Umami Burger

Yes!  Only a 5 minute wait to get a table here on a weekday (Tues) night versus 45 min plus on the weekends.  Umami has a pretty decent waiting system, where they take down your name and number on their Ipad and text you when your table is up.  There are a handful of regular item burgers on this Southern California burger chain, but they also have daily specials on their "secret" menu.

Truffle fries made with cheese melted on top of fries and drizzled with truffle oil.  It's one of the "secret" menu items.  The earthy scent of truffles smells heavenly and the taste is delicious as well.  Super cheesy with hints of truffle.  

The cheesy tater tots were another "special" item of the day.  They were lightly crisp with a super soft, mushy center.  I was expecting tater tots covered in melted cheese, which I think would have been amazing.  I wished these had more of a crunchy texture and more cheese flavor.  The cheese flavor was very subtle.

Umami's house made ketchup doesn't taste like ketchup at all.  It has a little sweet and sour taste to it.
 

I was pretty excited to find out that they had the bone marrow burger on the special for the day.  The burgers at Umami are noticeably smaller, but also taller than regular burgers.  The bone marrow burger came with tempura fried bone marrow atop a juicy patty and pickled vegetable.  The burger was so decadent and rich.  The bone marrow just oozed perfect fatty flavor in every bite.  It probably could have done with another type of pickled vegetable to balance out the richness, but other than that it was delicious.

The bone marrow burger (medium rare) dissected.
 

Umami really hits home for me.  It puts two of my loves in a burger:  bone marrow and truffle.  Now only if they could put them both in ONE burger.  A large patty with melted truffle cheese and truffle oil between two buns makes up the delicious truffle burger.  The cheese used in the burger is similar to the cheese on the fries so you get a big dose of truffle flavor from that.  The meat itself didn't seem to have any truffle flavor or bits in it, which would probably actually equate to a $25 burger versus the actual $12.  Just wished the burger wasn't so bun heavy.

The truffle burger (medium rare) dissected.

Address:                       Umami Burger

                                             2184 Union St.

                                             San Francisco, CA

Type:                               burgers

Popular chomps:  bone marrow burger
                                             cheesy tater tots
                                             truffle fries
                                             truffle burger      
                                             bacon wrapped scallop burger                      

Chomp worthy:     bone marrow burger
                                             truffle burger
                                             truffle fries