Freshroll

Update Review, October 2015

You may recall that a while back, I needed takeout for my group at work, and picked up springrolls and taro chips from FreshRoll.

I recently returned again, when I needed a quick takeout option and I was in the area.  Since I've reviewed Freshroll before, I'll skip all the general details this time, and focus just on the cuisine I had on this visit.

I've dubbed Freshroll the Chipotle/Subway of Vietnamese food: fast casual, customizable, made to order.  They should totally market themselves like this, right?

Single Roll, Garlic Shrimp.  $3.95.

Since I don't like pork, chicken, or tofu, I went for the only other option: shrimp.  I also added
lettuce, bean sprouts, pickled vegetables, jalapeño, scallions, and of course, crispy goodness.

My roll this time was even larger than on my previous visit.  Last time, I remarked at how it wasn't overloaded with vermicelli noodles, but this time, it was.  I'd guess that 50% of its girth was the noodles.  They were flavorless, slimy, and I really didn't care for them at all.

The other veggies were all fine, fresh, crisp, but otherwise unremarkable.  I again loved the crunch from the "crispy goodness", but again, it was just a fried thing, indistinguishable as a scallion.

The shrimp were a bit fishy, and again, not garlic as advertised.

I choose my favorite two of the sauces again, Vietnamese vinaigrette and sweet & sour chili.  The vinaigrette was not very good this time, it didn't have any real flavor to it.  The sweet and sour chili sauce was again basically sweet chili sauce with a bit of kick.  I liked it the best.

Overall, the roll was not nearly as good as my first visit, and I wouldn't get another.

I realized once I left that I was charged the standard price for a single roll, $3.95.  Garlic shrimp should have cost $1.25 extra, and the crispy goodness should have been another $0.50, so it should have been $5.70.  $5.70 for a single roll most certainly would not have been worth it, but hey, I got a bargin.

Close up of the roll.

The roll was constructed much better on this visit than the last however.  It didn't fall apart, and had a very large amount of shrimp, far more than on my previous visit.

I think that given the type of establishment that Freshroll is, with a large varied staff, consistency is not their strong point.

Single Roll, Grilled Chicken.  $3.95.

On another visit, for Ojan, I got the chicken.  I didn't try it, but he liked it.

The roll was assembled with much greater care than my previous visits, and was packaged in a more appropriate container, sized for one roll.  Previously, when I've picked up a single roll, they have put it in a container meant for three rolls, and it has gotten a bit discombobulated on the way home as it has rolled all around.  The smaller container fit it much better.  I think this is probably the box for the sandwich, and other staff never thought of using it?

Anyway, well made, same mediocre product. 

Original Review, August 2013

For one week, I was tasked with providing nightly dinner for my co-workers.  Being me, I didn't just order delivery pizza or Thai food.  I like pizza and thai, but, I don't like it soggy and cold.  Delivery was obviously the easiest option, but I didn't want to limit myself to only places that deliver, so I also looked into takeout in the area.  My goal was to find something that was satisfying, but didn't need to be served warm.  I also really didn't just want sandwiches or salads, this was dinner after all.

The week before I was about to embark on this adventure, I walked by the Metreon and saw Freshroll.  I hadn't ever been, but it did sound interesting.  The concept is build your own Vietnamese rolls, sandwiches, and bowls.  Hot rice or noodle bowls wouldn't be appropriate for our dinner, but the rolls sounded like a perfect fit.  Yelpers seemed pretty happy with it.

You can order ahead online, or just walk in. First, you pick you style.  For cold options, there are the rice paper rolls, salad, or bahn mi.  Since I didn't want sandos or salad, I went for the rolls.  If I wanted something hot, I could have also picked a rice bowl, a vermicelli noodle bowl, or pho.

Next, you pick proteins.  Choices aren't plentiful, but there should be something for everyone: lemongrass pork, grilled chicken, garlic shrimp, or crispy tofu.  The only real thing missing was a red meat option.

Then it gets harder, you have to pick your veggies.  There are tons of options: lettuce, bean sprouts, bell pepper, carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, jalapeno, pickled veggies, pineapple, scallions, basil.  Luckily, they offer a combo called "the standard" if you can't decide.  For an additional fee, you can also add avocado or "crispy goodness" ... more on that later.

And then, my favorite part, sauces! Peanut sauce, citrus ginger, sweet and sour chili, or vinaigrette.

A side of taro chips and a few drinks round out the menu.  Sadly, no desserts are available.

Since I was ordering for a big group, I probably should have ordered online in advance.  It was a bit overwhelming trying to keep track of everyone's orders and get them all straight.  The staff were reasonably nice, but did seem slightly annoyed with me.  I did only get 9 rolls, I didn't think that was too many!

Overall, Freshroll was good, but not outstanding.  I love to customize things, so I really appreciated that aspect, but none of the ingredients or flavors were that memorable.

Thai Iced Coffee.  $2.95.

They had Thai Iced Coffee, but strangely, not Thai Iced Tea.  Darn!  I always love the sweet milky goodness.  Other fresh beverages were lychee sweetened black tea and limeade.  They also had bottled beverages, including a slew of different types of coconut water.

I settled for the coffee as a consolation prize.  It was decent, nice coffee flavor, not too sweet.  $2.95 for a drink this size seemed fine.

Housemade Taro Chips. $1.95.

I love taro, and crunchy salty things, so I was excited by the single side on the menu, housemade taro chips.

They were ok, nicely crispy, good sized, not broken up.  But they were a bit too oily for my liking, and under-salted.  I'm not sure how much I would have liked them plain, but I liked dunking them in the assorted sauces I had for my rolls.

The package was perhaps a bit small for $1.95, but you wouldn't really want more.

Assorted dipping sauces.

They have 4 different sauces to choose from for the rolls.  When asked which one I'd like, and I very quickly asked for all 4.  How could you ever pick just one?  Particularly when this was for a big group?

• Grandma's Peanut Sauce: Hmm.  I usually love peanut sauce, but this wasn't good.  It somehow wasn't very ... peanuty?  It was thick, gloopy, and had no real flavor.  My least favorite by far.
• Sweet & Sour Chili: Pretty standard sweet chili sauce, although it had a bit of heat.  Another thing I got hooked on in Sydney, sweet chili sauce!  Not sure why it said "sour" though, as it was sweet and spicy, and not at all sour.  I didn't love it with my roll, but I liked it with the taro chips, and with assorted other things I dunked in the leftovers.
• Tangy Citrus Ginger: Well, it was citrusy, and gingery, but definitely not my thing.  The flavors were strong, and exactly as advertised.  Least favorite.
• Vietnamese Vinaigrette: This was nice, light, with good flavor.  The fish sauce shone through.  Very good for dipping the rolls.  For the rolls, my favorite by far.

