A Cajun soft shell crab slider

I had to be careful not to call it a food truck, when I first checked out gourmet slider specialist Rosemarie's. Its chef cooked out of a trailer small enough, I'd have believed it if he told me it couldn't fit a kitchen large enough to griddle full sized burgers.

Well, last year that chef, Nick Balsamo, moved his operation into a restaurant space in Mission Beach, and though it's not a huge place, it's definitely big enough to go full burger. Except, not only did Rosemarie's Burgers stick to sliders, it doubled down. Where already there were wagyu beef and fried chicken sliders, now there are sliders made of eggplant, grilled shrimp, and soft shell crab.

A whole menu devoted to indulgent sliders and dirty fries

First, let's be clear what Rosemarie's considers a slider to be: a quarter pound of protein on a small, slider-size bun. Which means they start at $8.50 apiece, and make half a meal, give or take. Anyway, Rosemarie's recommends two per customer.

It also means the proteins may be bigger than the bun, as best seen on the breaded and fried cajun soft shell crab slider ($14). With its legs poking out from each side of the bun, it almost looks as though this tasty morsel could stand up and walk off the plate.

Some proteins (like fried chicken thighs) spread wider than the bread. Some (like slices of fried eggplant) are stacked high like a Dagwood. The "Round Up" slider I ordered went high and wide: a wide and flat wagyu smashburger smothered in "onions confit" and melted American cheese, topped by a thick onion ring, beneath a tiny bun, and krinkle-cut pickle slices, capping it like an ill-fitting bowler.

American cheese, onion confit, kewpie mayo, and a quarter pound of smashed wagyu beef on a slider-sized bun

Plus, what I remember most about my experience with mobile kitchen Rosemarie's back in 2022 remains true: these sliders are generously sauced. Whether it's Kewpie mayo, BBQ sauce, honey Buffalo sauce, duck fat Nashville hot sauce, curry, or some combination of things, each slider gets a bold splash of flavor.

As I sit at at Rosemarie's deck counter, overlooking a busy summertime Mission Boulevard and taking bites from my large order of sliders, I can start to appreciate why these need to be, to some degree, miniaturized. When full sized burgers come out of the kitchen looking so rich and bursting at the seams, they'd be slightly terrifying. These out of control looking sliders simply mete out decadence in manageable portions. And, yeah, for most of us two will be plenty.