Sometimes mingling health conscience with junk food makes doublecheese feel like all those green yuppies need to just eat lettuce all day and leave doublecheese’s ever corrupting arteries alone. But, after a very harsh look into the food industry, doublecheese realizes that what doublecheese thought was pure meat, sometimes isn’t. Sometimes cheese isn’t really real cheese. And that some of these co-mingling savor flavors are the product of an equation that includes chemicals and processing and unhappy animals and mutated vegetation. That scared doublecheese.

Enter The Cove. Organic. Fresh. Real. Buying from local growers, The Cove makes gourmet food that is real. Located not far from the San Antonio burger institution Chris Madrid’s, which feeds off artery pollution, The Cove takes a fresh modern stand on food production. That stand has garnered attention from the Food Network’s Guy Fieri and was declared the best burger in San Antonio, 5th in the state by Texas Monthly.

So what’d doublecheese think of the SOL ( sustainable/organic/local) revolution that includes serving soda containing no high fructose corn syrup. Yum. Yum. Yes. And yum. A taste of the 09er burger has doublecheese reeling in delight for a goodness definable in every bite as a bite of the all natural product of people who do things conscience of the balance of nature. The burger selection is constructed thoughtfully, putting inconsideration the gourmet and still evading the pretention that can tag along in these matters. The patty is juicy and cooked with skill. Sweet potato and potato fries are available and savory. The sauce that accompanied my burger, although never defined, had an interesting zest that was spiced perfectly and made my sweet potato fries inhalable.

Something that also needs to be mentioned is the environment. Compared to an Austin dive, The Cove does have something fun about it. Maybe it’s the ping-pong table, the kid playground, the live music or the offer to do your laundry and wash your car their if you need to- that’s right maybe The Cove does have it all. Every 2nd Thursday is wine-tasting Thursday. Every 3rd Thursday is beer tasting Thursday and the fees for these events are decent.

My qualm with The Cove is the pricing. The menu is awesome with a seriously awesome shrimp taco under it’s belt and several other items on the menu that demand several lip-licking moments. But a ten dollar burger has never been my dream pricing. Maybe it’s telling of the economic times and maybe it’s just the price of buying local and dealing with growers who are hurting in the food inc times. While doublecheese has yet to return to Smashburger, for the deliciously over-priced, doublecheese definitely will be returning for the feel good burger revolution.

Now, the final count. Ideals, taste and price combined, doublecheese is compelled to give The Cove a 9. The burger is great. They are one of the best burgers in the San Antonio area. I say: Eat it and it local.

The Cove
606 W Cypress St
San Antonio, TX 78212
(210) 227-2683

Sometimes doublecheeseblogger wants pizza, which is strange because doublecheese ALWAYS wants burgers. So doublecheese contemplates, “Why doesn’t pizza want to be a burger? Why can only burger be a pizza? What’s up with that planet earth?!” And the world spun slowly and sadly, and the doublecheese ate cheeseburger pizza with no buns and no patty. sigh.

and sigh.

Until finally all the world’s marvels and the full magical force of technology and peace came together to make something for which doublecheese rejoices in the golden spring sun with: pizza burger. tehehehee, it’s so simple, and soooooOOoo revolutionary, put the pizza IN the burger. And that, cheesefaces, is what Bobby J’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers on highway 18 in Helotes, TX does.

Although the menu does offer a large variety of delicious foods like chicken, fish, and shrimp, doublecheese only wanted a burger from a place that boasts making award-winning hamburgers. and as I browsed the array of tasty traditional and non-traditional burgers like the western burger, fiesta burger, or even the green chili burger, there at the bottom was a medical marvel, the find of this young century! And doublecheese ordered and waited in pure excitement for the best culinary worlds to meet in a burger in doublecheese’s mouth!

There’s plenty of shaded outdoor seating to enjoy your ice cold beer or Big Red (it’s on tap!) under. And the decor has a quaint Texas-something about it. Although the system for ordering is pen and pencil analog, the service is beyond friendly. Something they’ve had ten years to perfect. Opened by Bob Sfalos in 2000, Bobby liked to keep his secrets in the kitchen, especially his chili recipe. Even though Bob Sfalos passed away December 2009, his love for burgers goes on through his restaurant.

