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# Plain Smash Burger at Headlands Brewing Berkeley
- URL: https://onesandwich.com/berkeley-headlands-brewing-berkeley-plain-smash-burger/
- Published: 2026-10-03T05:23:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-03T05:23:41.000Z
- Description: Beef patty, american cheese on potato bun. Sandwich Score 59, solid. At Headlands Brewing Berkeley, Berkeley.
- Author: Andrew Lekashman
- Tags: USA, California, #shop-sandwich, #auto-imported

A burger at [Headlands Brewing Berkeley](https://onesandwich.com/berkeley-headlands-brewing-berkeley/), a restaurant in Berkeley, California.

Burger BunAmerican CheeseBeefBurger Bun

**59**

Sandwich Score  
out of 100 · solid

Solid, with one move worth +26.

Leans toward a cheesesteak, two of six roles on the board.

**Holding the summit:** a third role on the board (an acid, a sauce, an aroma or a crunch)

Balance

66

Harmony

88

Contrast

60

Structure

84

Focus

100

Composition

58

Quality

75

Envelope

100

Each bar is one pillar of the score, 0 to 100\. The tick marks what a sandwich at the summit needs; an amber bar is the one holding this sandwich back.

**potato bun**, toasted: beef patty; american cheese (low tier).

## Balance

salt1.8 · 82ndacid0.0fat3.0 · 80thsweet0.8 · 84thumami2.0 · 74thheat0.0bitter0.0

__Flavor axes__
| Axis   | Value | Catalog percentile |
| ------ | ----- | ------------------ |
| salt   | 1.8   | 82nd               |
| acid   | 0.0   | n/a                |
| fat    | 3.0   | 80th               |
| sweet  | 0.8   | 84th               |
| umami  | 2.0   | 74th               |
| heat   | 0.0   | n/a                |
| bitter | 0.0   | n/a                |

**68** Balance, out of 100

The seven flavor axes of the whole sandwich, each summed across its layers. The shaded ring is the catalog's middle 80%; the small number under each axis is where this sandwich falls in the catalog. A shape that sits inside the ring is in the range most sandwiches live in; a spike past it is where this one stands apart.

## What each layer brings

| Layer                          | Role    | Flavor and texture                      | Points    |
| ------------------------------ | ------- | --------------------------------------- | --------- |
| potato bunscored as Burger Bun | bread   | sweet 2 soft springy                    | the frame |
| beef pattyscored as Beef       | protein | fat 3 umami 3 juicy chewy tender        | **+8**    |
| american cheese (low tier)     | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 2 gooey creamy melty | **+13**   |

Points: what the Sandwich Score would lose if that one layer were left out, everything else the same. A negative number means the sandwich scores higher without it. Flavor runs 0 to 5 on each axis.

## Pairings

- **Beef + American Cheese**: cheesesteak law: melted american on beef

[All the sandwiches at Headlands Brewing Berkeley](https://onesandwich.com/berkeley-headlands-brewing-berkeley/) · [The menu this was read from](https://www.headlandsbrewing.com/s/Headlands%5FBerkeley%5FFoodMenu-58rr.pdf?ref=onesandwich.com) · [Build your own in the Sandwich Builder](https://onesandwich.com/builder/)

Menu read 2026-09; items and prices change. The score is the site's opinion of the recipe as listed, not a review of the shop; tiers and house-made marks follow the menu's own wording.