John "LAFoodGod" S.'s Profile

So, i was at The Arsenal for the 1950's promotion Wed and Thurs.  It was sheer madness.  There were people everywhere.  The whole street of pico was backed up cause of it.  

When I came in they told me they were booked full both nights and had been book full since Monday through Friday, but were taking names on a list just in case they could get people in.  I waited about two hours.  It was packed, but of course it was they are selling burgers for .69 cents and filet mignons for $3.  The food took a while, which I expected as it was so busy but when I got my filet it was awesome.  I'd def pay normal price for it..  

Thursday it was even busier than Wednesday and they ran out of filets and New York steaks before I could get one so I ordered off the regular menu.  The Mac n Cheese Pizza is amazing good.  Add bacon to it.  They also do a LA Bacon Wrapped Street Dog which I'd happily order again.  I love their new happy hour 5-8 Mon-Fri and 6-9 on Saturdays.  They offer a bunch of food options and all beer is 1/2 off, well drinks are $3 and house wine is $3.
I'm going back, but I'm waiting till next week after the promotion dies down.

You'd have to not eat food, be agoraphobic or be so into yourself and your ESPN special broadcast press conference not to notice all the burger spots that have opened in LA over the last couple of years.  It's almost obscene and most of them aren't that good.  Stout was a waste of space in my stomach.  I'm in the minority of Umami being the biggest rip off in the city.  Golden State is tasty.  Lucky Devil's is a sauce covered mess and 25 Degrees spent more time falling apart then being eaten.   Nobody is coming close to challenging burger greats like 26 Beach Cafe (Venice), Father's Office (Culver City, Santa Monica) or Wolfgang's Steakhouse (Beverly Hills).  The two newest burger spots on the scene are Burger Kitchen in the 3rd St/Fairfax area and Juicy Burger on Sunset.  Juicy Burger just opened after months and months of delays and Burger Kitchen has now been open for a few months and has seen up and down reviews but are convinced they've hit oil with their addition of Pat La Frieda Beef.

I went to Burger Kitchen before they sealed the deal with Pat La Frieda.  If you're not familiar Pat La Frieda Beef is beef from Pat La Frieda Wholesale Meat Purveyors an almost 100 year Manhattan, NY family institution.  La Frieda beef is knows for it's quality and flavor and it's in most of the famous and high end restaurants and hotels in New York.  Getting La Frieda beef outside of NY is very difficult.  A place or two in Chicago has it, but the owners of Burger Kitchen managed to become the first to bring it to LA.  Congrats, but first let's learn how to cook onion rings fully, cut jalapenos and give adequate service... Adequate?  Baby steps...horrible to great service can't happen over night.

I met a friend at Burger Kitchen for lunch about 1pm and we were two of four people in the restaurant, which doesn't scream the food is awesome.  Also it leaves little room for poor service, but that's what we got.  We sat at the table and this almost depressed looking waitress walked by us a few times before ever bring us a menu or greeting us.  It wasn't that she was ugly, she was semi good looking, we even bantered back and forth if "we'd fuck her" but neither of us could get past her mopey depressed look to actually say yes.  Finally, the owner approached introducing himself and providing menus.  He seemed nice enough, but obviously not a restaurant professional as he didn't realize that we'd been waiting and that his waitress sucked even with only two tables.  We ordered the Breakfast Burger and a BBQ Jalapeno Burger, Onion Rings and Fries.

They dropped off totally raw onion rings and broken short pieces of french fries.  The chipotle ketchup with the fries was very flavorful and the ranch with the onion rings was good too.  Too bad the onion rings were totally raw.

With raw onion rings in front of us we had lost all hope for the burgers.  The medium well Breakfast Burger came out well done, but surprisingly the meat actually had a nice flavor.  The bun however was too greasy and too air puffed to help absorb the excess juices.  Bigger issues came in the form of the BBQ Jalapeno Burger which in short showed the bush-league status of Burger Kitchen's experience and ownership.  The burger was ordered medium rare and it came out medium well, but hey, they were both medium something.  The jalapenos you'd expect to be in slices so they are spread across the entire burger.  Only makes sense.  That wasn't the case.  They simply cut the stem off, sliced it once the long way in half and laid it on the patty, so when you bite in you got an entire half of jalapeno in one bite.  I shouldn't even have to say it, slice the jalapeno.

