Grease dripped from Tim Brothers’ cheeseburger as it sizzled above the flames of the Gold Coast Grill in the Cesar Chavez Student Center. Brothers, the curator of SF State’s planetarium, would’ve rather had his burger made with ground buffalo meat than the more fatty ground beef.

“I like buffalo meat,” said Brothers, 27. “It tastes a little different, the texture is a little different, but it’s good meat.”

Nationwide buffalo meat is becoming more popular. Numerous San Francisco restaurants serve the meat in dishes ranging from buffalo pastrami sliders to buffalo chili. On special occasions, like last month’s Barbecue Night, even SF State’s dorm cafeteria serves buffalo meat.

“When we do serve it, we tell the students it has less fat and more protein,” said Edward Vicedo, director of dining services at SF State.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), buffalo meat has less fat, calories, and cholesterol and more protein than chicken or beef. The American bison, which has come to be known as “buffalo,” is not raised using growth hormones or antibiotics, in accordance with protocols instituted by the National Bison Association.

“It’s way better than eating some antibiotic-pumped-up cow,” said Gloria Ciccarone-Nehls, Executive Chef at the luxurious Big Four Restaurant in Nob Hill. Buffalo meat can be substituted for beef in any dish, she said. But she added that because buffalo is often more expensive and people aren’t often aware of its benefits, it isn’t as common as beef.

At $239 million retail value in 2006, the buffalo meat industry is less than 1 percent of the $71 billion beef industry. But it’s growing. After a 21 percent rise in 2006, buffalo meat popularity is up more than 17 percent this year, according to the USDA.

“We change a lot of people’s direction that normally buy beef,” said Carter Nguyen, who works at Prather Meat Company in the Ferry Building. Prather Meat sells ground buffalo for $6 per pound, the same price as their premium ground beef.

“We try to educate people on the organic way [buffalo] are raised,” Nguyen said. “Here in the city, people are starting to look into that.”

Despite growing national sales and health benefits, SF State has not established buffalo meat on regular menus because the demand is not there, said Vicedo.

“We have offered it before,” Vicedo said about the dorm’s events. “But if someone came up and asked for buffalo meat we wouldn’t have it. It has to be a planned item.”

The demand for meats like buffalo or lamb lags because students aren’t “adventurous” enough to try them, Vicedo said. The cafeteria includes buffalo meat in the menu about twice a year, he said.

“I’ve never even heard of people eating [buffalo meat],” said SF State freshman Alex Griffin, 18. But given the health benefits, she said she'd try it.

Buffalo meat can be found at numerous San Francisco restaurants, including The Bull’s Head, Buffalo Burgers, Tommy’s Joynt, The Big Four Restaurant and Good Earth Cuisine.