Brandon K.
Yelp
Had a pretty good evening. I was aleady a bit excited to learn that we were getting another brewery in our neighborhood... and when I learned they were going to have a rotating menu and a chef, I became even more stoked.
Turns out my excitement was warranted.
I'll start with the beer -- it was good. Of the beers I tried, their Belgian saison with peach was easily my favorite. It was crisp and refreshing, without being overly sour....
I'm not here to review the beer though. I'm here to share my smash burger experience. It was a great burger consisting of meat, american cheese, a soft bun, pickles, lettuce, thinly sliced red onion and mayo, all wrapped in white paper, and served warm (that matters to me).
I'm not afraid to admit it -- I dig a burger with lettuce and mayo. Often times when you go to a place like this and have a fancy burger, you're usually getting a burger that goes one of two directions.
Direction 1: a burger that showcases the foundational ingredients. Usually you get a nice bun (often potato), some sort of well seasoned and perfectly cooked patty, American cheese, maybe some ketchup, or pickle... and that's it.
Direction 2: A burger that features some really fun ingredients. The burgers can be of any size, may or may not have a potato bun, and often showcase some bold and unusual flavor profiles that really build upon one another.
Naturally this is not a true dichotomy - there are exceptions to every rule... and to bunch all the types of burger you see at an upscale food joint into just two categories seems a bit heinous -- however, it serves to drive my narrative here.
Gilman Brewery's smash burger is neither of these things. They added back the ingredients that others often choose to drop (namely lettuce and Mayo)... and they did so without compromising the end result.
It reminds me of an elevated version of the type of burger that my family used to make growing up.
It's a type of burger that is not well represented in Santa Cruz presently.... Certainly not with a smash burger patty.
I don't know where I'm going with all of this. I guess I'm just trying to drive home the point that this burger is really dang good, and it fills a gap that I didn't even really know I was missing.
Ohhh! Also, it appears they use a burger press and a form on their patty. I've never experienced this before, and I thought it was a bit suss at first when I saw the hard edges. I guess I was afraid that the patty had been sitting around pre-formed, and then had been grilled without ever being smashed.... Don't be fooled, it's still a smash burger... The deliciously savory crusty exterior is still there. It would appear that this cooking method involving press and form is just as good (if not superior to?) the type of smash burger patty im used to.
So yeah. The burger. I liked it, and I'm super glad that this place is nearby... I hope they keep it on the menu.
In addition to the burger we also had:
The mahgherita pizza Neapolitana - it was good, but there are a number of other good neopolitana pizzas in SC now.
Fries - these were hella good. Perfectly fried, served piping hot, actually tasted like potatoes.
Shark board - a charcuterie board. It was exactly what you'd expect. Gotta say though, the gherkins and pickle were particularly yummy.
Lastly, I'd be remiss if I left out the service. The staff seemed quite friendly. Chef Gavin even stopped by our table a couple of times to see what we thought of the food. My partner offered some feedback about her desire to have something fruity along with the charcuterie board. As soon as he heard that he ran off to the kitchen to rustle something up for us -- he didn't have to do that, he was just being awesome. If he keeps this kind of service up, the whole town is going to end up figuring it out, and we're never going to be able to get a table :)
So yeah... in summary, the food and beer are good, the staff is friendly, and they are highly motivated to turn the old Tony and Alba's into a popping spot.
Thanks for attending my TED talk.