You Can Get A Wagyu Blend Burger At This Underrated Chain

Intensely tender, a wagyu steak is one of those phenomenal restaurant dishes you have to try at least once. When prepared well, this prized meal has a luxurious mouthfeel and ethereal quality that's unlike any other garden variety of steak. But have you ever tried a burger made with wagyu? If the thought of a rich and buttery-textured burger sounds right up your alley, you're in luck if you have a branch of the underrated chain BurgerFi in your neighborhood. Founded in 2011, the restaurant (with over 60 U.S. locations) has two gourmet burgers on its menu.

Billed as the "Swag burger," the first behemoth of a hot sammie includes two beef patties made of a blend of wagyu and brisket, with each patty weighing in at just under a quarter of a pound prior to cooking. The beef is paired with charred jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, and candied ghost pepper bacon, before it's finished off with a slathering of the restaurant's homemade spicy Fi sauce. The second Wagyu burger is called the "CEO" and includes a wagyu patty along with candied bacon-tomato jam, truffle aioli, and aged Swiss. The other items on the menu, such as the Rodeo burger and the Yes, Chef burger, are made with 100% American Angus beef if you're after a classic beef cheeseburger option.

The incredible flavor and melt-in-the-mouth texture of wagyu beef comes courtesy of the thin striations of fat running throughout the meat. This fatty marbling is so abundant that the beef barely needs chewing, which lends it a sumptuous character and luxe consistency. Wagyu comes from cattle that are fed for 600 days after weaning, which is more than twice the length of time that other breeds are fed. The cows are also housed in a low-stress environment so they can retain as much of their fat as possible, which gives the meat its characteristic buttery texture and makes it more expensive than other cuts. This is why using wagyu in burgers makes some chefs and butchers cringe. They reckon that grinding up its prized texture defeats the purpose of enjoying that melt-in-the-mouth marbling in its unadulterated state. However, others say that if prepared correctly, the extra fat in wagyu is exactly what allows the burgers to achieve a caramelized, savory sear. On the BurgerFi website, it states that wagyu burgers have to be handled gently to avoid breaking down their delicate fatty marbling. Keeping those fat pockets intact is the key to producing juicy burgers that are succulent and mouthwatering.

While wagyu originates from Japan, there are American varieties available now, too. American wagyu is different from Japanese wagyu because it's a cross between wagyu and Angus cattle, which produces beef with a tender texture but a heartier flavor.