Of course we love our mom & pops, and our favorite burger joints around the country are pretty much all independently owned, but there are certain times in life—overnight layovers, hungover Sunday mornings, all-day shopping trips at the outlets—that the only options around are the chains. Chain Reaction is here to help you decide when to go for the burger, and when you're better off sticking with the chicken fingers.

[Photographs: Erin Jackson]

House of Blues recently made a big media splash here in San Diego with the launch of their new Crossroads menu, created by Aarón Sanchez of Food Network fame. The new menu debuted in Vegas and has been rolling out at HOB locations across the nation. Described as a mix of American and international cuisine, the Crossroads menu has items like street tacos, meatball sliders, and chile braised short ribs, plus new burger options, including a mushroom manchego burger, a turkey burger, and an upscale Juicy Lucy.

The House of Blues' interpretation is stuffed with Gruyère and topped with sautéed onions, crisp jalapeños, and chipotle mayo on a torta roll. The menu also lists bacon as an ingredient, which is chopped finely and incorporated right into the patty, in the style of Slater's 50/50.

From this angle, the burger doesn't look half bad. Crisp jalapeño slices sit atop a layer of sautéed, deglazed onions, and the patty is draped with cheese and glistening with juices, with a nice brown sear on both sides. But it doesn't take long for it to come crashing down.

Cutting a Juicy Lucy in half to capture an "autopsy shot" probably isn't the best way to go about eating it. Unfortunately, it resulted in what I most feared: the mostly liquefied cheese began to leak out of the patty, and the only way to avoid losing it all was to eat quickly. After a few bites, what cheese remained was gone, leaving a sad, round divot in the center of the patty behind. I'd have to defer to Kenji's judgment on this genre, but a melt-friendly cheese like American seems better suited for the job.

The beef itself was too finely ground and tightly wound, and because the bacon was incorporated into the patty, it registered as fatty and rubbery, without any crispness. The saving grace were the toppings, which brought heat and flavor.

My favorite element of the burger was the toasted torta bun, which had a tasty, buttery flavor and a slightly flaky texture. The bun complimented the flavor profile of the burger and also stayed intact until the last bite. Even with some good elements, in the end, the poor execution of the beef ruined the burger for me.

Sweet potato fries are usually a no-fail item, but these were bland and badly in need of some salt. The three dipping sauces that came alongside didn't really work either. The mustardy mango sauce, too-tangy aioli, and chipotle ketchup need some tweaking before they'll compliment the sweet potato fries. On regular french fries, they might be a better match. Ask to swap chipotle aioli for the mango sauce.

Before Aarón Sanchez's revamping of the menu, House of Blues didn't have much of a reputation (at least locally) of being a dining hot spot, and since the makeover, that hasn't really changed. Several of the new menu items are a step in the right direction, but ultimately, it comes down to how good the everyday execution is. In this case, the ingredients were there, but they didn't come together.

About the author: Erin Jackson is a freelance food writer and photographer who is obsessed with discovering the best cheap and tasty eats in San Diego, including all things sweet and sugary, for her dessert blog San Diego Sugar

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