Hey, guy who told me I post pictures of myself and write about food too much: Fuck you, this is my website!
Image borrowed from LA Eater website
Throughout my search for the best burger in Los Angeles, I have consumed some really awesome food. Along with my dining partner Nicci, we have scoured the city for restaurants with big reputations as well as the greasy, down-home-y burger stands that are a staple of any metropolitan center in the country. We began with all the pure fast food joints: In-N-Out, Fatburger, Astroburger, Tommy’s, Rick’s, Five Guys, and other eateries of that ilk. Then we moved onto the mid-range, sit-down places: Apple Pan, The Counter, Umami Burger, Bob’s Big Boy, et cetera. All the while, we have been visiting some of the so-called “heavy hitters,” the places more commonly found on Best Of lists: Father’s Office, Golden State, BoHo, Bowery…I’m sure I’m forgetting some others. The point is, I’ve eaten a lot of different styles of hamburger in this city, and on Friday night I’m pretty sure I ate a top-tier one — maybe even the best one I’ve tasted yet — at 8oz. Burger Bar on Melrose in Mid-City West.
We arrived shortly before 6:00pm on Friday to beat the dinner crowd and to give ourselves enough time to drive back across town to see a closing-weekend performance of “Big River,” which Nicci dropped out of in order to take her role in “Rent”. The restaurant is laid out like a heavily-modernized diner. The padded booths are low to the ground, there are tables set up near easy chairs, and the decor is very understated. Our waitress Ellen was very friendly and helpful as we scoured the menu. She suggested a starter, and we chose an order of mini kobe corndogs with purple mustard. For beers we chose a Pilsner and the Telegraph Porter. It was not long before our fried mini-franks arrived. My unrefined palette couldn’t really taste a difference between their rendition of a corndog and what they normally taste like, but Nicci commented that the cornbread was really good.
For our main courses, we chose two different hamburgers. Nicci selected the very popular Melrose, which comes with arugula, garlic roasted tomatoes, and red onion marmelade. She topped it off with Humboldt fog cheese. Her side dish was fried pickles.
I chose the standard 8oz. burger, which contains iceberg lettuce, pickle, tomato, white onion, and “special sauce.” I added Bel paese cheese and house-cured bacon for a few extra dollars. My side dish was truffle oil and parmesan potato skins.
I figure there are four solid criteria upon which one may judge a hamburger. First, you have the patty itself. Then you have the cheese, and the bun. The last category would have to include everything else — whatever other garnishes are included.
The patty at 8oz Burger Bar consists of sirloin, tri-tip, short rib and chuck. The sum of those parts is cured in a salt-tiled locker. In other words, it is quickly made apparent to customers that these folks are not fucking around with their hamburgers. Compare that to Father’s Office (whose menu simply states “dry-aged beef”), or Hungry Cat, BoHo and other places, who do not state the ingredients of their patty. 8oz. Burger Bar compares favorably to its Los Angeles-area competition in the patty. It’s served medium rare (mine was a little on the bloody/juicy side, but I do not mind), and the flavor is excellent.
My cheese choice, Bel paese, might have been a bit too delicate for such a robust burger. By contrast, the cambozola at BoHo might be a mild blue, but its essence isn’t lost amongst the other ingredients. The cheddar at Golden State also outweighs that of the 8oz. Burger Bar. I have only myself to blame for selecting the Bel paese, so…oh well.
The bun was good. Soft and spongy, it successfully soaked up the majority of the special sauce and burger juice to aid the overall flavor. Unfortunately, the weight of the damned thing seemed to be a bit too much for the bun to hold, and as time wore on it began to crumble a bit. Boo-fucking-hoo, right?
Everything else was good. I’m not a huge fan of shredded lettuce, but it was piled pretty high on this burger. The special sauce was quite tasty, and the house-cured bacon was phenomenal. The onion and tomato were also a bit lost. I used no ketchup or mustard or anything, I wanted to eat the burger as it was intended to be consumed.
The two side dishes were equally awesome. Nicci’s fried pickles (which were homemade) were great. She asked only for sides of ketchup and mustard, but I’m sure any of the other aiolis and sauces would have been better. My potato skins were insane. I was expecting your classic bar potato skin, but these were cut thin and fried long enough to be crunchy. Topped with just parmesan and truffle oil, the taste was otherworldly.
All told, the 8oz. Burger Bar will sit comfortably near the top of my “Best Burger in LA” list for the foreseeable future. Golden State and BoHo were both very good. Father’s Office is good, but overrated. I’ve yet to visit Lucky Devil’s, 25 Degrees, and a few other places, so this is of course a work in progress. A lot of people rave about the burger at Morton’s, but why would I go to a super-expensive steakhouse and not get a filet? Furthermore, people adore the burger at Hungry Cat, but that place cooked me an amazing Hawaii Opah, so why would I go there to eat a burger? I guess at some point I’ll try it, but it seems counterproductive to select a burger from a seafood-heavy menu.
Suggestions, LA folks? Comments?
