Taste of Sacramento: After our reader poll, we name the best burgers in town

In 1885, Charlie Nagreen was a kid trying to sell some meatballs at a county fair in Wisconsin. But the meatballs were messy. Nobody was buying. Finally, Nagreen had an idea. He began cooking flatter meatballs, mashing the meat into discs and then serving it between two pieces of bread. The hamburger was born.

Well, maybe. The exact origins of the American hamburger are pretty murky, and Nagreen is just one of several possible inventors. Over a century later, the hamburger looks a bit different. We’ve added trimmings and condiments. We discovered antibiotics, and then we discovered we didn’t want them in our meat. We became vegetarians and vegans. But we never stopped craving hamburgers; we just demanded more options.

Sacbee.com voters recently took to the polls more than 30,000 times to choose the best burger in the Sacramento area. The results: Delicious. Some spots stood out more than others in the poll.

Burgers and Brew is a family-owned burger joint with locations in Sacramento, West Sacramento, Davis and Chico.

“The idea was to offer a burger that is grass-fed,” said owner Derar Zawaydeh. “So we opted for Niman Ranch, which is beef with no antibiotics … no hormones.”

The restaurant’s half-pound patties are made from 80% lean ground chuck and served on freshly toasted sesame buns. The restaurant gets the buns from the Village Bakery in Davis, and they’re a perfect fit in terms of meat-to-bread ratio.

“You know how it is,” said Zawaydeh. “Sometimes you get a burger with a lot of bun, or you get a little bun with a lot of meat … this one fits perfectly, the taste is delicious and we get them every day.”

Burgers and Brew offers several variations on the traditional burger. The spicy guacamole burger is made with house-made spicy guacamole, jalepeño mayonnaise and pepper jack cheese. The bacon and jalapeno cheeseburger comes with hickory-smoked bacon, marinated jalapeños, fresh jalapeño mayo and pepper jack cheese.

Burgers and Brew offers more than just beef. “We have a lamb burger that is to die for,” said Zawaydeh. It’s made with roasted garlic, olive oil, feta cheese, spring mix, tomato and onion, and it comes with a house-made tzatziki sauce for dipping.

And then there’s the buffalo burger, made from real buffalo. “It’s tasty and it’s healthier than beef in terms of the fat content or cholesterol and all that,” said Zawaydeh.

Rounding out the menu is a vegetarian garden burger as well as two vegan options: The portobello mushroom burger and an Impossible Burger (made with roasted garlic, olive oil, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and vegan mayonnaise on a sesame bun).

Burgers are offered a la carte or with a side of fries or salad.

Skip’s Kitchen in Carmichael

Skip’s Kitchen in Carmichael offers several burger options. The Skip’s Original is made with lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion and house sauce (a combination of ketchup, mayonnaise and whole grain mustard). The sauce is used on all Skip’s burgers except for the Western Burger, which uses a barbecue sauce to complement the thick-cut cherrywood smoked bacon and medium sharp cheddar.

The B.O.M. slider plate consists of three smaller burgers made with provolone cheese and the B.O.M. — bacon onion marmalade. “It’s like a bacon onion jam that we put on our burgers,” said owner Skip Wahl.

The three sliders have the same amount of meat as one of the regular burgers, which weigh just shy of half a pound. The meat is 50% chuck and 50% sirloin. “Because it’s ground steak, we can have it cooked medium, or medium well, or well done,” explained Wahl. At Skip’s, the burgers are usually cooked medium, and that’s still pretty pink.

Skip’s meat has a lean-to-fat ratio of 85 to 15. It’s less fat than many burger joints, which go with an 80 to 20 ratio. “Now, some would argue that fat equals flavor, and you need also a little fat in the burger to bind it,” said Wahl. “For me, it’s a little better quality meat.”

And there’s another ratio to consider: the meat to bun ratio. Too much fat and it cooks off, leaving you with a smaller patty. Skip’s uses a brioche bun. It’s an egg-based bun, slightly sweeter than the average white or wheat bread bun. The brioche is toasted and buttered, which gives it a bit of char flavor and keeps it from getting soggy.

Skip’s also serves a veggie patty, made in-house from ground mushrooms and walnuts. It’s made with fresh basil, parsley and Parmesan cheese. It’s not designed to taste like meat.

The burger plates at Skip’s Kitchen come with a side of cross cut or sweet potato fries.

Pangea Bier Cafe

Pangaea Bier Café is a restaurant/tap house on Franklin Boulevard in Sacramento. The menu includes a range of options, from nachos to lasagna to farro and kale salad. And they also have a burger. It’s a repeat winner of the Sacramento Burger Battle, a burger cook-off that raises funds for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. And it’s a customer favorite.

“The most popular dish is by far the burger. It out-sells the second top selling dish two to one,” said Lucas Rodriguez, the restaurant’s general manager. “We sell more burgers than anything else by far.”

The patty is a custom blend of chuck and brisket, and it’s served on a brioche bun from Bella Bru. Trimmings include cheddar cheese, applewood bacon, lettuce, onions, tomato and house-made pickles and sauce. The burger costs $16 and comes with a side of fries.

“We just make sure that we’re always using the freshest produce that we can get our hands on,” said Rodriguez.

If you go

Skip’s Kitchen: 4717 El Camino Ave., Carmichael. http://www.skipskitchen.com

Pangaea Bier Cafe: 2743 Franklin Blvd., Sacramento. www.pangaeabiercafe.com

Burgers and Brew: Multiple locaitons. Sacramento: 1409 R St. #105. www.burgersandbrew.com

This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.