Oscar's Cerveteca

Oscar’s is a new restaurant in Venice. My friends and I met up there for dinner one night. I read some of the reviews on Yelp and a few of them were touting the burger, so I had to give it a try. Before we get to that, a little more about the restaurant. It is a smallish place, so be prepared to wait a little bit for a table. The menu is a mix of Latin tapas and interesting entrees. Everyone else at the table seemed to really enjoy their meal.

On to the burger. The burger comes on a standard hamburger bun. The bun was nothing special but it held up well amongst the sloppiness of the burger. The patty tasted fresh and was cooked to medium as requested. It had a very distinct peppercorn flavor to it. It kind of overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. It came topped with cheddar cheese, grilled onions, tomato and iceberg lettuce. I could have done without the iceberg lettuce. It added a little crunch, but fell out the back of the burger while eating it. Overall it was a pretty good burger.

BLT Burger

I found myself in Vegas recently. Before going I did some research and reached out for some burger recommendations. I seemed to have a consensus to check out the BLT Burger in the Mirage. The restaurant seemed to be a typical casino restaurant and was quite busy when we showed up. We ended up skipping the line to sit at the bar. The restaurant had a good vibe even though it did feel like hotel restaurant.

 I ordered the Shaft’s Blue burger minus the mushrooms. The patty is made from certified angus beef. It was a well cooked medium and was very juicy. The flavor of the patty did not stand out among the rest of the burger like others I have tried. The bun was a toasted white sesame bun. It was fairly ordinary, like something you would get at the supermarket for a backyard BBQ. The burger came with blue cheese and balsamic caramelized onions. The blue cheese was very creamy, but a little too strong and overwhelmed the burger. The best part of the burger were the caramelized onions. They have really good flavor and went well with the rest of the burger. Overall, this burger was ordinary. I don’t think it was bad and if I was at the Mirage craving a burger I would go back, but I don’t think I would seek it out.

Slater’s 50/50

I first heard about Slater’s 50/50 from my friend Tim. He told of a burger patty that was made of 50% beef and 50% bacon. More on that later. I showed up at Slater’s prior to going to the U2 concert at Angel Stadium. I don’t find myself in Orange County that often, so I figure I should take advantage of this opportunity. The restaurant is located in a shopping center and is very unassuming. When you walk in, you are taken back by the décor of a really cool high end sports bar. Everyone there was very friendly and out going and was a really great place to hang out and check out a game.

Since I figured I wouldn’t be out there again, I had to try the 50/50 burger. As I wanted to try to keep it even, I built my own burger (very similar concept to The Counter). I selected a 1/3 pound 50/50 patty. I was not asked how I wanted it cooked, but I am assuming because it is not all one type of meat the cooking can only be done one way. The patty was definitely juicy, but I feel like it was more pork-like than burger. The bacon flavor completely overwhelmed the beef flavor. It was mostly smoky but a little too rich. I also chose the white brioche bun. As I have said before and will continue to say until something changes, brioche buns do not need to be greasy. I know they are mostly butter, but I have had very good ones and allow you to pick up your burger without feeling the need for a shower afterwards. Finally, I topped the burger with cheddar cheese, grilled onions, dill pickle chips, baby field greens and garlic aioli. The toppings were very fresh and added some nice crunch, but were mostly overshadowed by the patty.