Upscale burger restaurants punching up their patties

In the crucible of white-hot, charbroiled (or grilled) competition between the national burger chains, they’re gussying them up these days with sriracha, Frank’s Red Hot, guacamole, avocados, jalapenos, spinach, fried eggs, blue cheese, goat cheese and even truffle oil.

Not to be outdone, upscale burger restaurants in the valley have been punching up their patties with foie gras and house-cured pickles and roasted garlic and aioli and you name it. But three seasonal burgers being offered locally have raised the beefsteak stakes a little higher.

Two of them are at BLT Burger at The Mirage, although the dates of their availability don’t overlap. Pumpkin lovers can get the Pumpkin Chutney Burger, which is topped with frisee, a sweet-spicy yogurt sauce and pumpkin-apple chutney, for $16 from Monday through Nov. 16. Real hard-core pumpkin fans also can get — wait for it — Savory Battered Fried Pumpkin Wedges on the side for $10.

You’ve no doubt noticed all of the pumpkin-spice stuff, from pudding to vodka to cookies to yogurt, that’s around at this time of year, and which probably started with the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte a few years back. Well, the undaunted chefs at Umami Burger at the SLS Las Vegas have come up with a Pumpkin-Spice Latte burger. This time the patty’s topped with kabocha squash, which is sort of an Asian pumpkin, plus garlic aioli, spiced mascarpone and a coffee glaze. It’s $12.

And from Nov. 24 through Nov. 30, BLT Burger will offer the Turducken Burger, chicken sausage, duck breast and turkey with cornbread stuffing, gravy and a cranberry-boursin relish, for $18.

Happy burger holidays.

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.