Assorted Rolls.  3 for $7.95 or $3.95 each.

Since I was ordering for a group, they nicely labelled the boxes to keep them all straight.

I ordered 4 chicken rolls, 2 pork, and 3 shrimp, mostly with the standard fillings, but slightly customized.

Of course I wanted to try several options, so we cut some of the rolls in half to be able to try more.  Since I don't like chicken or pork, I only tried the shrimp.  I started with the "standard": vermicelli noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, cilantro, cucumber, jalapeño, and pineapple.  At the advice of the Yelpers, I added on some "crispy goodness", aka, a fried scallion, to another, and then I threw some pickled veggies into another.

I was amused by the pricing of 3 for $7.95 or $3.95 each.  I only needed 8 rolls, but I got 9 since it made no sense to get two singles.  Shrimp is $2 extra, and a "crispy goodness" is $0.75 extra.

The price for 3 seemed fine, although the shrimp being a full $2 more was a bit surprising, and $0.75 for a single piece of fried scallion seemed a bit much.  But the regular set of 3 was totally reasonable.

Shrimp falling out.

I was not impressed with the roll job.  They were all different sizes.  Most were falling apart and things were breaking through and sticking out all over the place.  Really sloppy.

But the fillings were fresh and decent quality.  The shrimp was advertised as "garlic shrimp", but I certainly didn't taste the garlic. That said, the shrimp was fine, although they were a smaller size than I was expecting.  The veggies were all crisp and fresh.  The jalapeño certainly added some kick, which was nice.  The pineapple is not something I'd normally put, but it was kinda nice.  I'd probably skip it in the future though.  I was glad there weren't many vermicelli noodles, I always get annoyed when my rolls are loaded up with noodles.

The "crispy goodness" did live up to its name.  Not worth $0.75 perhaps, but it added a totally delightful crunch.  I wouldn't have known it was scallion of course, as it was mostly just fried stuff.  But, recommended.

Overall, these were fine, and I'd eat them again, but I wouldn't go out of my way for them.  Mostly I just wish they had some different proteins, as none were my favorites.

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Aqua Restaurant at Crowne Plaza Kitchener-Waterloo

In late July, I travelled to an unusual destination: Kitchener, ON.  Yes, to a random town in Canada.  Why?  I had a friend getting married in Buffalo, NY (2 hours away), and I figured it was a good excuse to check out our Waterloo office for a few days, rather than just visiting the east coast for a day or two.

I planned to stay at the Sheraton, because I'm a loyal Starwood gal, but a co-worker said I should stay closer to the office.  I obliged, after doing a little bit of due diligence research on my options.  The Crowne Plaza was clearly the top choice.  While there were some noise complaints, it was recently renovated, and, you know me with my one track focus, people actually really raved about the breakfast buffet.  The Sheraton had good reviews for the hotel itself, but, alas, no one had anything positive to say about their mostly-continental breakfast offerings.

Thus, the Crowne Plaza it was, with a rate that included breakfast, of course.  And, failing that, my office was just down the street, and they serve breakfast.  I really enjoyed my breakfast the first day, but subsequent days were lackluster.  I do wish I'd checked out the offerings at our office instead.  Next time?

Bar, Seating.

Like the rest of the hotel, the restaurant recently had a major renovation.  The space was modern, swanky, beautiful.

Breakfast is a buffet, normally $14 for the hot buffet or $9 for just a continental.  There is an a la carte menu as well, but only the buffet was included in my rate.  Drinks are not self-serve, rather, you order from the waitress as you enter.

Service was actually really good ... the first day.  The single server was friendly and, as I watched her work, I was crazy impressed.  Every guest who walked in after me had clearly been there before, and, she knew each drink order by heart as they walked in, no matter how standard ("orange juice and coffee?") or a bit odd ("unsweet iced tea and warmed milk?")

The next morning was a stark contrast.  It was impossible to get any attention.  Myself, and many other guests, resorted to walking up to the front with our empty glasses to get refills of juice/coffee/water/etc.  New patrons entered and just sat, waiting for minutes before someone finally acknowledged them.  Granted, it was busy, and there were only two servers, but when I commented about how busy it was, the server said it was normal.  If this is normal mode of operation, you think they'd be better able to handle it?

The final morning was back to calm.  I walked in, was greeted, and offered coffee.  They came to check on me several times throughout my stay.  What a difference a day makes.

Table Setting, Coffee.

All days I ordered decaf coffee.

The water is tap water, and I can't say I liked the taste of it.  The second morning I knew better, and brought along a bottle of water.  Other included drink options are basic juices.  Ojan opted for the grapefruit juice, but said it wasn't very good.

The coffee was fine, although not great.  The first day, the awesome waitress poured me a cup while I was up getting my food selections, but also left an entire carafe on the table for me.  I loved that I didn't need to ask for refills or go without coffee.  Major bonus points.  She also left a pitcher of creamer.

The next morning however ... total opposite.  I was given just a single cup of coffee.  I could not, no matter what I did, get attention to get more.  I waved, I said, loudly, "excuse me?" as the server passed by.  Nothing.  The only effective route to more coffee was marching up to the front, placing myself in the server's path, and pointing at my empty cup.  Le sigh.  No creamer was provided, but, I didn't actually use it, so I didn't mind.

The final day, I ordered decaf, as usual, and the server even offered to go brew me a fresh pot, warning that it would take 4 minutes.  And then he instructed the other server to just bring me a whole carafe, which I gladly consumed in its entirely.  Such inconsistencies!

Assorted sweeteners, Dickenson's jams (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, orange marmalade), and salt and pepper completed the place setting, along with cloth napkins.  I never care for Dickenson's jams, no matter how fancy they look, and how many times I try them.

Hot Buffet.

I started at the hot buffet.  Only one side of the buffet was filled, I imagine the other side is used only on weekends or when crazy busy?

The hot selection always featured "Roasted Breakfast Sausage" and "Maple Smoked Bacon", 2 daily egg dishes, 1 breakfast carb special, homefries, and grilled vegetables or baked beans.

