Shake Shack Gets Ready for a Spring Opening in West Hollywood

The signature Shackburger: cheese, tomato, lettuce and Shacksauce

Angelenos are highly faithful to their In 'n Out Burgers, but they're also accepting of burger innovation like Umami Burger. So hopefully we won't feel too competitive when New York's Shake Shack opens in West Hollywood in a couple of months, because they make a darn good burger. We had a preview last weekend, including a screening of the original "Star Wars," in the lot next door to the Santa Monica Blvd. at La Cienega location (the former site of the famous Koo Koo Roo), though the actual building won't be finished until about March.

Burger fans enjoy a winter outdoor screening of "Star Wars" on the site of the eventual patio and parking lot

A double cheeseburger, which will cost around $8, is twice as much as a similar In 'n Out Burger. But Shake Shack, which started as a hot dog cart to benefit Madison Square Park in Manhattan 15 years ago and has grown into more than 50 locations worldwide, is a step up in the burger heirarchy. The menu includes burgers, a chicken sandwich, hot dogs and also shakes and concretes -- made with frozen custard that's basically soft serve ice cream, but better. We tried the dense and lightly salty buttered popcorn flavor -- an ode to Hollywood, perhaps?

The Roadside Double with Swiss cheese, onions, Dijon mustard

The all-natural, 100% Angus beef burger is flat and flavorful - its meaty distinctiveness stands out even when folded into a potato roll with cheese and Shacksauce. If that's too basic, they'll also have a Smokeshack and a Shroom burger. The first California location will also get a special L.A. burger that pays homage to the French dips pioneered by Philippe's and Cole's.

The Roadside double adds Swiss cheese and Dijon mustard to bacon-simmered onions. Very beefy and substantial, it was perhaps a little too macho for my taste but Matt was a big fan. I preferred the classic, which seemed to subtly improve on a typical burger stand sandwich without crossing over into pricey gourmet burger territory. Shake Shack will also have locations Downtown, and later this year on Brand Blvd. across from the Americana, close enough to In 'n Out for an easy burger taste-off.

Quick Bite: Plan Check Downtown Revs Up on Wilshire

Clockwise: Plan Check's crab dip, Chef's favorite burger, fried chicken, cinnamon banana donut

What: Plan Check's new Wilshire Blvd. location in a recently-opened apartment building just west of the 110 is the third location in the budding mini-empire with Ernesto Uchimura as executive chef. Who would have thought that what's basically another gastropub, of which we already have so many, would do so well? But Uchimura picks busy locations, puts fun Asian twists on the dishes and cocktails and stocks the bars with a good selection of craft beers and Japanese whiskeys. Voila, a recipe for success in the elevated bar food game.
Where: 1111 Wilshire Blvd. -- not quite actually Downtown, but a short hop away
The space: Bigger than the Sawtelle location but smaller than the cavernous Fairfax one, this Plan Check has a long bar, some inside tables and a unique indoor-outdoor table with windows that close it off right down the middle once nights get chillier.
The food:  Uchimura was part of the team that invented the Umami burger, so some of the decadent burgers come with cheese crisps in the Umami way. I like the original Plan Check burger, but the Downtown location adds the Korean bbq burger with pork belly blended into the beef. Fried chicken, available in a sandwich or a main dish, is boneless and finger-friendly with an exceedingly crunchy coating and very moist chicken. If your arteries can take it, don't miss the baked crab dip, which marries mayonnaise-intensive Japanese dynamite sauce with large chunks of crab, topped with nori and spooned on toast.
The menu may be adorned with trendy touches like Uchimura's signature ketchup leather, pig candy and pimento cheese, but make no mistake, this is salty, rich drinking food that shares the DNA of places like Beer Belly and A-Frame. While everything I've had is well-calibrated, it's easy to overdo it on the overall richness of the menu. Fortunately, a salmon kale salad and tuna salad have been added at the new location. But a few more vegetables or lighter dishes might be nice.
The drinks: My favorite is the Little Osaka sour with bourbon, lemon and plum wine, but the Ginger Grant, with Pisco, sake, Aperol, blood orange and ginger is also refreshing and won't knock you out.

