Sauce on Hampton

I found out about Sauce on Hampton on Facebook through the owner/chef who I went to high school with. From what I remember of him in high school, I never expected him to be a chef, granted there was a long time between when we were in school and when he opened the restaurant. Boy am I glad to be wrong on this one. I have been to Sauce a few times prior to trying the burger. The idea behind the restaurant is to bring farm fresh local and organic ingredients to the customers. This is a great concept, especially in the Venice/Santa Monica area. The food there is so fresh and flavorful, that I just feel good after the meal and want to go back for more. I highly recommend you check it out. There is also a chance that you may get a homemade cookie on house. Trust you don’t want to miss out on those.

On to the burger. My expectations, based on the style of restaurant, was fresh ingredients and good meaty flavor. The burger delivers on that account. The meat was fresh and had that great beefy flavor I ordered the Red, Wheat and Bleu burger, as it was the closest to the other burgers I have reviewed, and the one that seemed most appealing to me at the time. The burgers come on a whole wheat bun, which on the surface seems like it would be dry and boring, but it was actually quite soft and held together well. All the burgers are topped with spinach, fresh tomatoes, and homemade aioli and Dijon mustard. I didn’t get too much of the aioli or the mustard but the greens and the tomato were very fresh and added to the burger. Finally, the burger I ordered came with blue cheese and grilled onions. This was the one negative I had for the burger. Usually blue cheese is overwhelming, but I thought the burger could have used a little more. Same with the grilled onions. A few more would have really given off that sweet flavor and added something extra to the burger.

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.