I’ve never been one to play organized sports or even watch them on television for that matter. I was never drawn into the Sunday ritual of watching football all day nor do I really follow any particular team enough to want to outfit myself from head-to-toe with team branded clothing. I sometimes feel out of place in the Bay Area where there are so many professional and college level teams from baseball to hockey that nearly everyone is a fan of one sport or another. Not wanting to be the odd man out, I always make sure to read the headlines of the sports page so I know enough about the latest in sports news to hold a conversation with someone that wants to talk sports. With so many sports and so little time, die-hard sports fans that love to eat and get their game fix will rejoice over a newish burger joint called Hall of Flame that is a shrine to all things sports and burgers.
Socked away in a remote corner of San Francisco near S.F. State University, Hall of Flame emerged onto the burger scene with little fanfare early this year. The family-owned joint makes its home in a sleepy strip mall that is part of the Parkmerced apartment community. If you don’t live in Parkmerced, know someone who lives there or go to school at S.F. State, you will most likely never know that Hall of Flame exists. Even though the back of the restaurant is technically on the well-traveled 19th Avenue, you can’t see it and there is no signage. I know that if I hadn’t been tipped off, I would have never known about it.
I pulled my car into a nearly empty parking lot and had no problem finding Hall of Flame with giant flames and a colorful burger graphic decorating the floor-to-ceiling front window. Stepping inside the “Hall” was like entering a well stocked sports merchandise store or a teenage boy’s bedroom. Displays of balls, bats, and team pennants from a wide range of professional teams adorned the walls alongside life size images of sports ambassadors like Joe Montana, Larry Bird and Muhammad Ali. They even made use of small football helmets for light fixtures.
The menu was written on large chalkboard and as you can imagine, nearly everything had a sports reference. Burgers with names like the “Buzzer Beater and “The Mean Joe Green” were alongside a Philly cheese steak dubbed the “76er” and a chili dog known as the “slapshot”. I was enticed by the Ally-oop ($8.45, includes fries) a half-pound Niman Ranch cheeseburger with bacon and avocado.
There is plenty to do at the “Hall” while waiting for your burger. Two TV sets play some sort of sporting event and twenty or so issues of Sports Illustrated are on hand for your reading pleasure. My lunch was prepared quickly and delivered to my table by one of the three brothers who own the place. Served open-face alongside a pile of previously frozen fries on what resembles a deep-dish pizza pan lined with checkered paper, the Ally-oop was a good-looking burger.
After assembling the Ally-oop, the first thing I noticed was how much it weighed. It felt like a shot put. The “Oop” was a solid burger. The grilled patty was really thick and bulged out of the toasted sesame seed bun. Thin slices of bright green avocado contrasted the yellow American cheese that was melted over strips of greasy, yet crispy, bacon. House-made secret sauce was running down the side of the bottom bun as lifted the hefty burger. A mixture of juice and sauce shot out of the burger as I bit into it for the first time, sending hot liquid running down my arm and ultimately staining the cuff of my jacket. This burger was messy and big, almost too big to get my mouth around. The juice continued to flow from the perfectly cooked burger causing the bottom bun to get drenched. Thankfully, the bun held up and blowout was averted.
The “Oop” was really tasty and everything on it was fresh. The meat had good beef flavor and was cooked exactly how I asked. The one thing that I didn’t like was the secret sauce. It lacked that sweet tang that I like about a more traditional 1,000 Island sauce – this one seemed more like an aioli. A sauce with more tang would have blended well with the bacon, avocado and cheese. Other than that, the “Oop” delivered.
The guys at the Hall of Flame dish out a really good burger while being friendly and attentive. When students from the college come back in the fall I am sure they will see a spike in business but I think they would be wise to move to a better location where more people can appreciate what they have to offer. A new location in a high traffic area, the Hall would definitely score…hit a home run…slam dunk or whatever sport metaphor works best for you. For now, it’s a hard place to find and a little out of the way, but worth the trip.
RATING: 4 out of 5
Hall of Flame
73 Cambon Drive
San Francisco, CA 94132
(415) 584-4444
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11:00AM – 9:00PM
Sunday 11:00AM – 6:00PM
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Great write up! I love the site, but no pictures of the burgers insides?