Best Bacon Cheeseburger: Lark Creek Steak's Cowboy Burger

I love bacon cheeseburgers with BBQ sauce. It’s a combination of hearty flavors that seems quite natural and, while each of the flavors of bacon, BBQ sauce, sharp cheddar, and onion are individually powerful and can overwhelm any dish, within a burger context they somehow seem to play well together. When the burger is done properly, that is. Everyone and their mother has a bacon cheeseburger, but very few places make one that stands out as strongly as the cowboy burger from Lark Creek Steak.

The Best BBQ Bacon-Cheeseburger on the West Coast

Of the 40+ burgers I’ve tried in the past 6 – 8 months, the “cowboy burger” at Lark Creek Steak is far and away the best BBQ burger or the best bacon-cheeseburger of them all. So (at least for now) I can confidently proclaim Lark Creek Steak’s cowboy burger as the best bacon-cheeseburger on the West Coast. Nothing else has come close over the past year. 

Described on menu: Cowboy Steakburger (8 0z.) – bacon, cheddar, barbecue sauce, crispy onions

Why Lark Creek Steak’s burgers are so good: 

MEAT

• meat is not ground chuck (typical, low-cost burger meat)
• meat is trimmed from regular Lark Creek Steak steaks (filet mignon, New York strips, sirloin, etc.)
• meat is double-ground, making it extremely soft and tender
• meat is ground fresh, sometimes 3 or 4 times daily (depending upon demand)
• bacon is perfectly crisp, and sustainable ranch-grown 

COOKING METHOD

• burgers are grilled over open wood fire for slightly smoked, healthier grill flavors (not over flat surface that accumulates grease and fat)

OTHER INGREDIENTS

• fried  onions are thin, perfectly crisp, and perfect in flavor
• terrific buns; toasted on the inside slightly (so condiments don’t make bun soft inside) and served warm
• burger accoutrements are perfectly proportioned and flavorful (butter lettuce has more flavor than typical iceberg lettuce; pickles are crisp and long-sliced to fit flat across burger;  red onion is also well-sliced and grilled to mildly caramelize flavors)

The Grade: Awesome / Phenomenal (highest grade)

The Damage: $15.95

The Skinny: Lark Creek Steak

Westfield® San Francisco Centre
845 Market Street, 4th Floor, Ste 402
San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone: (415) 593-4100

Reservations: http://www.larkcreek.com/larkcreek_steak/index.html

Lunch:
Mon.-Fri. 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
Sat. & Sun. 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Dinner:
Mon.-Thurs. 5:30 pm – 9 pm
Fri. 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Sat. 5:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Sun. 5:00 pm – 9 pm

(and, usually, at New Orleans JazzFest)

Unless you’ve been to the New Orleans Jazzfest or a little place called the Creole Lunch House in Lafayette, LA, you may not have tasted the meat-glory of a Creole stuffed bread. It’s a jaw-dropping, awe-topping combination of beef and pork (usually mixtures of ground, plus andouille sausage), onions, celery, bell pepper, tasso (if you got it), jalapeno, and a whirlwind of seasoning and spices, stuffed inside a terrific little French bread bun. This bread is called a ‘pistolette,’ which is a single-serving size of traditional French bread.

OMG. That's all Creole Stuffed Bread makes you say.

The ingredienta of Creole Lunch House seem pretty basic, but belie how amazing their Creole stuffed bread is: bread dough, water, sugar, fresh sausage, smoked sausage, cheddar cheese, and Jalapeno peppers. Looking at the bread before your first bite, you’ll never suspect how much spicy, meaty, wicked goodness is hidden inside. You could say Creole stuffed bread is like the Cajun sandwich version of a dragon’s den: the treasure is hidden deep inside.

Emeril has a decent creole stuffed bread recipe, if you are the DIY type who likes to make your own. If you want the real deal and can’t get down to Lafayette or New Orleans anytime soon, Creole Lunch House actually offers these meaty monsters (about 16 oz. each) online here at CajunGrocer.com. You get 4 ‘pies’ for $15.95 plus shipping.

I love the comment someone said in response to this Flickr photo of a Creole stuffed bread: “It looks likes a Hot Pocket on steroids.”  If only Hot Pockets were this good (or good at all).

Miss Hebert puts the love in Creole Lunch House

THE GRADE: AWESOME!!

THE DAMAGE: under $4 (for a beefy, full-pound sandwich!!!)

