Considering that Adam took over 130 pictures of London restaurants we ate at, it was only natural that we start chronicling our thoughts and opinions about the food we eat. We've totally become accidental foodies. It all started out when Sheila started calling Adam "the human trash compactor"; since he eats almost anything. But somewhere along the way we started having discussions about food and seeking out culinary adventures when on travel. We bring a unique perspective to this arena as we're both vegetarians (no meat, poultry, or fish). I suspect we will both have varying opinions on the food, and hope to not only have a record for posterity, but provide some fun, useful if not amateur insight.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Burgers at Barney's...


...and I don't mean with Barney Stinson from HIMUM, but rather the burger chain with circa six locations spread across Nor Cal. There's an outpost in Noe Valley amongst the plethora of other gourmet options along 24th St. The Noe Valley shop recently went through a remodel, there are updated finishes, bright pastel colors on the walls, quirky artwork vegetables, and an open kitchen. Kinda reminded me of the Hill Valley Dinner from Back to the Future 2! The servers were attentive but not over bearing which you'd expected in Noe.

The great thing about Barney's is that all their burgers can be made with either garden or tofu patties. With names like North Beach, Milano, Carribean, Teriyaki, etc; the options are pretty endless. Even their fries have options - spicy curly, sweet potato, skinny, cheesy, etc. Each burger is around $8.50 to $10.00 with the sides ranging from $2.50 to $6.00. It's a reasonable price considering the amount of food served.


Our last visit was on a cold rainy Wednesday night when comfort food was in order. Sheila opted for the Chipotle Burger - jack cheese topped with spicy chipotle sauce, red onion, tomato, lettuce and pickles. I went for the Sunshine Burger - cheddar cheese, red onions, sprouts, avocado, tomato, and thousand island dressing. We split a single other of the spicy curly fries with ranch dressing.

The fries came out first, piping hot with a slight kick of spicies. They were cooked through, unlike what tends to happen at In-n-Out with they're rushing behind the counter. The single order was plenty for us and can't imagine a larger size - it was tough to resist the urge to fill up on just the fries!

The burgers came out about 10 mins later and were served open face. The toppings are piled high, so if not in the mood for a heaping of sprouts or avocado, order them on the side like I did. Sheila's Chipotle Burger was equally appetizing. However, she had to take off a good layer of the spicy chipotle sauce in order to eat it. To my pleasant surprise the Sunshine Burger came out on whole wheat sandwich bread. Their homemade garden patty tasted fresh full of oats, barley, carrots, peppers, and brown rice. We often feel that garden burgers can become overly dry when cooked too long, which these were not. The accompaniments of lettuce, tomato, onions, avocados were to Barney's finest and fresh motto. They were certainly large burgers, which meant it took us while to finish.

Overall, we come to appreciate Barney's as our comfort food joint because of it's (1) proximity to our flat, (2) selection of veggie burger options, and (3) relaxed casual vibe. Perhaps you will to.

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