Episode 1 of "Food Diego" on the best burgers in San Diego, California.
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#burgers #cheeseburger #smashburger #sandiego #foodie #food
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00:00San Diego, California is a city that's known as a popular tourist destination, as well as a military town, a
00:07science and technology hub, a convention hotspot, a hipster magnet, a major baseball franchise, and a surfer's paradise.
00:16But how is the food here?
00:19Let's explore the highest-rated, most-talked-about, and all-around best eateries that San Diego has to offer, here
00:26on Food Diego.
00:34The Friendly Tavern in North Park has taken over Carnita's old location.
00:39They started as a pizza shop on 30th Street that also serves one burger, the Dirty Flat Top Cheeseburger which
00:45has two smashed patties, American cheese, butter-braised onions, and garlic aioli.
00:50They've since expanded their menu with more burgers at their tavern location on University as well as locations in Pacific
00:56Beach and on Convoy.
00:57One additional burger at the Friendly Tavern is the sh**kicker that also includes large onion rings, bacon, and barbecue sauce
01:05inside.
01:07The Balboa is located on 5th Avenue near the west entrance of Balboa Park and close to and sometimes directly
01:13underneath San Diego's famous flight path.
01:17It's a cocktail dive with pool tables and arcade games.
01:21They're known for winning Best Burger in San Diego in a 2022 competition put on by a local magazine.
01:27Their original Balboa burger comes with lettuce, tomato, onion, American cheese, their house-made aioli, and the beef patties are
01:35third-pounder, all-natural fresh beef.
01:48Hot Dads in Ocean Beach is a world-famous burger spot that has been around since 1969.
01:54They also have a second location downtown and people come to San Diego from all around just to try their
01:59burgers.
02:00They do a unique spin by including their own blue cheese sauce and brown mustard on most of their burgers.
02:06But they also have more traditional ones like this bacon cheeseburger loaded with the works.
02:11You even get a special treat at the end of your meal.
02:15North Park Beer Company is well-known as a brewery in the heart of North Park,
02:19but their restaurant on 5th Avenue in Banker's Hill does some great burgers like their famous smash burger called the
02:24Original Smash.
02:26It has two smashed beef patties, melted onions, two slices of American cheese, and their house special sauce on a
02:32toasted potato roll.
03:01Classics Malt Shop, or Midway Classic Malt Shop on Google, is exactly what it sounds like,
03:06a 1950s classic malt shop located in a shopping center off Midway in the Sports Arena area.
03:12Their western burger is stacked high with two large onion rings dripping in barbecue sauce, bacon, American cheese,
03:18and a quarter-pound handmade beef patty served on a brioche bun.
03:22Duke's Old Fashioned Onion Burgers is located in the La Mesa Crossroads Shopping Center on Baltimore Drive in La Mesa.
03:28They serve Oklahoma-style onion burgers which means they come loaded with lots of grilled onions.
03:33Duke's's specialty is they make them with large, charred, beef patties, American cheese,
03:38and any other toppings of your choice which can be mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles, jalapenos, and bacon.
03:46This one is the double which means it has double everything that was chosen.
03:49They also have a wide variety of hot sauces and additional condiments.
03:54Make sure you're really hungry before eating at Duke's.
04:10Rockies is located on Ingram Street in Crown Point, which is a piece of land that protrudes into a section
04:15of Mission Bay.
04:17Rockies specializes in perfectly cooked beef patties.
04:21They are thick but tender and melt away in your mouth.
04:27Their cheeseburger comes with dark, leafy green lettuce, onion, tomato, cheese, and mayo.
04:33Ketchup and mustard can be added at your table and the pickles are also served on the side so you're
04:38not required to have them in the burger.
04:43Over in Old Town, in a mini-plaza called Urban Market, is Bonehead Burger Company.
04:49Bonehead Burgers started in Barrio Logan but has since opened locations in Imperial Beach, the East Village, and this one
04:55in Old Town.
04:56They're known for being the highest-rated burger place on Yelp in 2023.
05:01Their legendary Bonehead Burger goes by the slogan of Best Burger Ever and features their signature bonehead sauce, cheddar cheese,
05:09maple bacon, scallions, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and a raw but lightly seared onion.
05:14Moving up to the Miramar area, on Kearney Villa, is Rombaum Burgers.
05:19Rombaums are only available for pickup at the parking lot of this commercial kitchen called Personal Touch Dining.