The sausage and bacon did not look good at all, so I never tried them.  Ojan had bacon one day, and said it was fine.  I never like grilled veggies at breakfast, so I skipped those.  I did try baked beans on the one day they were offered and they were not very good.  Tasted like they came from a can, no real flavor in the sauce.  I mixed in ketchup and syrup to try to make them taste like ... something.

The potatoes weren't bad the first day.  Little cubes, seasoned, some crispy.  Clearly cooked with plenty of oil, but not in a gross way.  I tried them again on the third day, and that time they were soggy, tasted like stale oil, and were just not good at all.

Noticing a theme here?  The service, the product offered, the food quality ... inconsistent!

Scrambled Eggs w/ Tex Mex Cheese & Tomatoes, Cheese Omelet, Pancakes.

The final hot station was the most exciting, as it offered up two different egg dishes and a daily carby breakfast special.

On all days, one egg creation was Scrambled Eggs with Tex-Mex Cheese & Tomatoes.  I never really like eggs, and these didn't look great, so I moved right on.  The first and third days the second egg option was a frittata, which is perhaps one of my least favorite egg preps, so I obviously skipped that.

On the second day, the frittata was replaced with a cheesy omelet.  I decided to make an egg and cheese sando with a croissant, so I grabbed a chunk.  It was better than I expected, lots of nice melty cheese inside, and decently fluffy eggs for something sitting in a buffet.

It was of course the main breakfast carb specials that I really was excited to try.  On the first day, waffles!  On the subsequent days, pancakes!  Of course, these were sitting in a hot tray, on a buffet for who knows how long, so how good would they be?  But I love my breakfast carbs.

The first day, I eagerly dug into a waffle.  It looked crispy, and was covered in powdered sugar, plus there was a big pitcher of maple syrup on the side.  Anything can be made better with maple syrup, right?

Wrong.  The waffles were ... awful.  Rock solid.  Cold.  Really not good.  No amount of syrup, nor powdered sugar, could save these.

The next day, I tried again, with the pancakes.  They were just as bad.  Flimsy, flavorless.  I added more and more syrup, but the syrup itself was also pretty bad.  I was in Canada, and I assure you, this was not real syrup.  On one visit, the guy sitting next to me ordered the pancakes a la carte.  I was interested to see if they were different.  I expected that they'd at least be larger?  Fluffier?  Served with better accompaniments?  Nope.  Just three of the same pancakes, with what I imagine was the same syrup, and some unripe sliced fruit on the side.  Glad I didn't give up on the buffet and splurge for a la carte.

On the first day, I was pretty sad at this point, as the buffet was failing me.  I considered walking right out and rushing to my office, where I knew they were serving french toast and house-made croissants instead.

But this was just the hot buffet.  There were many more sections to explore.

Assorted Cheese / Fresh Fruit / Hardboiled Eggs / Cottage Cheese / Yogurt.

Next comes the cold selections.

The first platter contained an assortment of cheeses, er, a "Local & International Cheese Platter".  I skipped it on the first day, but on the second, I tried the decent enough triple cream, and on the third, some flavorless Swiss.  Ojan tried the others, including something smoked, something cheddary, and a blue cheese, and discarded them all after a single bite.  I snagged a few grapes from this platter, but they were not good, the skins were very bitter.

Next was sliced fruit, including watermelon (and other melons subsequent days), which I'm allergic to, and a platter of assorted other fruit including pineapple, grapes, and strawberries.  I had to skip this entire area due to the melons, but given how unripe and unfresh it looked, I don't think I missed out.  Whole apples and oranges were available on the side.

Next was cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs, and uh, lettuce.  Just lettuce, no dressing.  Not really sure what that was for.

Finally, a selection of Dannon yogurts, in assorted flavors.

I moved on.

Cereals.

Next up is the cereal station, all Kellogg's .

On offer were your sugary friends (Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms), classics (Cherrios and Corn Flakes), and two varities that were new to me, at least by name (Vector and Two Scoops).  I'm pretty sure that "Two Scoops" is just raisin bran (there are "two scoops" of raisins in every box ...).  Anyway, cereal is cereal right?  I ignored this area the first few days.

On my final day, I decided to try the cereals.  First, side note: I hate these dispensers.  You can't just get a little cereal.  You twist and turn, it gets jammed, and then all of a sudden tons pours out.  Ugh.  Anyway.

Vector seemed to just be jazzed up corn flakes, that is, corn flakes that were a bit more crispy and coated with bits of something, but also fairly sweet.  Meh, whatever.

I also had some Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms, because, well, when is the last time you had these fun cereals?  If nothing else, I wanted to drink the cereal milk.

All of the cereals were pretty stale.  I guess they must sit there in those twisty things all the time.  And I can't say I saw anyone else try them.  Who knows how long that cereal had been there.

Additional toppings of dried fruit and seeds were on the side, none of which seem to really go with those cereal options, more what I'd expect with oatmeal.

Cereal offerings?  Pass.

Toast / Assorted Breakfast Pastries / Bagels / English Muffins.

Finally, we were getting somewhere.  More carbs.

The boring options are bread to toast (3 varieties), english muffins, and bagels.  I was impressed that they had not only plain cream cheese, but flavored herb cream cheese too (Philadelphia brand, individual pots), and a large assortment of bagel types.  The bagels didn't look particularly good however.

But I had eyes only for the middle section: baked goods.  I love my baked goods.  Sure, I know that hotel breakfast buffets rarely have good baked items.  These didn't look particularly great.  And why would this random hotel in Kitchener have anything good?

All days, one board was croissants, all plain.  I didn't try one the first day, but did the second.  The croissant was ... ok.  Very oily and doughy, not flaky, but I did like the sweetness to the dough.  I sliced it open and stuffed it with cheese omelet, and made a decent enough breakfast sandwich.  But I wouldn't get another.

Muffins and Danishes (day two).

The other board featured muffins both days (corn, blueberry, chocolate), plus a variety of other pastries.  The first day, it had cinnamon swirls and lattice topped apple danishes.  The next, cherry and custard round danishes.  The final, cherry round danishes and lattice apple danishes again.

The muffins looked generic.  The cinnamon swirls ... well, pathetic.  The danishes only looked moderately better.

But I braved onward.

The first day, the toaster had a big sign saying that you could not put croissants or cheese in it.  I understand this sign, as I uh, started a fire doing something like this in Sydney at a hotel.  But I wanted my cinnamon swirl warm!  It just looked so sad otherwise.  And I knew it was thin, so it wouldn't get stuck, which is the reason not to put croissants in, right?

