We went to check out Urban Burger in the Mission for our monthly "Burger Tuesday." Founded in 2008, Urban Burger offers made-to-order beef, turkey, chicken and veggie burgers with high-quality, all natural ingredients. This is the BEST burger I've had a in long time…even beating out the recent one I had at Absinthe.
To start off, you can build your own burger for $7.75. Charbroiled meat of your choice served with lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle, and a side of fries or side salad. For $0.75-$1.75, add cheese, sauteed mushrooms, fried egg, or select some premium toppings including Applewood smoked bacon, avocado, or beer battered onion rings. They even let you pick your bun – classic, 9-grain, or Texas toast.
I think trying out one of their specialty Urban burgers is where all the action is at. From the Urban Classic, Urban Bleu Classic, Macho Nacho, or Big Kahuna, there is certainly a burger for all tastebuds. We ended up trying out the Urban Cowboy with Applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, beer battered onion rings and BBQ sauce ($10.50) and the Mission Heat with sauteed green chilies and grilled onions, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and chipotle may ($9.50). I was really diggin' my Urban Cowboy. It reminded me of fond memories of eating the Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carls Jr. as a kid, just kicked up a few notches! The
meat quality was awesome, juicy and medium rare and something that most people forget to grade is the distribution of toppings. I'm happy to report that Urban Burger paid special attention to the small details and each bite had even taste of all the fixings! My friend thought the Mission Heat burger was good and interesting but said he'd opt for a more basic burger next time. The green chilies were an interesting topping but it ended up being very wet and messy. And eating a burger with a knife and fork just seems wrong!
For those that want something a little healthier and have been dragged by their co-workers out for lunch, they do offer a few salads or a bunless version of their urban burger. They also have a BLTA ($7.75), grilled cheese ($5.95) or grilled deluxe with grilled ham, cheddar and swiss cheese and tomato ($7.75). Definitely get the fries!
With a casual atmosphere, friendly staff, and high quality burgers why wouldn't you want to go to Urban Burger?!
Neighborhood: Mission
581 Valencia St
(between 16th St & 17th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 551-2483
www.urbanburgersf.com
One word – spaghetti. Hands down, best spaghetti I have EVER had. And yes folks, this beats out Delfina which I've been raving about for more than a couple years now. Lucky for us, we ran into my gym friend that morning who was just in Dry Creek/Geyserville the weekend before. She mentioned this fabulous Italian restaurant that her Sonoma friends had taken her to and we got the details and made a reservation for that night. We had already planned to go wine tasting but were flexible on the area. Dry Creek turned out to be the perfect destination. After sipping on loads of delish wine at Ferrari-Carano and then heading to Locals for some smaller wine production flights, we found our way onto the very small strip of downtown Geyserville, encompassing a whole 2 blocks. Taverna Santi is on this block and is one of two restaurants that will probably be recommended if you're in the area. For little options, Santi does a fantastic job of offering local fare, fresh food, and excellent service. 
Ok, so back to this amazing spaghetti which on the menu they list as spaghettini al sugo calabrese which is a braised beef and pork rib sugo with tomatoes, herbs, pecorino romano ($19). When the heaping bowl of spaghetti arrived, I knew it was sure to be a winner as the sauce was glued to every strand of pasta. With one bite, I knew I was in heaven. This sauce must have taken hours to make. The meat flavor, consistency, and seasonings all done to perfection. I couldn't stop raving about the spaghetti to the waitress, Dee. She probably thought I'd never eaten pasta before. We still had a grilled hangar steak on its way but as long as there was pasta in the bowl, I kept twirling my fork. I was so full after the pasta, I considered just canceling the steak but we got it anyways. I only had 2 bites of it and it was really good but all I kept thinking about was this spaghetti… The steak was perfectly prepared with diagonal sections laid over roasted asparagus, Yukon gold potatoes, pickled wild ramps and drizzled with salsa verde ($29.75)
I suppose I should at least talk about some of the other items on the menu (even though the spaghetti is worth the 2 hour drive from SF!). We also had the Pancetta Arrosto con Farro, slow roasted Berkshire pork belly with farro, radishes, and watercress ($11.75). I also heard the grilled young fava beans ($10.75) and sausage are one of the best. They also offer a house-made tagliolini with pork ragu ($19) and Santi's braised beef tripe ($12/$16). How often do you see tripe on a menu? For mains, Rocky Jr chicken ($25.75) and Steelhead salmon ($27.95) were prepared. 
The menu is very straightforward with cold appetizers, dumpling, dim sum, noodle soups, and stir fried noodles and fried rice. We started off with the Five Spice Marinated Beef ($5.95). This is a cold and thinly sliced beef dish that my mum used to make. It was always served as a pre-dinner snack but I remember it fondly. Kingdom of Dumpling didn't disappoint. Unfortunately, I never learned how to make it but I think the meat is stewed in a pressure cooker with several Asian spices, 
chilled and then sliced. The meat was very flavorful and was the perfect starter before our dumplings arrived. The soup dumplings came shortly after ($4.95). I can usually spot immediately the quality and "level" of soup. These looked decent but certainly not impressive to forego a free ticket to NYC! I carefully lifted a dumpling with my chopstick being careful not to break the delicate skin. I poked a small hole through the skin and anxiously waited to see how much broth would ooze out. A little bit came out that I slurped up and then I bit into the dumpling. Clearly a disappointment against Joe's but still the best I've had in SF.
Next we had the pork and shrimp wonton soup with wide rice noodles ($5.95) and 
the beef chowfun ($6.95). Both were very, very good and quality Chinese food. I've been craving chowfun and would definitely consider getting takeout or trekking back. They also offer all the wontons and dumplings frozen to go. This totally beats the store bought ones from the Chinese market! 