05:25The burgers are the invention of Burger Chef and San Diego native, Roman.
05:29He does perfectly cooked smash burgers that are smothered in his signature sauce and grilled onions and cheese.
05:35He also does a spicy chili-garlic variation with fresh green onion.
05:40You might try his black pepper tots too with Rombaum sauce.
05:43At the time of filming, Rombaum is only open on Wednesday evenings and orders should be placed during the week.
05:50You can also check Rombaum's Instagram stories to see if he has extras and order on site.
06:07Located in the Westfield UTC Mall and inside the Dining Terrace food court above the ice rink, is Swagyu Burger.
06:14Swagyu, with additional locations in Poway and downtown San Diego, does Wagyu smash burgers that are two-thirds F1 Wagyu
06:21beef and one-third high-end Japanese Wagyu.
06:23Their classic quarter-pounder features a 4-ounce smash patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, American cheese, pickles, and a thousand-island
06:31-like secret sauce and a toasted potato brioche bun.
06:36Further north in the Del Mar-Carmel Valley area is the One Paseo Shopping Center.
06:41This shopping center has a butcher shop called The Butchery.
06:44In addition to selling fine meats and related items, they also have a kitchen for ordering food on the spot
06:50like their burger and fries.
06:51The Butchery's Burger is a little upscale, featuring a thick ground beef patty that's cooked the way you want it.
06:57It also has grilled onions, American cheese, camp mix seasoning, Sir Kensington's special sauce, tomato, and arugula instead of lettuce.
07:10Down on Convoy Street in Kearney Mesa is Eat Crispy Burger, who also has locations in La Jolla, Encinitas, and
07:17National City.
07:18Eat Crispy's famous flagship burger is the OG original which features 100% Angus beef, American cheese, grilled onion, and
07:26Thousand Island dressing in a brioche bun.
07:30Moving down to East San Diego on University Avenue is Canada Steak Burger, which has an additional location in Chula
07:36Vista.
07:38Their burgers can be ordered with a 4-ounce, 6-ounce, or 8-ounce beef patty.
07:43Cheese and other items can be ordered as extras but they come with lettuce, fresh onion, mustard, mayo, and a
07:49touch of ketchup.
07:51Back in North Park on the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and Utah Street is another butcher shop and eatery
07:56called The Wise Ox.
07:58You can't miss them because of their barbecue smoker cooking in the parking lot.
08:03The Wise Ox does a nicely-sized double cheeseburger with two, thin, beef patties, American cheese, a large and fresh
08:09piece of lettuce, tomato, pickles, and Thousand Island dressing in a high-quality brioche bun.
08:15Also in North Park on 30th Street and Lincoln is Crazy Burger.
08:19They have a menu of over 30 hand-crafted burger creations.
08:23At Crazy Burger you can also get crazy with their menu of exotic, game burgers such as antelope, wild boar,
08:30venison, ostrich, buffalo, alligator, camel, water buffalo, elk, and lamb.
08:35Their Texas burger has a 6-ounce patty that's ground fresh daily from real steak trim of sirloin, chuck rolls,
08:41brisket, short ribs, and New York strip.
08:44It also comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles, fresh red onion, hardwood-smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, and their secret hickory barbecue
08:52sauce.
08:59Also on 30th Street, but on the other end of North Park, is Dunedin, a tropically-decorated New Zealand food
09:06restaurant.
09:07Its name, Dunedin, is the name of a city in New Zealand.
09:12Because of this, Dunedin makes a good place for an unconventional burger like the hog and heifers.
09:18It's a little on the pricey side with organic, grass-fed beef, bacon, avocado, and Edom cheese.
09:24It also has lettuce, tomato, red onion, and is sauced with tomato chutney and garlic aioli.
09:30You also get extra sauces on the side that you can dip their crisp shoestring fries in.
09:36Dunedin also does other burgers like their Wagyu Smash Burger.
10:02Down in the Gaslamp Quarter, there are multiple places to get some of San Diego's best burgers, like Garage on
10:084th Avenue.
10:10Garage is owned by a transplant from Minnesota so the bar is a Vikings fan hangout.
10:15But being so close to Petco Park, they're also welcoming of San Diego Padre fans.
10:21However, anyone can enjoy their top-tier burgers like their Butcher's Burger that features a blend of wild bison, wild
10:27boar, and beef in the patty.
10:29It also has crispy shallots, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and is sweetened with bacon jam and their special garage sauce.