And that love does indeed shine on! The pizza burger was a mozzarella-pepperoni-ground beef love fest. A festival I added to by, true to Texan form, adding ranch dressing to the mix. I will say that it might be better to dip the burger in ranch instead of applying ranch directly to the burger. But ranch aside, the burger patty did stand well next to the pepperoni and pizza sauce. The cheese and buttered bun made a delicious Italian bread medley in my mouth. The onion rings were pretty darn delicious and breaded and fried to a golden but not greasy crisp.

in this nice spring weather I definitely recommend Bobby j’s and give it an innovative 8.5. You know what to do EAT IT, cheeseys!

Bobby J’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers
13247 Bandera Road
Helotes, TX 78023-3937
(210) 695-4941

My burger voyage will now take you to a trendy dive off Wurzbach and IH10, orderup^. This place markets itself as a fine pizzeria, taqueria, and burgeria, which is very cool until you say burgeria so many times that it sounds like something else -arrhea (sick, sick, sick).

Now walking into this hip little place makes guests feel free and new and excited. There’s a world of opportunity out there of Spanish/ Italian/ American choices. Choices that ultimately will cost you! Veggies climb as high as $1, Cheeses at 75 cents, and additional meats (including a fried egg) escalate to $1. So if we start with your basic burger at 4.95 for lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and a butter toasted seedless bun and want to grow from there- well just try and stay within your burger budget is all.

My resultant burger was expensively impressive. Add grilled peppers, guacamole, and jack cheese atop your basic burger foundation and voila a tres tastey very dressed up burger. Now, I kinda really liked this place. There’s mint to put in your tea or lemonade and you look so cool hanging out in a place in San Antonio that not only has live muic but also has an improv troupe perform there. But when I picked up my burger the bun was cold to the touch (gross) and yeah the guacamole was really awesome, but that was a large part of my driving to the end of the burger. Not the meat, or the (applied to liberally) grilled peppers. Infact, I even flipped the bun off my burger and fished out the guacamole with a chip (which was satisfying). The salsa was pretty friendly, not too spicy. The service was awesome, the restaurant is clean, and there’s a nice patio with outdoor seating.

I’ll probably go back and not order a burger. Pizza, perhaps, and the boy at the register highly recommended the tacos. But a burger, I’ll probably go a cheaperelsewhere. So, Orderup^ i give you a 6.0 and say pass on the eat it.

OrderUp
9873 IH-10 W
San Antonio, TX 78230
(210) 877-0007

After winning the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role (The Blind Side) Sunday night at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony Sandra Bullock was quoted back stage stating ““I just want a burger and I just want some food. I want to sit down, take the shoes off. I want to eat and not sweat it and not worry the dress will bust open. I just want to relax and… I’d like a nap, too.” Pretty sexy cheesy words coming from the romantic comedy star who wore a perfectly fitted Marchesa gown. The only question I have is: how did the Oscar winner celebrate her Razzie award for Worst Actress the night before? Hopefully cheeseburger is still the answer.

And here is a pleasant piece of burger art for you. “UFO Burger” composed by Jessica Fortner who “creates unique one of a kind hand-sculpted illustrations. Her sense of visual and conceptual problem-solving creates a one of a kind aesthetic, sense of humor and approach to storytelling.” To get a better grasp of the medium and what hand-sculpted illustrations are exactly Fortner has a very interesting interview you can check out. Enjoy burgermeisters!

I <3 New York...BURGERS! A quick break to New York last week afforded me the lifetime opportunity of inhaling burgers made by those dang yankees.

My first burger stop was a chain that is expanding wildly and tastily. Five Guys Burger and Fries is the proprietor of one of my favorite burgers (Slagosaurus, we were gonna get married and make out all the time together, but then i ate him) and although the San Antonio Five Guys at the Quarry was a bit of a disappointment, I still had fond memories. As my first burger in New York, I give it thumbs up up up and up. Twas delicious and I stand by my recommendation to one and all.

Shake Shack. A burger place that has it’s own iPhone app, deserves it. This burger felt great going down, fresh, organic, and simple. In a big concrete town, this burger makes you feel at home. Crinkle cut fries are absolutely delicious. Shake Shack gets thumbs up, hands down, it’s too legit.

