I ain’t gonna lie, the LAist “Best Burger in LA” list is compelling, and there are definitely some very good burgers on this list – including some of my favorites. But come on now:
And to be sure, this single post won’t put the ‘Best Burger In Los Angeles’ debate to rest for you (even though our pick is absolutely correct) so don’t worry about being wrong when you criticize the list below. Who knows, maybe you get a real kick out of being wrong. Like we said, different people like different things.
Ahh, never mind, it’s pretty funny. And only because I’m right, and they’re not.
If there’s one thing you notice right away when you move to Los Angeles, it’s the jacked-up prices on everything from diapers to milk to rent. Everything here is just a little more expensive (unless, of course, you live in New York City). And food is no exception.
Perhaps this inequity in pricing is why In-N-Out is so beloved. After all, you can get a real decent meal there for right around 6 bucks. Carl’s Jr. has even made a point of the price of their 6 Dollar Burgers – which, I might add, are not worth the extra dough. But after you’ve gotten out of the fast food tier, you’re essentially talking about 10 to 20 dollar burgers, depending on the nature of the location you choose to dine. BoHo’s 15 dollar burger, or 25 Degrees’ 12 dollar burger are just a couple of examples of the upper tier, though some fine dining restaurants may charge well above 20.
And that’s why it is so damn refreshing to get a really killer burger for just 10 bucks at The Golden State. From the outside, you’d probably never even know this was a restaurant. I’ve driven by it a couple hundred times going to/from work, but not until I dined across the street at Animal did I even notice it. Sure enough, scrunched in between a couple of art galleries lies a beacon of hope in the mid-priced LA burger scene. And I’m happy to report, it is good.
There aren’t a whole lot of frills here, just one burger on the menu, served with applewood smoked bacon, arugula, a slab of Fiscalini Farms cheddar cheese, and the most delicious homemade aioli I’ve had in a very very long time. And it’s served with one of their sides, of which I chose the incredible sweet potato fries.
The burger was perfectly cooked to my order, rare, and came neatly presented on a clean square plate with my fries. Biting down, you’d never know you weren’t at one of the higher end burger joints – in fact, the bun is remarkably similar to the one at 25 Degrees that I’ve been known to rave about. The arugula on the burger gives a perfect bitter balance to this treat, and the substitution of aioli for ketchup makes it sweet without having the vinegary zing. I really couldn’t ask for much of a better burger, and certainly not at that price point.
And it’s with mixed feelings that I report that the sweet potato fries here are some of the best I’ve ever eaten. I say mixed feelings only because I really love the burger, and wish that I could speak about it with such superlatives.
Topping off this mix is a great selection of beers and ice creams, which can be combined into one some of the most interesting combinations of floats imaginable. Fellow Hambur.grlr Stephanie (aka hambur.grl) tried the brown bread gelato with Old Rasputin beer. The combination of bitter and sweet worked well, but leaned heavy on the hops side. Another friend used salted caramel gelato instead, and I loved it.
I really can’t say enough great things about The Golden State. I’m so happy to have found a killer spot near my house, and at a price that this recession-hater can love.
As I pointed out in my previous post, I was ecstatic to hear that the Jucy Lucy (aka Juicy Lucy, depending on where you are) had made its way west to the beautiful state of California. Well it just so happens, they serve the Juicy Lucy elsewhere too, and on a recent outing to Barney’s Beanery in Burbank, I stumbled upon that cheesy delight. I couldn’t not order it.
Well, Barney’s isn’t really known for having great burgers, or great food at all for that matter. Their gigantic menu is deceiving, since it really is just a huge list of every combination possible with their various ingredients. And nearly everything on the menu is fried, battered, or otherwise covered in grease (not that I’m complaining).
Sadly, the Juicy Lucy was no exception. It wasn’t necessarily bad, it just wasn’t good. The American cheese inside is, of course, the whole point of the Juicy Lucy, but it really just tasted artificial. They did manage to cook my burger rare, which I’m always pleased with, but the rest of the sandwich was just your average food-service buns and unripe sliced tomatoes.
I can’t say Barney’s is a great burger by any means, but that isn’t really the point of this place. It’s just a sports bar with a bunch of beers on tap, and HD screens everywhere. On the other hand, it did make for some of the best burger photos I’ve taken in a while.
I grew up in Minnesota. Up there, where it’s cold (realllly cold) in the winters, we have this thing called a Jucy Lucy. Wiki tells me it originates from Matt’s Bar, a South Minneapolis mainstay, which is the only place I’ve ever had one of these cheese-filled wonders.
Turns out the burger is so popular, that Mira’le Grill in Los Angeles has designed a few stuffed burgers themselves in homage to the originals. LAist tells me they’re pretty tasty, but I’ll have to try one out for myself.