(this is written on the basis of a soft opening/press preview)

Haché Burger: A Much-Needed Burger Specialist for Silver Lake

The Roaring Forties at Haché Burger

Here's a quick first look at a new neighborhood spot, Haché Burger, in the former Tarascos location on Sunset Blvd. It sounds French but the fries, at least, lean Dutch at this very casual spot which for now serves burgers, fries, beer and that's about it. But the prices are reasonable for the area and it's a solid burger that with very small tweaks could be a great one.
The food: Four burgers are on the menu all around $6. They're crafted from Angus sirloin that's always ground within the past four hours. The Karma has American cheese and Karma sauce; the Habanero has chiles and queso fresco; Swiss Onion and the Roaring Forties with mushrooms, horseradish and blue cheese. It's a loosely-formed patty that the owner (who also has Mick's Karma Bar in Irvine) calls ground steak instead of hamburger (haché means ground in French). Triple-fried French fries come with a variety of sauces including satay and garlic.
The drinks: Draft craft beers are just $5; there's also two wines, soft drinks, strawberry basil lemonade.

The space: A large outdoor patio is surrounded by plants to soften the Sunset streetscape. It's great for kids, as long as they like burgers.The soundtrack, unfortunately, is made up of loud generic oldies that fight the neighborhood's indie style.
The verdict: It's a juicy, flavorful burger with a good-quality brioche bun and the right amount of toppings. If Haché seasoned the patty with salt and pepper before cooking, it might be even better. Fries were solid but a coleslaw or pickles option would be nice too. We'll definitely return -- after all, we need to find out the difference between Karma sauce and Monkey sauce -- but we'll ask for our burgers to be seasoned first. This area could always use well-priced options since many of the other new places aren't very affordable for the young Sunset Junction crowd.
Haché LA
3319 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake
323.928.2963

Fusion Burgers: Highland Park gets a familiar burger menu with a local twist

Mexican BBQ burger at Fusion Burgers

Drive down York Blvd. in Highland Park and it's hard to resist stopping for a $1 taco at one of the smoky open air taco tables dotting the street between Figueroa and Ave. 50. The tables doling out the best pastor tacos are distinguished by the pineapple speared at the top of the spit; the juices drip onto the rotating pork as it acquires the all-important crispy bits. The menu at the recently-opened Fusion Burgers, located in a former York Blvd. mini-mall taqueria, owes quite a bit to Umami Burger.
But there's at least one departure from the now-familiar burger selection: the Mexican BBQ burger, a nod to the excellent taco tables down the block.
Fusion's Mexican BBQ burger does a credible job of combining these hyper-local flavors in burger form, with a hefty charred slice of pineapple, a sweet Hawaiian-type bun slicked with aioli and coarsely-ground pork.

Very cheese and bacon burger: crispy onions are a nice touch

Aside from the Mexican BBQ burger ($8.50) and something involving house-processed chorizo cheese, whatever that is, there's the burger with parmesan crisp, oven-dried tomato and shitake ($8.50); the green chile burger; the triple pork; the lamb burger. There are some ambitious ideas going on here, ingredient-wise, as well as the inevitable homemade pickles, cane-sugar sweetened sodas and sweet potato fries.

There's a sudden rush in Highland Park of Salvadoran bakeries turning into Proof Coffee-pouring cafes and perfectly good carne asada joints turning into gourmet burger shops. It's true that a person can only eat so much carne asada. But there's something overly formal and awkward about these places, where the servers call you "madame" while you're ordering a burger or use the royal "we" when taking your order. Anyway, Fusion Burger, madames aside, is a welcome addition to York, since it fills a need for casual places where you won't end up dropping $60-$80 for two, as you're likely to do at the York, Ba or Maxmiliano. And the burgers are darn good.
Maybe every neighborhood could use a place that takes a hit concept, then makes it a little bit all its own.