10:38Two doors south on 4th Avenue is Werewolf American Pub.
10:42Werewolf is a bar with fun and quirky werewolf theming and is also known as a brunch spot.
10:48And that's in addition to some amazing burgers.
10:51Their Triple Threat Burger comes with maple-glazed pork belly and a fried egg in addition to the beef patty.
10:57It also has dark greens, tomato, pickles, and is sauced with a garlic aioli.
11:03On the corner of the ballpark is Bub's San Diego, also known as Bub's at the Ballpark,
11:08an American sports bar that also serves all kinds of food and bites.
11:12Bub's has a popular Thousand Island Burger called the Schmanimal.
11:15It comes with a beef patty that's cooked the way you like it, melted cheese, caramelized bacon onions, lettuce, tomato,
11:22pickles, and their homemade Thousand Island sauce.
11:33On the harbor side of the convention center is a waterfront park called Embarcadero Marina, Park South.
11:40At this park, there's a fishing pier that has a small bait stand, Burgers Bait and Beer.
11:45Well, Burgers Bait and Beer is also a food stand and is a great place to enjoy some of San
11:50Diego's best burgers in the outdoors.
11:53Their most popular burger is the Pastrami Burger.
11:56It has some good-sized cuts of pastrami, a thick beef patty, grilled onions, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and their
12:03house-made Thousand Island sauce.
12:08Underneath the start of the Coronado Bridge, on the San Diego side, is Barrio Logan.
12:13Barrio Logan is a Chicano community known for its Chicano Park.
12:17In the heart of this neighborhood is a distillery and restaurant called Liberty Call Distilling.
12:22Liberty Call celebrates a Liberty and Navy theme, as there are multiple naval installations around San Diego.
12:28Even though they're more known for the spirits they make like their Constitution bourbon, they're known for their burger.
12:34The burger is called the Barrio Burger and it comes with two quarter-pound smushed beef patties, pickles, lettuce, onion,
12:40American cheese, and a white spread served in a brioche bun.
12:44And ketchup can be brought to your table.
12:49Also in Barrio Logan, over on Logan Avenue itself, is Hayes Burger.
12:54Just like Bonehead Burger, that we covered earlier, Hayes started here in Barrio Logan but has opened another location, like
13:01the Hayes in Normal Heights.
13:02Hayes Burgers are simple Thousand Island burgers but made with such high-quality ingredients and such great taste that they're
13:09among the highest-rated burgers on Yelp.
13:10The Double Cheeseburger has two third-pound Angus Chuck smashed patties, two slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and
13:19their Thousand Island sauce.
13:20If you'd like to add ketchup, they've got regular or spicy ketchup.
13:41Right on Mission Boulevard and Mission Beach is Rosemary's, an acclaimed burger spot that makes incredible sliders like their award
13:48-winning Rosie Single, or Double, and the Little Sal.
13:51The Rosie Single has a Wagyu patty and is stacked with onion confit, American cheese, Japanese Kewpie mayo, and their
13:58house special sauce, which is a Thousand Island-like pink sauce.
14:01The Little Sal also has a Wagyu patty, onion confit, and Kewpie mayo, but instead of their pink sauce it
14:07has a bacon whiskey sauce, jack cheese, and baby arugula.
14:17Nearby, Pacific Beach is where a family-owned food truck called Beach Eats is operated out of.
14:22Although, the truck can be found anywhere in town, like this business park in 4S Ranch.
14:28Beach Eats is great for when you just want a basic classic cheeseburger but cooked to perfection with melt-away
14:33meat.
14:34The burgers have shredded lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, cheese, and just a dab of mayo.
14:41With fries and a drink, this meal is also the most affordable one we've covered.
14:47For cheese lovers, you'll have to try the Melt, which has locations in La Jolla Village, downtown, and this one
14:54in the Del Mar Heights Shopping Center in Carmel Valley.
14:57True to their name, the Melt loads their burgers with plenty of melted cheddar cheese.
15:02They start as a basic meat and cheeseburger with Thousand Island sauce, but if you'd like to add lettuce, tomato,
15:08onions, and jalapenos, those are all, free, add-ons.
15:17Back to Kearney Mesa, in this unassuming strip mall on Kearney Villa, is Annie's Fine Burgers, which is second to
15:23their original location in Santee.
15:26Annie's has a menu of over 30 gourmet burgers, and all are 100% Angus.
