A great review, Dale, though I wish you'd also picked up on the big name-ambiguity story, rather than just describing the restaurant as "J-Love Burger." It isn't as simple as that by far, and the background to this was already on the Embarcadero website a month ago (some of it in comments): Web Link

Mervyn's Restaurant was a landmark longtime downtown-MV gathering place with a Lounge behind it (that name, of course, predates the Mervyn's department-store chain). The building's current owners, who last year closed their former front restaurant Chef Liu, avowedly sought to honor Mervyn's restaurant's memory in reopening it to rejoin the bar under unified ownership and management. "J Love" (a name that arrived later) was described to me by Ruddy Wang as a branding or sub-identity for the kitchen and its distinct menu. But "J Love" isn't the name on the business card he gave me ("Mervyn's Lounge and Restaurant"), nor on the banner sign out front, which says Mervyn's Lounge and Japanese-style Burgers. Clearly "J-Love" is a name worth knowing here (not to mention its food, I commented already after Elena's article; I find the ramen "bun" goes best with burgers, the rice version with the Yakiniku stir-fry) -- but the whole business is also sometimes identified as "Mervyn's," and that too is the venerable restaurant name that will resonate with the longtime MV residents or hangers-around.

It isn't a Japanese Burger unless the meat is Kobe Beef, from Hokkaido, which cost $128-150/pound.

This is why the Japanese flock to McDonald's, which is cheaper than buying groceries in Japan. Even beef imported from America is cheaper than Kobe beef!

I have my doubts about this place.

The legacy no-frills interior burger joints have my support. They have
been vetted by time and honestly developing their customer base.

I am very suspect about the quick little burger and pizza places that
have sprung up ... and down in the recent past, because most of the
just seem to be rip-off joints ( I won't name names ) and do a poor
job for very high prices.

There used to be some really great burger places in Palo Alto and
Mountain View as well. The StarBucks on El Camino near California
a long time ago used to be the home to the Amber Lantern that had
the best burgers I have ever to this day eaten.

Then in Mountain View I think Clark's Burgers still exists, but it is a
pales shadow of what it once was.

Both real flame broiled real good sized patties. You just cannot
get that anywhere that I know of today, and most of the burger
places that are new are just playing at it.

I'll try it out and see though for sure.

@Plane Speaker - I like J Love Burger, but I'll warn you now, they aren't at all traditional hamburgers. Deep fried pork patty on a ramen bun? Their most burger like burger is beef blended with a pork pate. It is very flavorful, but more like a meatloaf sandwich than a classic burger. So do try it, but don't go in expecting a like a Clarke's.

In the six years I lived in Japan, I never once saw or heard of anyone even touching pork. Most Japanese nationals think pork, turkey, and fish from rivers ( as opposed to oceans) are dirty and have an offensive texture.

I really doubt anyone from Japan would eat at J-Burgers. It seems it is not at all authentic.

Doesn't sound like the hanbagahs I had in Japan, but they ate pork all the time when I was there. For example katzudon was a fairly popular dish; chashu in Korean style restaurants was popular, pork was popular in curry dishes and ramen dishes etc.

Kirk's, in my opinion, provides good old style burgers. It somehow surprised me but Denny's provides quite good burgers as well. The Counter is also OK but expensive and pompous with a commercialized Aquarius edge.

@ Lived There: That is interesting. Thanks for sharing that!

I was born and raised in Mexico (until junior high) and still visit fairly often. I never saw a "burrito" until we immigrated to the United States. In fact, even in Texas (where I was also raised), you almost never see a "burrito" at authentic Mexican or Tex-Mex/Tejano restaurants.

I am from the east coast of Mexico, so maybe it is a regional? Then again, I have a brother-in-law from Oaxaca and friends from Sinaloa and Nayarit and they never found burritos there either.

Is it possible that this is something that Americans brought to Japan following WW2 and is only regional? I suppose that it could also be a completely Japanese-American thing.

@Lived There - Are you sure the country you lived in was actually Japan? :) Because Pork is the most popular meat in Japan, from fried cutlets, to curry, to ramen stock, pork is ubiquitous. Maybe a shady travel agent booked you to Malaysia and told you it was Japan. Anyway, here is an article from the Japan Times, "Pig in Japan: the nation’s most popular meat"

Web Link

"The most popular type of meat by far in Japan is pork. Nearly as much pork is consumed as chicken and beef combined. "