Burger Friday: Perseid

Skip the skippable fries and you can kinda-sorta afford to splurge on the $23 burger at Bludorn offspring Perseid, the hotel restaurant at the glamorous new Hotel St. Augustine.

The burger's a knockout. (So is the space.)

After a March dinner where I thought the Asian touches got the better of a fish dish, I was skeptical that a burger given the banh mi treatment would actually work. But boy, does it ever.

Here's how:

Price: $23 for the St. Augustine Burger, $4 extra to have it with fries, and $16 for a highly suitable 6-ounce glass of Chave Mon Coeur Côtes du Rhône brings the pre-tax-and-tip total to $43. Like I said, a splurge.

Ordering: You can order the burger from a server either in the restaurant proper, including at its counter bar; or in the separate hotel lounge toward the front of the complex, where there are dazzling counter perches and all manner of cushy seating throughout a series of dramatic rooms.

Architecture: Salad stuff on top. On a toasted, sesame-seeded brioche bun goes a lavish swipe of Kewpie mayonnaise, the totemic Japanese condiment; followed by a hefty, cooked-to-specs beef patty; a tangle of sweet-sour pickled vegetable tendrils feathered with cilantro leaves; and a final, velvety splodge of duck-liver mousse—executive chef Michael Le's answer to the pâté element in a banh mi.

Quality: Pretty near perfect. The expansive flavor of the beef asserted itself against the sweetish Kewpie and pickles, despite my qualms. The patty had an admirable sear, its beefiness boosted by a super-savory Maggi glaze that added a dark, burnished sheen.

It was cooked to the rosy medium rare I always prefer when there is high-quality beef involved—as it invariably is at an Aaron Bludorn operation. The duck liver mousse gave the package another uplifting swoosh of umami, so that the burger just sang. And oh, yeah: the brioche bun managed to be both soft and sturdy enough to stand up to the job, a tricky balance.

Letter grade: A plus, no notes.

Ooze rating: very good, with meat juices aplenty and a bit of condiment drippage.

Value: decent, considering the high quality and brilliant interaction of all the parts.

Minus points: forgettable, hotel-quality fries that were pretty to look at, but hobbled by the cottony interior texture that says "previously frozen." I know it's a hotel. I understand about room service. But having experienced the world-class fries at Bar Bludorn, I felt bereft.

Bonus points: lots of solicitous, smart service at a fine-dining level. Plus interesting cocktails superintended by Tongue Cut Sparrow veteran Tom Hardy; fun wine choices from sommelier Chris Morris; and well-made, French-bistro-inspired apps (a lovely, coarse terrine; luxurious snails en croute) for those not going the burger route. The burger, happily, is an all-day item.

I admire the way chef-partner Aaron Bludorn (whose culinary background is super-French by way of Daniel Boulud's New York restaurants) and his lieutenant here, Michael Le, have given the menu a Gulf Coastal spin that makes it feel local and personal—whether in the form of the banh mi burger or the sprawling biscuit that comes with the terrine.

Local color: The mix of bohemian travelers, bookish-looking Menil types from the next-door collections, low-key ladies who lunch and a business table or two managed to feel like Montrose, albeit rarified Montrose. "A cat can look at a king!" I told myself as I soaked up the sleek, modern architecture from San Antonio's Lake/Flato and the interior design details from Post Company studio.

For a couple of very pleasant hours, that's exactly what this cat did.