Fusion Burgers
5933 York Blvd.
Highland Park
(323) 257-8705


 

Plan Check: Avoid that soggy bun with ketchup leather

Plan Check burger

Plan Check opened today on Sawtelle Blvd., and as one of the few non-Japanese restaurants on the strip, it needs to rock a few great hamburgers to be a respectable gastropub. So chef Ernesto Uchimura, former executive chef at Umami Burger, has created ketchup leather, a solidified sheet of ketchup that locks the tomato flavor in place without saturating the Portuguese-style bun. Like the Umami burger, the Plan Check burger sports a shiitake mushroom topper and a deeply beefy flavor. And while Umami burgers are topped with specially-made cheese slices, at Plan Check (blueprint-themed, and named for the nearby L.A. Building and Safety Department), it's the ketchup leather that draws attention. There's also the Bleuprint burger, with blue cheese and pig candy, and the Chef's favorite burger, with two cheeses, two types of bacon, and a fried egg. We were invited to try a few dishes from the menu, including the ultra-crunchy fried chicken with pickled okra and fries made with beef tallow. Yes, this is hearty and rich food, made for enjoying with Japanese beer on tap and some fine rye whiskeys.
With a great sidewalk patio, reasonable food prices and a Japanese-accented cocktail menu by the ubiquitous Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix, Plan Check looks sure to be a popular alternative to the ramen and sushi spots. And don't miss the perfectly puckery Little Osaka Sour cocktail, with bourbon, plum wine, lemon and egg white.
Plan Check Bar, 1800 Sawtelle Blvd., West L.A.

Short Order: A first taste

Everyone's heading to Farmer's Market to see what Mozza's Nancy Silverton, Bill Chait and the late Amy Pressman have done to wow the city's burger enthusiasts  So for now, an early lunch at Short Order is the best way to avoid the fledgling burger destination's inevitable early service glitches.

Arriving at noon on Friday, we had our choice of tables and found a cozy corner upstairs opposite the bar. Short Order's decor is as adorable as can be, with Eames barstools, Danish modern chairs, vintage kitchen utensils, tiny tabletop thyme pails and filament lights hitting just about every possible design note at once. Servers in perky striped Ts complete the picture.
I had a hard time choosing between the Frisee lardon raft -- a burger topped with frisee, egg and lardons; or the pork burger with rapini or turkey burger with sage cheddar. Since I had recently eaten at Gott's Roadside in Napa, I tried Ida's Original Burger ($11) for purposes of comparison. While Gott's serves a fine, non-grass fed Apple Pan-type burger for $8, Short Order's grass-fed model, with cheddar, pickles and tomato, was far more indulgent with a pillowy bun and deep beefy taste. Creamy secret sauce on both pieces of the bun makes it a little too messy, but the flavor is inarguably terrific.

Our table's other orders weren't quite as successful: One friend's lamb burger (above) could have used more seasonings to mellow the overly-assertive Sonoma ground lamb -- neither of us enjoyed the one-note flavor despite its feta topping. Another friend's grilled cheese looked extremely greasy; like other "gourmet" grilled cheese sandwiches it was nearly deep-fried, ruining the subtle balance between bread, cheese and frying that the sandwich requires.
So far at least, it seems the beef models are the way to go, but we barely grazed the menu which also features pies, malts, signature "Short Order Spuds." Coming in January is a brunch menu featuring a Benedict Burger and Breakfast Cobb Salad.