THE SKINNY: CREOLE LUNCH HOUSE

713 12th Street, Lafayette, LA 70501

Phone: (337) 232-9929

Website:  Nope

Creole Lunch House, Lafayette LA

Club Sandwich at La Boulange, SF

The Dish: Classic Club Sandwich

Well, La Boulange makes one seriously wicked club sandwich. It is downright inspiring. Perfectly crisp, well done bacon, perfectly toasted layers of bread (or “pain de mie”); a ruddy blushing tomato with fresh-picked flavor; crisp tears of cool lettuce; slightly smoky turkey; and, not for everyone but certainly for clubbers, a fair swipe of mayonnaise. In my book, if you hold the mayo, you don’t get the proper club sandwich taste.

I’m a huge club sandwich fan and it’s always a treat to find a place that actually knows how to make them properly. Merci beaucoup pour La Boulange, for their graceful and well-mannered, perfect club sandwich. I highly recommend the Boulange Club.

La Boulange, Hayes Valley, San Francisco

The Spot: La Boulange de Hayes

Boulange is a cool chain restaurant that feels like a well-built hybrid. It’s part Euro-café: simple, clean, well-lit and always at the ready to serve up tasty, reasonably priced fare. It’s also part Bay Area neighborhood hangout where you can get together with friends or colleagues for a lunch or a low-key business conversation without the risk of coffeehouse craziness and other caffeinated social droppings. The exterior – a hopped-up hospital green – certainly makes Boulange easy to see or, at least, hard to ignore. The service is friendly and reasonably fast, there’s indoor and outdoor seating, and the selection (and tastiness) of pastries is usually too tempting to refuse.

The Damage: $8.50 (comes with small green salad or fries)
The Grade: Exceptional (5 out of 5)
The Skinny: La Boulange de Hayes
500 Hayes Street (between Laguna St & Octavia St)
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 863-3376
Website: www.baybread.com

More La Boulange on UrbanSpoon

This is one awesome pulled pork sandwich, one of many great dishes at Fresca, a Peruvian restaurant with two locations in the city of San Francisco. Juicy, tender, pulled pork meat and a symphony of spices are layered between a Dutch Crunch roll to give a delightful mouthful of sweet and hot, crunchy and meaty. Paired with crispy French fries or a small salad, the lechon asada makes a great meal break from a shopping stroll.

Lechon Asada (Pulled Pork Sandwich), Fresca SF

The Grade: Excellent (4 out of 5)
The Damage: $8 (great value for a great sandwich)
The Skinny: Fresca 3945 24th St, San Francisco (Between Sanchez & Noe Streets) Phone: (415) 695-0549. Fresca is also at 2114 Fillmore St, San Francisco Phone: (415) 447-2668.

Pork Belly Sandwich at Luce Wine Restaurant, SF

The Dish: Pork Belly Sandwich

Nice grill marks give stripes to the crispy roll, inside of which is a slathering of tender, juicy pork belly and Asian spices. Kudos to Chef Dominique Crenn to conceive this midday porcine rush; it’s a good lunchtime filler with a little edge. The spices’ flavors swirl between cool, sweet, and hot, and the texture overall is superb in its mix of crunchy and soft. If you’re near Moscone Center, the pork belly sandwich at Luce is a highly recommended sandwich indeed.

Detail, Pork Belly Sandwich, Luce Wine Restaurant SF

As described on the Luce menu: Braised Pork Belly “Vietnamese Sandwich” with cilantro, mint, and jalapeño. Note: Pork belly sandwich only served during lunch.

The presentation of ice tea is fantastic and smart; you get your own personal pitcher so you don’t need to flag down waiters for the inevitable refills.

The Spot: Luce Wine Restaurant

Luce Wine Restaurant is inside San Francisco’s InterContinental Hotel. The room itself during lunchtime is modern and, especially on sunnier days, strikingly beautiful. Skyscraping windows stand authoritatively behind cerulean-turquoise blue curtains over white sheers. There’s an overall spirited, airy effect in the well-mannered dining room, where the keen design sensibility is evident in all corners: booths, chairs, silverware and glassware. Luce is a sophisticated and contemporary space, carefully considerate of details so that the experience is harmonious. Service was gracious and effective. Really, Luce is just a wonderful room to have a meal in with friends or clients.

The Grade: Great (3 out of 5)

The Damage: $14

The Skinny: Luce Wine Restaurant 888 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 Phone: (415) 616-6566 Website: www.lucewinerestaurant.com

Lunch Menu: http://www.lucewinerestaurant.com/menus/LuceLunch.pdf

Lunch Hours: 11am – 2:30pm, Monday through Friday

Get directions

America’s Best Sandwich (possibly)

Philippe The Original French Dip Sandwich, L.A.

The Spot: Philippe (ORIGINAL FRENCH DIPPED SANDWICHES), Los Angeles, CA 

Neighborhood: Downtown L.A.

The Dish: The Original French Dipped Sandwich