Burger Photo Gallery (click pictures to enlarge)

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THE JOINT

Kupros Bistro is a new American gastropub style full service restaurant that offers a casual dining for all. Whether you prefer a more formal setting, or a more relaxed bar style setting, their upstairs and downstairs seating areas are ready to accommodate your dining mood for the day. The restaurant located inside of a building built in 1910 has been beautifully restored to make it a truly memorable place to relax and have a good meal. They source many of the ingredients on their menu locally and deliver it without breaking the bank.

I ended up at Kupros Bistro after trying to decide which Sacramento area burger to have for lunch during one of the last weeks of National Hamburger Month (and #sacburgermonth). I had a list of local restaurants on my “to do” list, but I took a quick peek at my “must eat” recommendations that people have sent me and I saw a recommendation for Kupros Bistro from my virtual burger friend and wow-worthy local, professional food photographer @rachelvalley. The phrase “beer cheese” stood out for me when I read her recommendation of the Kupros Burger, and I love a unique burger ingredient, so I put it on the top of my list and drove into midtown Sacramento to give it a try.

THE BURGER

The Kupros Burger is described on the menu as having a 1/2 pound grass fed ground chuck beef patty topped with beer cheese and house-relish. Luckily, my server Jordan gave me a little more sandwich insight on how they tie it all together.

The grass-fed ground chuck beef patty is all organic and made from free roaming cattle.  The “beer cheese” is actually a cheese reduction made from Arrogant Bastard Ale. It’s one of those ingredients that makes people either love the burger or hate it. Although the strong beer choice does give the cheese a tangy flavor, I was still enjoyed it over some of the blander cheeses I’ve seen used on other burgers. I could see how it could be a turn off though. The “house-relish” is actually your standard LTO (lettuce, tomato, red onion) burger toppings that get finely chopped and bathed in a nice vinaigrette so that you get fresh vegetables in just about every bite.  This may have been my favorite part of the burger…I love finely diced red onions and the way the LTO was chopped in with the vinaigrette, I found it held together better than just slapping slabs of lettuce, tomato and onion on your burger and calling it good. Their burger also featured a Russian dressing as their own take on a special sauce that added to the tanginess of the beer and relish toppings.

Lately I’ve been worrying about my burgers that I order medium actually getting cooked medium well.  Luckily, one of the tips from @rachelvalley was that her burger came perfectly cooked medium unlike other restaurants that tend to over cook a bit and my burger was no exception. They left just the right amount of pink in the center of the burger. Although the burger was cooked nicely, for some reason it wasn’t as juicy as other burgers that were similarly cooked. I’m not sure if it was the 100% chuck patty with not as much fat as other cuts of beef, or if it was the tasty, but maybe too sponge-like bun.  The locally sourced Grateful Bread bun was fresh and delicious, but too thick around the middle which made some of the interior bites of the burger seem unnecessarily dry.

THE VERDICT

I would try the Kupros Burger again. Although they cooked it to a perfect medium, I think I would take it a step further and order the burger medium rare to help it retain some of the juiciness I look for in the burger. The “drive thru” chopped style toppings added both texture and flavor to the cheeseburger and the beer cheese reduction worked well with the other tangy ingredients.

Tags: cheesy, featured, national hamburger month, sacburgermonth