Cheese review: Parmigiano Reggiano

Restaurant: Zuni Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Hard cow's milk cheese from Italy aged 12-36 months served with dates
Rating: 10+
Times eaten: 10+

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Food review: Halibut salad crostini

Restaurant: Zuni Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Halibut salad crostini with niçoise olives, kumquats, crème fraîche, shallot vinaigrette, with side of lamb's lettuce salad
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

The halibut salad crostini highlights the benefits of California cuisine with its freshness and fusion of ingredients. I always like it when a chef gets creative and can combine unlikely ingredients in a complementary way--in this case--kumquats, olives, and fish. I really liked how the acidity and sweetness of the kumquats balanced the saltiness and strength of the olives. The halibut and crème fraîche mellowed everything out and the crostini supplied the necessary crunch. I'd describe the flavors as light, tangy, salty, clean, and citrusy. I also loved that there was no mayo used in this dish, but a light shallot vinaigrette instead. It was the perfect alternative to a salad and didn't weigh me down afterwards. Although there was nothing bad about this dish (aside from an oily side salad), after having the amazing burger and other dishes at Zuni, I've come to expect more from them, especially for $13 they were charging. It's a shames because I really enjoyed and appreciated the uniqueness of this dish but, for what it was, I don't think it's worth ordering again.

Food review: Zuni burger

Restaurant: Zuni Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Mesquite-grilled house-ground chuck burger on rosemary foccacia with gruyère, garden lettuce, red onion, aioli, and Zuni pickles
Food rating: 9.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Ok, so I'll get right to the point on this one: As of right now, this is the best (insert expletive here) burger I've eaten in San Francisco. Period! I've never had a burger so juicy, flavorful, and of this quality until now. I have since become obsessed with finding out the secret to these burgers and learned that Judy Rogers (the chef and owner) grinds the chuck in-house after marinating it with salt for 24 hours and voilà! The perfect burger. Sounds easy enough, so I intend on getting my hands on a meat grinder and testing it out myself.

So anyway, let me attempt to describe why this burger was so good. #1: The texture. This was by far the juiciest burger I've ever had, and when I say juicy I'm not talking about greasy. Huge difference there. The meat wasn't overground, resulting in a delicately constructed patty that was tender and easy to chew. I was worried about the foccacia not being able to support the weight of the burger, but it held strong and was a welcome variation on the traditional burger bun. #2: The flavor. It was deep and smoky with a touch of char, amazingly fresh, and didn't leave the palate greasy at all. Made from pure chuck, the flavor was greatly improved, and free of any sketchy bits of cartilage or other questionable beef parts typically found in ground beef patties. I'm not an Atkins fanatic, so when I say the burger patty was tasty enough to eat by itself, I mean it! No need for any cheese or onion or bread messing up this masterpiece! In all seriousness though, this burger is truly amazing and no matter what you put on it, it'll still be great. I've heard people complain that the burger was too rare, and my response to that would be: think of this burger as you would a steak. It's not your average bacteria-ridden ground beef, but premium house-ground chuck with very little processing, so you can afford to eat it a little rarer (the chefs know best). So sorry, if you're waiting for me to say something negative about this burger, you won't find it here!