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MISSION — Somehow and someway, the Rio Grande Valley always finds its way on to the world stage. Either through politics, art, food or culture, our home, for better or for worse, makes a name for itself to the world.
SSTASH, a burger restaurant just more than a year into their establishment, has made their name known by being ranked the 41st best burger place in the world.
The prestigious World’s 101 Best Burger places by worldbestburgers.com includes restaurants like London, Hong Kong, New York City, Copenhagen and Sydney. Scrolling down the list of world-class cities, you find Mission, Texas.
Co-owner of SSTASH, Americo Garza Castelan said the placement was not expected and came as a surprise when he was looking at the list.
“I was talking to my wife, we were in Monterrey and I was looking (at the list) and I see number 41, SSTASH and I started crying basically,” Americo said. “I’ve been following several of the places on the list that inspired me to build this … and for us to have that recognition … I believe we are number 3 in Texas behind some places in Austin.”
Heading to the burger joint for lunch, I sat down with Americo after my meal to discuss the recognition and the complex and meticulous process behind SSTASH smash burgers.
Located at 308 North Shary road, you might miss it driving by since they have no sign and the restaurant itself has a very minimalistic vibe that I like.
It keeps that modern minimalistic style inside the restaurant with lots of 90s Hip Hop playing in the background.
Americo is from Monterrey and moved to the Valley after marrying his wife Koraima Canto Arguelles who is the co-owner. The name SSTASH stands for secret stash and that might explain why the burger spot is kinda hidden.
“So for us, this place is like the things we love most,” he said. “Music, art and style, food, the beers we like, the wine we like. That’s why we put everything from my wife and myself in this place, and also our personal, they say, auras to open this place.”
Once an architect in Mexico, Americo said he never studied the culinary arts but first started getting into food by learning techniques and cooking styles on YouTube during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“I started building with my wife this concept we want to open and basically to break the fast food environment here in the Valley,” he said. “I know we sell burgers but for me this is not fast food. We take care of every single ingredient. We brought to the table the best quality we can offer.”
Americo said getting the restaurant to be operational took over a year and was a nightmare with permits and inspections.
The menu is small and offers a handful of options for burgers and sides, but that is the point. Each of the three burgers offered has a good description of what’s in it. The only sides are fires, truffle parm fires and a house salad.
I decided to try the most popular item, the house burger or known as the fried onion burger. The burger includes a six ounce Akaushi beef, American cheese, slow cooked jalapeños, fried onions, house made pickles, mustard and buttered toasted milk bun.
I also ordered the truffle parm fries and a strawberry limeade.
Americo went into detail about all of his ingredients, where they are sourced from and the complex process behind the burgers.
Some examples are the meat used for the burgers is from a ranch just over an hour away, the restaurant makes their own pickles and the burger buns are from a bakery in New York City.
My truffle parm fries came out first and my first thoughts were I loved that they didn’t go easy on the parmesan.
Shredded very thin, it was almost like a cobweb of cheese around my fries. I’m always getting a side of fries and especially with some cheese and these were among the best ones I’ve had.
The parmesan comes straight from a big wheel of cheese and you could taste the quality and even feel it on your fingers. The fries also were cooked to perfection with a slight outside crispy but soft inside.
Out came my burger and I’ve had smash burgers before, with my favorite being NADA burgers in Austin but the SSTASH burger has a unique look.
The two burger patties extended past the bun and creates this little outer layer of meat. A bit tricky to eat since you’ll get a little messy but chomping off the outer later and a few bits in, and I could tell why this burger joint is on the list.
Not wanting to give away too many secrets of the stash, Americo said it is a complex process and science to get the smash burgers how he wants them, it’s not just smashing meat on the grill like how some people think.
From having the perfect temperature for the beef to stick, to cooking the patties with onions on them to get more flavor and caramelization.
“We smash it and we get on the corners and on the edges to be more of the crispy size, and we have all the juices in the center,” Americo said. “The purpose for a smash burger for me is the texture.”
Tasting the quality of the ingredients in each bite, the onions and the jalapeños reminded me of a Mexican hamburger just without the ham or avocado.
Americo said the restaurant always tries to put some Mexican heritage in every burger and I could tell by reading the description and during my first few bites of the burger.
“For me, the best review is when I don’t see food on the plates,” he said.
The review process for the list was based on things like the concept of the restaurant, the buns, patties, service and Americo said he believes they came twice to test the consistency of all the graded scores.
“I don’t know the people who came,” he said. “That talks good about us. We don’t know what happened, they just came and tried the burgers and put us on that list and in that range for us was like a big surprise. We’ve been open for like a year and to have that recognition like so fast I was like wow and I told you I cried.”
A big surprise for Americo, his wife and the restaurant but to me, this is just another prime example of the Valley showing the world that we’re on the map.
We aren’t just a place that is talked about by politicians, or about SpaceX or another national stereotype.
The Valley is growing, this isn’t the same little ol’ hometown place from 10–15 years ago. We are consistently going above and beyond in food, art, music and culture.
Recognitions like SSTASH’s and Brownsville’s Le Rêve on the list, James Beard Chef winner Ana Liz Pulido or top 5 BBQ in Texas at GW’s in San Juan, show that and put the Rio Grande Valley in the world’s view.
Going forward in the business, Americo’s goals are maintaining the high quality offered at the burger joint but also has dreams to expand to other parts of the Valley.
SSTASH is open from 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.