I'm awful at breaking rules when I know they exist, but, I was confident that I wasn't actually violating the sign (it said croissants and cheese, this was not either of those items ...), so I slipped my cinnamon swirl in, cranked the speed up to as fast as it would go, and watched carefully.  No problem.

The cinnamon swirl turned out to be really good.  I took one bite and was beyond shocked.  It was really thin, had no icing, but ... somehow was so tasty.  How looks can be deceiving.  It was doughy and moist, with fantastic cinnamon flavor.  My mood changed immediately.  I almost rushed back to grab another, they were small, right?  Sadly, these never showed up on subsequent days, and were, hands down, the highlight of the buffet.

Next I grabbed a corn muffin.  I really like corn muffins, particularly when slathered with honey butter or strawberry jam.  Eying the jam on the table, I knew this was an option, if the muffin itself needed some help.

Like the cinnamon swirl, it turned out to be really tasty.  It was moist on top, crumbly inside.  I loved the grit and corn flavor.  Really, it was exactly what I like in a corn muffin.  I often only like the tops of muffins, and find the edges or bottom burnt, but this was delicious down to the last crumb.  My second favorite of the breakfast baked goods.

I would have preferred my corn muffin warmed up, but I didn't dare stick that in the toaster.  I'm sure I could have sliced it and done so, but, then I'd be getting into risky territory.  And really, it was fine as it was (although I did slather it with additional whipped butter.  Hey, I was traveling, no rules, right?)

The next day wasn't as satisfying.  No cinnamon swirls, to start.

So I tried a custard danish.  It had a decent enough sweet custard filling and slices of almond on top.  The dough was a bit oily and not particularly flaky, but, the filling was good.  Better than an average generic buffet, but not particularly great.

Then I eagerly dove into a muffin, this time, blueberry.  I loved the corn muffin the day before.  It only had tiny blueberries in it, yet tons of blueberry flavor.  I am guessing they were the little wild Maine (or I guess Canada?) berries rather than big juicy California berries I'm used to.  The blueberry flavor was there, but, the muffin itself just wasn't great.  Rather dense, lackluster, a bit dry.

Unsatisfied, I went for the other muffin selection, chocolate chip.  It had a nice crispy top and was generously filled with mini chips, but it too was really dry and quite oily.  The flavor wasn't there in this one either.

I was pretty sad.  I was considering getting yet another muffin, another corn muffin, when Ojan joined me.  He got the corn muffin.  He commented that he didn't understand why I liked it so much, and discarded it.  I tried a bite.  Yup ... not the same, at all.  Dry.  It didn't have the grittiness or flavor I loved the day before.

So day one: tasty cinnamon roll, awesome corn muffin.  Day two: ok custard danish, bad blueberry, chocolate chip, and corn muffins.  Inconsistent!

And day three?

I went straight for the corn muffin.  I crossed my fingers that it would be like the first day.  It wasn't.  Honestly, I wouldn't even know it was a corn muffin.  It tasted like a plain muffin.  Dry.  Stale.  I'm starting to think they bake these in batches, and ration them out all week.  I have no other explanation for how the muffins on Wednesday were great, Thursday were ok, and Friday were just bad.

So I went for the cherry danish, after the mild success of the custard one.  It wasn't very good.  The dough was incredibly oily.  The filling was just goo.  Meh.

And finally, the apple lattice.  This thing didn't look good, and I don't tend to like apple filling, so I never intended to try it, but I had exhausted my other options.  At this point, I had even tried baked beans and cereal, totally not what I generally go for, but I really wanted something tasty.

The apple lattice was the best of the pastries that day, and my third favorite overall.  The only other one I'd consider getting again.  The lattice top was nicely crispy, and the filling actually pretty flavorful.  Yes, it was apple goo, but it was nicely spiced, and also had bits of nuts on it.  Again, certainly not amazing, but I enjoyed the textures, flavors, and sweetness alongside my coffee.

And just a final note.  There was one thing that was really off putting about the buffet.  Flies.  Every single day, there were flies all around the food.  Every single day there were flies perched on top of the baked goods.  Every single day they buzzed around as you neared the baked goods.  This was ... really quite gross.  Couldn't they try to get rid of these (or, I'm sure they had?) or at least put the pastries into a case?  Or put a mesh shield over them?  It truly was gross.

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Sweet Millie's Bakery

Sweet Millie's Bakery is a wholesale bakery located in Berkeley.  They make mostly cookies, including the classics (chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and rainbow M&M), plus a vegan cookie, along with brownies and coffee cake.  They distribute all over the Bay Area, mostly to coffee shops.

Most of their items aren't particularly interesting to me, since I'm not a big cookie fan, but, a while ago I stumbled into Nervous Dog Coffee in Bernal Heights (which, sadly, is now closed), and I wanted a treat.

I didn't see anything I really wanted, since, cookies aren't my thing, but they were offering free credits on LevelUp, so I took a gamble.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Dipped Cookie.  $2.

While I don't necessarily like cookies, I do like chocolate, and I sure love peanut butter.  A chocolate dipped peanut butter cookie sounded like pretty much the best type of cookie there could be.

It was a very large cookie.  It had decent peanut butter flavor, with little bits of peanut in it, and a bit of salt to amp it up.  It fell right in the middle of the soft vs hard spectrum, harder than I'd like, but not crispy.  The chocolate coated side had a very thick layer of chocolate, which of course paired perfectly with the peanut butter.

It was a decent cookie for what it was, but not particularly remarkable.  The cookies were all individually wrapped to maintain freshness, which seemed to work, but I'm sure this was at least several days old.

I wouldn't get another, but the $2 price for such a large cookie was reasonable.

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Satdha Plant-Based Thai Kitchen, Santa Monica

I recently took a very short trip down to Santa Monica, CA.  Why Santa Monica?  Well, Ojan needed to visit our office there for work, and I .. well, I wanted to go somewhere warm?  I cashed in some airline miles, paid $11 in fees, and was able to enjoy a short getaway to a beach town.  I think it was a good move on my part.

Since the trip was so short, and mostly during the work week, we had exactly one day (Sunday) free to see the beach, explore, meet up with Ojan's college roommate and his wife.  And of course, to eat some food.  Once we made plans to see them in the afternoon and go to dinner, I was excited to do a little research and find a great place to eat, but then they dropped the bomb on me: they are vegan.

