For some reason, the first week I ever visited Brescia, three years ago now, I really wanted a hamburger. We were at a random hipster bar in the centre (complete with a Montreal bicycle hanging from the wall) when I saw a handwritten chalkboard advertising their hamburger special, great!
While the rest of our group snacked on a really pretty charcuterie board, I was treated to a less than gorgeous plain ground beef patty served on a piece of wet lettuce. No bun, no tomato, no condiments in sight. I wanted hipster hamburger heaven and I get this?! Another hard culinary lesson learned…
Jumping ahead a few years, we find ourselves in La Fabbrica, a cramped, loud bar with a tiny kitchen built right into the dining room, barely sequestered with pre-fab metal walls. Blaring from the speakers is the aforementioned metal music, but in future visits we’ll also be treated to some reggae and 70s prog.
These guys are artists. I mean, they went to art school with Antonella. Donned in plaid and stroking wild beards with twirly moustaches, owner-chef-servers have somehow learned to make a hamburger. Dionysus himself would be proud: oh miracle of miracles!
Outside of Florence, unless it’s salted and aged and thinly sliced, the Italians aren’t great with meat. Ground up and slow cooked in tomato sauce? Righteous! Anything is amazing with tomatoes and parm. Roast beef isn’t a thing. Proper cuts of steak aren’t a thing. Medium rare isn’t a thing. Bistecca is thin flank steak cooked to rubber, salted before, during and after. The Florentine exception is for another post, lest this rant continue forever.
I’m not sure where and how or what cooking show they learned it from, but the guys at La Fabbrica have managed to find some good quality beef, grind it up, form their own patties, cook it properly, and serve it on an actual bun, with a weird, fun, and truly unique variety of toppings.
Since the menu is an odd mix of Italian and Brescian, Antonella is nice enough to translate for me, and that’s when I discover my truly evil hamburger is full of malice, tanta cattiveria.
Tanta cattiveria, so much bad stuff man (it really means it’s mixed up with a special blend of spicy herbs and spicy spices), along with spicy salami, spicy salumi, spicy salsa, fancy cheese and fried peppers.
Their three main burgers, the third of which I enjoy, are The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. In Italian they mix the order up a bit so we have Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo, so my choice is the pretty bad guy. I’m told by switching The Bad and The Ugly it rolls off the tongue better–from spaghetti westerns to the burgers of the North!
The flavour! Despite the intermingling of spice, and it is spicy, I can still taste the meat, and the cheese and veg offer a soothing counterpoint to offset the burn. The bun is soft and springy, not just a vehicle for meat and cheese, but the perfect complement that makes a burger a burger.
On top of their wide selection of pre-designed burgers, I should also mention that these guys make amazing pasta, although bring some friends since they won’t just do it per plate, but per group of two or more. Their cheese plate is also a thing of beauty. I forget the different options they provided, but I’ll leave a picture below for the connoisseurs to parse.
Easily one of my favourite places in Italy, La Fabbrica has an eclectic mix of people, music, food and drink, so it’s definitely worth a visit.
A Nix in Brixia 