‘Burgers’
People in Southern California if not obsessed with In-N-Out Burger, a pretty great fast food burger spot that can now be found throughout the American Southwest. Having lived here for many years, I can understand to a certain extent, but the utter rejection of objectively superior burgers will always boggle my mind. It is that world in which CaliBurger has decided to enter and it’s probably important to take note of CaliBurger’s history.
In my mind, LA is the burger capital of the world, churning out delicious burger after delicious burger. Thus, it is no surprise that Burgerim, a place with its roots in Israel and a global presence decided to have a go at Hollywood. I was fortunate to be invited to its Grand Opening to try out the goods.
Las Vegas (and particularly The Strip) is a place of excess, and sometimes this only translates to excessive prices for subpar food. Yet, if you know where to look, you can find hidden gems much more common than winners in Black Jack. Fat Choy is one of these, located in the classic Eureka Casino, which seems to be a place made only for locals.
I try to stay abreast of all new burger happenings around LA and it’s even better when I have a connection to one of them. This was how I learned about Hollywood Burger, which originated overseas, but finally opened in real Hollywood a couple of months ago. The manager treated me to a free meal, so I was able to pick out a few things to try out to see how Hollywood Burger would fare in a city full of oh so many good burgers.
When you look up places to eat in Saugatuck, one spot is at the top of every list: Phil’s. Phil’s is like the quintessential Midwestern Bar and Grille, serving up a variety of beers, burgers, salads and the like in a dimly lit space that leans more toward dive than romance. Naturally, we had to pay the place a visit.
Sometimes when you’re traveling you just have to eat in. When you do, you should hope you’re staying somewhere like Le Parker Meridien in Midtown New York. Because if you do, you’ll be lucky enough to have Burger Joint downstairs. Burger Joint isn’t just some typical hotel restaurant, it’s a no-frills spot with a small menu consisting of only burgers, fries, and a pickle with prices that are pretty typical for New York.
The Park in Chelsea is quite literally a beautiful place to eat. It isn’t an actual park, but the marginally glassed-in courtyard area is so full of growing green things that a bird took an actual crap on my mother-in-law before we had the opportunity to order our food. No joke. But this was brunch, so we laughed it off, took down some Bloody Mary’ses and pressed on.
If you’re familiar with my blog, you know about my long-standing feud with mini burgers masquerading as sliders. You also know that real sliders require a very specific cooking style involving a griddle, onions and steamed buns. And finally, you know that Detroit has some of the best. Yet, sliders are not exclusive to Detroit, and New Jersey is known as a bastion of such burgers. Perhaps no location is more famous than White Mana in Jersey City, which has been making the things since 1939 (although not at the Jersey City location because the slider making began in the New York World’s Fair).
Sometimes life beats the crap out of you. Other times, it gives you exactly what you want. So when what I wanted was some good new food in Pasadena, Spudds suddenly appeared and fulfilled the latter. You see, Spudds specializes in poutine and I am a man who loves his fries with gravy and cheese curds. Plus, as far as I know, Spudds is the only original (unlike Smoke’s Poutinerie in Hollywood, which as you probably know from reading up here has a number of outposts in Canada) poutine spot in all of the LA area.
A lot changed in Downtown LA while I was gone for two years. The Arts District, which is adjacent to Little Tokyo, had already had a bit of a resurgence that has kinda blown up. On top of that, Chef Neal Fraser, who is behind BLD, has popped out a couple new spots. When you combine these, you get Fritzi, which is like an affordably upscale fast-casual concept (yeah, I said it).