15:31This is the Hickory BBQ Burger, which has a half-pound patty, two beer-battered onion rings, crisp bacon, cheddar
15:38cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and hickory sauce.
15:56Back to La Mesa again on La Mesa Boulevard is the Hills Pub.
16:00The Hills is a fun little sports bar with arcade games.
16:05They make a popular house burger, named The Hills, which has a tender beef patty, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, lightly
16:12spiced pickles, and chipotle sauce in a brioche bun.
16:16Cheese, a fried egg, bacon, jalapenos, and candied jalapeno bacon can all be added but this burger is so tasty
16:23as is, that it doesn't even need cheese.
16:27Over in North Park again, but on Adams Avenue, is Swan Bar, a nighttime cocktail bar that is also open
16:34in the afternoon on weekends.
16:36The Swan Bar is a place where you can find one of San Diego's best smash burgers.
16:41It's got two smashed patties, just the right amount of melted cheese, pickles, a white sauce and a pink sauce,
16:47in a toasted bun.
16:48You also get a few extra pickles and even a couple chili peppers to spice up your meal with.
16:58South of North Park is the neighborhood, appropriately named, South Park, which is known for its tree-lined thoroughfare.
17:05Down where 30th Street becomes Fern Street, is a corner burger restaurant called Station Tavern and Burgers,
17:10which is named after the street car station that used to sit in this spot in the 1930s and 40s.
17:15The place was renovated from a bar called Sippy's Tavern that was on the corner portion of the property from
17:201950 to 2003,
17:22while the trolley line passed through the restaurant's outdoor portion.
17:25Today, Station Tavern is known as a great place to get a build-your-own burger with a large, dog
17:31-friendly, outdoor area.
17:35The burgers start as a basic hamburger that has a third-pound Angus Chuck patty, lettuce, onion, tomato, and pickles.
17:42Then you bump up your burger by adding from a choice of cheeses, applewood smoked bacon, avocado, a fried egg,
17:49caramelized onions, and other items.
17:51Here is their burger with pepper jack cheese and caramelized onions as bump-ups.
17:56Ketchup and mustard bottles are brought to your table or you can order from house-made sauces like their chipotle
18:01mayo.
18:16Moving west to Little Italy is a tavern called the Waterfront, which is San Diego's oldest tavern.
18:22Established in 1933, Waterfront is not San Diego's oldest bar, but it is the oldest tavern.
18:29Being a tavern, that means they also have good food like their burger sliders, called Waterfront Sliders.
18:36The sliders have perfectly cooked, tender beef, grilled onions, melted American cheese, and pink sauce in a Hawaiian roll.
18:58To the west of the Waterfront Tavern is Little Italy's waterfront, the Embarcadero.
19:03On the Embarcadero, there's a food stand and watering hole called Carnitas Snack Shack.
19:09Carnitas is known more for pork tacos, but surprisingly, Carnitas also does a couple of decent burgers like their Smash
19:15Burger and this one, the Shack Burger.
19:18While there's nothing special about the beef patty, the Shack Burger gets points on flavor with their bacon jam, cheddar
19:24cheese, aioli sauce, lettuce, tomato, and pickles in a soft brioche bun.
19:38Moving south to the historic part of National City, on 8th Street, is Wavy Burgers.
19:44Wavy is located in a shared space with Friends of Friends Coffee Roastery.
19:49So together, the place makes for a great eatery and coffee hangout at the same time.
19:54Wavy's OG Burger is another great smash burger with nicely cooked, double-smashed wagyu patties that don't care about the
20:00bun size, white American cheese, confit onions, and chipotle aioli.
20:35From there, we go a bit north to the college area.
20:39On El Cajon Boulevard is a beer-only dive bar with pool tables called Majorette.
20:44And Majorette happens to make a smash burger that rivals any of the other great smash burgers of San Diego.
20:51It's got a soft and tender smash patty, which you can also get as a double, and then it's got
20:56mayo, pickles, cheese, and grilled onions.
20:59No lettuce and tomato needed.
21:18And with that, that concludes our list of the best burgers in San Diego.
21:22We went from San Diego's urban areas, to the beaches, to the northern reaches of the city, and out east
21:28into La Mesa.
21:30We hope you join us next time for more amazing eateries that San Diego has to offer, here on Food
21:35Diego.
21:36Until then, we hope you discovered something new and will try some of these burgers yourself.
21:41Thanks for watching.
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