John Espejo says the secret to Uncle Boy’s no-mess hamburgers lies in the bun.
“I’m the type of guy where I hate my food being messy, especially a burger,” Espejo told The Examiner. “I don’t like a super-soggy bun … or when the burger turns into a mushy mess.”
Espejo said it took him two years of scouring Bay Area bread factories to find a brioche from Wedemeyer Bakery in South San Francisco that did the trick. The bakery’s version of the French pastry features a thick, pillowy and sturdy structure that neatly holds all the sandwich’s components together — the patty, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, special house sauce and even mozzarella sticks or onion rings.
“I mean, even though it’s a burger, you can still eat a burger with class,” said longtime employee Elli Gomez. He said he always instructs cooks to make the burgers “as clean as possible.”
The composition of Uncle Boy’s hamburgers is analogous to the composition of the restaurant: A lot of substance packed into a little space, mixed with Espejo’s business savvy.