Tavern on 2

I don’t spend a lot of time in Long Beach, but I recently became acquainted with the Long Beach USC Alumni Club. Their president kept mentioning Tavern on 2 to me as a great burger place in Long Beach that I needed to check out. They decided to host a fundraiser at Tavern on 2. This was a great opportunity to check out the burgers and hang out with my fellow Trojans. If you haven’t spent much time in Long Beach you might not be familiar with the Belmont Shore area. 2nd Street is a great stretch of restaurants and shops and is within walking distance to the ocean. Tavern on 2 is a small gastropub with a good selection of beer and a menu featuring everything from burgers to breakfast. The staff there is all very friendly and attentive.

On to the burger. Some people got the short rib burger, which looked great, but that wouldn’t be a real comparison. I went with the Black & Blue Burger. The beef is Paso Prime Ranch Beef. The meat was a little charred but not necessarily over cooked. The bun, part of the reason I chose the burger, didn’t have the full pretzel flavor I am usually used to. It really just felt heavy and made the burger filling. The burger was topped with Maytag blue cheese, rosemary candied bacon, horseradish mayo, arugula and tomato. The star of the burger was the horseradish mayo. It was flavorful and the best part of the burger. The arugula and tomato added the pepper and sweet flavors that you really look for in the burger. The blue cheese was a little overwhelming. It is a strong flavor and it kind of took over the flavor of the burger. Bacon can also overwhelm the burger. The bacon flavor did not come through. Overall there seemed to be something off with the overall flavor of the burger. Now that I think about it, I think it is the rosemary in the candied bacon. The burger definitely sounded better on paper then it was in execution. I would love to come back and try the short rib and chorizo burger.

Lab Brewing Co

I was first alerted of The Lab Brewing Co from my friend Neil that works out in the Agoura Hills area. He saw that they were offering a challenge that if their burger is not one of the 10 best burgers you have eaten in LA, then its free. I figured this was a challenge I couldn’t pass up. The restaurant has a very swanky modern décor but is not pretentious. It is very inviting and friendly. As you can tell from the name of the place, they brew their own beer on site. We got to meet with Roger, who is one of the owners and the beer master. He is very passionate about beer and can really explain the differences between the different types and flavors. He also brews some very good beer. I think our group really enjoyed the Cold Fusion Java Porter and the new IPA he just created. Since we only went for the burger we didn’t get to order any of the other food, but other items on the menu looked very good, so I may have to go back to try some other items.

Lets get to the challenge. I tried THE LAB Burger. The burger comes with a Wagyu Kobe beef patty that is ground in house. The meat was very flavorful and really showed through the rest of the flavors. This was the sign of good things to come. The bun is a La Brea Bakery bun. It was nothing special but held the ingredients together and had a nice texture. The burger is topped with caramelized onions, arugula, bacon and blue and gruyere cheeses. The onions and the arugula were very tasty and offered a sweet and peppery flavor which complemented the meaty flavor of the patty. The cheeses were well used. Blue cheese can be overpowering sometimes, but they used the right amount of cheese and it worked extremely well with the other flavors. The cheese really made the burger. The bacon is a little bit of a mystery for me. I really didn’t taste it in the burger, but to be honest, I am not sure it would have made it better. I am very happy to say that they passed the challenge. This truly was one of the 10 best burgers in LA.