Save On Meats Burger - Legendary in Vancouver, So They Say

It is a good hometown burger.

The place bills itself as grinding fresh lean beef that same day since the diner is part of a butcher’s shop, or vice versa, separated by a long wall divide.  The name is confusing Save On Meats since 1957 sounding more like pure butchery.  It is on the seedy side of Vancouver at 43 West Hastings Street, a building that has been there since 1891.   And the 1950s smiling fat pig street neon sign still glows pink at night.

But it couldn’t just be the freshness of the ground lean meat that makes the SOM (Save ON Meats) burger piquant.  Every bite tells you the fat factor is missing.   Which means on its own it would not satiate a discerning palate.  

Carrie the executive chef was kind enough to tell me the recipe for what has been dubbed the “legendary burger” of Vancouver.  Mixed with the ground meat are just three ingredients:

Montreal Steak Spice, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, and Worcestershire Sauce

As to the proportion – it is up to your taste.  

When you order at the diner, you can build your burger.  You get a check list of what you want added to the burger and bun.  To make it classic, check the SOM Smear – which again I think is made up of the above three ingredients.

You can buy uncooked prepared patties for $2.50 each at the butcher side.

Carrie the executive chef holding an SOM beef patty

Tel: 604 569 3568   See www.saveonmeats.ca for menu, hours and prices.   

A number of Translink buses pass by or nearby. 


My friend Bobbie Thomas who used to be a chef at a major fast-food chain in North America told me her burger recipe (without masurements - as it is up to you to suit your taste).  Bobbie's burger ingredients are: ground beef, Lipton Onion Dip powder, cracked crackers, one whole egg, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and lemon pepper.  This is one good burger.