Burger Crew meeting called to order on Saturday, November 9, 2019 @ 12:30pm.
Members in attendance: Angela, Trevor, Wayne, DK, and
Innie
Mini member: Marty
I. Ordering
True to their pop-up origins, the menu items at Goldburger are short and sweet. They offer 3 types of double cheeseburgers (Goldburger, California Classic, and LA Special), a Kids Cheeseburger, and classic fries. Chopped chilis are available on request.
Angela, Trev, Wayne and I opted for the flagship burger of the trio, the Goldburger (grilled onions, dill pickles, house-made garlic-mustard aioli) for $11. DK went rogue and ordered the LA Special (topped with pastrami, dijonaise slaw) for $12. DK and I requested chopped chilis added to our burgers. Unfortunately, the California Classic (shredded lettuce, diced onions, dill pickles, house made classic sauce – $9) went unrepresented during this trip. (Shredduce does not seem to be a selling point amongst the Burgr Crew collective.) Marty the Kid had herself a Kids Cheeseburger (single patty) at $6. Everyone had an order of classic fries.
Goldburger’s offerings also included bottled drinks: Various flavors of fancy bottled soda (Swell Soda) or Jarritos Mineral water for $2.50. Wayne ordered a Pomegranate soda, and DK went with Lemon-Lime.
II. The burgers
Smash burgers done properly are a beautiful thing. These patties were very good, very seasoned, and beefy. When compared to Burgers Never Say Die, these patties were not as caramelized, but still had a great sear. Wayne said that Goldburger’s patty was not as paper thin as BNSD, and while Goldburger could probably get away with one patty, 2 was much better. Trev and Angela thought the one patty in the Kids Cheeseburger still gave a good ratio of meat to bun, and felt that it might have been thicker than the ones served in the Doubles.
The grilled onions in the Goldburgers were super thinly sliced, caramelized, but not overcooked to be mushy. They still had some nice bite and was a nice addition to the flavor and texture of the overall burger. The pickles were also a hit with everyone. Angela liked the cut of them; sometimes pickles are cut so thin that they don’t give a satisfying crunch. Wasted pickle potential is a real problem in the burger community. With the melty cheese and soft buns, everyone liked the texture of each bite. To quote Wayne, “There was a nice amount of goo everywhere.”
The pastrami in DK’s LA Special was very thinly sliced and chewy, and not crispy around the edges. DK likened them to Tommy’s or The Hat’s pastramis. He noted that there was an “appropriate” portion of pastrami topping that didn’t overwhelm the flavor of the burger. Past burger ventures have yielded a lot of pastrami mountains, which are great for wow factor, but not great for a lot of other reasons. (How the heck do you bite into a literal sphere of food?) The slaw in his burger didn’t really stand out, but blended well with the chopped chilis and had a nice crunch.
DK thought he detected a bit of a metallic note in his burger, which he theorized may have come from the pastrami. The jury is still out on this one, since he also thought his Lemon Lime soda was weirdly bitter and off-putting. The rest of burger crew offered a couple theories: perhaps his palate was having an off day, or his schmancy soda royally screwed him over and tinged everything with a bitter taste.
III. The fries/sides
The fries were very good- salted well, and crispy when hot and fresh. The crispy quality did drop off significantly as the meal finished (unlike the Win-dow’s fries, which I can vouch survives a 10 minute car ride impressively well).
IV. Miscellaneous
Holy ground beef, it was a HOT day. The lineup to order didn’t have much relief from the sun, so we made some semi-pathetic attempts to shield ourselves by lining up in the shadow of a utility pole.
The situation wasn’t made much more comfortable by the slow-moving line. We estimated that it took about 15 minutes to reach the front of the line with about 4 people ahead of us.
The seating is in a covered, but open area (so no A/C). Goldburgers does seem to be pretty popular, so seating was tight and in high demand. Same goes for the parking area adjacent to the restaurant – if you want to grab a spot, you’re going to need either luck or patience.
A bathroom is available on site, but is not the cleanest.
Goldburger is temporarily residing in the patio section of the former Hache burger restaurant, which is going through some redevelopment. Interestingly, Hache was a previous Burger Crew destination, and was another of DK’s picks almost exactly 5 years ago in November of 2014. Coincidence or conspiracy?
Also, if you happen to go to this establishment on another of LA’s beautiful 90+ degree days, a Baskin Robbins is 0.2 miles away and is a pretty decent place to eat ice cream and discuss your burgers.
V. Value
The members were asked how much they would pay for the burger they ordered. They ranged from $7 to $10.50, so they were priced higher than what we would have expected.
VI. The verdict
The scores for Goldburger from the members were 4.5, 3.8, 3.3, 4.2, and 4.2. Great pick, DK!
Next burger crew meeting will be held December 15th at Burgerdaddy (Innie’s pick)