Burgers Gone Loco

Nothing about it should work.

But the Loco Moco burger ($13) at the new Social Kitchen & Brewery in the Inner Sunset is a confounding marvel.

The kitchen grinds the Prather Ranch beef in-house, which is business as usual in this burger-obsessed age.

Then the strategy becomes downright lunatic. The kitchen tops the beef patty with house-made Spam, made from heritage pork. And on top of that goes--in ascending order--grilled pineapple and cremini mushroom gravy, all bound by a slab of Colby cheese.

We're not done yet: Above the cheese is a fried onion ring and a fried egg. Lest you think this is overkill, consider that when Social Kitchen first opened, the Loco Moco burger was served with two fried eggs.

A sesame bun from Panorama frames the behemoth and, somehow, the burger's sum is greater than its wildly idiosyncratic components. Eating one is like wallowing in a pigpen, yes, but the interplay of complementary flavors and textures is worth every messy mouthful.

Social Kitchen's brewmaster, Rich Higgins, is fond of pairing the burger with the house-brewed Rapscallion, a spiky, Belgian-style golden ale that tempers the burger's madness.

We tried the two together and couldn't agree more.

Social Kitchen & Brewery, 1326 9th Ave. (at Irving St.); 415-681-0330 or socialbrewsf.com