Month: October 2018

Burger crew meeting called to order on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at noon.

Members in attendance: Angela d. (hey! that’s me!), Trevor Y., Dennis, K., Wayne T., and Innie C.

Guest: Christian Y.

I. Ordering
Trev and I split the BKB Burger ($13) – Brioche, millionaires bacon, cheddar, tomato red onion, arugula, house aioli . Wayne got that burger as well. However, Trev and I got ours without cheese and substituted the brioche for sour dough since I’m on a bit of a dairy hiatus right now.

Innie and DK both ordered the The Firehouse Burger ($13) – Brioche, blistered chile relish, swiss, caramelized onions, baby greens, horseradish aioli.  You know these Koreans like their spicy burgers! They ask how spicy you want it (spicy, medium, or not spicy), which is basically determined by how much jalapenos they put on the burger.

All burgers come with either fries or a salad. We all opted for the fries.

II. The burgers
When we ordered, they asked us how we wanted our burgers cooked and we all said medium or medium rare. Unfortunately, all the burgers came out well done. However, the meat had a wonderful meaty flavor that’s been lacking in the last many meetings and they actually seasoned the patty! Huzzah! Despite being over cooked, the patties were still pretty juicy. They also had a nice heft to them. So we were thoroughly impressed with Brew Kitchen Bar’s meat (minus the over doneness).

The toppings were all pretty good. Wayne said his cheese was nice and melty. We all liked the bacon. Wayne’s was limp and undercooked (as he likes it), and Trev and mine was nice and crunchy (the way we like it). The bacon also had a nice sweetness to it! Perfect! The BKB burger had raw red onions in it that added a nice crunch and sweetness. There wasn’t any acid in the burger, but we surprisingly didn’t miss it. The burger was nicely balanced.

The Firehouse burger, on the other hand, was not as spicy as Innie and DK would have liked. The relish was cooked jalapeno relish, which mellows out the heat. The greens were a bit wilty and the jalapenos were too soft. There needed to be more texture in this burger.

The brioche buns were sweet and fluffy. I was really happy they were able to accommodate my no dairy request. The sour dough was really good! It was nice and toasty and actually went well with the burger.

III. The Fries/Sides
The fries are thick cut and likely double fried. The came with a “nori” seasoning, which was pretty sad green dust. It definitely could have used more salt! I am not a fries + ketchup eater (I prefer my fries untainted), but when there isn’t enough seasoning I douse those bad boys with ketchup (which is what I had to do here).

IV. Miscellaneous
This place is pretty cool. They have a fun vibe with indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor patio is really nice, dog friendly, with a giant tv that you can watch sports on. They have a decent beer selection. They have open seating, so you order at the counter and they give you a number. The staff is great and were really accommodating with my dairy thing. This place is Asian-ish. They had soju drinks, Korean wings, and other subtle nods to an Asian background. They are located off of a busy street so it’s a bit noisy, but they have their own parking lot! When you park, and you walk up, you can smell the beef! Yum!

V. Value
I ask the members how much they would pay for the burger they ate. We would pay anywhere between $10 to $11 for these burgers (sans fries), which means at $13 (including fries) there pretty accurately priced.

VI. The verdict
Definitely the best meat we’ve had in a long time. They would have been amaze-balls if the meat was cooked medium rare. The ratings: 3.1, 3.2, 3.5, 3.8, 4.0.

Next burger crew meeting: November 10th at noon (Angela’s choice). Location: Eureka! in Cerritos, CA.

Burger Crew meeting called to order on Sunday, Sept 16, 2018 at 12pm (Trevor’s pick).

Members in attendance: Angela d., Trevor Y., Wayne T., and Innie C.
Members not in attendance: You know the one.

I. Ordering

Trangela: Double bacon burger with chili fries
Innie: Lava burger with zucchini fries
Wayne: Colossal burger with onion rings

II. The burgers

The burgers were very meh. The patties were very thin, so thin that Innie’s tomato slice was twice as thick as the patty. The patties were also dry with not much beefy flavor. It reminded Angela of burgers that you would get at a backyard party. The lack of pickles in the burgers was also noticeable. Everyone liked the buns, which were gooey and sweet, and the thousand island sauce was good. The bacon was crispy, and the pastrami in Wayne’s burger was not bad for pastrami in a burger. Innie’s burger had pickled jalapenos, which she enjoyed but they weren’t distributed evenly around the burger.

III. The sides

Ranch was necessary for the onion rings and fried zucchini because they were unseasoned. The zucchinis were too thin to retain enough zucchini flavor. The onion rings were nice and crispy but also very thin. The chili fries were ok; the chili itself was of the pasty variety and not too salty.

IV. Miscellaneous

The stand has no indoor seating, only covered seating outside, and we were constantly harassed by flies. There were many cars taking advantage of the drive thru so it seems like a popular place for picking up food. Restrooms were also only outdoors. The menu didn’t have descriptions of the burgers, only their names, so it’s not immediately apparent what’s inside of each burger.

V. Value

As far as how much everyone would pay for the burgers that they ordered, it ranged from $2.50 to $4.50, so as far as value goes, the burgers were slightly overpriced in our opinion.

VI. The verdict

The ratings out of 5 ranged from 2.2 to 2.3, so everyone was pretty consistent in their disappointment. Thicker and beefier patties would’ve helped immensely.