Short Order

I have been wanting to try Short Order since I first heard Nancy Silverton was opening a burger joint. I am a huge fan of Osteria Mozza and Campanile, which she was also a part of. The restaurant took a little longer to open than expected, but it was worth the wait. It definitely fits in with the Farmer’s Market. It is a two story restaurant, but it is not very big so we had to wait a little while to get seated. There are a few patio seats which will be very nice during the summer. Aside from the burgers, we ordered the pickle chips (which were a special appetizer) and the Short Order Spuds with truffle salt. I highly recommend the spuds. They are basically potato wedges made from a baked potato and definitely opt for the truffle salt, it is well worth it.

Now for the reason the we are here. I ordered the Ida’s Old School burger. The meat is grass fed from Magruder Ranch in Mendocino County. The meat was very fresh and had good flavor. The one weird thing is that you can only order your burgers either Medium Rare or Medium well. I usually order my burgers medium. I ordered it Medium Well because I do not like it too rare. Funny thing is that they cooked the medium well patty to a perfect pink on the inside with a little char on the outside. The bun was a standard brioche bun. It served its purpose, but the burger was a bit messy and the bottom of the bun got soggy and did not hold the burger together. The burger was topped with cheddar cheese, SQIRL handmade pickles, rosso bruno tomatoes, griddled onions, iceberg lettuce and secret sauce. I didn’t get a lot of the cheddar flavor but the pickles and the secret sauce (which was a little like thousand island, but with a special twist). I also usually don’t like tomatoes on my burgers, but the ones used on this burger were very good. Overall, the burger was good and I recommend it. I look forward to trying some of the other burgers there. I also need to go back when it is warmer to try the shakes.

West 4th and Jane (Redux)

So I reviewed West 4th and Jane almost a year and a half ago. Since then, it has become one of our favorite happy hour places after work. The upstairs area is a great lounge-y place to hang out and play connect 4 (provided by the restaurant). The wait staff is very friendly and the beer selection is still very good. Over the past year, they have revamped the menu and even updated the burger, so naturally I had to give it another try.

The new burger is made with Ground Waygu beef. The meat was pretty good but didn’t deliver the strong meat flavor of the elite burgers on my list. I also ordered it medium and it was a little undercooked, but not to the point where it needed to go back. The bun was one of the best parts. It had some poppy seeds on the top and had a somewhat salty flavor to it. It also held together well even with the juicy patty. The burger comes topped with truffle mayo, fried onions, goat cheese, and purple Cherokee tomato. I did not get a lot of the flavor from the truffle mayo. The goat cheese was very creamy but I think they were a little heavy handed with the cheese. It kind of overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. The fried onions were a good touch, but I felt there could have been more of them. I should have been able to get that salty fried onion flavor in more bites.
Overall, it is still a very good burger and great place to hang out. So stop by if you are in the area.