Burgers

Happy New Year's Eve! I don't know if you all know this, but Super 1 gave everyone who cares about food in Spokane a little gift this holiday season: salt! A big, beautiful pile of specialty salts: fleur de sel, Hawaiian red salt, grey salt, black salt, and the list goes on. Take that, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods! 

In five beautiful, glorious days, I am leaving Spokane for a four month gig in Firenze. You may all commence jealousy; it is well placed. We have a beautiful apartment in between Santa Croce and Mercato San Ambrogio waiting for us, picked out at least partly because of its surprisingly new and large (by Italian standards) kitchen. Here's hoping we can turn on the oven and a burner at the same time in this one!  My plan is to once again turn this space over to a travel blog, so keep an eye out for new posts. 

Part of the whirl of getting ready for the trip is getting together with friends one last time, and that has brought up the question, what can I eat in Spokane that I expect to miss in Florence? There are some obvious answers: my Indian food. It seems highly unlikely that I'm going to recreate my Indian spice pantry in Italy. It would be expensive, even if it were possible. Good mexican food. Not a lot of burritos in Italy, in my experience. I hit Taco del Sol for lunch a couple of days ago. Their Mexicali taco combo is simply good eats. 

But the most important answer is: burgers. Sure, there are hamburgers in Florence. There's a McDonalds on Via Cavour. But I'm not talking about those flat, uniformly gray patties between two pieces of collapsable sponge that pass for burgers at fast food places. I'm talking about a thick, juicy, fatty, beefy, wonderfully unhealthy and possibly toxically pink-inside hamburger. I'm talking about high quality cheese and real mayonnaise and a bun that has just enough integrity to make it to the end. And that is a species of food the Italians do not understand. 

So, I've been thinking about burgers here in Spokane. Mentally, I split burgers into three categories: the fast patty, the messy, and the high end. I'm not going to talk about fast patties. They can be good, satisfying fare, but for me, one cannot achieve burger excellence if one is not willing to go pink. That leaves us with the messy and the high end. Both usually start with the "pub style" base, which means a thicker, rarer patty and bigger, heftier bun. The difference is in the intention of the toppings. In the messy burger, the toppings are the point, and the burger is simply a way to convey them to your mouth. It's the species of burger featured at Red Robin, and once you see guacamole, onion straws, or pastrami (when did that become a thing? Is it a thing anywhere not Spokane?), you know what you are dealing with. For my money, Waddell's on Regal does this style of burger really well, and the atmosphere is considerably more adult than Red Robin. Their truly fine sweet potato fries and lovely back patio area make them an easy choice for a late summer meal after an evening on the river. 

Really, though, the messy burger is just a toppings vehicle. To achieve true burger sublimity, I believe the focus must be on the meat. It needs to be juicy, fatty without feeling greasy, and it must taste of beef. The toppings must be there to enhance the meat rather than being an end to themselves. Sante attempts a high end burger on their lunch menu, and I've had it twice, and, honestly, I've been disappointed twice. Both times the middle seemed raw rather than medium rare, and that through the whole experience off. They also frequently have a kobe beef, foie gras burger for lunch, and it is better. The fat content is higher, which almost always means better, but I think the foie gras ends up burning while the beef is crusting, so the taste is off. Sante offers too many really exceptional options to waste one's time on their burger. 

For several years, I have publicly championed the Luna burger as the best in town. They had a beautifully cooked burger, topped with ham, a nicely aged cheese of some kind, and a lovely tarragon aioli. I've spent many nights, sitting in their wine bar (a far better, more casual space than their overly formal dining room), glutting myself on the burger. Alas, the last time I was there, the burger had mysteriously shrunk, the ham had mysteriously thickened and toughened, the tarragon had disappeared, and the whole thing was just not the same. A quick look at their menu reveals that the burger has slipped off it entirely, to be replaced by a lamb burger. Long live the Luna burger.

Fortunately, there is a better burger in town, at Wild Sage. It is described as a kobe beef burger from Snake River Farms (which means it is not really kobe, but technically wagyu). It comes with a choice of aged cheddar or blue cheese, caramelized onions and aioli on the side. One can choose to add bacon, avocado, or mushrooms. I had one last night, with blue cheese and mushrooms, and I feel entirely confident saying that it was the Mary Poppins of burgers: practically perfect in every way. The onions were caramelized down to a rich, deep brown, incredibly sweet and soft, nearly an onion jam. The mushrooms were a mixture of crimini, shitake, and I think some other varieties, and they too were beautifully sautéed to bring out their woodsiness, their natural sweetness, their richness. The cheese added just the right amount of salt and funk. All the toppings were clearly back up players to the beef, which was just so perfectly beefy. As great as the taste was, the mouth feel was almost better. Biting into this burger felt rich, decadent, even heady, without being overwhelming or exhausting the way some rich, intense food can be. This is a burger that is too good for bacon, which is usually necessary to add salt and fat, and way, way too good for avocado. 

In my last post, I lauded the nascent Spokane scene, and I fear I may have shorted the importance of Wild Sage. Wild Sage has the best service in town, and they are never disappointing -- which is saying a lot -- but neither are they particularly innovative, so I don't always have much to say about them. Well, there is nothing innovative about a hamburger, but doing one that is that good, that thoughtful, that carefully prepared shows true commitment to good food and a kitchen that knows what it is doing. Add to that really outstanding cocktails and those yukon gold taquitos, and I think you have a restaurant that is hard to beat. 

I'm not going to even try to replicate the Wild Sage burger at home. However, I do make, if I say so myself, a mighty tasty lamb burger. Here's the recipe:

Three or four lamb t-bone chops

Two lamb shoulder steaks

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 cucumber

1/2 small red onion

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

mayonnaise (preferably homemade) or yogurt

buns of your choice

Take the bones out of the lamb, cut into cubes, and put in the freezer for 1/2 hour. While you are waiting for the meat to firm up, peel and slice the cucumber very finely, and put in a strainer with a tablespoon of salt to drain. . Slice the red onion very finely, and place in a bowl with the vinegar, salt and sugar. If you are using yogurt, place a half a cup or so into a cheesecloth lined strainer to drain. When the meat is firm but not completely hard, run through the finest setting of your meat grinder twice (the Kitchen Aid attachment is one of the best gifts I have ever received, and totally worth the money if you don't have one yet). Add the spices, garlic, and ginger and salt to taste to the meat mixture, and form into thick patties. 

I think these work best on a grill, but they can be broiled or cooked in a cast iron skillet. Keep them pink on the inside. Rinse and squeeze the cucumbers, and drain the onions -- these are your toppings, along with mayo or the thickened yogurt.