C: Welcome to Chedda Burger. We’re here at the location on Foothill; there’s also one at the Gateway. We’re enjoying some outdoor seating.
J: Started as a food truck, we learned.
C: I really wish I got a regular burger.
J: You didn’t like yours?
C: Well, I got the Honeymooner. It has coconut-glazed fried pineapple on it, in a ring, pulled pork…it had the gravy garlic mayo, and there was just so much in it that was not burger. My meat was really good, it was juicy, a tiny bit pink, extremely fresh and true meat. Very juicy…couldn’t taste it. There was pulled pork, garlic paste, pineapple…everything was just burying the meat.
J: It sounds good though.
C: It does sound good, which is why I ordered it. But there are simply too many things that don’t work together well.
J: So you didn’t like it.
[Extremely long pause. “Teardrops On My Guitar” plays on the speakers in the background.]
C: Old Taylor Swift—I was so done with all the extra stuff that I just eventually got rid of it and ate simply the patty and the bun. I liked the bun. The patty was well made. As a burger, it could have been successful. And I don’t dislike pulled pork or pineapple, or any of this stuff. But all piled on a burger it became too much, and everything lost its identity. You had the Chedda Burger.
J: The bacon version. The bacon was crisp.
C: Is that a good thing?
J: I know I like it. It had a smoky flavor. The sauce was excellent. It was tangy and had a bit of heat. It came on cold—I don’t know how often I have cold sauce on a burger.
C: What was it? Fry sauce?
J: Maybe as a base, but there was more to it. It was a little hot, a little citrusy.
C: The core part of my burger was strong, the bun and patty. I want to come back and get a simpler burger. I like the idea for the specialty burger, and all of the ingredients were good, but it was buried. It just doesn’t succeed as a burger. The burger itself doesn’t shine. And you can have a specialty burger that’s still a cheeseburger.
J: This got too far away.
C: It was a pineapple pulled pork sandwich that had a beef patty hidden inside.
J: This burger did something rare for me. Each bite was better than the last. That’s a sign of a good meal. I didn’t think it was special on the first bite. It wasn’t a greasy burger. As I got into it, its strengths came out. And I was able to discover its flavor more as I adventured through it.
C: It’s a very real burger. Avoid the Honeymooner. Just get the Chedda Burger. What did you think of the fries?
J: Loved the fries.
C: I liked them. I didn’t love them though. They were really salty.
J: Yes!
C: They use kosher salt here. Big granulated salt. Crystalline chunks, you can see and taste it.
J: Fry sauce was average.
C: It’s a medium fry.
J: A little skinnier.
C: Yeah. Medium but leaning thin. Medium crispiness, very unique style and quantity of salt.
J: Our favorite part now…
C: Vanilla shake.
J: I had the vanilla and it was topped with good, soft whipped cream, and then…it was icy.
C: It was icy!
J: It was unique. It’s hard to have a unique shake but they did it. They pulled it off. I wouldn’t say it was perfect, but it was great. I liked it.
C: I think the iciness, which really was unique, wasn’t necessary a strength. I got Oreo—it was very chunky with big pieces of Oreo cookie. Definitely a hand-made shake.
J: I think you can’t go wrong with milk and ice cream. It’s a great combo. If there’s ice in this one, I don’t know. But the consistency and flavor are atypical.
C: I agree—when I worked at McDonald’s as a teenager, I learned that the shakes weren’t milk and ice cream. They were just shake. When the machine ran low they’d send me into the fridge to grab these big plastic bags of off-white fluid and pour them in, and the machine would mix it. It was just a pre-prepared mix, possibly from a powder mix at the distributor, but it wasn’t shake. It wasn’t milk and ice cream. But you know what? It was still pretty good. And if that’s how it’s done at McDonald’s, it wouldn’t surprise me that other fast food places do it similarly. These shakes here at Chedda Burger didn’t feel or taste that way, despite being watery and icy as well as thick and chunky. Those things might seem contradictory, but they’re not, somehow. They exist together. It’s unique.
J: I liked my Chedda Burger more than a few places we’ve been. Better than Hires. This is an above average burger experience. Just beware the specialty burgers.
C: Yeah. Stick to basics, because they do it well here.
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