Ernst Farms Wheatberry Burger at the Roadhouse
No meat, but loads of fine flavor
Speaking of special grains, the Roadhouse has a new veggie burger on the menu. A regular guest was raving about it the other evening, which reminded me that I’d not yet written about it here—so today is the day to change that!
The new offering is based on the organic, heirloom wheatberries—about 50 times bigger than a grain of teff—grown just outside Ann Arbor at Ernst Family Farms. The Roadhouse crew cook the wheatberries until they’re tender, grind the cooked wheat, and then blend in a whole range of great ingredients, including the super special pepper paste we get from the folks at Koy in Turkey. Multiple pounds of fresh peppers are slowly dried in the sun to make the paste, which gives it a fantastic, complex flavor. There’s also homemade sweet potato stock, roasted red peppers, some chopped fresh herbs, and a sprinkling of toasted breadcrumbs. The finishing touch is a bit of the IASA peperoncino—that amazingly delicious spicy chile spread from Southern Italy. There’s just enough of it to spice things up, not so much as to overwhelm. (To be clear, I love the stuff—if it were me, I’d request a side of IASA to go with the meal!)
The Wheatberry Burger comes with a good-sized scoop of avocado salad on top, too. If I’m ordering, I like it cooked “well done” to let the Maillard effect (where browning brings out the sweetness of the natural sugars in the wheat) get the edges of the wheatberries nice and crispy. I’d also probably ask to have it topped with the Monterey Jack we bring in from the Vella family in Sonoma, California. They’re one of only two or three dairies left making the traditional cheese, true to its 19th-century, Gold Rush–era artisan origins. (Yes, that does indeed mean that the other 99.9 percent of the Monterey Jack sold in the U.S. is commercially made and nowhere close to what it could be.) That said, this burger would likely be good with really any of our cheeses—and, although it would put an end to its vegetarian status, it would go well with a couple strips of Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon. Or, if the cooks aren’t too busy, an over-easy egg on top would be awesome, too!
