Cheeseburger at the Palo Alto Creamery- Palo Alto, CA

The Palo Alto Creamery can best be described as an upscale diner that serves a wide selection of standard diner fare (with a few twists I might add) to appeal to everyone from kids with simple pallets to those with discerning tastes. Opened in 1988 and with 2 Palo Alto locations, the previously owned "Peninsula Fountain Grill" sign still hangs out in front of their downtown Palo Alto location which might confuse some who are looking for the "Palo Alto Creamery". Once inside, you step back in time to a 50s diner setting with plenty of booth and table seating as well as standard stools that you would have found in a diner of yesteryear.

Palo Alto Creamery, Palo Alto, CA

The diner has an onsite full service bakery where they bake all of their own bread and many of their deserts. Best of all- they bake all of their sesame seed buns for their burgers.

All Palo Alto Creamery burgers are 1/3 lb fresh, hormone free, natural certified Angus beef. Today I went for the Cheeseburger ($10.95 with fries) and ordered it medium. The cheeseburger came topped with American cheese and grilled onions. Lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles are all on the side. The burger doesn't come with Mustard, Ketchup or Mayo however those options (sans the mayo) are available at the table.
The burger came out bbq grilled to a perfect medium- just as I had ordered. I was surprised at how I didn't really miss the mustard, mayo, ketchup and spread that you'd typically find at other burger joints. This can be risky if the meat isn't cooked perfectly but today it was perfect- great moisture, great beef flavor, nice crumbly grind, perfectly seasoned and topped with melty American cheese. The freshly baked sesame seed bun was a really nice touch. It was soft, yet held together without falling apart. I definitely recommend the burger at the Palo Alto Creamery, and if you're ever there it's a must try.

The Cheeseburger

Aburgeraday rating- 7/10

Double Charburger at The Habit Burgers, San Mateo, CA

The Habit burger grill is a small chain of upscale burger restaurants located throughout California with a few locations in Arizona. Their motto is "there's no substitute for quality" and the restaurant seems to live up to these expectations. The San Mateo location is pristine and a tad bit clinical feeling. When you walk into the store you sense that you are in a high end burger joint...it's spotless and I'm sure that it would have that "new car smell"...if it were a car. You'd expect that the prices would reflect this impression, but it's the exact opposite. The burgers are really affordable and you get your money's worth and more.

The Habit Burger Grill

Habit burgers are always fresh, never frozen and char-grilled in an open kitchen in full view of the cash register. That's good if you are one of those paranoid "germ-o-fobes" types that needs to see how your food is handled so you can eat without having a panic attack.

The Double Charburger at the Habit

The menu is simple- consisting of burgers, sandwiches, salads, fries, rings and shakes. I went for the the double charburger that includes 2 char-grilled beef patties, 2 slices of cheese, fried onions, lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayo- a real bargain at ($3.85) based by today's fast food standards.

The double charburger was excellent. You could taste how the char-grilling permeated the meat with that smoky bbq taste you can only get over a bbq grill. The 2 slices of cheese complemented the juicy and crumbly beef patties- cooked to a perfect medium. Adequate seasoning, fresh toppings, and most importantly- a toasted fresh bun put it all together.

The habit burgers are affordable, have excellent quality and will keep you coming back for more. I highly recommend that you search out a location and try one soon.

Aburgeraday rating- 7/10

Cheeseburger at Jeffrey's Burgers, Menlo Park, CA

As a carnivore, a meat craving can occur anytime, anywhere. These cravings often come unannounced and sometimes in the most inopportune times, like at 8AM in the morning on a Sunday when everything is closed or when the only thing available is breakfast, or while sitting in a busy meeting at work. Luckily for me, my latest craving happened on a weekday at work-  It was 10AM, lunch-time was nearing, my stomach was grumbling- I needed to act...so I sent a quick email to some coworkers and assembled a posse in search of a nearby burger joint. Since we were on the clock I did a local Yelp search which brought us to Jefferey's Hamburgers in Menlo Park.

Jeffrey's Hamburgers

Jeffrey's burgers are USDA choice Angus beef- ground fresh daily- made to order and flat-top grilled to perfection- ask for medium-rare and you get it that way. Service is also friendly and efficient with at least 3 register areas waiting to take your order when you arrive. Choose from a fairly extensive menu that consists of sandwiches, fish and chips, hot dogs- what look to be some good salads (especially Jefferey's signature salad), burgers and made to order milkshakes.

The Cheeseburger at Jeffrey's

I ordered a cheeseburger ($5.59) medium rare. Burgers are delivered "naked" to your table (unless you order a specialty burger like the pineapple teriyaki) where you proceed to the condiment bar to dress them up as you like- I added mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles and relish. The bun was toasted nicely and was fresh. I was impressed by the thickness of the American cheese on the burger- it seemed to be nearly double what I'm used to. It had great melt and held the semi-crumbly beef patty nicely after each bite. The burger was cooked perfectly medium-rare- as ordered, and extremely juicy. Good seasoning, nice outer crunch on the patty with moist juicy inside. Although the burger was excellent, I kinda wish that Jeffrey's offered some sort of burger sauce. I really think that would take their burgers to the next level, however, the mayo mustard and ketchup do a fine job and still made this a burger that I will be coming back for.- Jeffrey's makes great quality made to order burgers and has enough on the menu to please kids, vegetarians and carnivores alike. If you are every nearby, I'd recommend that you drop in and give it a try.

Aburgeraday rating- 7/10