The Counter

Steve and I got out of the house today thanks to a Crate & Barrel gift card from our friends Eric and Gail (thanks guys!). Our closest Crate & Barrel is at Santana Row in San Jose, so we made a day of it. We looked at Santana Row’s website to find a place to have lunch while there, and came across a burger joint called The Counter. We found out later that the place is well known (after being mentioned on Oprah and put on lists of burgers that you must have before you die) and it was quite busy even though we went to lunch late (around 2 pm).

Once you’re seated at The Counter, you are presented with a clipboard allowing you to build your ultimate burger. The range of ingredients is quite impressive and it’s hard to resist the temptation to check all of the boxes. You select your protein, bun (or lack thereof), cheese, sauce and four toppings (you can have all the want, you just have to pay extra). Steve showed considerable restraint and just got two toppings, but I decided to go for four. And this is what appeared before me:


You can tell that I am intimidated in the picture. It was absolutely fantastic, though. In case you’re trying to figure out what was in it, it was a 1/3 lb beef patty with herb goat cheese spread, sweet BBQ sauce, pineapple, grilled onions, hard boiled eggs and lettuce. Sounds odd, but Steve agreed that it was delicious. Steve had a 1/3 lb beef patty on a whole wheat bun with jalapeno jack cheese, guacamole, mushrooms and a spicy sour cream sauce. It was also delicious.

By way of a side note, Santana Row is quite impressive. We’re guessing it must have been modeled after Rodeo Drive. A beautiful outdoor shopping center with lots of stuff we can’t afford. I knew we were way out of our league when the first store I spotted was Gucci. At least window shopping made for a pleasant way to walk off those ridiculous burgers.