Restaurant Review: Kitchen 64 Lunch

I've been to Kitchen 64 for lunch a number of times before with mostly positive experiences, but this one was slightly different.

A friend and I arrived at Kitchen 64 towards the end of the lunch hour around 1pm. I'll admit this probably isn't the best time to get a high quality lunch. Those kitchen guys are hoping that the lunch rush in over so they can grab a smoke. In fact I saw a couple of the cooks smoking outside when I walked in. Anyway, We sat outside at the patio and ordered water. There was something floating in my water, so I asked for another. For our food, I ordered the "Gus' burger" (basically burger cooked to temp with a fried egg on top). I had been craving a good medium rare burger for weeks. Most of the time I'd just cook this burger for myself because almost no one ever gets burger temperatures right in this town. I figured I'd try 64though, I'd never really gotten anything bad there. When the waitress took my order, not only did she ask me how I wanted my burger cooked, but she asked me how I wanted the egg on the burger cooked. I took this as a good sign. My friend ordered the "Scott's Addiction" (a prime rib sandwich with shrooms, onions, Swiss and au jus). I have gotten this sandwich before and it is awesome. If I was ordering a sandwich at 64, I would get this one.

When our food arrived to the table, the prime rib sandwich looked awesome and the burger looked like it was overcooked on the grill and then left in the window to overcook even more. First off, the bun was toasted, but cold... a very good sign it had been left to set. Secondly, there was no blood on the bun. If you cook a burger to medium rare there should be blood flowing out of that burger. You never press down on it. You should touch the burger at the most 5 times. Put it on the grill, turn it for some nice diamond grill marks, flip it, maybe turn it again for grill marks on both sides, and put it on the bun.

You should also know about carry over cooking. When you pull any meat off the grill, it continues to cook. If you cook any meat to a perfect temperature, by the time it gets to the table it will be overcooked. If you cook it to temperature and then melt the cheese on it it will be overcooked. If you cook it perfect and then leave it in the window for 10 minutes it will be overcooked. So how do restaurants get that steak or burger to the perfect temperature? Then under cook it just slightly and make sure the server runs it to your table promptly.

So I sent the burger back, it was past medium and on the way to medium well. I told the server my burger was "very overcooked" and she took the plate away with no apology. She did save face a little when she came back from the kitchen and told me another burger would be right up and she was sorry for the inconvenience. While I was waiting I noticed another tables food have to go back to the kitchen because of the wrong sides being on the plates. It looked like the kitchen wasn't exactly batting a thousand that afternoon.

The second burger arrived and it looked better. There was blood on the bun. I picked it up and the bun was hot! I could tell before I put it in my mouth though that it was not the perfect medium rare I was looking for. When I picked it up the juices that were barely dripping out were on the clear side. My first couple bites acknowledged my suspicions. The burger was cooked about medium. I don't really mind a medium burger (I just really wanted a medium rare one) and I was so hungry at this point. I ate the burger.

For most of you that eat your burgers medium well and medium, go to 64 and get a great burger. For those of you that know how good a perfect medium rare burger can be, Kitchen 64 might not be the place for that. I would recommend the "Scott's Addiction" prime rib sandwich though. It's always good.

Kitchen 64 (map it)
3336 North Boulevard
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 358-0064
http://www.kitchen64.com/