A burger at The Smokehouse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California.
out of 100 · excellent
Excellent. Small moves left on the board.
A roast beef with layers outside the form; six of six roles.
More acid than 90% of the catalog.
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.
burger bun (inferred from the kind of sandwich), toasted: beef patty; cheese; lettuce; tomato; pickles; onions; ketchup (low tier); mustard; mayo.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 1.9 | 84th |
| acid | 1.9 | 90th |
| fat | 1.7 | 32nd |
| sweet | 0.8 | 85th |
| umami | 1.4 | 45th |
| heat | 0.3 | 74th |
| bitter | 0.2 | 65th |
96 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| burger bun (inferred from the kind of sandwich) | bread | sweet 2 soft springy | the frame |
| beef pattyscored as Beef | protein | fat 3 umami 3 juicy chewy tender | +8 |
| cheesescored as Cheese (generic) | protein | fat 4 salt 3 umami 3 creamy soft gooey | −6 |
| lettuce | texture | crunchy juicy fresh | +2 |
| tomato | texture | acid 3 umami 3 sweet 2 juicy soft fresh | +4 |
| picklesscored as Pickle (cucumber) | acid | acid 5 salt 4 crunchy juicy pickled | −5 |
| onionsscored as Onion | texture | sweet 2 crunchy juicy fresh | −3 |
| ketchup (low tier) | sauce | sweet 3 salt 2 acid 2 silky saucy | −6 |
| mustard | sauce | acid 3 salt 2 heat 2 saucy smooth | −4 |
| mayoscored as Mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | −4 |
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 + Pickle (cucumber): pickle brine against rich beef
- Beef + Onion: onions sweeten seared beef, philly style
- Beef + Mustard: roast beef and mustard, deli logic
- Tomato + Mayonnaise: summer tomato sandwich: acid on rich
How to raise it
- Outstanding, not legendary: the menu does not name its bread.
All the sandwiches at The Smokehouse · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder