Cafe Septieme: Seattle, WA

Now that's a good veggie burger. Cafe Septieme's offering is a house-made mixture of tofu, carrots, oats, and spices, fried up and put on a bun. It is slightly crunchy on the outside, and soft in the middle. I thought it needed a bit more salt, but that's easy enough to fix. There is a lot of dedication that goes into this burger: in addition to the patty, the ketchup, aioli and relish are all made in-house. The lightly-toasted bun is commercial, which at first I viewed as a minus point, but the patty itself is so soft and flavorful that the dull commercial bun would allows the patty to shine. My one complaint is the awkward pickle slice, which at about an inch thick is too much to put on the sandwich.

Amy's Bistro Burger

I'm not familiar enough with French cuisine to understand why Amy's decided to dub these delicious little patties the "bistro burger," as their prominent ingredients are mushrooms and rice, giving them a more Eastern European flavor. However, since the word "bistro" is derived from the Russian word meaning "quickly," thanks to Russia pushing Napoleon's troops back to Paris in the War of 1812, it may be an appropriate name after all. Regardless, these veggie burgers are pretty good; not Amy's finest, but good. Mushroom is the predominant flavor, with the only distinguishable spices being salt and coarsely-ground pepper; a little celery rounds it out nicely. They are not particularly high protein (only 5 g) and their squishy, ricey texture is already too starchy to be good on a bun. In comparison to Amy's Texas and Classic Burgers, which are firm, chewy and satisfying, the bistro burger tastes wimpy and anemic.