For the past six years or so, it seems like every new burger business in the Bay Area has been focused solely on smash burgers — the napkin-thin beef patties with the crispy edges that spill outside the buns. They’ve become so popular that even chefs hailing from esteemed kitchens have opened up their own smash burger concepts.
But in San Francisco, the trend seems to be changing back to something juicier.
Newer and very buzzy restaurants like Side A, Dingles Public House and RT Bistro, to name a few, are leaning back into thicker patties that erupt with burger juices. Whatever you want to call them — bistro burgers, tavern-style, pub burgers, thick boi burgers — these beefier, flavorful patties seem to be back en vogue…