Uh ... vegan?  Now, I was a vegetarian in a past life, so I certainly understand not eating meat.  But how do you give up butter, cream, cheese?  All the things I consider tasty?  I did some quick research, but kept coming up short.  Everywhere that sounded amazing to me seemed unlikely to match their interests.  Finally, I found Satdha Plant-Based Thai Kitchen, located only a few blocks from where we staying.

Satdha sounded promising, although, yes, entirely vegan.  Part of the appeal, besides the positive reviews, was the cuisine: thai.  I wanted food where I wasn't going to feel the compromise of going vegan, aka, I didn't want to get pizza and have strange vegan cheese.  I wanted a place where vegan cuisine feels more natural, and for me, I generally eat vegetarian at thai restaurants anyway.  Plus thai food is full of spice and flavor, so you can do without the added fats.

So, to Satdha we went, for dinner, as a group of four: Ojan and myself, and two vegans.  Satdha does not take reservations for groups less than 6 people, so we showed up a bit early (6pm), and were easily seated.  Service was good, the space was nice, the food was ... ok.  The meal started strong with one dish I loved, but the rest were fairly lackluster, and the desserts disappointed.

It was a nice choice for a healthier meal, particularly since Ojan and I had the polar opposite meal for lunch, when we got our fill of meat, cheese, and decadence with the epic burger from Father's Office.  I wouldn't return, but, it was fine.

The Space

Signage.

Welcome to the LA area.  Satdha is located off the side of a busy street, in an area that is all strip malls.  I can't say I particularly like this town.

Interior.

You can't see in this awful photo, but, the decor is actually quite bright and lively.  The walls are painted various shades of green.  On the walls are vases with large dark green leaves in them.  The floors are a pinkish tile.

The interior really has a decent vibe to it, open, and airy.

Place Setting.

The color from the walls doesn't translate onto the table.  Shiny white tables, white plates, basic silverware, clear water glasses, wooden chairs.  Where did the fun go?

Menu: Page 1.

Menus are paper and fairly extensive, two full pages, with appetizers, soup, salads, and rice dishes on the front page

It took a while to take the whole menu in.  We knew everything would be served family-style, so we needed to make decisions as a group.

The appetizers were the most appealing part of the entire menu to me.  I kinda wanted them all.  I love meaty mushrooms, so the grilled oyster mushrooms jumped out immediately (but, others weren't as interested).  I was really curious about the Tod Munn, described as "Thai Un-fish cakes".  Or the endive filled with "cashew-tuna".  But alas, my dining companions weren't crazy about any of these.  My first choice of appetizer, meang kham, they were willing to get, and I went along with the suggestion for mung bean croquettes since they really wanted them, even though I dislike legumes. 

We also picked one salad, a snap pea thai salad that I read good reviews about. 

We skipped the soups and rice dishes, and flipped over to another full page of options.

Menu: Page 2.

Noodle dishes, entrees, vegetables, basic rice, and desserts make up the flip side.

The "vegetables" category was pretty easy to rule out (although, well, the entire menu is actually vegetables ...).  These items were all basically just sautéed green side dishes (aka, ong choy, bok choy, chard, kale, etc).

Entrees were mostly curries, plus a signature dish of "catfish eggplant" that I had read about.  Catfish eggplant went on our list as the sole entree choice.

The noodles group contained one dish I was particularly interested in since it gets great reviews, beet dyed noodles, a dish of rice vermicelli infused with beet juice, with all sorts of goodies like yuba, crispy shallots, and coconut, but the others didn't really seem interested in noodle dishes, so I didn't press on it.

The server seemed to think our order was small, only 2 appetizers, one salad, and one entree for 4 people, but I assured her this would be fine, and we could order more if we needed.  We of course planned to order at least two, if not all three, of the desserts later.  And honestly, I was still full of that amazing burger!

The Food & Drink

Lemongrass Lemonade.

Ojan opted for a lemongrass lemonade, a house special.  Whenever a place has an interesting non-alcoholic offering, he always likes to try it, since he misses out on alcoholic cocktails.  Sadly, this did not impress.

Ojan really likes a tart lemonade, so he found this far too sweet, with not nearly enough lemon flavor.  He pushed it away, and I tried it, thinking that the sweet would at least appeal.  I didn't like it either, but for different reasons; I thought the lemongrass flavor was too strong.

So, not a balanced drink.  Too sweet, not enough acid, too much lemongrass.

Complimentary Kale Chips.

Shortly after we placed our order, a little bowl of kale chips arrived.

They were fine, crispy, fresh, but I always like my kale chips to have some kind of additional flavor or seasoning.  I like them covered in nutritional yeast to make them a bit "cheesy", or some spice, or, something.

These were fine, just not particularly interesting.  A nice touch, and a different sort of starter for sure.  My tablemates gobbled them up while I was still busy settling in and taking some initial notes.

Appetizer: Meang Kham. $9.

"Chard wrap with shredded coconut, cashew, shiitake bacon, lime zest, shallots, ginger, chili, flavored with herb tamarind chutney."

The meang kham was the dish I was most looking forward to.  This I can't really explain.  But for some reason, I was really craving things like chard wraps (I almost ordered collard green wraps a few days prior).  I'm really not sure what got into me, but these sounded great.

And they were.

4 little wraps, each inside a glass cup to hold them together, with a cute little pitcher of the chutney on the side.

These were basically about two bites each.  The wrapper was a fresh, crispy chard leaf, pretty easy to pick up given the way they plated it.  Each wrap was filled with lots of shredded coconut (which gave it tons of crunch), a few whole cashews (even more crunch), and lime zest, shallots, ginger, and chili (so much flavor).  I am not sure where the shiitake bacon was, I didn't see, nor taste it, which is sad, because that sounded great.  The chutney was also incredibly flavorful.

These were really quite tasty.  I loved all the different textures and the incredible amount of flavor that was packed into such a small bite.  Since we were a group of 4, we each got one, but I would gladly have eaten this entire platter myself.

Dish of the night, and the only one I really enjoyed.  $9 price might be a bit high for only 4 bites of food though.

Appetizer:  Mung Bean Croquette. $9.

"Mung bean and mushroom Thai meatball with sweet toasted chili - cilantro sauce."

Our next appetizer was the mung bean croquettes, that I knew I wasn't interested in, but the others wanted.  They were served on skewers, and like our first dish, with a cute pitcher of sauce on the side.

The croquettes were clearly hot and fresh out of the fryer.  The exterior was breaded, nicely crispy.  But, as predicted, I didn't like the flavor.

They were served on top of fried shreds of sweet potato, that I really did like.  Crispy and flavorful.  And the sauce was delicious, it reminded me of sweet chili sauce.

