Niman Ranch Beef Hamburger Santa Monica Wilshire

Rustic Canyon had been enjoying nifty burger reviews for some fourth dimension, and Monday night was burger night. Fat Bruce Lee and I decided to sample the burger to see if it lived up to the hype. It did not.

The Burger with all of the toppings

We found parking on the street, simply a valet service was too available, since parking in Santa Monica was mostly problematic. We spoke with the managing director to determine what sort of beef was in the burgers. We asked if it was Chuck or something more premium. He assured us that the beefiness was Clod rather than Chuck. Clod is another give-and-take for Chuck, so nosotros were about to sample some 18 buck, wet-aged Chuck from Niman Ranch. This was sort of like the staff at Comme Ça telling us that the beef was "Unmarried Cut Shoulder Steak."  That too meant Chuck. The near telling line from the Wikipedia entry on Beefiness Clod was this one: "It is often served in institutional cafeterias due to its depression toll and the fact that information technology is easily mass cooked in dishes such as soups, lasagna, and gruel." If  "institutional" and "gruel" did not win you over, and then this is probably not the burger for you. Don't get me incorrect...fresh and properly prepared Niman Ranch Chuck was glorious in the easily of Super Duper in San Francisco. Nosotros ordered our meals, and almost 15 minutes later the cheeseburgers arrived.

The burger served plain.  Annotation the heavily toasted top bun.

The Burger Breakdown...

The Beef: The Clod/Chuck led with a powerful and delicious beefiness note. Information technology was very rich in collagen, and when that melted, information technology created a wallop of beef flavour. That initial flavor was followed upward with naught. There was no claret, no mineral, and only the faintest hint of aging. That is the common upshot with using Chuck and only Chuck--there is no depth of flavor, and this was certainly the case with this burger. The beef was also obnoxiously oily--it probably had a fat content in the 25% range. Information technology was besides juicy, but the greasiness far outweighed the juiciness. The beefiness was loosely packed and created a very tender seize with teeth. It was very easy to set this oily burger bated after only eating half. The problem with LA restaurants serving pre-ground, Niman Ranch Chuck has been that nearly of the flavor was lost along the mode. Niman Ranch is a long bulldoze from Los Angeles, and the beef has consistently suffered in quality.

The Seasoning: The interior of the 8 ounce, ground Chuck patties was not seasoned, so the interior was relatively bland. The exterior was perfectly salted, and this complemented the beefy flavour of the burger.

The Sear: There was decent, baked sear where they had melted the cheese, merely the bottom of the patty was merely lightly browned, and it had no crispness or hearty texture to it.

The Grooming: Rustic Coulee sourced their Niman Ranch Beefiness Chuck from Premier Meats, and Premier Meats also ground the beef to something between Medium and Fine.  The beef was gently formed into big, loose patties. The patties were griddled on a flat-superlative. Unfortunately, the burgers were cooked on the cool function of the flat-top so that the buns were ameliorate browned than the beefiness. Previously, the burgers were seared in cast fe skillets and finished under a broiler--time change. The burgers showed upward somewhere between Med-Rare and Medium, which was fine for Chuck/Clod.

The Cheese: This was a sharp, salty Tillamook Cheddar. The Cheddar added some much needed bite to the otherwise one-note dish.

The Bun: The bun was a sweet, crumbly, and slightly dry out brioche from a local deli. In the past this had been a Rockenwagner bun--times change. The dryness of the brioche played to the reward of the dish, because information technology served to soak up the oil that was dripping from the burger patty. The sweetness played well against the salty seasoning. The meridian bun was HEAVILY toasted to a very satisfying crisis. That crunch partially filled in the void left by the unseared burger patty.

The Meat to Bun Ratio: This was fine.

The Fries: These were thick, hand-cut, peel-on chips, which had been browned in canola oil. They had not been crisped, though. A rice bran oil would accept done the trick for these thick, earthy fries. The fries were properly seasoned with granulated table salt.

The Toppings: The onion fondue, which I ordered on the side, was simply non a fondue. It was a pale onion compote, which tasted strongly (cloyingly) of dearest. This was an odd choice for a burger topping as Fat Bruce Lee learned the difficult way as he was scraping off the "fondue" later on a single bite of his cheeseburger.  It was a proper compote, and it was suitable every bit a desert. The remoulade was a nicely tarted up tartar sauce, and it was good with the fries. The arugula--this was downright delicious. It had a nutty character that brought to mind the Allegria Salad at Allegria in Malibu--back when it was still there. I miss their Gorgonzola Cream Gnocchi.

The Value: It was eighteen buck Chuck from a farm many, many hours abroad. The value was weak considering that there were burgers all over Los Angeles, which were made with premium beef cuts at one-half the price.

I would non return to Rustic Coulee for a burger. Information technology was over-priced considering the quality of the ingredients and the average preparation skills that went into information technology. The burger was quite adept, merely information technology was certainly not fantabulous.

Burger Review : The burger at Rustic Coulee was better than boilerplate in terms of season but for a much higher than boilerplate price. This burger was priced well above its value. They charged tourist trap prices to locals.  It was likewise as oily as I imagine Mike Sorrentino's hair to be on an average Sat night. Similar Comme Ça, it seemed that Rustic Canyon was coasting on its reputation, because the quality was only not there.

Rating...iii Bites ... The poor value of this mostly tasty but poorly seared burger dragged it down a full point.

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Source: http://www.theburgerreview.com/2011/05/rustic-canyon.html

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