Month: December 2021

Burger Crew meeting called to order on Saturday, November 20th at 1:00pm.

Members in attendance: Angela, Trev, Wayne, Innie, and Decay
Special Guests: Chris and Slider Lucy

I. Ordering

Gotta love a lightweight menu. They only make one burger made of ground short rib, grilled onions, American cheese, house made bread & butter pickles, and heavy sauce on a potato roll. Single ($9), double ($11), and triple ($13) options are available.

Trev and Angela ordered a double with fries and heavy sauce on the side.
Wayne ordered a triple with fries and heavy sauce on the side.
I ordered a double with fries and heavy sauce on the side.
Innie ordered a double.

The fries ($4) are fried in beef tallow and the heavy sauce ($0.75) is Thousand Island-y.

II. The Burgers

Potato buns were great. Nicely steamed and gooey with just the right amount of chew. (Let it be known that brioche ain’t the only good bun…) More shops should consider potato buns.

At the heart of every good burger is a good patty and the patties here stand out. Great meaty flavor, perfect amount of seasoning, and good ratio with the buns. None of us got a single though, so your mileage may vary. Of course, draped over each patty is the Lord’s cheese, aka American cheese, melted into all of the nooks and crannies, melding flavors into a crescendo of mouthful lust.

Bread and butter pickles are always an interesting choice for burgers. The non-pickle snobs liked them, the pickle snobs shrugged their shoulders — what can you do? The onions were super caramelized, almost like jam.

Overall, the burgers had a warm, gooey mouthfeel that feels very familiar. Like something your grandma would cook for you when your parents weren’t around.

III. The Fries

And as good as the burgers were, the fries were just as good. They were very textured, crispy (and it held throughout the meal without sogging), and we were given a good serving size. Must be the tallow!

IV. Miscellaneous

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Heavy Handed is a food truck. They’re a bit slow posting their whereabouts on their website, which should be fine unless you’re planning a meeting of friends a month out. If you’re craving a great burger, these guys are worth going out of your way for!

V. Value

The members were asked how much they would pay for the burger and the responses ranged between $7.95 and $14.00 — so much for groupthink!

VI. The Verdict

The ratings were 3.9, 4.1, 4.4, 4.4, and 5.0. Another solid burger in LA!

Next meeting will be Sunday, Dec 12 @ nomoo.

Burger Crew Meeting called to order on Saturday, October 9, 2021 at 11am (Wayne’s Pick)

Members in attendance: Angela d. (that’s me!), Trevor Y., Dennis, K., and Innie C.

Slider member: Marty d.

I. Ordering

Trev and I ordered the Bacon Love #9 and Fries ($10.99) – Applewood smoked bacon, American cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato & secret sauce #9. And we couldn’t resist ordering mac and cheese with bacon ($5.75)

We got Marty the Kid Burger with fries and applesauce ($5.99)

DK ordered the Wagyu Burger + Onion Rings medium rare ($15.99) – Hand formed Wagyu patty, roasted garlic A1 aioli, marinated grilled tomato, arugula, swiss, french fried onions.

Innie got the Scorpion Pepper ($9.50) – Pepper jack cheese, Trinidad Moruga scorpion sauce, grilled jalapenos, lettuce & tomato. Topped with a grilled jalapeno.

Wayne ordered the Golden Gate Sourdough + onion rings ($13.25) – Avocado, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato & housemade thousand island relish on toasted sourdough.

II. The Burgers

There was a lot of variance among the burgers. Trev and I didn’t love the Bacon Love #9. Maybe our expectations were too high with a name like Bacon Love. The balance was way off. It was too bready, super salty, and we could barely taste the meat. It ended up soggy on the bottom because of the pickles and the much loathed shreddece 🤨. Any burger with shreddece ends up messy, slippery, and falling apart.

