A Hamburger Today
Crest Cafe's Butter Burger Redefines Gluttony in San Diego
[Photographs: Erin Jackson]
Crest Cafe
425 Robinson Avenue, San Diego CA (map); 619-295-2510; crestcafe.net
Cooking Method: Charbroiled
Short Order: Gluttony at its best: a burger stuffed with butter, then topped with cheese and spicy mayo. You won't find a juicier burger anywhere else
Want Fries With That? Go for it! All burgers come with your choice of crispy fresh cut fries, homemade potato chips, or several salads
Price: Butter Burger, $10.95; Crest Burger, $8.95
Notes: 2 for 1 burgers on Tuesday evenings, plus free delivery if you don't feel like hunting for parking in Hillcrest
If eating a burger stuffed with butter is wrong, then I don't want to be right. Crest Cafe has turned me on to a higher form of gluttony than I ever thought possible, and it feels good to be bad.
The cozy and colorful diner in Hillcrest features classic American comfort food, including their signature burger: the butter burger. This beast of a burger is made of half a pound of ground beef stuffed with garlic and herb butter. During the cooking process even more of the seasoned butter is slathered on top. And then, as if that wasn't enough, it's topped with cheese and a spicy garlic mayo.
I'm more than a little proud to say I conquered this beast and lived to tell the tale. For those of you AHT readers who can't make it to San Diego to take on the butter burger, here's the recipe.
I was initially concerned that a burger stuffed with butter would be nothing more than a hot, sloppy mess. I worried that the butter wouldn't absorb into the patty, and when I bit into it, it would look like the gooey yellow center of a Boston creme doughnut. I was wrong. Instead, the butter and the beef became one, and let me tell you, those two ingredients made a beautiful baby.
Calling this burger juicy is like calling the Pacific Ocean damp—a bit of an understatement. The burger was cooked medium and could barely contain its juices, which tasted beefy, garlicky, and spicy all at once. The mayo (which is flavored with paprika, cayenne, and cumin) melted into the burger along with the cheese, creating a unified flavor in every bite. Time literally stood still while I was devouring the burger. It was that good.
Meanwhile, my dining companion chose the Crest Burger, which was topped with guacamole, jalapenos, and jalapeno cheese. Though not as over-the-top as the butter burger, this half pounder packed more than enough flavor and was a great option for everyday eating (while the butter burger, at least for me, is strictly a once-in-awhile indulgence). Both burgers were served with thick slabs of tomato, lettuce, red onion, and a pickle spear.
We both opted for potato-based sides: fresh cut french fries and homemade potato chips. The classic-cut, skin-on fries were the perfect grease sponge to my butter burger, while the crispy, thin cut potato chips were a crunchier alternative.
An indulgence like Crest Cafe's butter burger demands a big appetite, but the crazy thing about it is even though it's so much richer than any burger I've ever tasted (and a hefty eight ounces to boot), eating it didn't put me into a meat coma like I expected. I wouldn't call this beast of a burger "light", but it also wasn't painfully heavy. In terms of an indulgent once-in-a-while burger, it was just right.