A long, long time ago, in a lifetime far, far away, a friend once told me about a place called Roam Artisan Burgers in San Francisco. At the time, I was riding the wave of Umami Burger and all the other delicious burgers being pumped out of LA, so I didn’t pay too much attention to burgers happening up north. Yet, when the opportunity came to make my way to Roam, I pulled it off and even convinced a few people to join me.
Disappointingly, I found most burgers had a core vegetable component and would have required work to order without. Fortunately, though, there was a little something called the Tejano. Like all their burgers, it started with a choice of meats and bun. I picked the grass-fed beef and traditional sesame seed. Then, it was topped with pepperjack cheese, jalapeno relish, avocado, tomato, white corn strips (also known as chips) and herb ranch. I got mine without the tomato, then picked up a side of Russet Fries.
This all turned out to be a good choice, because my burger was pretty tasty. You might think all those ingredients would overwhelm the burger, but instead they all complemented each other. The strips stayed crispy, the avocado was super fresh and the cheese and jalapeno gave a nice kick. Even the herb ranch was done right. Plus, I have to say I was a fan of the sesame bun, which was toasted nicely. The beef patty itself could have been a bit bigger, but I kind of always think that so this was not something new to my life.
The fries were probably the low point of the meal, which is not to say they were bad. In fact they were just fine, but really nothing special. Perhaps kennebec fries would have performed better than russet.
Roam was a good experience, and the kind of place that shows burgers with thought behind them can really come together nicely.