The Christmas season is a time when a gourmand thinks about great food — and, in between the feasts, a time when he or she keeps meals simple and tasty.

That’s where the Redmond Burger Company comes in.

A sister to the two Bend Burger Company stores, RBC opened in August at the Dawson Station complex in downtown Redmond. It’s a worthy addition to the group launched by Jon and Kristy Hayes in 2008.

The restaurant hasn’t made a lot of changes to the structure that was home to the LifeLine Taphouse, but it certainly has made the space its own. From the moment I walked in the double doors, across a patio area whose cornhole games, I’m sure, would have had a waiting line in summer, I felt right at home.

I was greeted with a menu by a server whose wake-surfing photograph hung on a wall just behind him, near a Smith Rock climbing photo. As Christmas music played in the background, I placed my order at the counter, was given a number and found a seat beside one of five televisions tuned to sports programs. A mezzanine area up a flight of steps, rarely used by the previous owner, was also open to seating.

Custom burgers

My order for a custom-made Broken Top Burger arrived in about 10 minutes. A freshly ground, locally sourced, flame-broiled beef patty was topped with bleu cheese and hickory-smoked bacon, along with fresh lettuce, tomato and red onions. Crispy, thinly sliced pickles were an outstanding addition, along with Bend Burger Sauce, a dark and tangy blend of unrevealed ingredients.

The bakery-made bun was soft yet firm and held together nicely. Accompanied by perfect French fries (crispy outside, soft inside), the burger was delicious.

The menu offers nearly a dozen styles of burgers, such as the Bend Sunrise Burger (a hamburger-sausage patty with a fried egg) and a Lava Butte burger (with pepper-jack cheese and crushed chipotle peppers), but it might make sense to rename a couple of them.

The Mirror Pond Burger, for instance — featuring grilled onions and mushrooms with Swiss cheese — might well be called the Smith Rock Burger to highlight a feature in Redmond’s back yard rather than Bend’s.

Likewise, rather than the Wall Street Burger (Swiss, ham and roasted garlic), I might suggest the Cedar Avenue Burger for the Dawson Station cross-street that fringes the RBC.

Philly and salad

On another visit, I was very pleased with my Phil’s Trail Philly, whose name just wouldn’t be as catchy were it redubbed the Misery Ridge. Served on a sourdough hoagie bun, it was piled with smoked tri-tip steak, grilled onions and red peppers. Unfortunately, it was missing sautéed mushrooms, even though they had been promised on the menu.

Instead of fries, I enjoyed a side order of green beans, seared and served with pieces of crispy bacon; thin, deep-fried onion rings; and a dark, peppery sauce.

My dining companion had a Newport Avenue Salad — again, a misnomer for a clientele of Redmond diners. The ingredients, garden-fresh even in early December, might have earned the salad a verdant Cove Palisades label.

Iceberg lettuce and romaine hearts were tossed with black beans, onions, bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. The greens were topped with sliced chicken — grilled or breaded and deep-fried, by choice — along with crispy onion straws and barbecue sauce. Dressing (ranch is recommended) was offered on the side.

All-American

Perhaps no food is more truly all-American than the hamburger. Popular myth says it was first served in the late 1890s at a lunch wagon in New Haven, Connecticut. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, describes this original hamburger as a slab of meat between two slices of white toast. Along with the ice-cream cone, it was introduced to a wider public — as grilled ground beef in a bun — at the 1904 world’s fair in St. Louis. So says the Iowa Beef Industry Council.

The name hamburger does in fact derive from Germany. Immigrants to the United States brought with them a dish called the Hamburg steak, consisting of raw beef with fried onions, according to the web site Infoplease.com. But phobia against Germany was so strong during the First World War that the dish for a time was renamed Salisbury steak. (That name now refers to a ground-beef steak covered with gravy.)

In 1921, White Castle was established in Wichita, Kansas, as the world’s first hamburger chain, and the craze for burgers was on.

It’s hard to know when hamburgers made their first appearance in Central Oregon. But gourmet burger establishments like the Bend and Redmond Burger companies assure they will be around for a long time.

— John Gottberg Anderson can be reached at janderson@bendbulletin.com.

Redmond Burger Company

Food: () Gourmet burgers and fresh salads fail only when ingredients are omitted.

Service: () Counter service is enhanced by rapid delivery of made-to-order meals.

Atmosphere: () Décor of former tap house has been ungraded to include patio.

More Info

Location: 249 NW Sixth St. (at Cedar Avenue), Redmond; also two Bend locations

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. every day

Cuisine: American

Price range: Burgers $5.99 to $11.95, other sandwiches $5.99 to $12.95; soup and salads $4.99 to $10.95

Credit cards: Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Kids’ menu: On request; grilled cheese sandwich is priced at $5.99

Vegetarian and gluten-free menu: Westside Garden Burger, a black-bean patty, can be wrapped in lettuce

Alcoholic beverages: Full bar

Outdoor seating: Expansive patio with cornhole game setup

Reservations: No

Contact: bendburger.com, 541-316-5262

For more area restaurant reviews, visit bendbulletin.com/restaurants

REDMOND BURGER COMPANY

Food: ()

Gourmet burgers and fresh salads fail only when ingredients are omitted.

Service: ()

Counter service is enhanced by rapid delivery of made-to-order meals.

Atmosphere: ()

Décor of former tap house has been ungraded to include patio.

More Info

Location: 249 NW Sixth St. (at Cedar Avenue), Redmond; also two Bend locations

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day

Cuisine: American

Price range: Burgers $5.99 to $11.95, other sandwiches $5.99 to $12.95; soup and salads $4.99 to $10.95

Credit cards: Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Kids’ menu: On request; grilled cheese sandwich is priced at $5.99

Vegetarian and gluten-free menu: Westside Garden Burger, a black-bean patty, can be wrapped in lettuce

Alcoholic beverages: Full bar

Outdoor seating: Expansive patio with cornhole game setup

Reservations: No

Contact: bendburger.com, 541-316-5262