Warm Weather Update: Outdoor Burgers at Zeitgeist!

Are the burgers at Zeitgeist as fabulous as I remember?

I met up with some friends at the legendary San Francisco beer garden -- a summery daytime staple -- to suss out the situation.

Hadn't had one of their $5 Niman Ranch grillers in a couple of years, to be honest.


Nice weekend weather and an unusually mellow scene made for a perfect burger-eating scenario!

The Wisconsin-bred member of our party noted that in Madison, when you order a Bloody Mary, the bartender automatically pours you a pony beer -- something of a half pint.

Out here, you just have to order both and double-fist it.















The crew was all smiles, especially after we nabbed a spot in the very front of the burger-ordering line when the kitchen re-opened from its hiatus around 4pm.

Update, 11.19.08: You might recall my buddy Jason Berthold (pictured, right) from a July post about grilling local squid.

He's going to be running the kitchen at RN74, the  new Michael Mina/Rajat Parr restaurant and wine bar that's opening in SOMA's Millenium Towers around April-ish 2009.


Did you see that bit in the Chronicle food section's Inside Scoop today? I'm so excited for Jason -- he is one seriously talented, inspired, hard-working chef who happens to have cut his chops as one of two sous chefs at the Laundry. (Yes! The French one!)



We agreed that the burgs at Zeitgeist were still mighty tasty.

$5 for a fancy meat burger? A buck for cheese? Totally. Even a medium burger was juicy and delicious, and I can be a little pointed in my love for the mid-rare.

I like the standard American bun, the finger-width patty thickness, the complete meltation station on the cheese, and the key addition of pickle slices to the lettuce-tomato-onion accoutrements.

The girls got garden burgers, always great at the Z thanks to the super smoke-tastic grill.






The concomitant homefries, as always, were underwhelming. But I am not a homefry lover; I am a french fry and hashbrown enthusiast. One must take one's predelictions into account.


And then one must hit the beach for sunset.

Lest we forget, these quirky, warm mid-November days help remind us that we do, actually, live in a beach town. 










Here's to summer. So nice to see you.

****
photos: TB