Betting on BURGERS

| BY ANNELISE KELLY | When

the kitchen at The Skillet restaurant in Las Vegas, New Mexico, closes down for dinner at 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday nights, the business of selling food doesn’t stop. With karaoke going on until the wee hours of the morning, customers need something to nosh on — and what they order in droves are the “super popular” burgers that chef-owner Isaac Sandoval makes sure he has on hand.

“During regular service hours, we have burgers fresh off the grill, but on Thursday and Friday nights I have the kitchen make them and then keep them under the heat lamp to sell late-night,” he says. It’s a successful approach to a post-dinner menu: The Skillet sells between 30 and 50 burgers by the end of each night!

“We started as a taco place…but now everyone loves the burgers!” says Sandoval, who counts the Green Chile Cheeseburger (pictured on the cover) as one of his customers’ favorites.

It’s proof that adding creative touches can transform the humble hamburger into a menu standout at Mexican- and Latinthemed restaurants.

You can swap out the standard soft bun for a chipotle bun like celebrity chef Rick Bayless did at fast casual restaurant Smashburger; use a traditional Mexican roll like a telera or bolillo; or even wrap your burger in a flour tortilla the way Sandoval did with The Charlie Boy, a rendition of his Green Chile Cheeseburger that he once entered in Edible New Mexico’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown that’s been held every year since 2013 in Santa Fe. (Sandoval’s Double Green Cheeseburger even took home The President’s Award in the 2021 contest.)

You also can trade the traditional ground beef patty for a blend with chorizo; add your own seasoning to beef, lamb or poultry; and experiment with condiments like pico de gallo, guacamole, queso, roasted chiles, fruit salsas, and more.

From the American Southwest to Mexico to Cuba to Peru chefs have put their signature imprint on the burger. We surveyed the burger scene for the latest and greatest ways chefs are bringing Latin flavor to an American favorite.

Green chile burgers like those at The Skillet have attained cult status in the Southwest.

Aficionados can even plan their travels to make sure they hit spots along New Mexico’s Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail for a taste of region’s iconic burgers.

One prize-winning example is the Buckhorn Burger at the Buckhorn Tavern in San Antonio, New Mexico. Accolades include the number-seven spot on GQ magazine’s list of “20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die.” The tavern opened its doors in 1918 and changed hands in 2019. New co-owner Stephanie Sichler observes that “in New Mexico, almost no food is finished until it has red or green chile on it. Roasted green chile has a buttery, smoky, intense flavor that adds depth to the beef’s natural flavor.”

(continued on page 22)

BY ANNELISE KELLY Can menuing sliders

— those popular mini versions of burgers and sandwiches — beef up your bottom line?

Chef Nathan Campbell at Salvador Molly’s in Portland, Oregon, says they can.

The restaurant — which Campbell says has “been around for like 30 years” — has always had sliders, one version made with tamarindo BBQ pork and served with mango slaw.

“Sliders are great for happy hour...[and] people like ‘em for lunchtime because they don’t feel like they’re eating a lot. They sell pretty good,” reports Campbell, who adds that sliders also are a great vehicle for trying out something new. For example, he took catfish, which he usually uses in the restaurant’s po’ boy, fried it in his fish taco beer batter, and turned his existing garlic aioli into tarter sauce with diced pickles — and presto, his popular fish slider was born.

Another fan is Andrew Cisneros, the chef at Jalea in St. Louis, Missouri, who recently opened the casual sandwich counter Sanguichitos by Brasas in Perennial Artisan Ales in St. Louis. Sliders — including a burger as well as pork belly, crab, and Peruvian rotisserie chicken salad sliders — are the main attraction.

“The slider concept came to us at Jalea because I really wanted to incorporate a sandwich for our lunch menu,” Cisneros says. “I love seafood and I wanted to introduce something similar to eating a Maine lobster roll but something original, with my Peruvian flair. We tried it with our crab filling, our lobster filling, pork belly, and it really worked with everything.”

On the current menu is a blue crab roll with smoked trout roe, which has become one of Jalea’s staples.

