Nut burgers crack the sweet shell of success
Posted: Aug. 22, 2006
This was one nutty idea that paid off.
Twenty years ago, Jim Jenkins and his wife,
Linda, fell in love with Trempealeau and the
surrounding Mississippi River valley, and on
something of a whim bought the historic Trempealeau
Hotel. Suddenly the couple found themselves in the
hotel, restaurant and bar business, with absolutely
no experience in any of those areas.
She was a teacher; he had a degree in wildlife
management and was a partner in a small construction
company that built log cabins and did historic
restoration.
When it came time to develop a menu for the
restaurant, however, they were certain of one thing.
Having enjoyed a "subsistence lifestyle" for a
time, dabbling in vegetarianism and living off the
land ("It was the '70s," explained Jim), they were
determined to include a quality vegetarian option
for their diners.
They did some research and consulted friends in
the restaurant business, and soon thereafter the
walnut burger was born.
"At the hotel we have a very eclectic, diverse
menu, with seafood, pastas, steaks, chicken, pork
dishes," Jim Jenkins said last week. "The kicker is,
year in and year out our walnut burger is our best
seller. It continues to fascinate me."
And it explains the quaint old hotel's unlikely
slogan: "Home of the Walnut Burger."
The success of the nutty burger is no surprise to
those who've tried it. The mix of ground California
walnuts, Wisconsin cheddar and mozzarella cheeses,
bread crumbs, onions, tamari, eggs, canola oil,
herbs and spices just plain tastes good. It fries up
quickly and easily, and it can be incorporated in
many other dishes.
"It has a lot more complexity of flavor than a
lot of vegetarian burgers," said Pat Sturgis,
co-owner of Beans & Barley Market & Café, 1901 E.
North Ave., where the Trempealeau walnut burger is
one of two vegetarian burgers on the menu. (The
other is a tofu burger.)
"The combination (of nuts and cheese) I would say
is uncommon," Sturgis said. "And I think honestly
one of the reasons people like it, there's enough
fat content to it. I think it's established that one
of the things that carries flavor well is fat."
A single walnut burger has 23 grams of fat
(including 5 grams saturated fat), for 36% of the
Daily Value, and 65 milligrams of cholesterol (21%
DV). It also provides 12 grams of protein, 2 grams
of fiber and 20% of the Daily Value for calcium,
with 590 milligrams of sodium. And the walnuts
contribute healthful omega-3 fatty acids.
In addition, the burger also "handles well," said
Sturgis. So many vegetarian burgers fall apart or
crack; this one holds its shape.
As the burger's popularity caught on, customers
at the Trempealeau Hotel restaurant began asking to
take burgers home. One thing led to another, and now
frozen four-packs of the 3.2-ounce patties can be
found in grocery stores and natural food stores
throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Larger
packs of the patties, and the bulk burger mixture,
are sold to food service operations.
The burgers are a popular item on the University
of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus, and getting burgers
onto college campuses across the country is a
definite goal.
Here in the Milwaukee area, the burgers are sold
at all three Outpost stores and most Sendik's
stores. Woodman's and Piggly Wiggly stores also
carry them.
At the hotel, the burger is served on a
whole-wheat kaiser roll with alfalfa sprouts, tomato
and mayonnaise. But that's just a starting point.
"Once we started to experiment more and more, we
found just how versatile (the burger mixture) is,"
Jenkins said.
It can be formed into small balls and baked at
350 degrees as an appetizer - serve with
honey-mustard sauce and salsa - or for spaghetti or
a walnut ball sub sandwich, with marinara sauce.
The mixture can be baked into lasagna or shaped
into a "meatloaf," or stuffed into rainbow trout,
beef tenderloin, chicken breasts or pork roast. And
it makes a great crust for quiche, Jenkins said.
(You can check out these ideas and more at
www.walnutburger.com.)
Correspondingly, the retail options are expected
to grow as well.
Right now the Jenkinses are working to turn a
popular entrée at their restaurant, a pork loin
roast with a walnut burger stuffing, into a retail
item. A pizza topping with slightly different
seasonings from the burger may follow.
Meanwhile, the burger patties, about 12,000 a
month, are made and frozen for distribution in La
Crosse at - oddly enough - a meat processing plant.
The workers there, carnivores all, have sampled
the stuffed pork roast.
"They said it was the best-tasting pork product
they'd had in their life," Jenkins said.
Which may prove a key point about his walnut
burger that he and others were so careful to stress:
"It's not just for vegetarians."
Nancy J. Stohs is food editor of the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel. You can e-mail her at
nstohs@journalsentinel.com.
From the Aug. 23, 2006
editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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