Überprüfung: Tessaro's

I hate to admit but before recently, I had never heard of Tessaro's. For some this really amounts to nothing, but in reality I feel like I've committed a cardinal sin remaining ignorant of a legendary burger joint. I am ashamed to say that the only way I found out about the Bloomfield eatery was through recent media attention Tessaro's has been garnering because of their famous half-pound burgers.

HALF-POUND BURGERS?? Needless to say, I had to go.

There's an old adage when it comes to restaurants; "If the line extends for a couple of blocks, its probably good, unless it's Olive Garden" and Tessaro's is no exception. My parents and I waited for at least half an hour just to get a table for 3. But as mater familiae pointed out "it will be worth it." In short, it was.

For the first time in this blog's history (10 posts, not much of a history), I decided against ordering an appetizer or anything other than the entrees. I had no urge to eat a salad with the house vinaigrette or the salmon appetizer. I wanted a burger, and I wanted it ASAP. It's just like when you're being given the keys to the family car; forget the speech about responsibility, just give me the car.

All three of us ordered burgers, but arranged with different toppings. I personally went for the works: cheddar cheese, bacon, onions, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and the house barbecue sauce. What would eventually be placed in front of me is what dreams are made of. A perfectly cooked patty served on a freshly baked bun with a side of homefries.

As I ate my half pound cut of heaven, I began to realize how misunderstood American food really is. For many, this is truly being glutenous. Who in their right mind needs a half-pound hamburger? Some would group something like this with "all-you-can-eat" venues where the quality of food is somewhere on the end of the spectrum with McDonald's.

That may be true, but Tessaro's remains the outlier on the data sheet. I cannot explain to you how good this burger is. What's truly surprising about the flavor is not the complexity of spices (Worcestershire sauce! Garlic salt! Onion powder!) but in fact how simple it tasted. In this case I tasted two pronounced seasonings: salt and pepper. No, what makes this burger great are the small things. The bun was freshly baked and perfectly proportional to the size of the patty; the meat is ground fresh by Tessaro's famous in-house butchers; the meat is cooked perfectly to order (what an invention).

Forget complex cooking techniques and massive flavor palates. This burger is proof that things are great when we get the small things right.