Marty’s burger was big but didn’t come with anything on it. Thankfully, they were super nice and gave us a slice of cheese and some pickles when our threenager was having a fit because she wanted a cheeseburger.

Wayne said the sourdough on his burger was fine, and it didn’t fall apart like our bun did. He said the meatiness was okay; nothing to write home about, but it was well seasoned. He asked for his burger to be cooked medium rare, but it came out more medium. The avocado gave a nice creaminess to the burger.

Innie’s burger had a decent amount of heat. “Good white people heat”. She could taste the smokiness of the burger because these burgers were cooked on the grill (which if you know me, you know I don’t care for. Griddle all the way, baby). There was a good amount of grilled jalapenos and there were crispy bites until the end. 

DK was the winner of this burger crew meeting. He liked the crunchiness of the burger. The Wagyu patty was nice and salty, peppery, and the beefiness was above and beyond expectations. DK hit the jackpot and got arugula instead of shreddece. It came with A1 sauce that was really good. The bacon was Wayne style (read: chewy). 

III. The Sides

The fries were good, crispy, skinny, well seasoned. There was some debate regarding what constitutes an above average onion ring. Wayne thought the onion rings were standard, but DK argued that they were great! They were crispy, the onion didn’t fall out when you bit into it, and they stayed crispy the whole time. The mac and cheese was like stove top Velveeta. It was kinda plain, kinda mushy. The bacon on mac and cheese was the best part. 

IV. Miscellaneous

Parking is not bad since they have a dedicated parking lot. They have a lot of seating options: indoor seating, outdoor seating with heaters, fans, and TVs, and outdoor seating in the parking lot under a tent. The traffic can be loud when you’re sitting outside. When you get there, you order at the counter and they have self-serve sauces. Wayne commented that the jalapeno ranch does not have any jalapenos in it and there was only a vague taste of jalapenos. They had paper towel rolls, ketchup, and mustard on the tables. They had some cool looking shakes, but none of us ordered any. They had a great playlist!

V. Value

I ask the members how much they would pay for the burger they ate. We would pay anywhere from $7 (that’s an outlier) to $17 (because it was the wagyu burger). So there was a lot of variance in our burger prices. 

VI. The Verdict

Fun place to hang out and I think if you’re going to grab a burger here, splurge for the Wagyu burger. The other burgers were just okay. The ratings: 2.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.8, and 4.5

Next burger crew meeting, Saturday, November 21, 2021 at noon.

Heavy Handed LA Food Truck

Burger Crew meeting called to order on Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 5pm PT (9th stop in Burger Crew Does the Best of LA).

Members in attendance: Angela, Trevor, Wayne, DK, and me (Sumana); missing Innie

I. Ordering
• The Manimal ($18, +$3 for side of fries): beef patty, bacon candy, american cheese, secret sauce, brioche buns [ordered by Angela/Trevor, Wayne/DK, Sumana]
• Kids meal cheeseburger with fries ($12) [ordered by Angela/Trevor]

II. The Burgers
• The Manimal: a sweet, savory and satisfying burger
— Patty: peppery and nicely seasoned, meaty, juicy, not pink but delicious
— Bun: buttery, gooey buns; the bottom bun soaked in the juices but it held up
— Cheese: melty
— Bacon candy: sweet, chewy, thick-cut bacon
— A bit messy and oily but definitely worth it
— No pickles or acid on the burger but the burger is amazing by itself
• Kids cheeseburger: patty cooked to medium; buttery buns; plain burger but very good- mom-approved!

TIPS: Live without regrets! Get the Manimal!

III. The Sides
• Side of regular fries: comes with spicy ketchup; french fry anatomy = nice and fluffy inside, crispy on the outside; good amount of fries for 1 person; delicious!
• Kids meal fries: comes with regular ketchup; same fries as the regular fries; good amount for a kid

TIPS: Get the fries and then add spicy ketchup to your burger.

