The Unvegan

Down the street from my new office in North Hollywood sits a little chili burger stand called Crown Burger. I saw the place from a distance and wanted so badly for this to be a place to fall in love with. I walked five minutes to the place and walked right up to the counter to make my order. The place was run by a group of Asians (likely of the Korean variety), which was surprising since hamburgers aren’t ordinarily associated with people from the east, but I was still excited at the prospect of this burger.

I decided to order the chili burger, since that seemed to be their specialty. I ordered their combo, which was under six bucks. The burger would have come with lettuce, tomatoes and onions, but I ordered it without. Then I waited, hoping the taste would bring me back for more.

I opened my bag of local burgerness and took a long hard look at my chili burger. It was surprisingly wide, but surprisingly dry. Typically a chili burger is a sloppy mess, but Crown Burger has managed to concoct a burger that remains within the confines of the bun. I bit in and quickly learned why the chili hadn’t escaped. It was pretty damn dry.

This wasn’t really a terrible thing because the flavor of the chili was halfway decent, but I like a juicy burger and this was not one. The patty itself was decent, but probably would have been better without the chili sucking the juices from it. The fries were of the normal variety, but certainly crispy. Between these two, my meal was quite filling and I was content. But I was only content. I wanted so badly to fall in love with this quaint little Asian burger stand that serves teriyaki chicken, yet I just couldn’t. This is not to say that I won’t return, because I will surely come back here to grab a burger next time I get a craving at work, because despite not falling in love, Crown Burger will always be a better choice than a fast food chain.