Tompkins Square

Tompkins Square was actually one of the first places recommended to me when I first started the blog. So I have been wanting to try it for a while. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I thought it was going to be more of a bar scene. It turns out that it is actually more restaurant and chill place to hang out and catch a game. They have a pretty good beer selection and there was a pretty good vibe in the restaurant.

I ordered The Eddie. At first glance, I noticed the bun. It seemed as though the bun was a sort of brioche style bun but seemed at first to lack the special quality of a good bun. Once finishing the burger I realized this bun worked well since it did not get overly soggy and held together. The meat when tasted alone was a little salty and had okay not outstanding flavor. It was cooked to a perfect medium. The Eddie also came with blue cheese, cracked pepper and caramelized onions. I did not get the cracked pepper flavor. But the onions were a nice touch and the the blue cheese was creamy and not over powering, which is impressive in its own right. Overall, if you are in the area and looking for a chill place to hang and get a good burger, check out Tompkins Square.

 

Plan Check Bar

Since I work on the Westside of LA, I tend to check out most of the places in the area for burgers. A couple of my coworkers found Plan Check Bar and I had to try it. The restaurant is kind of tucked away from a major street, but is worth checking out. It has a chill gastropub-like environment. They have a great list of beers and wine. One of the people I went to with also got the fried chicken and they said it was very delicious. I may need to go back and try that next time.

I order the PCB burger. All of the burgers come with Akaushi red wagyu beef. The meat was good and flavorful but not the most flavorful I have had. It also seemed very salty. The waitress let us know that they salt the patties before they cook them, which is normal, but I think they were a little heavy handed this time. The coworkers I went with said that usually the burgers are not this salty. They use what they call a “crunch bun”. I am not sure what the crunch refers to but the bun was soft and held together nicely. It came topped with americanized dashi cheese, house made pickles, schmaltz onions. I personally wasn’t a fan of the cheese. It basically seemed like a fancy version of the cheese used in fast food restaurants. I think because of the cheese and the saltiness, I really didn’t get much flavor from the pickles and the none at all from the onions. It seemed like it was an off day, so I should go back because I could tell there was potential for a good burger, but on this day is was only average.

5 Guys Burgers and Fries

I finally got around to trying 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. I had heard about it for a while. I even remember taking some east coasters to In-N-Out and having then proclaim that 5 Guys is way better. I ended going to the West Hollywood location with my brother-in-law. When you walk in, it is obvious why there are the comparisons happen so often. Growing up going to In-N-Out, I felt like 5 Guys was a bizarro version, like when the Seinfeld crew had to go to Reggie’s instead of the usual diner. It did seem a little more low key, it more of a Fatburger vibe to me than In-N-Out.

As for the burger, you can get any combination of toppings you want. I chose lettuce, ketchup, mustard, pickles and grilled onions. The burgers are made to order and the meat had really good flavor for a fast food burger. The bun is a standard sesame seed bun. I think there could have been more flavor from the grilled onions and the rest of the toppings seemed a little scarce. I think that was the difference between In-N-Out and 5 Guys. In-N-Out’s grilled onions and and spread set that burger apart. Honestly, the burger tasted closer to a Fatburger, which I like more than 5 Guys as well. But these are clearly the class of fast food burgers in my opinion and this point each person probably has their favorite. Which one is yours? I would love to know!

Sauce on Hampton

I found out about Sauce on Hampton on Facebook through the owner/chef who I went to high school with. From what I remember of him in high school, I never expected him to be a chef, granted there was a long time between when we were in school and when he opened the restaurant. Boy am I glad to be wrong on this one. I have been to Sauce a few times prior to trying the burger. The idea behind the restaurant is to bring farm fresh local and organic ingredients to the customers. This is a great concept, especially in the Venice/Santa Monica area. The food there is so fresh and flavorful, that I just feel good after the meal and want to go back for more. I highly recommend you check it out. There is also a chance that you may get a homemade cookie on house. Trust you don’t want to miss out on those.