Despite the early hour, it was my day off and I couldn't pass up one of Julian Cox's superb cocktails, made with Buffalo Trace bourbon, lemon and pomegranate agrodulce. It was small but delicious and we immediately decided that cocktails and fries would have to become a regular thing. Downstairs, the seating is more exposed to the sun and only the more basic burgers are available, so upstairs is the way to go if you want cocktails or lamb or pork burgers.
The Verdict: I rarely eat burgers, so the chance to have a good grass-fed one is worth $11 to me, and all Short Order's ingredients are top flight. But order a $17 tuna burger, Spuds ($4) with truffle salt ($2 extra) and a $12 cocktail, and Short Order turns out to be one pricey lunch for a casual spot. With the bar open until 1 a.m. on weekends, it's a shot in the arm for Farmer's Market, which generally closes down much earlier.
Short Order
Farmer's Market (6333 W. 3rd St., Stall #110
(323) 761-7970

The Counter: Finally trying the new face of L.A. dining

Turkey burger with chipotle aioli, The Counter

I'm not sure how it's possible that the Counter started just before I started this blog, when I wasn't paying attention expanded to some two dozen locations including Ireland and Australia, and yet somehow I had never been to one. This strange food blogger oversight was remedied last week when I needed to be at the Directors Guild on Sunset and realized I could have an actual meal before the French film festival. The music is loud, the patrons are reading Kindles and drinking Arrogant Bastard on tap -- it's the new age of L.A. eating, fast, relatively inexpensive and pretty fun to eat. The choices were almost too much to handle, but eventually I ticked off Turkey burger - 1/3 lb., pepper jack cheese, whole wheat bun, chipotle aioli, sliced jalapenos, baby greens and alfafa sprouts. I called it the Mexican Hippie. I had been swilling free French wine at the festival, so I had to pass up the milkshakes and beer, but I thoroughly appreciate the idea of having several decent beers on tap at a hamburger joint, not to mention wine, shakes and malts. The burger itself didn't have a ton of flavor, but the toppings totally compensated. It's not quite burger nirvana, but the Counters are a fine thing to have strewn around the city, and it won't be five years until I go again -- I'm thinking beer float with coffee ice cream, sweet potato fries and...apricot sauce?

Umami Los Feliz: Get ready for green fried chicken

behold the signature Umami burger

The opening of Umami Burger in Los Feliz is cause for celebration since until now, there was barely a decent burger to be found east of Hollywood. (I dunno, is anyone that into Fix Burger?) Although it's only been open a week, Umami already turning out burgers bursting with umami flavors, thankfully without too many service glitches.
I doubt I will ever be able to replicate my first Umami experience, biting into one of the best burgers I have ever tasted as I sat all alone at the La Brea location with a glass of owner Adam Fleischman's excellent petite syrah. Since then, my experiences have varied -- a sublime scallop sandwich, a way-too-rare Hatch burger.
I'm glad they've caved in and decided to offer skinny regular and sweet potato fries, since the giant log fries never quite seemed to work. We had onion rings ($3), which have a nice malt liquor batter but could just a touch more time in the fryer to fully cook the onion. They were already out of the turkey miso burger, so we had to go meaty all the way. It was Kathy's first Umami experience -- we both liked the Umami burger ($9) and its sweet Portuguese bun, although they tend to cook them rare no matter how you order them. With chorizo, bacon and ground pork as well as manchego cheese and pimenton aioli in the Triple Pork burger ($11), the piggy burger edged into the too-salty category, although it might have worked perfectly with one of the unusual Japanese beers on offer.
Fleischman says he decided to focus part of the beer menu on Japanese beers like Coedo sweet potato beer (a hefty $16 for a large bottle) and Echigo Rice Lager because no one else has much of a selection of Japanese beer, and to go with the Salaryman theme of the adjacent bar that used to be Sgt. Recruiter. There are also American craftbrews on tap like Poleeko Gold and Allagash White.
Coming soon, after they get their burger legs firmed up, are several entrees like steak, seafood and green fried chicken (with wasabi and Japanese herbs) as well as the return of the wonderful scallop sandwich.
Umami is off to a good start, and is already about as crowded as a Trader Joe's parking lot, but since Eastsiders tend to eat after 8, get there around 7 and you should be fine.
Also, I don't have to tell you guys this, right? But when really popular places get really crowded, your experiences may vary.
Umami Burger
4655 Hollywood Blvd.
323-669-3922

