 Signature Burger |
 Angus Burger |
 Los Penasquitos Lagoon |
According to some sources, July 28 is “Hamburger Day” and/or “National Hamburger Day” and/or the anniversary of the origin of the hamburger. Whatever the truth of the matter, it certainly seemed like a good day for San Diego Burger Club to have burgers (though arguably every day is a good day for San Diego Burger Club to have burgers ☺ ). So, we visited IRIS Food & Spirits, which received a grade of “B+/A- with a high standard deviation”.
IRIS is located on Carmel Valley Road just west of I-5. It overlooks Los Penasquitos Lagoon, which provides a nice view as you can see from the picture above. In my opinion IRIS’ location is kind of off-the-beaten-path, but despite this they had a good crowd for lunch.
The “high standard deviation” portion of their rating deserves special attention. IRIS received two grades of A, which is a very high grade among our club’s burger aficionados. However, it also received several lower grades including a B-, so reactions definitely were mixed. Some people bit into their burgers and praised their thickness and juiciness. Others criticized their burgers for having too little (or maybe no?) bacon jam, too much mayo, and/or being over-charred. Similarly, some people really liked the steak fries, noting that they were cooked well, while others felt the steak fries were just okay/fine.
The burger, fries, drink, and tip came out to a little over $20. For some of our members it certainly was worth $20. For others, it probably would have provided more bang for the buck to travel a few blocks farther into Del Mar and go to Smashburger.
The bottom line seems to be that IRIS is a place you should try for yourself. If you like it, you probably are going to really like it, and if you combine that with the view and the off-the-beaten-path location, you probably are going to have a very nice experience. If you don’t like it as much, you probably still will find the food to be “okay”, and it won’t hurt to have a perfectly acceptable meal while overlooking Los Penasquitos Lagoon.