The OMG! Burger at Yaks on the Five — A Full Review
Some burgers are designed to be described. The OMG! Burger at Yaks on the Five in Dunsmuir, California is designed to make you stop talking entirely. If you have ever pulled off I-5 wondering whether it was worth the exit, the answer is yes. It has always been yes. And the OMG! is the reason most people come back.
What Is the OMG! Burger?
The OMG! is Yaks on the Five’s signature burger, and the name is not accidental. It is a deliberate combination of flavors that should not work as well as they do but somehow come together in a way that genuinely catches you off guard. This is not a safe burger. It is not a classic. It is a carefully constructed layering of bold, sweet, tangy, and spicy elements that rewards people willing to order outside the usual.
On the surface, it sounds like a lot. Cream cheese. Beer-battered jalapeños. Melted jack cheese. Lemon-ginger marmalade. Garlic aioli. Most burger joints would pick two of these and call it a specialty. Yaks uses all five, and they pull it off. The OMG! has appeared on national lists, earned praise in food media, and sits at the top of practically every online review for the restaurant. It is a flagship item that genuinely earns that title.
The Ingredients That Make It Work
Understanding the OMG! requires looking at each element individually before seeing how they operate together.
Cream cheese. This is the move that surprises first-timers most. Instead of a standard sauce, the base layer is a thick spread of cream cheese that brings richness and a slight tang. It acts as a flavor anchor, keeping the more aggressive ingredients from running over each other. The cool creaminess also balances out the heat that comes next.
Beer-battered jalapeños. These are not the limp pickled slices you find at chain restaurants. Yaks batter-fries their jalapeños, which does two things: it creates a satisfying crunch that adds texture, and it tempers the raw heat of the pepper enough that it becomes warmth rather than punishment. The batter also adds a subtle maltiness that works with the sweet marmalade in a way that feels intentional.
Jack cheese. Melted over the patty, jack cheese brings a mild, buttery melt that ties the cream cheese and jalapeño together without competing with either. It is the quiet ingredient that makes everything cohere.
Lemon-ginger marmalade. This is the element that makes people raise an eyebrow when they read the menu. Marmalade on a burger? At Yaks, yes. And it works because the citrus cuts through the fat of the beef and cheese while the ginger adds a faint brightness that lifts the whole sandwich. It is not sweet in the way that ketchup is sweet. It is complex in the way that a good glaze on a piece of meat is complex.
Garlic aioli. The closer. The garlic aioli adds a savory, herby finish to every bite and brings the flavors back to earth after the marmalade’s brightness. It is also what ties the cream cheese on the bottom to the bun on top, giving the burger a coherent structural logic from base to crown.
The beef itself is thick and well-seasoned, cooked to hold up against five serious toppings without collapsing into them. The bun is sturdy and slightly toasted, which matters here because a soft, flimsy bun would not survive this build.
How It Compares to Other Menu Items
Yaks on the Five does not have a weak menu. The Cilantro Bomb layers Cajun spice with jack cheese in a way that will convert anyone who claims to dislike cilantro. The Lava Burger delivers a slow, building heat that is deeply satisfying if you want something more straightforwardly spicy. The Jalapeño Bacon Burger is a crowd-pleaser built for the heat-and-salt crowd. The Make Me Wanna Cry Garlic Burger is exactly what it sounds like for people who want garlic at full volume.
But the OMG! is different from all of them in one important way: it is the most surprising. Every other burger on the menu delivers on a flavor premise you can predict from the name. The OMG! delivers on a combination that sounds unlikely and then makes you wonder how you ever ate a burger without marmalade and cream cheese on it. That quality of surprise, executed cleanly, is what makes it the signature item rather than just the most popular one.
It is also, notably, not the hottest item on the menu. If you are looking for heat above all else, the Lava Burger or the Jalapeño Bacon Burger will serve you better. The OMG! is not a heat-seeker’s burger. It is a flavor-seeker’s burger, and that is an important distinction.
Why Road Trippers Order It First
Yaks on the Five sits directly off I-5 in Dunsmuir, California, which puts it squarely in the path of one of the great American driving corridors. Road trippers moving between Los Angeles and Portland, between the Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest, between anywhere and everywhere in California’s interior, pass through Dunsmuir. The restaurant has become a known stop for this reason.
The OMG! travels well as a story. Road trippers who eat it tend to recommend it to other road trippers. It is the kind of meal that generates a specific kind of conversation: “There is this burger place in Dunsmuir and you have to try this one thing.” The OMG! is that one thing. It has earned that reputation because it actually delivers on the description rather than being a novelty that disappoints on the first bite.
The location also helps. Dunsmuir itself is a Northern California town with genuine character, surrounded by mountains, the Sacramento River, and the kind of scenery that makes a long drive feel worthwhile. Stopping at Yaks is not an obligation. It is a destination that the drive gives you a reason to reach.
Yaks has been featured in the New York Times, GQ magazine, and has earned recognition as one of the top 100 burger spots in the United States. For a restaurant operating off a stretch of I-5 in a small Northern California town, that level of recognition speaks directly to what the food delivers. The OMG! is a significant part of why.
Where to Find It on I-5
Yaks on the Five is located in Dunsmuir, California, right along I-5 in the Sacramento River Canyon area of Siskiyou County. If you are driving north through California, the Dunsmuir exit comes up after Redding as you head into the canyon country. If you are heading south, it is a natural break point before the long stretch into the Central Valley.
The restaurant is the kind of place that benefits from arriving with a plan rather than hoping for a walk-in on a busy weekend afternoon. If you know you are coming through, checking in ahead is worth a quick call.
Ready to try the burger that has been making road trippers stop mid-route for years? View the full menu here and plan your visit. Call us at 530-678-3517 or stop by when you are passing through on I-5. The OMG! will be waiting.
