Burger Crew meeting called to order on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 11am (Angela’s Pick).
Members in attendance: Angela d., Trev Y., Wayne T., Innie C., and yours truly, DK
Sliders in attendance: Marty, Lucy
Special guest: Christian Y.
Introducing the latest member of our growing family, Baby Ellis. Welcome!
I. Ordering
Burgers are made with 100% fresh ground beef, smashed to order. They offer pickles, onions, tomato, and lettuce – the typical accoutrements; but if you’re a one-percenter you can add on things like MORE cheese, bacon, avocado, etc. for a shiny buckaroo.
- Trev and Angela ordered the Mamba Burger ($8.24), a double cheeseburger with bacon, grilled onions, mustard, and avocado; and a side of tots
- Marty ordered a cheeseburger ($5.00) with extra pickles
- Wayne ordered a double cheeseburger ($7.00) with grilled onions, mustard, and a side of garlic tots
- Innie ordered a cheeseburger ($5.00) and a side of onion rings
- I ordered a Mamba Burger ($8.24)
II. The Burgers
I’ll preface this by saying we probably should have eaten there. But one of our members, I won’t mention names, birthed a newborn just days prior. The food was ordered to go, the drive to the house was about 15 min, and we ate outside on the picnic table.
And just to be clear, it wasn’t me.
The buns were all over the place. Some said theirs were dry and bready; for others they were over steamed and almost congealed with their upstairs/downstairs neighbors. They didn’t fall apart though, and maybe in the end that’s all we can ask of our buns.
The American cheese on the cheeseburgers was very melty. They used Colby cheese on the Mambas and that was an understandable choice, but since 1776, there hasn’t been a better cheese to use on a burger than American. The patties had good sear but lacked pop in the seasoning. We all ordered our patties medium-rare but they came out looking more medium to well done, except Wayne who like a lucky dog got some pink meat.
As for the rest of the burgers, Wayne was a fan of the bacon, noting its high chew rating. Coming from a bacon enthusiast, that’s noteworthy praise! The biggest distractor for Innie was the shredduce. Whoever cooked her burger must have had the hands of Russel Wilson – she got too much shredduce! Ratios, man.
III. The Sides
Pretty good fried sides, considering they traveled in a bag for some time. The garlic tots suffered the worst fate. The garlic flavor was great but they were soggy from the oil. Wayne noted that had we had them fresh, they would have been crispy.
The standard tots fared better and stayed crispy through the end of our meal. Fried but not overly fried with a nice fluffy inside. They were great!
Same can be said of the onion rings. Innie mentioned she would have preferred beer battered (these were cornmeal onion rings). But they stayed crunchy until the last bite as well.
IV. Miscellaneous
This is a chain! If you’re in the El Segundo or Pasadena areas, look them up. The Long Beach location, even at 11:00am, was packed with cars. And with many restaurants these days, they looked understaffed. There was only one cashier and one cook holding it down on a Saturday!
V. Value
I asked the members how much they would pay for the burger they ate. Their responses ranged from $10 to $15.
VI. The Verdict
This place deserves another visit in person. The ratings for the at home edition: 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.2, 3.3.
Next Burger Crew meeting: Saturday, June 11th at 11am – Classic Bixby Burger – Long Beach.