Burger Photo Gallery (click pictures to enlarge)

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THE JOINT

58 Degrees and Holding is a wine bar located in Midtown Sacramento. I first learned about 58 Degrees during one of the first Sacramento Dishcrawl events about 2 years ago. I remember being surprised that only a block away from Mulvaney’s was this fantastic wine shop slash wine bar slash restaurant. Geographically speaking, there might just be one of the greatest concentrations of amazing restaurants in the history of Midtown in the 3-4 block radius of 18th-19th streets and L st/Capitol Ave. Somehow, probably through the wonders of social media, 58 Degrees came up as a lunch suggestion. With a nicely described burger on the menu and wine to wash it down, I felt it was my duty to investigate.

THE BURGER

The only burger currently on the menu at 58 Degrees is their Fifty-Fifty Burger which is described as a ? pound bacon-beef patty topped with onion jam, avocado, four cheese, jalapeno and arugula in between a toasted acme bun spread with a house aioli. I’ve only tried one other burger that was 50% bacon and 50% beef and I was not impressed. Unfortunately, this caused me to pre-judge all other beef/bacon blended burgers until I started to make my own. I generally prefer an 80/20 or 70/30 beef to bacon ratio, but everybodyburger deserves a second chance, right?

The burger came out guillotined in half by the kitchen.

Let me repeat: they cut my burger in half.

Now, I understand that there are far more important atrocities happening in the world today. However, on that particular meal, on that particular day, the fact that they sliced my burger in half without my permission and let all those beefy bacony juices start flowing out all over the plate (and not in my mouth), it was the biggest travesty that I could imagine. I held back the tears as I took my first bite…and all was right with the world.

This chopped cheeseburger was freakin’ delicious. There’s no other fancy words for it. It was a damn good cheeseburger.

Remember in English class when they told you about the structure of a well formed paragraph within a story or essay? It starts out with an introduction, continues on to the body and finishes with a conclusion? This burger was sort of like that! Each flavor supported the next in a convincing dissertation on what makes a great burger. The soft Acme Bread Company bun introduced you to a perfectly seasoned bacon/beef burger. You get some spicy notes from the arugula and jalapeno balanced by creamy notes from the avocado and the cheeses. Even though they CUT MY BURGER, it still came out super juicy and the aioli, avocado and cheeses all helped to make each bite moist and exciting. There was none of the uber saltiness or grittiness that I encountered on my first 50/50 burger experience.

They serve the burger with a side of potatoes (or a salad), and I tried both on subsequent trips to 58 Degrees and Holding. Both were worthy platemates to the main burger attraction.

THE VERDICT

The Fifty-Fifty burger at 58 Degrees is one of those burgers that will pleasantly haunt your thoughts and cravebuds long after you’ve had your first experience. At random points during my day over the past few weeks, my mind has wandered back to the burger at 58 Degrees and Holding. I want to ask them what cheeses they use. I want to talk with the chef to ask why he cuts each burger during plating (on my 3rd trip, I remembered to ask them not to cut the burger…it was even more amazing). I want to buy a recommended bottle of wine. Any excuse I can think of to get back to that burger and dissect what makes it so damn good. If you’re in Midtown Sacramento, stop in for lunch sometime…you won’t be disappointed.

Tags: 50-50, avocado, bacon, featured, spicy