Bomb Burgers and Wowsa Evolutionary Leaps at Alvarado Street Brewery

Behold the burger at Alvarado Street Brewery. 

Distinguished yet drippy. Classic but contemporary. Crave-able and comforting.

A menu item ubiquitous at brewpubs might seem a surprising key to unlock understanding of a juggernaut craft beer operation. 

What about the historic venues with soaring ceilings and gleaming taps? The slick production facility with a packed taproom? The stylish shipping container brew bar at Monterey Bay Football Club’s Cardinale Stadium? And all those celebrated ales, lagers and IPAs?

That’s the thing: Alvarado Street Brewery has assembled a community dynasty with a close eye on complementary components beyond beer, and even historic settings, namely an inspired food program that—like the burger—is thoughtful but not over-complicated.

That approach applies to technique and price point, according to culinary director Brian Parks, who oversees the kitchens at Alvarado eateries spanning four cities.

“We try to keep it simple, while shooting to put value out there for the guest,” he says. “You can go anywhere and get a $20 to $25 burger and throw everything at it, but we focus on simplicity and provide it for a lot less.” 

As with the rest of the menu—“We do our own sauces, dressings, everything, down to cookies and desserts,” Parks says—the pickles and Dijonaise are crafted in house. Other parts are sourced with specificity, as with the Ad Astra Bread Co. artisan bun and the beef itself. 

“We worked with vendors to test different patties, and found one with just enough bite and flavor, then it’s salt and pepper only, and a broil for a nice char on the outside,” Parks says. “We’re not overthinking it.”

The results prove satisfying—“All our chefs are proud of the volume of food we do, while maintaining 100 percent control of what’s being made,” Parks says—and they also prove habit-forming. At Alvarado on Main in Salinas, the Wagyu smashburger has a cult following. Meanwhile the Burger Monday bargain, which includes a Pub Burger, Bistro Burger or Main Street Burger plus fries and a choice of beer for $15 has earned its own following, as ASB marketing director Brock Bill notes.

“It’s a stellar deal really to just thank our regulars for their support and to highlight one of our favored food dishes,” he says. “I personally think our burgers are held to an extremely high standard and are some of the best—if not the best—on the Peninsula.”

The burger also helps illustrate an Alvarado strategy that layers style on substance: Each ASB outpost employs a core menu of best-sellers, but empowers its executive chef to make the menu their own.

“It’s an important thing our chefs are able to express their own creativity and seasonality,” Parks says. “Each location has its own personality and clientele base.”

Recent expressions to that effect leap off the menu, from summer’s blackberry-buratta salad at Alvarado on Main in Salinas to fall’s seared black cod with sauteed kale and farro, fennel-apple relish, whiskey gastrique and rosemary apple puree at Alvarado Brewery & Bistro in Carmel. 

“To get my hands on fresh local ingredients and put my creativity on it is really fun,” ASB Bistro exec chef Alvin Quinol says. “We like to offer something different you won’t get at another brew pub.”

While that’s all happening in real time, in harmony with what’s fresh in the moment, Alvarado’s milestone anniversary inspires a retrospective, which in turn frames the future. 

When Alvarado Street Brewery made a dramatic debut on its namesake street in the heart of Old Monterey—transforming a dilapidated theater into a full-tilt craft beer destination—EMB’s Mark C. Anderson tabbed it one of the biggest local food stories of the century, no exaggeration.

“Alvarado Brewing is a historic upgrade,” he wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Flash forward 10 years, and the most striking thing about that introduction is that it’s been followed by so many morestriking introductions. That original launch, in other words, was the start of a habit of blockbuster breakouts that hasn’t slowed since.

First came Great American Beer Fest medals for the likes of now-famous Mai Tai PA, then a production facility/taproom, then Carmel Plaza’s bistro-microbrewery, then a line of canned beers, then a beer garden, then an Oldtown Salinas movie-set-of-a-bar-restaurant. 

And when a professional sports team came to the area, Alvarado became the anchor of the festive beer garden at the east side of the soccer pavilion.

If there were need for further evidence ASB prefers to renew its fundamentals rather than rest on its laurels, that surfaced yet again in recent months. Co-founder/head brewer JC Hill moved to Germany for months, earning a master brewer certificate from Doemens Academy, a world-class brewing venture with Chicago-based Siebel Institute, known as the World Brewing Academy.

“Research and development are a big part of our identity—we’re always trying to try new things, learning through experimentation,” Hill said upon his return.

That gets at the most appetizing element of the Alvarado Street Brewery odyssey, burger included: No matter how many eye-popping evolutionary leaps it makes, there’s fresh flavor yet to be tapped.