True Food Kitchen

For my birthday, my department took me out for lunch and we decided to try one of the new restaurants at Santa Monica Place. After looking at the menus and realizing that we wanted to sit outside, we decided on True Food Kitchen. This restaurant is perfect for Santa Monica. When you walk in, the vibe is that of organic place and most of the menu is locally sourced or organically grown. They also have vegetarian/vegan and gluten free selections. Now you might be thinking, seems a little too healthy to have a good a burger. You will have to keep reading to find out how good it is.

The burger is made from grass fed bison. This is my first bison burger and I must say I am fan. It tastes very similar to beef and as I understand it is leaner. Even though it is a leaner meat the burger was still very juicy and had great flavor. The bun is a flax bun. This type of bun is made from whole grains and flaxseed. It was not the best tasting bun as I usually have a butter filled brioche so this was a little bit of a change. Even though it was health-food style it tasted pretty good. The burger usually comes with mushrooms, which I have mentioned in previous post that I do not care for on my burgers. It also comes with caramelized onions which were sweet and tasty as well at topped with mayo and Parmesan cheese.

Overall this was a very tasty burger. One downside is that it cost $16 which is a little more than what you would want to spend on a simple burger such as this.

Westside Tavern

I have been wanting to try Westside Tavern since it opened, but I was never in the area for dinner. So recently we went to check out a movie at The Landmark, which is a great theater for watching movies. What better way to check out a movie than grabbing a good dinner beforehand. The restaurant is very modern in design and has a fairly simple but elegant menu. It felt like I was dinning at Houston’s or one of their many restaurants. They also have a decent beer and wine menu as well. I highly recommend it and hope to go back again and try the other entrees.

Now to the main event! The burger is very generous in size. This was one of the first burgers I had trouble finishing. This was a good thing because the burger had excellent flavor. The overall taste was very meaty and the condiments complimented those flavors very well. The patty tasted freshly ground and had so much flavor. It was also cooked perfectly, which makes all the difference.The egg bun was like a lighter brioche bun and worked very well, but became a little bit soggy on the bottom due to the juicy patty. The arugula is always a nice touch and the roaster garlic aioli was delicious. The cheddar didn’t add much flavor and the caramelized onions didn’t really come through flavor-wise. Overall this was a very good burger and deserves its high ranking.