Umami's new flavors: scallop burger, "rare" veggie burger and more

open-faced scallop burger and eggplant fries
Umami Burger has added some awesome new items to the menu, and several new employees have been added to help deal with the crowds, particularly in the evenings. But when I arrived a few minutes before 1 pm on Monday, I was again the only person there. After I sat down, the whole place filled up almost instantly -- strange, everyone seems to eat lunch at 1:15. I had almost decided on the Hatch chile burger with five kinds of chiles when the owner, Adam, told me they were also making the scallop burger he had told me about earlier. He also swore that they had been working on the fries, which most people felt had too much fluffy interior and not enough crispy exterior. So when my friend Diane arrived, she ordered the Umami burger and fries, while I had the scallop burger and eggplant fries -- I can't resist anything with eggplant in it. A plate of various pickles arrived for us to taste, with standout spicy slices, tangy pickled carrots, and a chutney-like mixture. My scallop burger was served open-faced, the better to highlight the flavor of the grilled scallops that were somehow formed into a loose patty enlivened by seaweed, basil and a creamy sauce that was somewhere between aioli and hollandaise. If the scallop burger was this good, I can't wait to see what he's going to do with the lobster roll that's coming soon. The eggplant fries were nice and crispy and the regular fries were improved from the first time, but I hear the malt liquor-battered onion rings are the best way to go. Although this place is all about the meat, the new veggie burger, "full of umami flavors like mushrooms," Adam says cryptically, is served "rare, au jus" with some sort of faux blood (beet juice?) to satisfy the umami-craving vegetarians out there. With easy parking and two minute drive from my office, I think I'm going to have to work my way through the whole menu here.

Umami Burger: A meaty jolt of flavor

Stamping takeout bags with the burger logo for a craftsy touch

"How to review an Umami Burger without using cliché words like awesome and amazing?" I mused as I drove down Wilshire. "Better to just describe the flavors." Beef: freshly ground from cuts including flap steak and shortribs. Toppings: shitake mushrooms, a parmesan cheese crisp, grilled onions and housemade ketchup. Bun: soft, shiny, yet sturdy, sourced from a special Portuguese bakery. It all results in one of the best burgers I've had in a long time, and it's far easier to eat than the Father's Office model. Owner Adam Fleischman, who cofounded Bottle Rock, did his research at all the burger specialists around town but came up with something different and I'd have to say, much better. I had the signature Umami burger, an excellent value at $8 (below), packed with the savory umami taste that Fleischman was striving for.The SoCal burger is more traditional, except that to replicate the superior melting of processed American cheese, they take Comte cheese and re-form it for a better topping cheese. I can't even imagine gilding the lily with some of the other varieties like Port & Stilton or Triple Pork with chorizo, bacon and aged manchego, or Truffle cheese with truffle glaze, but I'm sure I'll try them soon. Fleischman assures that a housemade veggie burger is also in the works, and in the summer, there will be lighter fare like a unique scallop burger. My only complaint? The fries ($3) were too thick for my taste, and could have used more cooking and more salt. The simple menu also includes sweet potato chips, roasted garlic potato salad, LaMill coffee and Cake Monkey desserts. You can also BYOB, and though it's a smallish space, the flagstone wall, comfy chairs and beachy photos on the wall make it pleasant enough to linger over a bottle of wine.
Fleischman says it gets crazy busy at lunchtime, as the Foodinista found out; our evening visit was completely tranquil in comparison.
Tip: Ask for aioli with the fries; or consider a side of the housemade pickles.

Here's more on Umami, including the wonderful scallop burger.

