At Last, a Reunion with Rodeo Goat's Glorious Chaca Oaxaca Burger

Now that life is returning to something approximating normality, the time has come to reintroduce ourselves to all the things we've missed, including ordering and eating a Chaca Oaxaca burger at Rodeo Goat. It's something that can't be replicated with a delivery or takeout order.

Unlike 99.9% of the burgers available to mankind's gaping maws, this beef and chorizo marvel is complex without being confusing and comforting without being congestive on the ol' digestive system. The flavor is layered and balanced in a way every burger would hope to achieve if they suddenly became sentient and grew consciences. It's also one of the few burgers where the setting it's served in enhances the taste in ways no rapid delivery service can replicate.

I have made many failed attempts to make my own Mexican-cuisine-infused burger; most just end up with half a jar of salsa and pico de gallo dumped on an ordinary beef patty.

The Chaca Oaxaca at Rodeo Goat is a dish you'll remember from your very first bite. I sat on the restaurant's back porch on a cool spring day when the waitress brought one over to me for the first time. My cynical side expected an overpowering smell of beef grease and various Latin spices, but it was more subtle.

That's because it's more than just a sausage and beef patty mix on a bun. It has layers of ingredients that complement each other. It starts with the bun that's been lightly buttered and never gets soggy. One side is covered in guacamole and a modest amount of pico de gallo that enhances the spicy chorizo. The other side has a unique Tabasco mayo that adds to the spice but doesn't make steam pour of your ears.

The crowning achievement is the sunny-side-up egg. It rests delicately on the patty with its yellow yolk dome intact, and once breached mixes with all the ingredients to create a rich, savory sauce. Substitutions are felonious for this creation. If you order a Chaca Oaxaca burger without a pile of hand-punched fries and ask for ketchup, the restaurant should ask you politely to get up and leave or be removed by force.

Other plain hamburgers are just blank canvasses for customers to create their own unimaginative mix of condiments, cheese and other unnecessary proteins. The Chaca Oaxaca is a work of art for the senses. Don't deface it.

This burger should be eaten in Rodeo Goat's dining room as soon as it's served. Anyone can order this chorizo creation through a delivery app or to-go, but its flavor is best savored as soon as it's taken off the grill, put on a metal plate and served at your raised steel table. It's still tasty any other way, but the heat that slowly starts to wane just after it's cooked and served makes all the flavors pop across your senses.

Whether you dine in or drop in to pick up a Chaxa Oaxaca takeout order, you'll immediately want to eat it the first time you smell it.