Her husband, co-owner Ernie Sichler, advises operators to “keep it simple — a little salt and pepper is all you need. We grind our meat daily. This allows us to control the quality and texture of the meat. Do not overwork the meat by moving it around or pushing down on the burger while it is on the grill. Take your time, watch your temperature, and you should have a nice juicy burger at the end.” Other green chile burger spins on the Buckhorn menu include a tortilla burger topped with red or green chile, and taco burgers wrapped with corn tortillas.

At El Roi in Albuquerque, chef-owner Joshua Archuleta swaps the bun for fry bread in the Fry Bread Green Chile Cheeseburger that made the list of New Mexico Magazine’s

“20 Burgers You Need to Eat Now” and was a Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown contender in 2022.

At the Smoking Griddle, a food truck in Clovis, New Mexico, owner Sebastian Esquivel delivers extra zing via his cheese choices. The green chile katso burger is topped with both pepper jack and a smoked queso sauce, along with green chiles.

Another smoky swap is on the menu at the High Point Grill in Albuquerque. A Wagyu beef patty is pressed with Chimayó red chile powder, and more Chimayó dusts the melting sharp cheddar cheese layered over an extra-hot Hatch green chile.

Mexico has a thriving tradition of street food and hamburguesas, so it’s no surprise that Mexican hamburgers are a thing. Tacos and Beer is beloved in New Orleans for its Mexican burger topped with homemade chorizo and lavishly dressed with chipotle mayo and avocado as well as lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and cheese.

At Hamburguesas El Gordo in Minnesota, the menu proudly proclaims “our hamburguesas are exactly what you would find being served by street vendors in the northern part of Mexico,” with toppings including mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, ham, bacon, avocado, and pickle peppers. In Utah, Loco Burger crafts the “best Mexican burgers in Utah” by topping beef patties with ham, pork chops, bacon, or hot dogs.

“Burgers are actually a lot more common in South America than people think, particularly in Peru. Our street food is sandwiches, like tacos are in Mexico, so you’ll see lots of food carts in Peru offering just burgers,” says Andrew Cisneros, the chef at Peruvian restaurant Jalea in St. Louis, Missouri, who recently launched Sanguichitos by Brasas, a casual sandwich counter inside Perennial Artisan Ales in St. Louis. He says the classic burger in Peru resembles a U.S. burger but is often topped with shoestring potatoes and a fried egg. At Sanguichitos by Brasas, his slider-sized Peruvian street burger starts with a seasoned beef patty slicked with a ketchup-and-mayo fry sauce, topped with smoked cheddar cheese, and piled with crispy potatoes and fried shallots.

Restaurant Jarana serves Peruvian Nikkei (Japanese-influenced) dishes in Lulu, a bar in Portland, Oregon. Chef Gary Marmanillo rotates some burgers and sliders through the menu, including the pisco smashburger with pisco aioli and caramelized onions, invented for Portland Burger Week 2022.

Peru Mix is a Peruvian chain with over a dozen locations in Colombia. Their burger gets its Peruvian twist from sarza criolla, a zingy relish of red onions and other aromatics marinated in lemon juice.

Caribbean-inspired Salvador Molly’s crafted a Rude Boy burger for Portland Burger Week 2022, employing a jerked beef patty topped with mango coleslaw and their house-made “sunshine and pain” hot sauce. They also offer sliders on the regular menu. (See sidebar about sliders on pages 20-21.)

Like Peruvian burgers, the hallmark of the classic Cuban burger is a pile of crispy fried shoestring potatoes on top. Chicago’s Amaru Pan-Latin Eatery & Cocktails adds that classic touch in the Frita Cubana, a seasoned grass-fed beef patty topped with queso Oaxaca, burnt garlic aioli, and the requisite potato topping.

The list of Latin-inspired burgers from the more basic to the most sublime could go on and on and on…why not take to your kitchen to create a rendition for your menu?

See recipe for Chorizo Burgers on page 55. And if you have your own creative burger recipe you’d like to share, email it to Editor Kathleen Furore at kfurore@ restmex.com