It's Burger Week: A Bison Burger from The Cowboy Star

The Cowboy Star has been one of our favorite destinations for Happy Hour for a while. It's never been very busy when we've visited, which makes the whole deal pretty relaxing, in spite of the location.

 

We've enjoyed most everything we'd had in the bar, and in the restaurant.......

 

 

 

 

The Missus isn't a real big red meat eater, but She enjoys the tornedos and steaks at the Cowboy Star. They always seem to get it right for Her.

Perhaps one day I'll post on our dinners there; the sweetbreads, marrow bones, the Porterhouse!

When we finally decided to do another burger week, I looked forward to trying one of the burgers there. Since they still serve burgers during Happy Hour (it's on the lunch menu), why not? So on a recent visit, I ordered the Bison Burger ($15):

 

I love the flavor of buffalo and bison when it's prepared well. The meat is leaner, so it's very easy to overcook. The meat has a faint flavor that has a sweet tinge to it; not as sweet as say, horse or donkey, but just enough variance in flavor to know that, "it's not quite beef I'm eating tonight".

This looked like one beautiful burger. The roasted Anaheim Pepper tasted wonderful, but in my opinion it over-powered the bison. The wonderfully melted white cheddar went well with my burger, even though it was cooked a bit over the medium I requested.

 

Granted, Bison is more difficult to cook than beef, still, I was a bit underwhelmed with the burger as a whole. Even after removing the pepper.... which the Missus gladly gobbled up, the flavor was a bit too mild for me..... perhaps the grass fed beef is the way to go here.

The frites had a nice texture, crisp on the exterior, combined with a light interior. I once mentioned in a previous post, of the Missus love of salt (" the Missus has been known to body slam a Moose to get to its salt lick"). But man, on this day the fries were much too salty.

In truth, one so-so meal at The Cowboy Star won't deter us from returning since we've had some really fine meals there. But I do think it was telling that on the next evening, we also had meat, which I enjoyed even more. Stuff like this:

 

The Cowboy Star
640 10th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101

Comments

[Lynnea]

oh my, what are those tasty looking little croquet things? they look really delicious.

[Kirk]

Hi Lynnea - Do you mean the onion rings??

[ed (from Yuma)]

Yeh, I want to know more. A lot of that stuff looks yummy.

[Amy T. Granite]

I was underwhelmed with the bison burger as well. Good flavors, but nothing really popped and the pepper fell flat for me, too.

What is the dish in the last photo? Looks raw?

Keep writing Kirk! I've had a lot of great meals based on your recommendations.

-Amy T. Granite

[Stephen]

I've been wondering about this place, so I'm glad to see you're review. Would you that overall, the menu is reasonably priced?

[Kirk]

Hi Ed - We'll oblige you in the future.

Hi Amy - Thanks for taking the time out to comment. I did expect more from The Cowboy Star.

Hi Stephen - The prices are on the high side; but many of the items on the menu are worth the price. It's not someplace (at least not for us) we can afford to eat at every night, that's for sure.

[Tina]

Looks fun and tasty. We'll have to go next time we are over there. Glad to see Ed is intrigued.

[Kirk]

Hi Tina - How are you? It's so nice to hear from you! Why don't we try to make it here next time?

[cynthia]

Everything looks delicious, my boyfriends mouth is watering already! Great post and good pics. I've only recently found your blog but I love it! It's so nice to be able to get an idea about a place before trying it out.

cynthia

[Kirk]

Hi Cynthia - Thanks for the kind words.... I enjoy your blog as well!