True Food Kitchen

publish Part of a series on The best burger in the bay area.

This burger started it all. I first ate here 2021-05-27 and it planted the seed of an idea to create a Bay Area burger tier list. How fitting I should return here _for my first and only 10/10 rating.

The only downside of this burger is that the restaurant is located in Palo Alto, not SF. But I’m still putting it in my Attractions in San Francisco list.

In summary: It’s simply a perfect 10/10; it’s not even close to a 9/10. 1.75/10 unusualness factor (see below). Reviewed on 2023-01-24. $19.5 and comes with a modest side of kale and sweet potatoes.

Unusualness calculation of 1.75:

• In-house ground beef patty (+0 since it’s still beef, but you can really taste the difference in texture)
• Mushrooms (+0.25)
• Caramelized onions (+0.25)
• Arugula (+0.5)
• Parmesan (+0.5)
• Mayonnaise (+0.25)

((Writing this from the future; past Warren was so floored by the experience he forgot to revise his notes into a review. Here are the raw notes))

• Very juicy. Best cooked burger I think
• Umami of the mushrooms works well
• Drips juice but not too much
• Bread is perfectly toasted and crunchy. Maybe a better bun with more seeds could be used but its virtually perfect
• Like a backyard BBQ burger elevated to heavenly proportions
• Arugula wasn’t overwhelming at all. Good punctuation
• Modest amount of cheese
• With my brain I can focus and taste only the bun and meat if I wanted

• Sauce was good
• Literally would not change a thing about this burger

I was having a bad day and this burger rescued me into being happy again. Absolutely magical experience. What more can I ask of a burger? 10/10.