The USA is a wonderful place. Part of what makes it wonderful is its mix of different cultures. Fortunately, this has resulted in culinary intermarriage, such as Bachi Burger, which came out of Las Vegas and brought itself to Pasadena. It’s a fusion of Japanese and American and I couldn’t wait to give it a try.
We started out with the famous Oxtail Chili Cheese Fries. On top of the chili and cheese, these fries had jalapenos, cilantro, a fried egg and garlic aioli. In other words, they were full of amazing and I dug right in. Truly, there is nothing bad that can be said about these fries. The chili was packed with intense meaty flavor, but somehow Bachi Burger managed to get a perfect balance of every ingredient so that no fry was left behind or soggy.
As for my burger, I chose Miyagi-San’s Burger. Presumably this was named after Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid, but it feels kind of disrespectful not to call him Miyagi-Sensei. Nonetheless, the burger was all about respect, packed with chili mayo, fried egg, furikake, caramelized bacon and crispy onion rings on a wagyu beef burger. Like the fries, there was nothing that seemed to need removing and when I first bit into the burger it tasted like love. It was a huge thing and cooked to a perfect medium-rare. Yet, as I continued eating, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the taste of furikake. You see, furikake includes seaweed and powdered fish, which are normally so subtle they make very little difference, but in the Miyagi-San shone through too far.
Nonetheless, Bachi Burger is a solid place for a semi-upscale burger and fries. There are items made for unvegans and if it weren’t for an overload of furikake things would have been even better.
