The Gardenburger is a popular favorite for those who love to nosh non-meat burger alternatives. The California Burger is one of my personal favorites. But did you know that Gardenburger also has a Gourmet line that features "Steaks" in four flavors: Baja Garden Steaks, Fire Dragon Garden Steaks, Hula Garden Steaks, and Tuscany Garden Steaks.
When I was at Whole Foods the other day, I saw the Fire Dragon Garden Steaks and decided to try them out, and boy was it delicious as you can see above. I cooked the Fire Dragon Steak in a skillet with some garlic infused olive oil. I ate it burger style on Ezekiel Sesame Sprouted Grain Bread, and then added sliced heirloom tomato, spring salad mix with arugula, avocado, ketchup, and my favorite Brianna's Poppyseed dressing which is a fabulous mayo alternative.
I didn't really get the "steak" feeling. To me, the Gourmet products taste and look like bigger, fancier veggie burger patties. Perhaps, they could change the name to "Garden Steakburgers" or nix the word "Steak" all together and just market them as upscale, fancier Gardenburgers. Okay, the marketer in me is coming out.
I still heartily enjoyed myself, and would definitely try the other flavors. Two patties come in each box, so perhaps for the second patty I'll try the "steak dish" approach, and eat it with some mashed potatoes, and grilled onions and do a Salisbury steak kind of meal. Although, I think mentally, I will probably end up seeing the dish as a burger with potatoes instead of a bun.
What I like most about the Gardenburger products is that they use very little soy, and sometimes none all together. If you look at the ingredient label the most prominent ingredient tends to be a (brown, jasmine) rice, cous cous, or oats as opposed to soy protein as many veggie burgers tend to use.
What's unique about the Gourmet line of Gardenburgers is that you will see ingredients like Nori, Daikon, Jicama, Cous Cous, and Coconut Cream. I totally dig the use of more global ingredients.
The Gourmet Gardenburgers are pretty big in size in my opinion which again probably goes back to their attempt to get a "steak" feel, and come in around 170-280 calories for one patty depending on which flavor you get. I ate half a patty for dinner and felt quite satisfied. I saved the other half of my burger for lunch the next day, and it was equally dee-lish.
Try out the Gourmet Gardenburgers and let me know what you think.
