Usually, ordering a medium rare beef patty is like requesting indigestion. But in downtown Sunnyvale, Nom Burger serves a juicy, pink middle because they buy whole muscle from Napa’s 5 Dot Ranch and grind it fresh, in-house, multiple times a day.

“There’s a misperception when it comes to beef—that it has to be cooked all the way through,” says owner Regina Chan. “Fast food places factor into that because [their meat] could be frozen. It could be from last week, from last year. Ours are very fresh patties. You wouldn’t order a steak well-done. You need to have the flavor there. And the flavor is not going to be there if you cook it all the way through.”

Their menu offers seven burgers. The Nom ($12) features melty gruyere, red caramelized onions and roasted tomato aioli. The Hoi-Sin Hoi-Sum ($13) comes topped with pickled cucumbers, fried wonton skins and a hoisin glaze. Distinctive accessories on other burgers include slow-braised pork belly, jalapeno bacon and housemade guacamole. A crispy over-medium egg can be added for $1.75 and vegetarians can substitute a cauliflower-stuffed portabello.

“I’m trying to do something different,” Chan says. “I wanted it to be unique, and modern, and just change the way people approach burgers. People order the same burger all the time. I wanted to bring new flavors in.”

Tall windows, cement floors and stainless steel characterize the sleek brutalist architecture of the interior. There’s a long bar with 12 craft beers on tap below two flatscreens that, when I went, showed cornrowed women beating each other bloody. Tinkly electro pulses pleasantly and a 20-foot white leather half-booth splits the room. In the back, butter-brushed brioche buns of a bao texture cool on trays in a glass-walled mini-bakery.

“I personally just don’t like sesame buns,” Chan says. “It just seemed natural to make our own bun, and make it a little bit sweet to balance the saltiness you’re going to get from the patty.”

Chan’s parents raised her in a succession of restaurants, and she started her own without any formal culinary training, relying solely on honed instincts. Beyond burgers, there are sides like bacon, sriracha mayo and cheddar drenched tater tots and desserts like organic Straus ice cream oreo milkshakes. And that’s about it.

“If you try to do too much with your menu, it ultimately picks away at the quality, and you spread yourself too thin,” Chan says. “Everything that we do, we try to do the best that we can. I just want to make really great burgers. Period.”