I'll finish with this, if the food is so amazing people will come.  If the food is so unbelievable maybe you don't have to slice your jalapenos, but then again you would and if you didn't I wouldn't nitpick it cause the food is soo damn good.  If the burger was mind blowing I could ignore that it was over cooked or the bun was average, but it wasn't.  Maybe it would have been a great burger if all those things were done right.  Maybe if the service was fantastic I wouldn't have left with a sad taste in my mouth and wanted to give them another shot.  But we'll never know cause all evidence points to they don't know what they're doing.

Good Luck Pat La Frieda, I hope Burger Kitchen doesn't tarnish your good name.

-LA Food God
I'm back...

TOP 5 BURGERS IN LA

26 Beach is...well interesting.  The food is fantastic, however the decor is like Grandma's dining room meets a Southern cafe.  It's very odd to say the least.  The exterior is simple, it's mostly a brick building.  The interior is where the decor gets nutty.  There are tacky old statues and pieces of old beat up furniture, old dressers, random mis-mosh of tables and chairs.  The dining room is much more put together and it feels like you're in a different restaurant.  They two rooms don't go together at all.

THE BOMBAY BURGER...
The food, as I said is great, especially the BURGERS!  26 Beach has an interesting menu, very eclectic mix of Breakfast, which includes 12 french toast options, 10 Hawaiian Style Royals, 7 delicious pasta scrambles then a few of the typical breakfast items.  If you go for breakfast you must try the  The Polar Bear, it's 2 French "croissants" toasts with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, fresh berries, Melba sauce and grated with white chocolate.  This thing is more like a dessert, but don't be scared, take a chance and go for it.  Everyone knows sugar is the perfect food.  That's why God invented it for us.  For all the great breakfast options they have I was extremely disappointed with the Breakfast Sandwich, it was dry, the bread was too thick and there was entirely too much lettuce.  So like an ugly child just pretend it doesn't exist and pay attention to one of the other menu items.  

                                                          THE HICKORY BURGER...

When it comes to the rest of the menu, they have over 20 salads, pastas, pizzas, sandwiches and 17 delicious, creative and interesting Burgers!  All their burgers are 100% Angus Beef, but can be substituted for Kobe upon request.  Stick with the Angus, Kobe is intended to be eaten as a steak, it's not meant to be ground and is overrated for burgers.  My favorite burger is the Brunch Burger, a fried egg, thick and delicious applewood bacon and cheddar on top of the burger with mayo, lettuce and a tomato.  The egg, applewood bacon and cheddar combined with the tasty juicy burger is simply delicious.  This is one of the best burgers I've ever had.  The bun was solid, the meat was cooked to medium rare as requested and it held together as I ate it.  I have no complaints with their burgers, except that I want to eat them all the time.

Besides The Brunch Burger they have a plethora of very interesting other burger options like:
Caprese Burger - fresh melted mozzarella, heirloom tomato, baby mixed greens and drizzle of balsamic reduction.
Bombay Burger - coconut curry sauce, mango chutney, lettuce and tomato.
Italian Burger - mushrooms, marinara sauce, mozzarella, lettuce and tomato.

And for all you sissies or sucky people that don't eat meat, they also offer a Namaste "Veggie" Burger which is made with grains, legumes and vegetables.  As well as the Gobbler a thick hand formed turkey burger and the Salmon Club, a grilled hand formed salmon patty burger.

If you really wanna try something different when it comes to burgers, 26 Beach Cafe does something with a burger I've never seen before and it's gotta be the oddest burger on the menu, the P B & J.  It is exactly what it sounds like, creamy Skippy's peanut butter & Knott's Berry strawberry jam on top of the Angus Patty.  This isn't really my style of a burger, but hell they do a great burger so if you like burgers and P B & J, I bet you'd love it....well maybe...

Burger Grades
I. Presentation (The way it looks. Your first impression)  B              
II. Meat Flavor (Type of Beef and Seasoning equals Flavor)  B+
III. Meat Binding (Is it bound together well or does it crumble when you bite into it)  A
IV. Meat Temp (Is it cooked to the temp requested) A+
V. Toppings (Freshness, Quality and Taste)  A
VI. Bacon (Taste, Texture)  A
VII. Cheese (Melted or not melted, Flavor and Texture)  B+
VIII. Sauce (Taste, Flavor Addition)  B
IX. Bun (Texture, Hold together ability, Greasiness, Flavor)  B+
X. Overall (How all the small parts come together.)  -A

Restaurant Grades
Decor                   C
Service                 B
Menu                   A
Grub                    -A
Dessert              N/A
Crowd                  C
Return-ability    -A