One Star Old Fashioned-Too Cute A Burger

‘It’s cute’, one twitter friend mentioned me when I uploaded the image right above without mentioning any specifics about the burger: location, name, etc. Thank to the mention, I realized what I had been thinking about while and after the burger. Yes, it is… cute.

Is being cute bad for the burger? I don’t think so. Making anything cute is not an easy task. More than anything, especially for the burger, you must maintain certain level of tidiness. For that, there are three orders to keep. First all, the bun and the patty have same diameter so that they can be vertically aligned.

Secondly, all the toppings collectively keep some kind of discipline in shape and form, including thickness and volume. They should be meaningful whether alone or with other toppings. Lastly, while it is a kind of topping, cheese should separately considered in and of itself as it not only be stacked but melts. Portion, temperature and texture after melting and all other aspects should be coordinated with all other parts of the burger.

One Star Old Fashioned’s cheeseburger gets all three orders right, to the level where it feels like a disadvantage to itself. In other words, the only value that burger pursues is just tidiness. It is cute, but a bit too cute. More that anything, the burger rarely boasts textural contrast.

In my book, I define the mantra of burger as ‘the variation of softness’, however for this one, almost all the parts are similarly soft so much so that feels mushy. Between two pieces of buns heavily lean on to softer side, the barely holding patty is sandwiched. Small and even morsel of beef combining medium well grilling and not enough resting (meaning still hot), the patty doesn’t feel assertive as the one in that weight range. The lack of beefiness doesn’t help and without thebeefiness to tame, salt looks a bit lost with noticeably salty trail. All in all, it doesn’t satiate any aspect of appetite other than visuality.

No, I don’t consider it is meaningless; the tidiness alone is not an easy feat to achieve, especially in Korea, and I commend them for it. My only and permanent concern is that while everything tries to differentiate itself from all others, they miss a step or two that necessary for their evolution, and that the lack of evolution ultimately lead them into devolution.

For the burgers, they almost always seem to miss or single out ordinary diner type ones, something shares the root with all the franchises but slightly more personal approach. I have tasted the burgers with many different approaches for for last then years, but can’t remember anything that shows even the tiniest hints of it. Maybe one or two, but that’s all.