gutfud – the food, es ist gut

I was in the area running errands, noticed it was past lunchtime, and walked into Whole Foods for inspiration. I should point out here I was beyond hungry, the kind of hunger that makes me indecisive in the face of food.
I swear I’d walked every aisle, and every aisle of the prepared foods twice, and sniffed cheeses and peered at flatbreads before I took a close look at the prepared meats area. There it was: burgers for $5.

I was deeply suspicious and talked to the man at the counter for a while. What’s the deal? What do you get? Is it already made?

No! It’s a freshly prepared burger, completely customized to your specs.
Any of their ground meat can be used: 20% fat beef (ideal for making a juicy burger), lean beef, grass fed beef, turkey, bison, pork (!), whatever!
Cheese is included in the price, with the usual options, like cheddar, swiss and provolone.
You can get it with the works, like lettuce, pickle, onion, tomato, etc. It comes on a ciabatta bun, over a bed of fries. I went for it!

I selected ground bison, cooked medium, with grilled red onions, swiss cheese, toasted ciabatta and the regular fixings. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, it’s ready, loaded into a little paper tray and packed neatly into a takeaway box.

The fries sit on the bottom, so they will get soggy fast, eat those first and quickly. The bison I selected is naturally low in fat, so I found that medium doneness tended to be more cooked than medium and will take that into account if I order it in the future.
It looked to be about a 1/3 lb serving of meat, and the cheese was a very fat slice. It was a generous portion of food, especially for the $5 price tag. I ate perhaps half of it, or less.
Packing it to go would make for a compact lunch out, but bring lots of napkins because the burger was plenty drippy juicy.

Their deli offered other burger combinations, such as ‘cowboy’ style, or bacon, these cost a little more, like $0.50 or $1.00 more, still a very good price.

When Whole Foods first opened, there was an outdoor seating under an arbor. Now there’s indoor seating as well, just inside the entrance. At first I was worried that the baked goods and gelato that had been near the door was gone forever, but the good folks there pointed out it had moved to the back corner where the rest of the bakery was. Whew! I can still get my gelato fix. Oh, and one more thing. You know how McConnell’s is closed for remodel? Whole Foods has a small selection of McConnell’s ice cream.

Past words.

Whole Foods
3761 State St
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com