The Unvegan

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10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus

‘Hamburgers’

A Brunch Burger at Rush Street

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So shiny and buttery.

A little birdie named my girlfriend told me Rush Street in Culver City had a swanky brunch, so we went on a grand Sunday morning to experience this middle meal with a friend of hers. Now you might think that Rush Street is named for the street it is on, but you would be wrong, since it lies on Washington Boulevard. Being a smart Midwesterner, though, I quickly realized that this restaurant must be named for Rush Street in Chicago, one of their big roads. I was right, as the owners are from Chicago. The place is supposed to give off a Chicago sort of vibe (but don’t tell my girlfriend that, since she loves Rush Street and somehow hates Chicago). Anyway, back to brunch.

A Fire in my Mouth at Henry’s Hat (CLOSED)

Mild burning here.
Mild burning here.

Every once in a while, Henry’s Hat sends out an email to loyal fans, alerting them that the entire menu, including drinks, will be half price for a night. Luckily, my girlfriend happens to be one of those loyal fans, so we set off for that strange area near Universal City to get some ridiculously cheap food.

Henry’s Hat is really a sports bar with a mostly bar-like menu. As someone with an infatuation with bar food, this was great for me. A lot of the food on the menu looked good and some looked fancier than your average bar food. We started off with an order of Aggies’s Chili Con Queso. This was molten cheese and salsa with tortilla chips. And since we were such big rollers for the night, we decided to “Make it Mud.” In doing so, they added black beans, chorizo and avocado and pico de gallo to the mix. Actually, we got the pico de gallo on the side, since those tomatoes and onions would have ruined the whole thing.

Dying a Little Inside at Chili’s

Translucent chips!
Translucent chips!

Chili’s isn’t exactly known for being healthy, making it a perfect place to do some unvegan food reviewing, or so one would think. I went to the Manhattan Beach location with a group of six for lunch and we all decided to take advantage of their 2 for $20. In this nutso deal, two people get to share an appetizer, get their own entrees and get to share a dessert. Since we had six people, we all ordered that special and made sure to get different appetizers. Then the real fun began!

The Unvegan Goes to White Castle

Much easier to find than previously thought.
Much easier to find than previously thought.

In an area saturated with delicious sliders like Greene’s Hamburgers, I never felt any need to visit White Castle in Michigan. Yet, somehow, on my last visit to my homeland I was convinced to take a drive out to Grand River and 8 Mile Road (yeah the same one that Eminem is from) in Farmington Hills to pay a visit to White Castle. The adventure getting there wasn’t worthy of creating an entire film, but still felt like a hike.

Rejecting Bobby Flay’s Style at Mesa Grill

Why oh why lettuce?
Why oh why lettuce?

As a break from watching horse racing and football at the Caesar’s Palace Casino in Las Vegas, we walked right next to the sports book and into the Mesa Grill. The place is pretty well-known for being Bobby Flay’s restaurant and I guess Bobby Flay is some sort of a big deal because of his Iron Chef work and such, but I still get him confused with Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame. Confusion or no, I had heard great things about the Mesa Burger and zoned in on that when I got my menu.

I was actually a little disappointed by the list of toppings. Horseradish mustard sounded like a bad vegetable concoction, while grilled Vidalia onions made it sound even worse. The redeeming quality of the burger was the double cheddar cheese, so I still ordered the burger with the cheese on it. I told the waiter that I was ordering my burger strangely and he replied that it wasn’t strange at all. This friendliness in an anti-unvegan world showed me that even unvegans are welcomed with open arms in Las Vegas. I ordered the burger cooked medium and he told me they served a very liberal medium, meaning my burger would be quite pink. This was just fine by me.

Mark Sanchez: Unvegan Hero

unvegan mark sanchezBeing a Michigan football fan, I always disliked Mark Sanchez. As he quarterbacked for USC, he was an easy guy to hate. Now that he has entered the NFL and plays for the New York Jets, any problem I may have had with him have gone away. Not only that, but watching him play on TV a couple weeks ago has elevated him to a level higher than just about any other athlete in the country. During a timeout, Sanchez was caught on film chowing down on a hot dog.

Check out the film below.

Poor Execution at BJ’s Brewhouse

A hasty pizza
A hasty pizza.

I was especially excited when a BJ’s Brewhouse opened in Culver City. Los Angeles is known as a city short on craft and microbrews, and although BJ’s is a big chain, I hoped it would fill a much-neglected gap in beer and microbrewery food.

To start out the meal I ordered their Harvest Hefeweizen. Hef has never let me down in the past, so I expected it wouldn’t again. I was wrong. This was the sweetest beer that has ever tried to pass for a real beer. Don’t get me wrong, I think a Strongbow Cider or a Leinenkugel’s Berryweiss can be very refreshing on a hot summer day, but those beers are composed of fruit and you know what you’re getting when you order them. Sure, hefeweizen isn’t the most bitter beer, but BJ’s attempt at it tasted like they accidentally spilled a carton of sugar into my beer.

A New Level of Custom Burgers at BluBurger Grille

Nothing blue (or green) about this burger.
Nothing blue (or green) about this burger.

Making its way into the custom burger scene in Arizona is a place called the BluBurger Grille. Similar to places like the Counter in California, BluBurger gives you a list of burger styles and loads of toppings available for them. BluBurger, however, takes customization to a new level.

Rather than restricting itself to one beef burger option, BluBurger has pulled out the stops by offering Kobe Beef (which I can only assume is actually Kobe-style beef) and Bison. Since I typically love me some buffalo, I ordered that with sharp cheddar and BBQ sauce. Adding anything else would have masked the flavor of the buffalo, so I kept my burger pretty simple.

Umami Burger is All Grown Up

Like blood, but better.

The newest edition of Umami Burger opened up a couple weeks ago in Los Feliz and I got there as soon as I could to see if they could continue producing those same amazing burgers. The last time I went to Umami on La Brea, it was still BYOB and had yet to develop a burger built for unvegans. Even the so-called “Manly Burger” had onions, but they were still nice enough to make burgers for my unvegan specifications. Umami Ni, as I like to call the new Umami Burger (ni meaning two in Japanese), was a grown up version of the original.

Not only does Umami Ni serve beer and wine, they even have a bar called Salaryman (another Japanese homage) where they serve Asian beers for comfortable prices. Arriving at 9:00, I expected to be seated quickly, but the place still had a waiting time, so I headed over to experience Salaryman.

The Next Level of Fusion at the Marked5 Truck (CLOSED)

A pleasant surprise
A pleasant surprise

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find that Marked5, one of LA’s multitude of food trucks, was making its way down to El Segundo, just in time for my lunch hour. I looked up Marked5 online real quickly to make sure I knew what I was getting into and saw that their menu consisted of a sort of American and Japanese fusion. They made burgers, but instead of regular buns, they used rice. I had no idea how this would work without the rice falling apart, but I was eager to find out.

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