It's Complicated

Marlowe opened in SOMA last February with serious burger buzz. The Chronicle’s food critic proclaimed it his favorite burger in San Francisco. A year later, I took my seat to find out what all the fuss is about.

I had to sleep on this one before I felt ready to articulate my thoughts. I almost wish I hadn’t known about the burger buzz as I think it isn’t allowing me to objectively evaluate it – I feel like I SHOULD rave about it or that maybe I am missing something. I’ll start from the top (literally): the bun has good shape and structure but I couldn’t help but feel bothered that it was cold. I had never noticed this preference in myself before, but I guess I like a slightly toasted bun. There’s a smear of mayonnaise – not too much, but just enough to register on my palette and to hold the loose lettuce to the bun. Below the mayo comes some nice caramelized onions. Liked the onions. Then comes the bacon. I am actually becoming stressed as I write this! The bacon totally overpowered the burger. But I love bacon! Why does this bother me? This should be a good thing! The bacon was particularly salty – beyond my salt tolerance level (which is freakishly high). The strong bacon presence is magnified by the fact that the beef patty is extremely thin. Like, McDonalds’ patty thin. It gets lost in the crowd of bacon, caramelized onion, condiments, salt, and so forth (see picture). Finally, the bottom of the burger also had its problems: the grease from the meat seeped to the bottom and caused the bottom bun to be soggy and quite messy. There was a pool of grease at the bottom of my plate. The thin fries were enjoyable, but again, too salty.

Desperately trying to cleanse the salt from my mouth, I insisted we order a dessert (isn’t that what one ought to do?? Water is for sissies). The chocolate pudding was top-notch: rich, served with loose pie crumbs, and cool presentation.

As I re-read this, I feel like I'm ripping into Marlowe. But I actually walked out feeling quite satisfied. I remember initially thinking it was waaay too salty but otherwise enjoyable. All things considered, I would recommend this place to others and go back myself. I really loved the restaurant itself: small, cozy, and industrial. I had a great corner spot near the entrance that enabled me to people watch inside and outside the restaurant. Lastly, they play great music in the background (think Stevie Wonder and Aretha) but keep the volume under control. If I go back, I would probably branch out to other tempting items on the menu.