in San Leandro, and that is its “charm”.

In its previous incantation, Harley’s served OK food at relatively low prices – we went once and though we live a block away, we never felt the need to return. Still, it served the worker and customers of nearby auto shops well. That can no longer be said. We went there for lunch today and I can honestly say that my 8-yo would eat a head of broccoli before eating one of their burgers again. The plain cheeseburger had a small, dry, tasteless beef (we presume) patty, covered in some weird cheese sauce and smothered in some kind of Thousand Islands type dressing. It tasted of nothing but the dressing and the weird cheese, it was just disgusting. The accompanying fries were fine, cooked in oil that was just about to go stale, but steal edible. Camila had a cheese & bean burrito ($3) which she did like, so perhaps their Mexican offerings are better. I still wouldn’t trust them.

To add insult to injury, Harley/JD’s prices are pretty high. A cheeseburger is $7, $8 if you want it with bacon. You can get something a hundred times better at Boulevard Burger for less. Our lunch (well, I did not eat, but Mike and the girls did) of two burgers w/ fries, one bean & cheese burrito, two sodas and one orange juice came to about $20.

Needless to say we will not go back, at least until a new owner chef takes over.

JDs (Harley’s) Burgers & Mexican Food
2170 Washington Ave.
San Leandro, CA
510-667-9040
M-F 7 AM – 7:30 PM

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

Boulevard Burger – San Leandro – Review

December 26, 2009 / admin / 0 Comments

August 2011 Update

We’ve gone to Boulevard Burger a few times since my last update and the quality of the burgers seems to have gone downhill. I always get the MBA burger (with avocado, bacon & mushrooms), medium rare, and the last few times I’ve ordered it it has been very dry. I don’t know if they got a new cook who is not as good making burgers or it’s been a coincidence, but I’m less enthusiastic about going there now.

July 2011 Update

In the last year and a half, Boulevard Burger has become my favorite casual-food restaurant in San Leandro. We go there at least once a month. The burgers are almost always perfectly cooked medium-rare, as I request them. They are very juicy and tasty. The bacon in the MBA burger is top quality, and the vegetables are always fresh. I’ve grown to like their onion rings (they might have improved them), but their fries are just adequate. In addition to burgers, they have now chicken sandwiches and veggie & portobello burgers. They have a variety of children dishes for $5. My kids don’t love it, however, but it’s not all about them.

December 2009 Review

I’ve been looking forward to go to Boulevard Burgers since I first heard it was opening, back in August. But I don’t go out to lunch that often, so the opportunity didn’t present itself until today – when our empty stomachs and a very dirty kitchen convinced us that a lunch out was a good idea. And, indeed, it was. Both Mike and I were very pleaed with our burgers and are sure to go back.

Boulevard Burgers is the latest venture from restauranteur Mike Wiesner, the owner of Paradiso. It occupies the space on MacArthur Boulevard where Sonoma’s had been until a few months ago. Sonoma’s had attempted to be a “nice” restaurant, but I was never enthralled with its food – though I hope that my negative review wasn’t a major reason why the venture failed. Boulevard Burgers is a much less ambitious endeavor. It’s basically a semi-upscale burger joint. Upscale in that they use “grass-fed, grain finished California Angus which has no steroids, antibiotics, hormones or pesticides” and which comes from a nearby ranch – but not quite gourmet as the burgers they offer are quite basic; toppings include four kinds of cheese, avocado, mushrooms, grilled onions and little else. Don’t come here expecting a Kobe burger with saute foie gras and homemade Dijon mustard (if that’s what you want, Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar in San Francisco will be more your thing).

The important thing, however, is that the burgers are good. Both Mike and I had ours medium-rare, and they were perfectly cooked and very juicy (so much so that they did manage to soak the bottom part of the bun, a problem easily solved by just turning the burger around :-). I had jack cheese, bacon and avocado on mine – and the combination was very good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The burgers are between 6.5 and 7 oz, a good size for a good appetite; I couldn’t finish mine. They range in price from $5 for a simple hamburger to $8 for the “Whole Enchilada”, a burger with avocado, bacon, sauteed onions, mushrooms, jalapeños and cheese. I think the prices are quite reasonable for the quality of the food. The burgers come solo, but you can order fries ($2), sweet potato fries ($3.50) or onion rings ($3) on the side – we got the fries (a HUGE portion) and found them to be un-exceptional. Thin, crispy and tasty enough, but not addictive.
Boulevard also offers grilled chicken sandwiches and a portobello mushroom burger. There are also salads. We didn’t try them.
At Boulevard Burgers you order at the counter and have the food brought to your table. Service was quick and very efficient, and the servers/counter people were very attentive.
In all, we had a very pleasant experience and I’d definitely return.

Boulevard Burgers
1027 MacArthur Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
510-632-3100
http://www.boulevardburger.com/
Open 11 AM – 9 PM

Marga’s San Leandro Restaurant Reviews