My Substack fellow writer and friend Charles Thompson said that he wanted to write about his love affair with the Stars burger and fries for July 4th. The burger as in San Francisco’s restaurant Stars and, before it. the Balboa Café and our Santa Fe Bar & Grill.
“I have been chasing that burger for years, “ he says, “ And haven’t found one to match!”
All this in play because I had seen a Substack article by Dan Perlman from June 19th just passed called “Jeez, Another Burger Post.” “Everyone and their mother is opening a smashed burger joint. It’s the “new black”.
I read that “Smashburgers are all about that intense, caramelized crust.” And “Smashing the patty flat on a hot griddle maximizes the surface area, which means more crispy, caramelized, crust from the Maillard reaction. That’s where all the deep, savory flavor comes from.”
The only Maillard I knew was SF’s queen, Charlotte.
But all the talk of burgers made me think of the most famous ever. The 21 Club burger.
When it was $21.
When I opened Stars and wanted to do a burger for the bar menu, I thought of the 21 version. I had never enough money before stars to go there let alone the courage to face the maître d. My only experience was the very wimpy Wimpy’s burger in London, and decades later the very unwimpy Balboa Café burger.
The most famous in San Francisco.
It was cooked on a griddle, turned a couple of times, and served on a buttered and toasted baguette. Loved both by bar hounds and by socialite Anne Getty and her friends.
We sold so many that after an hour or so there would be beef fat dripping off my eyelashes back onto the griddle.
We moved on from the Balboa to Stars. Where its burger soon took over the title of the best and famous. Most of the credit going to the master grill chef Steven Vranian.
Steven: “In the Bay Area, Zuni’s burgers come close, but they started using grass fed/grass finished beef and the last one I had was too lean. Side note, Zuni’s Caesar salad came from Stars.
Its beginnings escape me; I do recall a moment during the first year at Stars when someone wanted to order a burger off the bar menu in the dining room (it was a Bar Menu only item!) and I went full Tasmanian Devil Vranian on Laurence De Vries [the maître d’] for allowing it.”
Jeremiah: Then we allowed almost anything as long as it was delicious, daring, and fun. Profitable was always appreciated. The various time we served a glass of Château Lafite with the burger on the bar menu was one of those moments.
Steven: “Stars didn’t have a griddle, only live fire grills. That meant all the fat (flavor) fell into the coals and not your mouth. And we purchased ground beef from 9th Street Meats and couldn’t customize the grind.
We started using shoulder clod, which is part of the chuck. Trim it out, cube and “kosher” it overnight. Grind it one time, in small batches, using the coarse grinder attachment.
But the clod, while inexpensive and flavorful, is too lean.
Since we were cutting NY Steaks in house, at the sirloin end of the NY Strip, there’s a band of grizzle, called the Vein End which doesn’t cook and is tough.
Instead of using that end for steaks, we would trim out the grizzle, cube it, add it to the chuck plus additional fat trimmings from the NY Steak portioning for the burger.
The goal was to get the burger fat percentage to 23-25%, knowing we lost a lot of it thru the grill grates. And to have tender NY Steaks and to control costs. And a great burger!
There are several factors in play. The cut and quality of the beef and fat. The overnight “kosher” process. A coarse, one pass only, grind. Slow and small batches when grinding.
Thick, 1”, eight-ounce patties. I think the size and thickness evolved from the James Beard Burger we did at the Santa Fe Bar & Grill. That was a different beast, no bun, purchased ground beef, pan seared with a bourbon peppercorn sauce.
During its travels the mixture changed, depending on the locality. For a while we kept the grinder attachments in the freezer so the meat would stay chilled and firm while grinding.
Koshering process-gets its name because we use Morton’s Kosher Salt.
Steven’s Burger Salt
kosher salt 1 box/3 pounds
sugar 1 pound
bay leaves ½ cup crushed
juniper berries ¼ cup smashed-crushed-chopped
thyme 1 teaspoon
black pepper 1 teaspoon
smoked paprika ¼ cup
msg 3 tbs
Mix and store in sealed Cambro container.
1 tablespoon per 5# of meat mixture. mix well and allow to marinate overnight.
Oh, and really massage the salt mixture into the beef, don’t just sprinkle it on top.
The grind is important. It can’t be fine or ground more than once. It’s the texture that really sets the burger apart from others.
For the beef: mix and match. Chuck (think pot roast), brisket, ribeye, NY. Depends on your budget. USDA Prime over choice, but choice works.”
More Stars Burger
Charles: “In my opinion, the cheeseburger and fries I was lucky enough to eat at Jeremiah’s San Francisco restaurant was the best I’ve ever eaten.
I recently told Jeremiah that I’ve been chasing that burger ever since. I never really have found an equivalent. A lot of amazing ones, yes, of course, but none to match the Stars burger.
The beef was sized perfectly, not too small, not huge either, cooked to my requested medium rare so that the juices ran down my arms. Served on a toasted buttered bun with the most amazing French fries ever (still chasing those too). I wasn’t a cook at Stars, so I wasn’t privy as to how the burgers were made. Jeremiah reminded me that a chef, Steven Vranian, a member of Jeremiah’s core kitchen team, came up with the recipe for the beef, the grind sized, and the cooking techniques. Now I understand that a combination of different cuts went into the grind to create that spectacular specimen.”
Steven and Jules Vranian and I Santa Fe Bar & Grill days.
Steven is now the exec chef and co-owner at Gianni’s Steakhouse in Wayzata, MN.
Gianni’s Burger
“Currently I’m using Australian Wagyu brisket and USDA Prime NY Strip vein ends, along with the trim of Australian Wagyu Ribeye. All have enough fat so additional fat isn’t needed.
Do not use tenderloin or top loin/bottom loin cuts. They are too lean and get mushy when ground.
Since the meat is “koshered” overnight, be careful not to over salt when cooking. And of course, do not push down and squeeze out the juices while cooking!”
Jeremiah: No smashing. And the lettuce julienne or chiffonade, so that a big piece of whole leaf doesn’t slide out from under the bun onto your lap after biting into the burger.
Steven: “For home cooks, kitchen aid has grinder attachments.
Now it’s down to the buns. I don’t like brioche buns; they crumble and fall apart. I use old school white burger buns, not the potato buns either, and per JT, whole salted butter on the top portion for the final “push”.
The Bread
Jeremiah: I still love a baguette, heavily butted and then under a grill, or put in the pan or on the griddled the the burger have been. But that is a lot to chew.
Thomas Original English muffins with the same treatment are also perfect and less of a bite to handle.
But no flimsy brioche for me either, and a great, classic, firm burger bun that absorbed the juices without falling apart is the easiest way to go.
The Fries
Steven: “The fries are another story! They [Stars] were thin, crispy outside, and soft inside – the best thing on the plate.”
Jeremiah: A great French fry should look like this.
And that’s because they were cut by us at 3/8-inch and not the finger-sized ones whose balance of sot interior to crisp exterior is out of whack.
We used Kennebec potatoes, hand cut, stored in water until needed, dried in the salad spinner, cooked to order unblanched in fresh best quality peanut oil (changed every day), drained, salted, and served immediately.
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