If the Naughts were all about topping burgers with luxurious extras like foie gras or pork belly, this decade’s burger masters are working with beef and beef alone.

Umami Burger slow-cooks its flavor-enhanced patty in a steam oven. LarkCreekSteak lards the grind with trimmings from premium steaks. Fifth Floor custom-blends several different cuts to achieve maximum flavor.

But two new burgers beat them at their game:

At Mission Bowling Club, chef Anthony Myint laboriously “granulates” brisket, hangar steak and chuck, ensuring the muscle fibers in the burger ($15) remain aligned. The patty’s tenderness isn’t all you notice; the tallow the meat is seared in contributes beefiness on the sub-bass level.

For the lunch-only burger ($16), RN74’s cooks blend four different cuts--Wagyu brisket, hanger steak, short rib and chuck--then cook the meat in a blazing-hot iron skillet to give the patty a mahogany crust. They add garlic and herbs to the pan as it cooks, giving the burger’s considerable juices a more savory cast. A little caramelized-onion-and-duck-fat jam on top doesn’t hurt, either.

Mission Bowling Club, 3176 17th St. (at S. Van Ness Ave.), 415-863-2695 or missionbowlingclub.com; RN74, 301 Mission St. (at Beale St.), 415-543-7474 or rn74.com