And here comes another fast food chain lounge, wait, what? Lounge? Pop Burger is the answer to your need to be too New York cool and still satisfy my burger craving needs. Why? Because it’s a pop culture cool lounge that serves drinks and gets freaky, and it also serves little pops of burgers. I say watch out, those onion rings are not right. But every other poppin’ thing is just that- POP! Burger!

And now a New York upper east side establishment that keeps the yups on a comin’, J.G. Melon. The first thing I smelt in this place, the bar-b-que sauce. It smelt like sex. I infact twittered, while waiting the 45 minute wait in the ultra-cramp spaced: “Waiting@ jg melon for a table. Burgers smell like bacon/cheese/BBQ sauce & beef met @ a gay club and got weird w/ eachother. In a good way.” And it did! And all the tight warm space and the suits and the ritz and whatever else was totally worth it because that burger was sooooo rad. Added a side bbq sauce and got busy. Yelp has it listed as a $$ ( that’s a double chaching), and i guess it is, but man that sauce was spectacular and this burger in this fine New York establishment won my heartbelly.

Other than the burgers there wasn’t too many great things in New York and so I’d really suggest just going for the burgers. YEAH RIGHT. Go to New York and EAT IT in that glorious beautiful awesome place! or else.

Alas the doublecheeseblogger returns from the busy nothing of life! Everyone listen to me, today in the soggy drip of the day I headed to Freddy’s the frozen custard and steakburger fast food dive on Potranco. I would like to give you a delicious report on the tasty steakburger, however I was a little disappointed in the thinness of the patty. I could barely taste the ground beef surrounded by all the toppings. I had ordered the California Burger combo, a single patty (bad decision) with onions, tomato, lettuce, Freddy’s special sauce (tasted like thousand island), and cheese. All those ingredients overpowered the thin patty. I think it was delicious, in a double patty burger I’m pretty sure it would be great, however the burger in a single number is no bueno.

The fries are anorexic thin but darn it they aren’t addictive. Throw some seasoned salt on those skinny little potato bits or don’t you’ll find yourself inhaling them all. Would I go back, I guess. I’d definitely try a bigger burger and add some bacon, but it’s not the first burger chain to come to mind when I’m jonesing for some cheesy beef goodness. Eat it? I guess.

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers
8843 Potranco
San Antonio, TX 78245
(210) 520-2436

Attention! The new P. Terry’s on 32nd and Lamar opens today. Tis a glorious burger day, tis.

delicious shake

Favorite shoe ever. So what if my socks are greasy and I’m constantly trying to eat my shoe, that’s the cost of looking extra-cheesy-cool. These nice kicks were designed by the Swedish designer/illustrator Olle Hemmendorff. For more info check this out.

Our next burger comes from a pretty odd place. I heard through the circuit about a sacnpac that sold burgers. First reaction: “Bet they taste like toilet.” Second reaction: “Barfpukehurlllll.” But my source said I had to let go of my bias. Said the cook loves his life, loves what he’s doing, does it with vigor, which makes the burgers from the sacnpac off rr12 in San Marcos, Tx something special.

So I bit my tongue cause I’d just been taught my own lesson and headed up to see if it was delicious on the grill or the stray cat in the alley seasoned poorly. Turns out the sacnpac has a deal with Centerpoint Station, a restaurant that claims to have some pretty darn good burgers. So I decided to put the little ranchroad diner to the test by ordering a burger I’ve never really been a huge fan of. I enjoy the concept of the burger, i’ve seen my brother and sister order it with enthusiasm, but something about it just didn’t call to me: the bean burger. A burger with refried beans, salsa, and cheese. Something about those beans worried me, it could’ve been a pandora’s box we were opening or yuck refried into yuck. ya never know.

Well, the word on the street was right! My bean burger opened my eyes to how life could be. We can put bean on our burgers! On our patties, in our mouths and in our hearts! Bean might be the brown ranch dressing. I devoured my burger and knew: I’d need to come back, I’d need to live again. The burgers were cheap and delicious and on the way out we filled up the gas tank. thank you! Served on a sourdough bun with delicious fries this was one of my better gas station visits. So i think you know what to do, eat it sucka’.

Sac N Pac
1416 Ranch Road 12
San Marcos, Tx 78666