This City Near The California-Oregon Border Has Burgers Worth The Road Trip

If you ever motor through the picturesque mountains of Northern California, do yourself a favor and stop for a quick bite in Dunsmuir. This quaint and historic railroad city of approximately 1,600 people sits along I-5 in Siskiyou County, just 70 miles south of the Oregon border. Travelers can enjoy gorgeous views of the mountainous, tree-covered landscape while visiting numerous local attractions, like a 10-acre botanical garden. Burgers are one of the small city's culinary specialties, and come lunchtime, you have plenty of options to choose from.

YAKS on the 5 is one of the city's most popular dining spots, snagging first place in a Tripadvisor ranking of Dunsmuir's 10 best restaurants. As one customer wrote in a 5-star Google review, "Absolutely phenomenal burgers. Probably the best we'd ever had." YAKS uses locally grown products and offers a range of decked-out burgers, such as its Arnold Alpha (two patties topped with pastrami, jack cheese, and bacon) and its OMG! burger, which comes with cream cheese and beer-battered jalapeños. The More Than Just a Peanut Butter Burger is also a hit and features bacon crumbles, fried onion strings, house-made marmalade, and (of course) peanut butter.

Burger Barn is another highly rated spot in town that offers standouts like the Barnstormer ⅓ — an employee favorite that features two patties, pepper jack cheese, bacon, beer-battered onion rings, and barbecue sauce. Other signature burgers include its Barnburner (topped with jalapeños and spicy mayo) and its ½-pound Shasta burger (topped with Thousand Island dressing, American cheese, bacon, and crispy onions).

California cuisine is more than just CPK's barbecue chicken pizza and an impressive variety of seafood. Thanks to small-town spots like Dunsmuir, it's also a burger lover's paradise. Other local restaurants that offer top-notch burgers include Sten's Burger Stand — a classic piece of Americana offering burgers, hot dogs, and shakes — and Cornerstone Cafe. 

The latter mostly focuses on breakfast but does offer two sandwiches of note: the Downtown burger and the Train Station Gardenburger. Both come with a choice of provolone, Swiss, cheddar, or pepper jack, as well as sun-dried tomato mayo, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and pickles. The only difference? The former comes with a beef patty while the latter comes with a (presumably vegetarian) "gardenburger" patty.

If you're looking for a burger later in the day (or even into the evening), try Dunsmuir Brewery Works on Dunsmuir Avenue. Open Wednesday through Sunday from noon until 8 p.m., this microbrew pub specializes in carefully concocted ales and high-quality eats. Some of its burger offerings include a Wagyu beef burger, topped with mixed greens, onions, and tomatoes; a medium-rare elk burger dressed with grilled onions and mixed greens; and a Frisco burger, which also features a Wagyu patty and comes on grilled sourdough with pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, and grilled onions. (All of these sandwiches also contain a house-made burger sauce.) And hey, if you can't reach Dunsmuir anytime soon, then why not try some of these chef-approved tips for making fast food burgers Michelin star-worthy?