Even the vegetarians I know can agree to the idea that sometimes you just need a burger. And maybe a beer. Oh, sure, those veggie dorks are talking about Garden burgers and beet burgers and black bean burgers and Impossible Burgers—dang, Santa Fe actually has a lot of meatless burger options—but the point remains the same across dietary needs and restrictions; everybody has those days where they just plain need that burger.
So it was one recent night following a particularly harrowing afternoon. ‘Twas a dark and stormy day, and after dealing with the last in a number of increasingly absurd Santa Fe-isms (sometimes folks just don’t pick up the phone!), I left the office feeling harried, hungry and horribly unprepared to go home and dirty a bunch of dishes making a subpar meal.
Enter The Burger Stand (207 W San Francisco St., [505] 395-8210), a fast casual and burger-dedicated downtown eatery with locations in Santa Fe and Taos (sorry, Albuquerque, the one down there closed at some point, but I don’t know when). Founded by chef and cookbook author Robert Krause, The Burger Stand comes with a simple premise: What if there was a place with reliable burgers for various palates? And though my burger allegiances have lied with Santa Fe Bite and Ortiz inside the Santa Fe Hilton for many years now, something about Krause’s joint called to me that night, and I’m glad it did.
First things first, The Burger Stand is downtown, and as I’m always saying, that comes with its own headaches. Even so, it’s right across the street from the city parking garage, and I managed to eat a laid-back meal and only accrue a $1 parking charge. Worth it. Second, my companion and I enjoyed the ambiance down there. Yes, yes, I know The Burger Stand has been open for ages, but I haven’t crossed its threshold in many a year and was delighted to find it welcoming and clean—perhaps a little dim on the lighting front, to be honest—and surprisingly not packed for a night that also came with Santa Fe Summer Scene music on the Plaza up the street.
The Burger Stand is a no-fuss affair. You order at the counter and sit where you can. The staff was also quite friendly while we perused the menu. The good ol’ TBS menu has quite a few options for a burger joint, and narrowing them down took me a sec. I did not feel rushed, however, and the counter guy even anticipated some questions before I asked them. He likely sees that a lot given the numer of options on the menu. I’m not talking dozens here, but do you want a smash burger with onions or a classic green chile number? What about a mushroom burger with chile, or a smokey burger with gouda and applewood smoked bacon? Heck, you can get a Morning Star burger if you’re so inclined, or a Kobe burger with truffle butter and lettuce. Certainly some of these burgers bear a moment’s thought, and that’s before you even get into the chicken options that can come grilled or fried, a number of salads that actually sounded pretty damn good (shout-out to the beet salad with apples and honey vinaigrette—I’ll be back for you!) or, if you’ve got that sweet tooth, sweet potato fries served with toasted marshmallow.
Being in evaluation mode, we decided to go for dishes that would speak to the burger aficionados among us. These wound up being a single patty smash burger ($8.99, which seems ridiculously cheap, especially for downtown) and the Kobe burger ($19.99 and worth it). Fries come with the burgers at TBS, which shouldn’t bear special mention, but I’ve had to pay extra for a few sad spuds more and more lately, and a side feels like a God-given right in Burgerland. My companion chose the classic fries, which were as crispy and salty as you could ever want, but I wisely ordered the sweet potato variety (and don’t worry, because they don’t come with marshmallow in the context of being a side).
While my heart still belongs to Ortiz as far as a local smash burger goes, The Burger Stand’s version was as classic as it gets with the relative newcomer dish: meat and onions served on a brioche bun. The only complaint I heard from my companion was something about how they should have gotten the double meat. Their order otherwise sated their burger lust and didn’t leave them feeling over-fed.
The Kobe burger, however, was a revelation. Marbled just so, and so very tender, it managed to hold onto its shape—and this was no over-thick meat-wad, but rather a perfectly cooked and rich burger with just the right volume. The truffle butter was also quite a treat, especially since it augmented the beef rather than stealing all the flavor as truffle products have been known to do. And those sweet potato fries? Phenomenal. Fried to a satisfying crunch, they came seasoned with an almost sweet and cinnamon-y blend of spices, including one with a spicy kick I couldn’t identify. That spice was barely there, but added a truly excellent nuance to the mingling flavors on my plate.
Of special note is that we sat on the back patio, a space that reminded me of the Sixth Street situation in Austin. No, I’m not saying it was crammed with drinkers and whatever country band du-jour or anything. Nothing in Santa Fe feels like that, but I rather enjoyed the plein-aire and picnic table-laden feels of the late summer evening. In fact, I’d heartily recommend folks try to hit that patio before the cold sets in. My companion paired their smash burger with a tasty Kolsch, of which I found myself envious. Sometimes you just need a burger and a beer, maybe. Sometimes the simple things hit just right.
