Burger crew meeting called to order on Saturday, December 8th, 2018 at 12pm.
Members in attendance: Angela, Trev, Wayne, Dennis, and me (Innie)
Guests: Marty, mini Burger Crew member-in-training
I. Ordering
Ordering was done at the counter, with burgers brought out tableside. The menu highlights their 100% angus beef burger choices, but they also offer turkey and chicken sandwiches, vegetarian options, and salads.
Trev and Angela split the white truffle burger with no cheese ($9.50) – grilled portobello mushrooms, roasted red bell peppers, white truffle oil, garlic aioli.
Dennis ordered the guacamole burger, which was one of the daily special burgers advertised only at the counter – guacamole, tortilla chip strips, pico de gallo, bacon, jack cheese.
Wayne ordered the white truffle burger with bacon added ($9.50 + $2.50)- grilled portobello mushrooms, roasted red bell peppers, asiago cheese, white truffle oil, garlic aioli, + 2 slices applewood smoked bacon.
I ordered the G Fire burger ($9.50) – pepperjack cheese, red & green chili, habanero, grilled onion, roasted bell peppers, house spicy aioli on the side.
II. The burgers
The truffle burger was a hit! Creamy and full-flavored, with a good mouthfeel. Trevor and Angela noted that most truffle burgers tend to be a bit boring and one-note in taste, but this one was interesting the whole way through. They thought that it tasted rich even without the cheese. Mushroom pieces were big, cooked throughout, and soft. Wayne, who also got the truffle burger, thought that the patty was a little dry and not very juicy. The rest of the crew disagreed, and then proceeded to shame him for accidentally ordering the doneness of his burger medium instead of medium-rare.
Wayne added bacon as an extra topping to his truffle burger. These were described as “thick cut” but upon receiving them, weren’t really that thick. However, Wayne thought they were tasty and were worth adding.
Dennis thought that the guacamole burger generally suffered from a lack of texture. The guacamole, tortilla chips, pico de gallo, bacon, and jack cheese all melded into a similar texture. Larger chunks of onion may have helped to provide a necessary crunchy element. There was a generous amount of guacamole on the burger, but this ended up overpowering the beef flavor of the patty.
The fire burger (which advertised a promising icon of two chili peppers on the menu) wasn’t as spicy as I was hoping for. It did taste of chilis, but didn’t have much heat. The house spicy aioli on the side had the color of sriracha mayo and also did not deliver on the heat scale. The pepperjack cheese may have added some creamy texture, but didn’t contribute much flavor-wise.
The patties when tasted alone did not seem to be fully salted, but the added ingredients of each burger provided the seasoning and flavor. Everyone enjoyed the portion size of the burgers- not too small to be unsatisfying but not too large to be unwieldy and difficult to eat. We all received the correct doneness that was ordered.
Everyone’s burger used the same “high-rise buns”, which were soft, eggy, and spongey. Trev mentioned that the buns contributed to a richer tasting burger overall. The buns all seemed to hold up well to the toppings.
III. The Fries/Sides
The sides were a consistent winner with everyone.
The garlic parmesan fries ($5.00) smelled amazing when they came out! They were nice and garlic-y and full-flavored. The cheese didn’t really stick to the fries, but most fries with parmesan seem to have this issue.
The G-tornado fries ($5) had melted cheese, grilled onion, bacon pieces, and lots of thousand island-style dressing. We described it as a better version of in-n-out animal style fries. These fries and the garlic parmesan fries were of the battered kind and very nicely cooked.
The regular fries ($2.50) were still solid without any fancy toppings. They had a great potato flavor and crispy texture.
The beer battered zucchini fries ($5.50) consisted of 6 large zucchini spears and was served with a side of ranch. These were a different style of battered than the aforementioned fries- these looked like a dry/wet/dry type of fry. Very nicely seasoned, with visible salt grains. Definitely one of the better zucchini fries that we’ve had. Warning: Beware of molten lava status when they first come out.
IV. Miscellaneous
La Habra felt like a farther drive than expected. I think it might be because it’s so far from all freeways and required a good amount of side streets to get there.
There is a small parking lot available which filled up pretty quickly by the end of our meal. Outdoor seating is also available.
The ketchup is off brand but was still tasty. Our resident ketchup connoisseur, Trevor, gave it the high praise of saying that he wouldn’t have noticed that it wasn’t Heinz.
The fountain drinks are refillable and had a pretty standard selection of Coke products.
We originally sat at a table adjacent to the bathroom, but moved after we found that there was a strong bathroom cleaner smell. The bathrooms themselves were pretty tidy.
Very nice staff. We received our food in a timely manner, and our food runner was oddly generous with napkins. (By our fifth unprompted delivery of napkins, we were beginning to question if we just looked like a messy group.) However, our bounty of accumulated napkins came to the rescue when one of our crew spilled his coke over our table. The only logical conclusion here: Precog.
Marty had boiled, pureed carrots. She seemed to like it.
V. Value
The members were asked how much they would pay for the burger they ordered. We would pay anywhere from 10 to 12 dollars for our burgers, so the prices were generally on par with what we received.
VI. The verdict
The white truffle burger was the clear winner during this meal. The ratings ranged from 3 to 4.7, with the truffle burger earning all 4s and above. The other burgers fell short of expectations and were solidly average burgers.
Next burger crew meeting: January 19th at Oh My Burger in Gardena (Innie’s choice)