Shitake Mushroom Burger at TK Burgers

By Grace Le Wed., Apr. 7 2010 at 4:51 PM

Categories: Life on the Veg

Grace Le

Shitake Mushroom Burger

Hamburgers: The classic all-American food of convenience... and ultimate vegetarian deterrent. If we've learned anything from Fast Food Nation, it's that eating too many of them is bad. Veggieburgers--not too great for you either, but, damn, can they hit the spot. The problem is that finding a great one is a little more complicated than just cruising to your nearest In-N-Out.

So, here's our attempt to make the process a little less complicated. Meet the shitake mushroom burger: So savory you'll think they botched your order and gave you beef poisoning.

More tasty tidbits after the jump!

When you're hankering for some guilty pleasure, the grilled cheese at In-N-Out is a good quick fix. For barely $3 (a little more with extra veggies), you get a face-full of greasy goodness that will leave you feeling satiated and lubricated... but possibly a bit bloated from all that cheese.

The scorpion burger at Native Foods offers a lot more substance, but with a hefty price to match. Delicious as it is, $9 for a burger without onions (those are a dollar extra) is enough to give anyone indigestion.

At the happy medium exists the shitake mushroom burger of TK Burgers. This hand-held masterpiece is comprised of a charbroiled soy/shitake patty sitting on a bed of fresh veggies that include lettuce, tomatoes, green bell peppers and just the right amount of raw red onions. All these goodies come dressed with thousand island and nestled between two pillowy whole-wheat buns. The whole burger stacks about five inches high and practically melts in your mouth with every bite.

The patty of the shitake mushroom burger is dense and resilient, unlike typical sponginess of high grain garden burger patties. The flavor is slightly smokey and works well with the addition of mozzarella cheese. $5.79 buys you the burger and $7.29 adds fries and a drink. Best of all, you get all this without the bother of bloat.