[Photographs: Nick Solares]

Tallgrass Burger jumps on both the hamburger and sustainability bandwagons by serving, as its name implies, grass fed beef on an otherwise familiar fast-casual menu. It is a conceit that would work far better if it satisfied the fundamentals of burger-craft as well as taking sustainability to a more logical conclusion. Unexpectedly, the beef, sourced from Hardwick, is not the issue. I think it's fair to say that grass fed beef has closed the gap significantly on grain finished beef in terms of texture, mouth feel, and flavor. Unfortunately, the supporting cast of ingredients at Tallgrass, aside from being decidedly unsustainable, do not do the beef justice.

While the beef is 100% organic, little else on the menu is—Coca Cola and French's mustard are used and the garlic fries smack of prefabrication and taste like the garlic knots from a cut price pizzeria. Heinz make an organic ketchup, but it's not offered—Tallgrass instead serves the regular variety. Aside from the beef, there is little at Tallgrass Burger that lives up to its name. And the beef is largely obfuscated.

Order the classic—a 1/3-pound burger with cheese, romaine, tomatoes, red onions, and pickles (curiously missing from my order)—and you might be reminded of the "where the beef?" catch phrase. The bun is simply enormous compare to the flat, grilled patty. It seems designed to be able to hold a double (not offered on the menu) or as many toppings as possible.

The signature Tallgrass burger comes brimming with cheddar, an onion ring that is taller than the beef patty, wedges of avocado (a curious apportioning for a hamburger), and a horseradish-mustard that tasted mostly like mustard plus the romaine, red onion, and tomato. It's more than a handful and more flavors than you can get into one bite. Remarkably the bun is able to wrap itself around the whole affair, which means that a plain single would be lost in a cloud of dough, more dumpling than hamburger.

It's too bad because the beef is actually quite decent. While not the last word in flavor it does have some minerality and was juicy even at medium. I would expect more so at the rare that I ordered, but my request went unheeded. Still, I consider myself lucky that I even got it medium—the delivery menu promises that all burgers are cooked to "a juicy medium well." But obfuscated as it is under so much fluff, how would one ever know? You shouldn't have to dig around, pulling clumps of meat out of a burger to taste its beefiness—it should be apparent in every bite.

Tallgrass Burger has an opportunity to pay more than lip service to the concept of organic burgers and sustainability. And considering that the beef—seemingly the only organic thing available—is also the most compelling aspect of the operation, perhaps the rest of the menu should be reworked to incorporate more organic products. That would be offering something unique. But either way, the bun needs to be reworked or the burger needs to be a lot bigger.