My Original Vegas Favorite

Before I was living here, I frequented the Vegas Area on a whim.  I mean, it's only 5 hours or so from San Diego, never a big deal.  On the recommendation from locals and family, Bachi Burger became a traditional stop each time I was in the area.  I'm always bothered that this place is considered as either over-rated or extremely popular, I always go with the latter.

Bachi is an abbreviation of Hibachi, the Japanese style of grilling.  With this in mind, the most important thing to first note about Bachi Burger is that they use a mixture of ground chuck and 21-day aged rib-eye glazed and caramelized with a soy-mirin-sake marinade.  Even though I've been here a LOT since I've found out about it, I'll talk about the first burger I tried here, the one that got me hooked.

 

This is the KiKi burger, obviously everyone will have their preferences, but for the first 5 trips or so, this is the only thing I would let myself order, one of those situations where you know what's good so why tamper with it?  On top of the unique burger patty, we have a Gruyère cheese, offering a slightly sweet and salty cheese with a nutty finish.  On top of that is carmelized bacon, real smoky adding that pork dimension a burger has to have.  The next layer are sauteed Shiitake, Enoki, and Eryngi mushrooms mixed with carmelized onions, a classic pairing kind of kicked up a notch with Asian flavored-earthy dimension.  On top of that we have spring greens, and although I'm usually a purist, on this trip I couldn't help myself and added a couple fried onion rings for a nice crunch to the burger.  What brings it all together is the bun, and it's no simple bread either, the only way I could describe them is by comparing them to Chinese baked pork buns.  They're soft, and a little sweet with a bit of a sugar glaze over the top then crusted on the inside from the grill.  If you're interested there's even a garlic chili aioli on the side so you can bring add that hint of garlic spice to the burger.  Although the KiKi may seem a little complex in flavor, taking a whole paragraph to describe, it's simply delicious.

So what's a burger without fries?  Here at Bachi they have sweet potato, salt and pepper garlic, and truffle parmesan.  I always opt for truffle parmesan fries with sun-dried tomato aioli.  The fries are crisp and has just enough salt from the parmesan, then there's a drizzle of truffle sauce over top that gives you an amazing truffle flavor that really goes well with the potato fries.  Even when you realize you've eaten that top layer of truffle goodness, you have a nice sun-dried tomato aioli to take you the rest of the way.

I always appreciated Bachi Burger for it's unique delivery of the classic burger.  I can't think of a place that employs Asian-fusion on a burger to begin with, but besides that, Bachi just executes at a high level.  I never understood the whole "over-rated," title this place gets sometimes but in my book this place is simply a winner.

Bachi Burger

470 E Windmill Lane, Ste 100
Las Vegas, NV 89123

(702) 242-2244

http://www.bachiburger.com/