BURGER DAY: Frances, while ordering at The Counter
Yesterday, after shooting over at my favorite Topanga Canyon park, Frances and I hit up The Counter, a restaurant recommended to me by at least six people.
I was envisioning some old-timey diner, or a hole-in-the-wall outfit, something creaky and cramped, with questionable service and sloppy food.
What I got was a tre chic production, all steel furniture, young staff, lots of windows (mm, natural light), and a “custom burger” menu.
Now, I was ambilvalent about this. It all looked well & good, lots of delicious choices. But I’d been burned by the “gourmet burger” idea before*, and was wondering if all this fanciness would backfire.
Frances was overwhelmed by choices.
I ended up with ordering a burger with grilled onions, russian dressing, tillamok cheddar and canadian bacon. No, no lettuce, just takes up room. No, no vegetables, what am I, a commie?
Frances ordered a burger with a garlic alioli dressing, avocado, sprouts, lettuce mix and…I think that’s it. I was too busy devouring my burger (and banana shake AND sweet potato fries) to really focus on her food.
BECAUSE IT WAS DELICIOUS. I’ve only tested a few LA burgers so far, but this one’s tops. The meat was excellently cooked, and they used a solid angus beef, nothing too tricky. The bun was just solid enough to endure the grease that would have sogged up a lesser bun. You get to choose, beyond your various accoutrements, the size of your burger and what kind of bun you like.
But they don’t get carried away, service was stellar, there’s real banana in the shake, the fries are on point (heh, my dad talks like that “aw son, that was on point” and “that was on the one, son” don’t know what he’s saying half the time, but his occasional ghetto patois is delightful), just an all-around awesome time.
Frances’ burger was so good she actually had to take a small break. Lady looked as though the damn burger had just given her the best kiss of her life.
You know that look. Yeah, that.
Grade: A
