Blu LA Cafe

UPDATE: Blu LA Cafe is closed. 

Back to burgers in in Los Angeles. I found Blu LA Cafe through other burger blogs and websites so I thought I would try it. The restaurant is located in downtown LA and that can be either good or bad. In this case, the restaurant is not in a great location. There is only street parking and regular public parking and most of the street parking is in front of homeless people city. The restaurant itself has a cool vibe but a limited beer selection. The service was a little slow but we were a big party.

The burgers all sounded interesting. I was interested in the tamarind turkey burger, but I need to keep this blog legitimate. I ordered the sage derby burger. Most everyone got the Blu LA Café burger. I tend to shy away burgers with bacon on them as I feel it masks the taste of the burger rather than compliments it. The burger is a ½ pound angus beef patty. The odd thing about this place is that they did not ask how we wanted the burger cooked. I usually like mine medium and a little bit juicy. This came out about medium-well. They also were overly seasoned almost as if they were covering something up. The burger was topped with sage derby cheese, grilled onion, garlic, lettuce and tomato. The one redeeming feature was the brioche bun. It was perfectly sweet and tasty and not greasy like some.



Overall, this place was very disappointing. Hopefully my next adventures will bring better burgers. Be sure to find out @bestburgerla

The Oaks Gourmet

We have arrived back on the original list that started the blog. Ever since we found the list, I have been intrigued by The Oaks Gourmet. It stood out because it is not a restaurant. We all thought it was a market in Koreatown, which happened to server a great burger. That myth was debunked when it was featured on the Food Network. It is a gourmet market with a premium beer, wine and cheese selection. They also have a bakery and coffee bar where you can get fresh ground coffee, teas and frozen drinks. They also serve salads, sandwiches and brick-oven pizzas. The only bummer is that they do not have a liquor license, so you can buy beer and wine, but you cannot drink it on the premises.

Let me just start off by saying this is a great burger. I am going to start with the bun. They use a brioche bun, which seems to be a popular choice. This was the best brioche bun I have had. It was not greasy and had a great texture and flavor. The patty is ground on-site and is a mix of very good cuts of meat. It did have a bit of a steak flavor, but I actually didn't mind it. The burger is topped with Taleggio cheese, red onion, tomato, baby arugula, which are all pretty standard and worked well with the rest of the burger. The last two toppings are what I want to talk about. The first is the Black Forrest Bacon. My opinion on bacon burgers is that the bacon should not be the star; the beef should be the star. In this case, the bacon is a complementary flavor, which was perfect. Lastly, is the smoked jalapeno-pineapple compote. I didn't taste much of the jalapeno flavor, but every bite with the pineapple was delicious. It released a bit of tangy sweetness to the burger that worked well with the rest of the flavors. It was a little stronger than the pineapple flavor used by the Foundry but worked well in this instance.

I highly recommend you try this burger. The place has limited seating and may be better as a to go option since you can't enjoy a good beer with your burger, but overall an enjoyable evening with a good burger.