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You are here: Home » Dad’s Burger – Dad’s Kitchen – Sacramento, CA

Dad’s Burger – Dad’s Kitchen – Sacramento, CA

Price: $12 | , |

Find this Burger

Address: 2968 Freeport Blvd Sacramento, CA 95818
Phone: (916) 447-3237
On the Web: http://www.ilovedadskitchen.com

THE JOINT

Dad’s Kitchen is a local casual dining restaurant in the Land Park/Curtis Park area of Sacramento, CA. It launched in 2008 and has changed owners a few times over the years, but they’ve recently remodeled and now offer a great selection of craft brews along with their locally sourced, nationally acclaimed American comfort food menu selections.

My wife had saved a Tivo’ed episode of Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dives and knowing my love of burgers, she presented the episode like a magician delivering The Prestige to a great magic trick: “You’ve gotta watch this one!” That episode featured Dad’s Kitchen and showed the making of their, now famous, Dad’s Burger that I ventured out the very next day to try.

Dad’s Kitchen is a smallish restaurant conveniently located next to a bakery. There’s not much parking available, but once you make it inside, they have a beautiful outdoor patio for springtime dining in the sun.

THE BURGER

There are a handful of burgers on the menu at Dad’s Kitchen; I ordered the Dad’s Burger that was featured on the show because the idea of a “bacon crusted” burger sounded like something out of a burger lovers fairy tale. My daughter dreams about unicorns. I dream about bacon crusted burgers.

The Dad’s Burger arrived in a decent amount of time and I was pleasantly suprised to see that they included pickled red onions on the side that I could add to the hamburger if I so desired. And I did. I also “upgraded” my french fries to their “chili fries”. “Chili fries” definitely deserves some air quotes because it didn’t look like any chili fries I’ve ever ordered. It was more like shredded beef (almost carne asada style) on top of fries. No chili sauce to speak off, although it did have a dab of cheese sauce. I’m definitely not against meat by any means, but the lack of “chili sauce” kind of threw me off the fry experience.

The Dad’s Burger itself was a sight to behold. A nice sized burger with a bun that looked like it just stepped out of a baker’s oven. After I loaded my burger up with the side toppings, I sauntered in. The bun was bliss. It’s the kind of bun that could sit in front of the class and teach other buns how to be more bun-like. Not too chewy, good bread flavor and just firm enough to hold the juicy cheeseburger. The 8 oz, grass fed, 5 Dot Ranch burger patty was cooked perfectly with a seared smoky bacon and bleu cheese crust that was a little crisp, but not too crunchy as to make you think it was burnt or over cooked. With the bacon almost fused into the burger, each bite was laced with bacony love. The first few bites actually started off slow for me, like the burger was stuck in first gear. Once you made your way to the middle of the burger, sharp bleu cheese and the mild, slightly salty aleppo chile spread shifed the flavors into overdrive.

THE VERDICT

When a restaurant gets featured on a national television show like Diner’s, Drive-Ins, they get a lot of local buzz and attention (sometimes warranted, sometimes not so much). Luckily, the Dad’s Burger at Dad’s Kitchen lives up to the hype. Although I would have liked more aleppo chile spread on my sandwich and some fries that were more traditional, the bleu cheese, bacon crusted hamburger is worth a repeat trip. I tend to look for that “crave-worthy” factor in the burgers I try, and this one was unique enough to make me want to try it (and it’s other burger brothers on the menu) a few more times.

This burger review is part of my National Burger Month effort to publish 31 burger reviews in 31 days. How are you celebrating National Burger Month?

Dad's Kitchen on Urbanspoon



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