Umami Burger
850 S. La Brea Ave.
(323) 931-3000

Twohey's Alhambra: The classics series

Twohey's bacon blue cheese burger with sweet potato fries

Twohey's Diner is the sort of place you would probably never hear of unless you're within striking distance of South Pasadena or Alhambra. Unlike Fosselman's, which draws curious ice cream eaters from all over L.A., or Pie 'n Burger, Twohey's charms are known mainly to those who went there for ice cream sundaes after their high school football games at various San Gabriel Valley schools. Twohey's underwent an unfortunate remodeling in 1977, which wiped out all the oldschool carhop charm it undoubtedly had since 1943 when it opened. Now it's a barn of a coffee shop filled with kitschy faux-antique signs and many customers who undoubtedly remember its first year in business. Twohey's is famous for the "little stinker" burgers with onions, its onion rings and homemade hot fudge sauce. My patty melt was pretty lackluster, with a tasteless overcooked patty and sweet potato fries that can't hold a candle to Gus's BBQ. But Matt liked his bacon/blue cheese burger, and Sam seemed happy with his onion ring-topped burger and apple pie. I think the trick is to order a half pound burger instead of a quarter pound one to achieve a little more juiciness. We'll probably be back to try the sundaes, the slushy limeade and the onion rings, but if I just want a simple burger, I'll probably go to the In 'n Out next door instead.

Pie 'n Burger: The classics series

Behold the rhubarb pie of Pie 'n Burger

I hadn't stopped by Pie 'n Burger in quite a while and it's actually open until 10 at night, which is pretty late by Pasadena standards. So three of us stopped by for, what else, burgers and pie the other night to see if it's still up to snuff. Pie 'n Burger in the evening is a bit dreary, with hardly anyone at the counter and just a few tables of earnest looking folk looking like they might have just come from the Sierra Club meeting. As with all great, old classic places there's a few quirks to get used to: it's cash only and oddly, they don't serve cole slaw, which I generally use to meet my vegetable quota in diners. And the fries are deceptively good-looking --they're crisped to a delicious-looking golden hue, but they don't have a lot of taste.
But you're there for the burger, and although it's over $6 by now, it's definitely worth it. With a healthy swatch of lettuce, some secret sauce, grilled onions and cheese, the toppings achieve a perfect interplay with the flat, charbroiled patty. The Apple Pan's patty has more flavor, but the edge goes to Pie 'n Burger for the overall burger satisfaction quotient. It's what you want when you want a hamburger, and not every place can claim that. Sam ordered the rhubarb pie, which was topped with way too much vanilla ice cream. I'm sure the rhubarb wasn't fresh, but for someone who lusts after fruit pies like my son, it hit the spot. I like the breakfasts there too, and it's a good deal cheerier when it's a bit more crowded. At this point, it's worth it just to go somewhere that's stayed much the same for 45 years.

Taste test: Oinkster's meaty goodness

Although it's been open a year and a half already, I never did a full review of The Oinkster. Time to remedy that situation, since where else am I going to take my motley crew for dinner that won't cause complaining or cost an arm and a leg?
A hearty burger for the meat-eating teen? Check.
Flavorful pastrami and special "house" orange/lemonade for the grown-up Mr. Meat? Check.
Roast chicken and fries for Miss Picky, who doesn't eat burgers or much of anything else? Check.
Good beer and fries with aioli for yours truly? Check.
The burger was tasty with a top quality tomato, but needed salt to bring out its flavor. Matt liked the pastrami, but it's very smoky indeed, like their pulled pork, and quite lean. Definitely a more refined pastrami than at most places.
The combination of Red Hook Long Hammer IPA with fries and aioli totally rocked, although my doctor says once a year at most.
The rather dried-out chicken was no Zankou, but the purple cole slaw with it was clean and crunchy tasting.
We were too stuffed to try the ube milkshake or peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, but they looked good.
The verdict: Some items are executed better than others at the Oinkster, and the pastrami and pulled pork are for smoke lovers only. But the combination of good beer, quality meats, nicely-cooked fries with garlic mayo and killer desserts make this a great choice for a casual bite.