These designer burgers are so crave-able

MILLIE: Karla and I don’t always eat fancy. Sometimes we crave fast food the way normal people do: pizza, pasta and burgers. Yum! It’s fun, quick and casual. When we are both in a hurry or there’s no reason to celebrate, we feast and content ourselves with simple fast food.

Last month, Karla and I spent a few days in San Francisco to visit my former schoolmate, Nancy Tso Rolando, who also happens to be one of Karla’s godmothers. We were her houseguests in her beautiful condo in Pacific Heights and since Nancy had to work during the day, Karla and I went to Union Square by bus to do some shopping. From afar as we walked towards Macy’s, I saw the sign “Burger Bar” and since we were both famished, we instantly agreed it was a good choice.

As we walked in and were about to be seated, Karla noticed a cookbook for sale at the reception and took a quick look at it. Lo and behold, it was the book of French celebrity chef Hubert Keller! We didn’t realize chef Keller was behind Burger Bar and we were so excited to meet him, but we were told he was not in that day. There was no argument, we both agreed to buy the book, which had lots of good pictures, recipes and souvenir stories to tell. I decided to buy the book after we went shopping, though, so we didn’t have to carry it around.

KARLA: Chef Hubert Keller is a multi-awarded chef known for his restaurants Fleur de Lys and Burger Bar. He is also known for his TV appearances on Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Top Chef All-Stars and Top Chef Just Desserts, together with his own cooking show, Secrets of a Chef. I would say that his most talked-about creation is the most expensive burger ever. It is called the Rossini Burger and is made of American Kobe beef, sautéed foie gras and shaved truffles amounting to $60 plus tax. That’s pretty expensive for a burger but then again, you’re getting the best ingredients in it. The Burger Bar in San Francisco, however, featured another specialty $60 burger called the Remixed Rossini Burger with Kobe beef stuffed with braised short ribs, topped with a lobster tail and shaved black truffles and truffle sauce on an onion bun. And somehow, that sounded even more interesting than the original Rossini but we both opted for something else.

Mom ordered the Black Jack burger, made with Black Angus beef, Monterey jack, and olive tapenade on a ciabatta bun. Mom enjoyed the tapenade so much that she told me to try to recreate it when we got back home. Of course I have all the ingredients already in my kitchen but haven’t had the time to actually make a batch. I, on the other hand, ordered the Le “Frog” burger. It was Black Angus with melted Brie, shaved asparagus, and Portobello mushrooms served on an onion bun with truffle mayo on the side. I also ordered buttermilk zucchini fries, which Mom and I absolutely enjoyed.

The concept of Burger Bar is to allow customers to build their own dream burger. The menu lists down all the possible ingredients you need to do that, like for the meat, you have a choice of Black Angus beef, Country Natural, American Kobe beef, or buffalo meat, which is said to be very lean, low-fat, low-cholesterol and low-calorie.

Naturally, we were both very full and did not have any space for dessert, although I did find a couple of items very mouthwatering, which are called “sweet burgers.” The first one is the Nutella burger, a warm donut with Nutella ganache, passion fruit gelée, fresh strawberries and kiwi. The second is what I would’ve ordered if I had enough space in my belly: the creamy cheesecake burger, a warm donut with cheesecake mousse, caramelized pineapple and fresh mint, which actually sounds very good.

Aside from these sweet burgers, they also had classic milkshakes, designer milkshakes, alcoholic milkshakes, beer floats and sundaes. Just like the burgers, Burger Bar also allows you freedom to build your own dream milkshake, providing a list of different available ice cream flavors, toppings, fruits, sauces, homemade chocolate or vanilla whipped cream, and even liquor for those who want alcoholic milkshakes. If I had the opportunity, I would’ve ordered the Caramel Latte milkshake with coffee ice cream, caramel syrup, Graham crackers and butterscotch morsels. Yum!

MILLIE: After our fancy burger lunch, we went shopping for a couple of hours until it was almost time for my friend Nancy to pick us up. So Karla and I went back to Burger Bar to buy the fabulous book. I went to the washroom to freshen up, but on the way out, I noticed someone who resembled chef Keller, so I asked the guy at the reception as I paid for the book and he confirmed it was indeed who I thought he was. I asked if we could meet him and, almost instantly, chef Hubert Keller gladly obliged! We exchanged pleasantries for a while and he gamely autographed the cookbook we had just purchased and wrote: “To Millie & Karla, May this book inspire your own culinary souvenirs!”

 We learned that chef Keller’s favorite burger is one with a naturally lean and meaty flavor and he prefers it with red wine sauce instead of ketchup and mustard, topped with sautéed spinach and caramelized onions on a ciabatta bun!

We so wished to stay a little longer to chitchat, but my friend Nancy was already waiting by the main entrance of Macy’s so it was time to go. But we promised to send chef Hubert a copy of our column featuring him and to try his other restaurants, notably the world-renowned restaurant Fleur de Lys in San Francisco featuring contemporary French cooking with Mediterranean flavors and the famous tapas restaurant Fleur in Las Vegas if we get the chance. For now, we just have to be content with the fact that we savored chef Keller’s exquisite and unique burger creations and cherish that wonderful moment of excitement when we met him in person.

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Burger Bar is located on the 6th floor of Macy’s department store, Union Square, San Francisco.

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Send e-mail to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com. Find us on Facebook and read articles you might have missed: Food for Thought by Millie & Karla Reyes.