One man's quest to find San Diego's cheapest burger
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Spoils from Victor Sharp's burger quest. Photos: Courtesy of Victor Sharp
Victor Sharp just couldn't stomach the rising prices at all his favorite restaurants, so he assigned himself a daunting mission: to find the city's best cheap cheeseburger.
Why it matters: Sharp posted about his quest on Reddit and it went viral. Clearly, he's not the only one noticing how San Diego's high inflation rate has made restaurant prices soar.
The big picture: Frustration over prices — and nostalgia for a time when he could spend $10 and get not one but four hamburgers, plus fries and a Coke — spurred Sharp on.
- "It's sort of a sad fact that you can't just walk in with a $10 bill and expect to get a filling meal," he told Axios.
- Usually, Sharp supports himself with woodworking jobs and teaching Dungeons & Dragons, but he put that work on hold to undertake this formidable quest.
Catch up quick: The quest started in December, with Sharp asking others on the San Diego subreddit where to find the cheapest burger in the city.
- Then he compiled all the suggestions into a spreadsheet and began eating a lot of burgers.
- He visited each burger joint and ranked their offerings on a scale of 1 to 5.
- "With 1 being, 'I would not eat this again,' and a 5 being, 'I'll go out of my way for this burger,'" Sharp said.
By the numbers: His picks range in price from $2.50 (Salsa Brava City Heights) to $6 at a few locations, including Garage Kitchen and Bar and Common Theory.
- He didn't include fast food options, focusing only on local establishments.
Caveat: Sharp's favorite burger, $3 at The Casino Inn in Alpine, apparently will go up to $6 at the end of the month, he said.
- He liked it best because the burgers were fresh, not frozen, grilled to perfection, and the add-ons — "melty American cheese, a thin layer of thousand island spread, grilled onions, and four pickle chips all on a firm toasted sesame seed bun" — were just right.
- "Since finding that out two weeks ago, I probably ate 12 burgers there," Sharp said.
Stunning stat: One of his top 5 was the cheeseburger at the Kaiser Hospital Cafeteria.
- "That one, surprisingly, out of all the other burgers, had a unique flavor, and that's because it was flame-grilled," Sharp said.
Why cheeseburgers? Sharp loves them.
- "There's just something about a classic cheeseburger, buns, meat, cheese and then maybe like some aioli, you throw some pickles in there, a little bit of mustard, right?" he said. "That's all you need. That is a classic cheeseburger."
Friction point: Sharp has made peace with the fact that he will continue to pay more for cheeseburgers, largely out of convenience.
- "Because what are you going to do? If you are a person who works a 9 to 5, are you going to go home and then cook for the next two hours to have one meal?" he said. "Or is it easier to just swing by any fast food joint and grab something on the way home."
What's next: He plans to undertake similar quests for California burritos and tacos.