On to the burger. My expectations, based on the style of restaurant, was fresh ingredients and good meaty flavor. The burger delivers on that account. The meat was fresh and had that great beefy flavor I ordered the Red, Wheat and Bleu burger, as it was the closest to the other burgers I have reviewed, and the one that seemed most appealing to me at the time. The burgers come on a whole wheat bun, which on the surface seems like it would be dry and boring, but it was actually quite soft and held together well. All the burgers are topped with spinach, fresh tomatoes, and homemade aioli and Dijon mustard. I didn’t get too much of the aioli or the mustard but the greens and the tomato were very fresh and added to the burger. Finally, the burger I ordered came with blue cheese and grilled onions. This was the one negative I had for the burger. Usually blue cheese is overwhelming, but I thought the burger could have used a little more. Same with the grilled onions. A few more would have really given off that sweet flavor and added something extra to the burger.

Port of Call

I was in New Orleans for Jazzfest and I just had to find the best burger there. So I asked around and Port of Call was the consensus best burger that I had to try. One of the people in our group is part of the New York burger club and she said Port of Call is the place to try. It was voted best of New Orleans a few times as well. The restaurant is at one side of the French Quarter. This is a small place and they do not take reservations. When we got there, at first we couldn’t figure out how to put our name down, but then we found one of the employees with a small note pad writing down names. The wait was over an hour! And people were still coming in. So grabbed a drink and staked out the bar. We eventually got seats at the bar where it is first come first serve. Manners should be left at the door when you are trying to get a seat since people are pretty ruthless and will grab the seat from you if you don’t sit down right away. Another interesting twist, was that they do not have a deep fryer, which is strange in New Orleans. So instead of fries, the burgers come with a baked potato. I highly suggest this over the other sides. It just seems to work together.

These are no frills burgers. The bun is a standard sesame bun. It really acts as a vessel for the rest of the burger. The patties are ground fresh daily. They do not skimp on the size of the patties. The meat was cooked to a perfect medium and was very juicy. I felt it lacked some flavor for being freshly ground. I am not sure what it was, I think we get spoiled here in Los Angeles with the quality of the meat we get in our burgers. The burger came with lettuce, tomato and pickles. You can also choose to get cheese and/or mushrooms. I got mine with cheese. They literally pile shredded cheese all over the burger, but it would have been nice if the cheese was a little bit melted. Overall, this burger is a well executed standard burger.

 

The Gorbals

I have been wanting to try The Gorbals for a while now. Once I found out that they had bacon wrapped matzoh balls, I was in. The restaurant is located in an old hotel. I actually had trouble figuring out where it was at first. It is very strange when you walk in from an old building to the clean modern look of the restaurant. The menu is very eclectic and has some interesting takes on old classics, including the matzoh balls. We also tried the popcorn chicken gizzards, roasted marrow, and the mofongo. All of the dishes had distinct flavors. The menu also changes every so often, so I may need to go back to check out the fried chicken and ribs which are supposed to be amazing but were not on the menu when I was there.

 On to the burger. My first observations was that this is a messy burger. I went to cut it half and the burger fell apart! The bun was nicely toasted sesame seed bun. The meat was well seasoned but wasn’t the great meaty flavor of the burgers I have at the top of my list. The burger is listed on the menu as “Burger, onions six ways”, and they were not kidding. There was some sort of onion mayo, onion slices, chopped ions. I think there were pickled onions. I don’t even know if I figured out all six ways.  Even though the burger was good, I don’t think it is why you go to The Gorbals.

Local Peasant

I have been wanting to try The Local Peasant for a while now. There are so many great gastropubs in the city and when I found one in the valley I had to check it out. The restaurant is very unassuming from the outside. I actually didn’t know it was there until I looked it up. Inside the décor is standard upscale pub, with beers on a chalkboard on the wall and some communal tables and a long bar to grab a drink and some food. The rest of menu looked very good and the waitress said the short ribs are the best thing on the menu. I will have to go back to try other things.

There are two burgers on the menu. One has egg and the other doesn’t. I took the waitress’ opinion and got the one with the fried egg. The meat is all natural grass fed beef and the flavor really showed. Even with the egg on top it had the really good meat flavor that I look for in a burger. The bun may have been almost as good as the meat. It was a brioche bun that had a good chewy texture and didn’t get soggy with the egg yolk dripping all over. The burger also comes with onions and a choice of cheese, I chose cheddar. The burger was very good, but not elite. My one change would be more onions. It was really great when I got all of the flavors mixed together with the meatiness from the patty to the sweetness of the onion and the gooey egg yolk. I want more of that.