IV. Miscellaneous
• Reservations were limited to a max of 5 in a party, so we made two reservations initially. It was not a problem when we arrived. We were able to all sit together at a spacious table outside.
• The restaurant has strict reservation policies, so be sure to arrive within 15 mins or they’ll give your table away.
• Free parking structure nearby
• A lot of outdoor and indoor seating; outdoor seating has heat lamps and umbrellas or an awning for shade
• Restrooms available and the sinks are in a separate area right outside the restrooms
• Menu is available via QR code
• No beer on tap currently
• Our food came out very fast
• The servers very nice and friendly. They refill our water and asked many times if we needed anything.

TIPS: make reservations; don’t have AT&T as your cell service provider because reception sucks and you won’t be able to pull up the menu

V. Value
$14, $15, $17, $17, and I abstained
Average value = $15.75

VI. The Verdict
4.5, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8
Average = 4.6

Great place, great experience, and great burger!
A delicious, last stop in our Best of LA trip.
‘Til next time crew!

Burger Crew meeting called to order on Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 12:30pm (8th stop in Burger Crew Does the Best of LA).

Members in attendance: Angela, Sumana, Trev, Wayne, Innie, and your boy, DK
Special guests: Will, Chris, and baby Lucy

I. Ordering

Lord, please do not judge us. We know Grill ‘Em All has an expansive menu of burgers and each one would be a star anywhere else, but the group has jelled into a hive and these bees fucking love peanut butter, jelly, and sriracha. And we also happen to know that it hits the spot every time.

Sumana, Trev, Angela, Wayne, and I had the Dee Snider: peanut butter, strawberry jam, bacon, sriracha.

Innie ordered the Samoa Joe: cheddar, bacon, fresh pineapple, grilled onion, BBQ sauce.

II. The Burgers

The buns were fine. Standard brioche, good toast, ain’t nobody here for the buns. What makes Grill ‘Em All a must-have in your burger rotation are the patties. The half-pound patties are cooked medium-rare nearly every time. They’re seasoned well with a great sear, juicy as fuck, and meaty in taste. Wayne and Angela thought they had a few bites that were a bit chewy but nobody else seemed to mind. They may need to see their dentists.

For the Dee Snider, what a treat. It was a little messy like a burger should be. All of the flavors together with the added texture from the toasted buns, thicc cut bacon that was both chewy and crunchy, and bits of peanuts produced an unrivaled combination of mouth sensations. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 of burgers. Order it every time.

As for the Samoa Joe, the review was less enthusiastic. It was the first time I’ve heard a burger needed more friction, but when the contents are slippin’ and slidin’, that impacts the eating experience. The burger was also too sweet — on top of the generous slather of BBQ sauce and grilled onions, there were three whole slices of pineapple. Innie said the burger needed something spicy and something crunchy.

III. Sides

The fries were very enjoyable. Crunchy and salty, the kind everybody likes. The portion was very generous as well, enough for 2-3 normal sized people.

IV. Miscellaneous

One of the best things about this place is the free parking garage. God bless Alhambra. The place pre-pandemic was mostly indoor seating but they’ve since put a few outdoor tables out. They’ve got awesome heavy metal decor and the music to back it up, a good selection of beers, and unlimited refills from the fountain machine.

V. Value

I asked the members how much they’d pay for the burger they ate. They ranged between $12 and $16 which is just a bit over the asking price. Great value for one of the best burger shops in Los Angeles.

VI. The Verdict

The individual scores were 3.4, 4.1, 4.7, 4.7, 4.8, 5.0. Don’t be scared to try this spot!

Next up… the final destination for the weekend: Lock & Key Social Drinkery + Kitchen.

Burger Crew Meeting called to order on Sunday, September 26, 2021, 9am (Stop #7 in Burger Crew Does the Best of LA) at Pier Burger in Santa Monica, CA

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

Guest: Will G.

