A good middle of the road burger

A good middle of the road burger

Review of: Flippers Gourmet Burgers

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Though you can find good burgers in San Francisco (Barney’s, Choppers, Grumpy’s), more often than not, you either end up with an undercooked (Burger Joint), overcooked (Brickhouse), over salted (again, Burger Joint) or just plain bad (3rd Street Grill) meat puck on a bun.

But we were in Hayes Valley, and our friend from overseas wanted a burger for dinner, so we decided to stop in at Flippers and give them a try. Not only was the burger good, I might go as far to say it was darned good (though Grumpy’s with bacon, cheese and a fried egg on top still holds the number 1 slot).

I always get my burgers medium rare, while my wife has started getting them medium because the last few medium rare burgers she ordered were more on the rare side (as in cold in the middle). These burgers were cooked perfectly – my medium rare ran from charred on the outside to a warm rosy pink in the center, while her medium was a uniform grey with a pink hue and a little area of pink in the middle. The third person at the table had a medium burger as well and the color was the same. A+ job, Flippers!

For $8.75, you get a burger (with toasted bun that didn’t fall apart at all), a heap of steak fries (very well prepared but a teensy bit mealy), and some mayo. I went with a burger that had avocado, bacon and cheese – the avocado was creamy, the bacon nice and crispy without being overcooked, and the cheese, well, it was cheesy. Greens, onions and tomato slices were also present, as was a small plastic dish with mayo. We also split an order of onion rings that were confusingly decorated with shredded cheese – which were quite nice as well.

If you want something affordable and not the least bit pretentious in Hayes Valley, this just might be your place