I didn't like the balls themselves, but the crispy sweet potato and sauce were tasty enough to make this my second pick of the night, and my dining companions were happy to let me just scoop up all the shreds and sauce.  $9 price was on par with our first appetizer, although it was interesting that this came with 5 balls, our first one with only 4 pieces.

Salad: Snap Pea Thai Salad. $10.

"Thinly sliced snap peas, toasted coconut, ground peanuts, crispy shallots, baked tofu, flavored with chili tamarind coconut cream."

Next we moved on to a salad.  Normally at a thai restaurant I order papaya salad, but reviews all said the papaya salad was fine, but pretty ordinary.  But everyone raves about the snap pea salad.  So we branched out and got the snap pea salad.

One whole side of the plate was just lettuce, which looked like a garnish, but really did take over the plate.  That was a bit strange.

The other side had everything else, all mixed together.  The snap peas were sliced thin, still a bit crisp.  There was tons of ground peanut, far too much of it, as it overwhelmed the flavor completely.  Also in the mix was more toasted coconut for some good crunch, crispy shallots, which I loved, and little cubes of tofu.

The chili tamarind coconut cream dressing had a little heat to it.

Overall, this was just ok.  I didn't really like it, and thought it wasn't very balanced.  It was Ojan's favorite dish, but my third pick of the night.  $10 price was fine for a large salad.

Entree: Catfish Eggplant. $12.

"Battered eggplant with red curry paste, bell peppers, young peppercorn and Thai basil."

For main dishes, there were two that people commonly rave about: catfish eggplant and the fascinating sounding Beet Dyed Noodles I mentioned above.  Since my group didn't want the noodles, we went for the catfish eggplant.

It was huge chunks of battered fried eggplant, that tasted ... well, like catfish.  Which isn't really a good thing.  Murky.  I couldn't get over how much like catfish it tasted, but, again, not actually a selling point.

The curry paste was very thick, the bell peppers kinda cold, and the large pieces of peppercorn totally deadly if you got a bite full. I did like the crispy thai basil on top.

None of us liked this very much, but, perhaps if you like catfish this will appeal.

Not pictured is the simple white rice we ordered alongside.  I asked for only 2 portions, and we still had plenty left over.  It was fine, basic white sticky rice.

Dessert: Coconut Sticky Rice With Mango. $5.

We started with a classic Thai dessert: sticky rice with mango.  I've had sticky rice with mango at more restaurants than I can count, and it is always a pretty safe choice (although, of course, the mango never makes me happy anymore, as I've been ruined by the amazing mango in Sydney!).

This was a pretty standard interpretation.

The mango was ripe enough, sliced up, but I found it rather bitter.  I really miss good mango.

The sticky rice was black rice, served warm, slightly al dente so it had a crunch, nicely sticky.  A good job here.

The coconut cream was great, but, alas, there wasn't nearly enough of it.  Seriously, see that little drizzle?  That was it.  Not nearly enough to even serve with half the dish.

It was garnished with a sprig of mint and a sesame brittle, which also decorated the second dessert we ordered.  In both cases, the sesame thing was not sweet, which was very unexpected, since it was a dessert and looked like brittle.

Overall, this was lackluster.  I liked the rice, and I liked the coconut cream, but there just wasn't nearly enough.  Still, my favorite of the desserts, and the $5 price was good.

Dessert: Taro Tapioca Pudding. $5.

The second dessert was sorta the reason I wanted to go to Satdha in the first place: taro tapioca pudding.  If you've read my blog for a while, you know how much I love puddings, and that I like tapioca, and go bonkers over taro.  Combine them all into one dish?  This clearly had my name written all over it.

Sadly ... I didn't like it.

It was served warm, not quite what I expected.  Garnished with the same bitter sesame thing, and, randomly, asian pear slices.  The asian pear really didn't seem to fit in.

The pudding was a mix of small tapioca pearls and chunks of taro.  The tapioca was well cooked, not stuck together, not hard, not too mushy.  I appreciated the chunks of real taro.  The pudding was creamy.  But somehow, it just didn't really work for me.  I didn't actually taste taro.  And although creamy, the pudding didn't have much flavor.  There was some coconut cream drizzled over it, but, just like the mango and sticky rice, there wasn't nearly enough.  More coconut cream would have saved both these desserts.

I kept trying this, since I wanted to love it, and no one else at the table was really going for it, but alas, I liked it even less than the mango and sticky rice.  I wouldn't get again.  The $5 price was good.

The third dessert option, which we didn't opt for, was just coconut ice cream.

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Father's Office, Santa Monica

A few years ago, I watched Top Chef Masters, and was amused by the antics of two of the chefs: Sang Yoon and Douglas Keane.  Most of the contestants on Top Chef Masters were good natured, but these two seemed to always be having a bit more fun than everyone else.  But, moreover, I really wanted to eat all of their dishes.

Chef Keane I was familiar with. Cyrus was one of, if not the first, 2 Michelin star restaurant I ever visited.  I loved it on my first visit, and was quite sad when I heard Cyrus was closing.  I made it back for a final lunch, which concluded with the most insanely delicious maple bourbon glazed donuts.  I'd drive all the way back if I could, just for those donuts again.  But alas, Cyrus has closed down.

Chef Sang I wasn't familiar with, as his restaurants are based in the Los Angeles area.  He runs a fine dining restaurant, Lukshon, but also a gastropub: Father's Office.

It was Father's Office that I set out to visit on my recent trip to Santa Monica.  When I asked for recommendations from friends on where to eat in the Los Angeles area, every single person mentioned Father's Office.  Really, a gastropub?  They recommended this in the same breath as formal Michelin star restaurants.

I cross-checked with Yelp.  There were nearly 8,000 reviews, 4 stars.  Um, ok.  So people like the place.  Then I saw it has its own Wikipedia entry.  Known for basically 3 things: 1. An impressive beer list, 2. The burger, 3. Absolutely no substitutions.  Well, as a non-beer drinker, the beer list wasn't drawing me in.  The burger is so famous it is trademarked.  They do not serve ketchup, even though they have burgers and fries.  I grew skeptical.  These are the sort of things that lead to a lot of hype about a place, but not actual substance.  I was a bit hesitant, but Sang was s cool on TV, and Emil doesn't recommended places that aren't legitimately good, so I risked it.

