I have been salivating to try the Whole Foods black bean burger ever since I saw them in the prepared foods section. They look just like a meat patty, in that they are thick, and not a thin disk shape, so naturally I thought they would be excellent. While I was at Whole's, I grabbed a black bean burger, HF brand jalapeno\cilantro hummus, vine ripe tomatoes (2.99/lb), and a six pack of Goldmine Lager cans, which is a decent deal, but more on that in the reviews at the bottom. Back at the house, I unpack my groceries, and search the fridge for extra burger toppings. There, I find some yellow onion, mushrooms, a Serrano chili, and half a lemon. So, I slice the tomato, yellow onion, and Serrano, which were sauteed lightly in a cast iron skillet with salt and pepper. At the same time, I cook the black bean burger in the same pan, after seasoning lightly with salt and pepper, as I figured they had already been seasoned. When, the burger is done I placed it on a burger bun, spread the hummus on top, stacked on the sauteed the mush\onion\Serrano, then placed the tomato on top.
After taking a bite, the burger kind of squeezed out of the sides, seeming a bit too squishy for my taste. Also, it tasted a little too bland; they probably could have used beans with salt, instead of unsalted canned black beans. The spices in the patty mixture seemed fine, but could have used a little more brightness too it, via a little cilantro, parsley, lime, etc. I did squeeze some lemon juice on it while it was cooked, but the flavors did not seem to be that pronounced.
To summarize my experience, I was a little disappointed; it could have used more brightness, saltiness, and firmness. Whole Foods could probably play around with the recipe a little bit. Maybe I can send them this review and they would be willing to do so.
Gold Mine Lager Beer: Your typical cheap light beer. I prefer Miller Light in that category, but I guess you get what you pay for.
http://goldminelager.com/