I. Ordering

What a better way to start a day than with some burgers! This is one of the few burger places open for breakfast! Sumana and Will ordered a breakfast burger (a Pier burger topped with bacon and a fried egg – $6.96).

DK and Wayne decided to double down with a double breakfast burger ($10.95).

Innie decided to opt for a traditional choice for this location: a double pier burger ($8.95).

Trev and I got the double pier burger ($8.95), but we added bacon ($1) and got a hot dog with chili and bacon for good measure ($8.75). Because, what’s breakfast without a side of a chili bacon dog?

A note for when you’re ordering, the burgers come with lettuce, tomato and a homemade sauce. If you want pickles and onions (which, of course you do), you’ll have to request it. Onions can either be raw or grilled. No one remembered except Trev and I (we pass the “do you actually read the menu” test). Innie requested pickles and onions on the side after she had put her order it. They happily obliged and gave her the toppings in 2 little condiment cups.

II. The Burgers

As we’ve experienced many times over the years, the patties were loose packed with a great char, and were cooked medium rare to medium. The meat to bun ratio was not too good in the single, so as the standard burger crew rule goes “always double”. 

The buns were very top bun forward (burger crew translator: the top bun was too big and the bottom bun was too small). Maybe it was too early in the morning and the person doing the slicing wasn’t quite awake yet. Some of us felt that the bun was drier than usual and used to be denser. This is not the first issue we’ve had with buns on this trip (maybe COVID is to blame). 

Overall, toppings were just ooookay. According to Trevor it was a “standard tomato” (read: no yummy sauce all over the tomato). According to Innie, the lettuce is just for show, but it does make for a pretty burger picture! The cheese is good and melty. The pickles are nice and thick cut! In the breakfast burgers the egg was fried and cooked throughout (no runny yolk). It kind of looked like a giant slice of mozzarella! Though most of burger crew enjoys a runny yolk, this egg was less messy and didn’t have to worry about losing the yolk. The bacon was chewy (very Wayne friendly) and not as flavorful as we wanted it to be.

III. The Sides

Given that it was 9am, we had already eaten at 7 other burger places earlier in the weekend, and we still had 2 more burger places to go for the day, no one got fries. But how could I say no to a bacon chili dog for breakfast? This was our first time getting it and, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it would have been good without the bacon! The chili was really good and the dog came with pickles and onions on top by default. I find it ironic that those are standard for a hot dog, but you have to request it for your burger.

This dog was definitely a knife and fork hot dog, and it came with a little wooden knife and fork. 

IV. Miscellaneous

As the name suggests, Pier burger resides on the famous Santa Monica Pier. They have plentiful outdoor seating with heaters and umbrellas for your comfort. For your whimsy there are some fun murals!

The bathrooms are right across the way, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Pier burger seems to try and be more eco friendly. They had the wooden utensils and paper straws, but their drink cups and condiment cups were still plastic. The strawberry lemonade is good. 

It’s good to note that they open early so you can get your burger fix if you find yourself in Santa Monica jonesing for a breakfast burger. They have other things on their breakfast menu as well. 

If you so happen not to enjoy burgers (which, you’re probably in the wrong place), they have a lot of other delicious sounding things on the menu: hot dogs (which are bomb), chicken sandwich, fish sandwich, and concretes.

V. Value

I ask the members how much they would pay for the burger they ate. We said we’d pay between $10 and $12 for these burgers so they are nicely priced! 

VI. The Verdict

Great, meaty burger with a beautiful view that you can have for breakfast. What more can you ask for? Maybe a side of chili bacon dog 

The ratings: 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.2, 4.5, and 4.6

On to Grill ‘Em All or as we so affectionately call it – Gorilla Mall

Burger Crew meeting called to order on Saturday, September 25, 2021.

Members in attendance: Angela, DK, Sumana, Trevor, and Wayne, with special guest Will.