So, on our first day in the Los Angeles area, Ojan and I set out for Father's Office for lunch.  Spoiler: it was great!  The place was not pretentious, the food was great, the staff super friendly.  I'd definitely return, and recommend it to any beer and burger lover.

The Space

Storefront.

Father's office is about as unassuming as it gets from the outside.  I think I expected something more grand, not the fairly hilarious light up generic signs, with an arrow no less.

We eagerly approached the door at 11:45am, to find it ... closed.  Doh.  Were they closed on Sundays? On vacation?  I hadn't done much due diligence in background research.  Whoops.

Then I saw the hours posted.  They open at noon.  Doh.  We were over-eager (and we weren't alone, several others came, strode up to the door, and then turned away as dejected as us).

So we waited, taking in the lovely fumes of Santa Monica.

Interior Tables.

15 minutes later, at noon on the dot, the doors opened.

We were welcomed in, once our IDs were checked.  21 and over only.  I had a moment of "wow, do I really pass for under 30?!" and then realized that they ID'ed every single person who entered.  Doh.

We were instructed that it was open seating, to grab a menu from the pile in front, and sit anywhere.  Order at the bar when we were ready.  This is not a fancy place.

We picked a table near the window.  The tables were simple wooden tables, with wooden chairs and benches along the wall.  Wood panelling matched the tables and chairs.

The wood was a funny choice of decor.  It was all a light colored wood, not darker elegant fancy modern decor.  Nor was it rustic.  Not hip in any way.  Again, I expected hip or trendy, given the hype of the place.  It sorta seemed like it was designed to just be where the designer (chef Sang?) just wanted to hang out with his buddies.  When I read more about it later, I found out that Father's Office existed before his involvement, and it was his favorite dive bar.  This was indeed his renovation, after he took over his favorite hang out place. It showed.

I started feeling more confident about our choice.

Bar Seating.

Additional seating is available at the bar, and along a second counter to the side.  I noted the purse hooks, always quite welcome.

The bartender greeted us warmly when we approached.  She smiled and was super friendly in every interaction.  Ok, even if they don't allow modifications, they are certainly not jerks here.

I grew even more confident.

The Menu

Menu and Taps.

Father's Office, as I said, is a gastropub.  Beer is a focus.  The number of taps behind the bar was quite impressive.

Behind the bar, the menu was also listed on the chalkboard, but we just read the plastic menus at our seats.

Beer List.

The first several pages of the menu are the extensive beer list.  Sadly, beer is not my drink of choice. I hear the "Really Good Sh ..." section contains some truly spectacular beers however, if beer is for you.

The wine menu is less extensive, but includes a few sparkling, white, and red, all available by the glass or bottle.

Food Menu.

The food menu is much smaller than the alcohol menu, broken down into "small", "big", and desserts.  All certainly designed to pair with beer.

The "Small" offerings sound like pretty basic tapas: "Fat Shrimp", lamb skewers, Spanish mushrooms, spicy olives, patatas bravas, and assorted cheeses.  We skipped this section.

For "Big" dishes, the dichotomy between the options was striking: either the light options of salad (beets with blue cheese or duck confit), or, decadent red meat (Stout ribs, hanger steak with bacon butter, or, their famous burger).  Nothing in-between here.

Side dishes are fries or sweet potato fries, both served with flavored aioli.

Desserts come from Helms bakery, where Chef Soon also is a partner.  There are only two options here, both ice cream bars: Key Lime Pie or German Chocolate Cake.

A fairly short, focused, simple menu.  And yes, it clearly reads that there are absolutely no substitutions, modifications, alterations, or even deletions.  Don't want the cheese on your burger?  Sorry.  Want the nuts left out of the salad?  No dice.  It is what it is.  Leave your picky friends behind.

Specials Board.

In addition to the short menu, there were three specials, posted on the chalkboard: grilled mission figs, avocado toast, and soft shell crab.

I laughed at this menu a bit, thinking of David Chang's snubbing of the West coast for our obsession with "figs on a plate" and all the hype around artisan toasts, like avocado toast.  It seemed like the chef put these on the menu kinda just to laugh back.  Or, at least, that is how I read it.

 Food and Drink

Julian Hard Apple Cider. $8. VOSS Sparkling Water.

I know I'm the wrong target audience for Father's Office.  Such a huge focus is the beer.  The beer list is impressive.  People rave about the beer list as much as they do about the burger.  But, I don't like beer.

As I said, they did have a small wine list, and a glass of red wine could go nicely with a burger, but for some reason, wine at 12pm felt strange to me.

But I wanted something to pair with my burger.  I asked what non-alcoholic options they had, and the list was short: cola, root beer, water (still or sparkling).  Hmmm.  I do like root beer, but that didn't really jump out at me.

Then I thought to ask about cider.  Cider is close enough to beer to pair well with a burger, and it wasn't the alcohol that I was trying to avoid.  They had one cider on tap, Julian Hard Apple Cider.

The cider was fine, but not particularly memorable.  The serving was generous, particularly for $8.  It did go nicely with my burger and fries, I must admit. Definitely the right choice.

We also got a bottle of sparkling water, VOSS brand.  It was fine too, but a bit pricy.  I guess you pay for the fancy glass bottle.

"Basket" of Sweet Potato Frites / Roasted Garlic, Cabrales Blue Cheese Aioli. $7.50.

To go along with our burger, we obviously needed some fries.

We had two choices: regular fries with garlic parsley aioli or sweet potato fries with roasted garlic and Cabrales blue cheese aioli.

 Regular fries can be good, but you know what is better?  Sweet potato fries.  Ojan wanted the regular, but ceded to the sweet potato fries, saying they were healthier, thus he was willing to make that choice for health reasons.  I kinda laughed, as we were getting a crazy decadent burger and fries, citing health was a funny thing to do, but, I was getting the fries I wanted, so I left it at that.

The fries arrived just a minute or two after we settled back in our table, piping hot, fresh.  Although you order at the bar, food is brought to your table (you are provided with a number to stick on the table).  The fries were served in a metal basket with a handle, on top of parchment paper, with a plastic cup holding the aioli.  Again, nothing fancy here, although the fry basket as a serving vessel was kinda cute.

The exterior texture of the fries was really fascinating, crispy, and I think battered?  Certainly double fried.  They weren't soggy, they weren't oily, they weren't limp.  Decent fries.  I appreciated the assortment of various fries, including little nibs that I liked fishing out, but I do prefer thicker cut sweet potato fries, as I love to taste the sweet potato more, and I like how soft and sweet the interior can be in a thicker fry.  Still, these were good.

When I read the description, my eyes must have glazed over the details of the aioli.  I just saw "sweet potato fries" and "aioli" and I was sold.  I didn't notice the "blue cheese" component.  The moment I dunked a fry into the aioli though, I knew it was there.  I don't hate blue cheese, but, I don't really like it either.  (This is a rather new development ... I'm not sure what it is.  I used to love dunking my pizza crusts in blue cheese dressing for example.)  I had a few more fries, with aioli, and grew sadder by the moment.  Everyone raved about the fries, and the aioli, and, well, I wasn't loving it.

Then I thought about it a little.  The regular fries are served with a different aioli, garlic parsley aioli.  I didn't like the aioli that came with our fries due to the blue cheese, and there is no ketchup available, but what if I just tried asking for some of the other aioli?  Would that count as a substitution?  Would they be jerks to me about it?

I rather cautiously went to the bar and asked a bit apologetically about it.  "Of course!  No problem!" was the response I was greeted with, and alternate aioli was quickly handed over.  Phew.

The garlic parsley aioli was indeed better, a decent garlic flavor, and no blue cheese in the aftertaste.  But ... I still didn't love it.  It is so strange, because I love aioli, and always want aioli to dunk just about anything in, but for some reason, I just didn't want this aioli either.  Maybe the aioli just didn't go great with the sweet potato fries?

After only about 10-15 fries, our burger arrived, and I turned my focus to the amazing burger in front of me.  Once I finished, I half-heartedly came back to the fries.  We had so many left.  They were staring at me, even if I didn't love them.  And Ojan didn't want more, as he wasn't into the sweet potato fries from the start.

So I tried again.  I actually think they got better as they cooled down, as strange as that seems.  I discovered that they were quite delicious just on their own.  I didn't need the aioli.  In fact, they were better without it.  I could taste the lovely sweet potato flavor more this way.  A few minutes later, as I realized how many I had just crammed into my mouth, I realized they certainly grew on me.  I was enjoying them now.  Crispy exterior, decent flavor, not oily, not soggy.  I just wished for a different dipping sauce.

If I were to return and someone wanted to split the sweet potato fries, I'd get them, but, I'd prefer to try the regular fries, I can imagine they'd go better with the aioli.  (Or sneak some honey mustard in myself?  Shhh!)

Regular fries are $5, or $2.50 with the burger, but sweet potato fries are only available a la carte, as a full basket, for $7.50.  I'm not sure if the quantity changes or not, I would hope so.  $7.50 isn't really high if you think of it as an appetizer, and the basket could easily be shared by 2-3 people, but as a single person, this would be far too much.  Ojan and I struggled to take it down.  I would prefer a side portion, like they offer with the regular fries.

The Office Burger. $12.50.

And now for the main attraction The Office Burger.  It has been named the country's best burger by several publications, including Esquire magazine and the Today show.

It ... didn't look like much.  Also served simply, in a metal basket, on top of paper.

The bun didn't look like a normal burger bun, and it wasn't even round.  An oval burger?

The burger came cut in half, and an extra plate was provided without our even asking.  Splitting this burger seems to be common practice, as I observed nearly every couple in the place doing the same.  Taking down a whole burger by yourself would certainly be do-able, but if you wanted fries too, and didn't want quite such a heavy lunch, splitting seemed very reasonable.

The Office Burger: Cross Section.

"Caramelized onion, applewood bacon, gruyere, Maytag blue, arugula".

I took my half, and admired the cross section.  Ok, this was a serious burger.

Of course, the first thing my eyes took in, after I got over the fact that the burger wasn't round and the bun was strange, was the generous pile of arugula.  Below that I could see the good stuff: cheese and caramelized onions.  And under that?  A very juicy looking burger.  Ok, things were seriously looking up.

I clearly must have spent more time admiring it, and taking it in, than I realized, as before I even picked my half up, Ojan had devoured half of his.  Actually, I think the burger was just that good.  He took one bite, and didn't come up for air, except for to moan something about that being a really good burger.

I dove in.  And agreed, instantly.

This is, indeed, a damn good burger.

I'll start with what I didn't like though.  That bun!  It looked like the kind of bun you use on a cheesesteak.  It didn't seem very toasted, and it just wasn't interesting.  I wanted ... brioche? Or something special.  Or if not fancy, how about just a regular bun?  But Ojan said he really liked it, it reminded him of a cheesesteak, and it worked well for him.  I tolerated the bun at first, but eventually went open-faced, choosing to fill my stomach with more sweet potato fries, rather than this bun.

Now for the main attraction: the burger patty.  Cooked on a charbroiler.  It was, well, ridiculously perfectly cooked.  The char on the outside was incredible.  Super crispy, smoky.  Yet inside it was still very moist, medium-rare.  The meat itself tasted good, 100% chuck, they dry-aged it themselves.  Good product for sure, and that char ... swoon.  This patty, with just some ketchup, would have been a winner on its own.

But the burger most certainly did not stop there.  On top of the patty was a slew of ridiculously flavorful components.  The caramelized onion showed up in a onion-bacon compote spread on top, not just a few pieces of onion.  This is also where the bacon (chopped up and cooked into it) was hiding, again, just like the onion, no strips of bacon perched on top as I expected.  This stuff was amazing.  It packed so much flavor, and caramelized onions go soooo well with cheese and beef.

Oh yeah, the cheese.  I loved the gruyere, it was perfectly melted, there was tons of it, totally decadent.  When you took a bite, it was easy to pull away with cheese hanging out of your mouth.  Soo good.  Beef, caramelized onions, and gruyere?  This was starting to remind me of french onion soup, making the bread choice make a bit more sense actually.

The blue cheese was creamy and added a nice texture, but, I wasn't into the blue cheese.  I admit that the flavors all worked together, but, not liking blue cheese, I wished it wasn't there.  Ojan really liked the blue cheese though, and often puts blue cheese on burgers anyway.

And finally, the pile of arugula.  It may have looked silly, but the freshness and lightness helped balance the burger.  It also wilted as it warmed up from the heat of the burger, and shrunk down considerably.

So, overall?  Yes, this is a grand burger.  I see why everyone loves it.  Would I do things different?  Yes, I'd ditch the blue cheese, and swap out the bun.  But the char on the burger, that ridiculous caramelized onion-bacon compote, and the decadent gooey gruyere were enough to still net this a solid 5 star rating from me too.

Believe the hype.  This is a very well conceived, damn good burger.

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