After way too much procrastination on my part, I’m finally resuming the Best of LA reviews. Plan Check has always been in the upper tier of Burger Crew favorites, and we were happy in the past to see them expand to multiple locations, but all of the other locations have now closed and their original location on Sawtelle is the only one that remains.

I. Ordering

Plan Check’s menu hadn’t really changed all that much until relatively recently, where they added a lot of new items. Most of the Crew stuck with tried and true mainstays while Sumana and I decided to try something new. All burgers came with regular fries, except for DK substituting sweet potato fries.

Angela: PCB (Plan Check Burger; beef patty, Americanized dashi cheese, ketchup leather, shmaltz onions, mixed pickles, crunch bun)

Trevor: Chef’s Favorite Burger (beef patty, cheese two ways, bacon two ways, ketchup leather, sunny fried egg, hot sauce, crunch bun)

DK: Chef’s Favorite Burger with sweet potato fries

Sumana/Will: Machismo Burger (beef patty, habanero cheese, bacon, fried onions, spicy mayo, jalapeños, crunch bun)

Wayne: So Cal Dbl Cheeseburger (two smash patties, Americanized dashi cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon 1000 island, crunch bun)

II. The Burgers

As mentioned above, more than half the Crew ordered burgers that they had already had and enjoyed before. However, Angela was very quick to say that she didn’t enjoy her PCB as much as she had in the past and said that while the burger was very well-composed, the meat didn’t taste as meaty and didn’t come with as good of a sear as she had come to expect from Plan Check. A part of her patty also had what she assumed was a piece of tendon and to her it’s a sign that the quality of their meat isn’t as high as it used to be.

For the Chef’s Favorite burgers, Trevor said that he thoroughly enjoyed everything about it, and DK likened his experience eating the Chef’s Favorite to the scene in Ratatouille where the food critic takes a bite and the food causes him to experience a flashback to a happier time, saying that he’s not sure that he’ll ever get another burger at Plan Check because it’s so consistently good.

One thing that the group noticed though was that the fried eggs weren’t as runny was they used to be; whereas before your hands would end up completely covered in egg yolk, the eating experience was far cleaner this time.

Moving on to the new burgers, Sumana really enjoyed her Machismo burger, specifically mentioning the nice differences in texture between the pickled jalapenos and the crispy fried onion strings. She thought that it was just spicy enough and thought that all of the various flavors came together really well.

As for my So Cal Dbl Cheeseburger, I thought it was huge miss, which I never thought I would say about a burger from Plan Check. The patties were advertised as smash patties, and while they were thinner and smaller than their standard patties that they use in all of their other burgers, they weren’t smashed at all, so they lacked both the caramelization that you would expect from a true smash patty and the juiciness and beefiness that you would expect from a larger patty. I also thought that the patties were overly seasoned with salt. All in all, I would be very hesitant in the future to try new burgers from Plan Check that didn’t use their standard patties.

III. The Sides

Having fries included with the burgers is fairly new for Plan Check; in the past, everything was a la carte. Everyone thought that both the regular fries and ketchup were better than in the past, especially the ketchup, which nobody really cared for before. The fries used to be soggy, but this time they were crispy. DK thought that his sweet potato fries were overly salted but otherwise they were pretty standard.

IV. Miscellaneous

We had reservations for 8:45pm but we were able to be seated at 7:45pm. We sat outside on their patio, but they have heaters to keep everyone nice and toasty. Every table had a bottle of hand sanitizer on it, which was great considering the ongoing pandemic. Finding street parking on Sawtelle can be a challenge.

V. Value

Most of the Crew would pay between $15-$17 for their burgers, with one outlier of $9. Based on the individual reviews above, you might be able to figure out who said $9.

VI. The Verdict

The ratings came out to 2.8, 3.8, 4.5, 4.9, and 5.0, so most of us liked Plan Check just as much as we had in the past, but they’re not as consistently good as they used to be with all of their menu items.

The next re-visit in the Burger Crew does Los Angeles staycation is Pier Burger.