Grill 'Em All

Where: Roaming in Los Angeles
Price: $6

When living in the downtown area of Los Angeles, keep your eyes peeled for a black food truck with heavy metal music playing on the highest volume.

That is what you will get from Grill 'Em All, not just burgers and fries, but fun. The food truck features a handful selections of unique hamburgers to feast on. One such burger, and probably the most popular, is called "Waste 'em all". The burger symbolizes the rocker life style. Ingredients include marinated green chiles, which describes the rocker's spicy attitude, pepper Jack cheese to give the rocker a kick to his guitar solo, and topped off with beer soaked onions, which represents the alcoholic beverage that all rockers love, beer.

The staff includes about four people who constantly cook for the many people that stand outside waiting to give their orders to them. Though their unique painting and stickers that coat their truck does add customer's interest, the food truck was also a participant in the "American Food Truck Race" that was shown on the Food Network.

Not only was it a participant, but Grill 'Em All won the whole contest by outselling fellow native food truck, Nom Nom. The hit show won many customers for Grill 'Em All, but their goal is to remember them by their unique flavors that lie within the buns, shared by heavy metal.

Taste

I decided to try the "Samoa Joe" burger. The burger featured a half-pound patty with beer soaked onions, barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, and the surprise ingredient; pineapple slices. I have to say it was the most intriguing burger of the bunch thus far.

With the help of the pineapple, this was the sweetest burger I have ever tried. So many different flavors, but were heavily on the sweet side. No matter, my sweet tooth was raging for sweetness and what good way to satisfy it then with a sweet burger. Yes, I did say "sweet" five times in the last two seconds! Good burger, but doesn't range "elite". Still, the experience to having a burger from this particular food truck made it all worth it for driving from Whittier to Hollywood.

Apple Pan

Where: 10801 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Price: $7

Down the historic street of Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, Calif. is where one of the most old-fashioned burger houses in Southern California. The Apple Pan was established in 1947 and has served burgers, sandwiches, fries, and apple pie for all its customers since. The restaurant resembles a small house that could be found in the prairies of the Midwest in the middle of the 20th century, but is actually across the street from Westwood Pavillion.

Taste

Apple Pan is famous for its "Hickory Burger", so naturally I ordered to eat that. The wait time was only about eight minutes and the waiter just gave me the burger in front of me without any plate, but only a napkin. This was a bad move because I needed more than one napkin after eating this burger.

I know I'm suppose to critique fairly and quit giving all these places I have been more than a three burger rating, but I can't today. The hickory burger was amazingly delicious to say the least. It had everything I wanted in a burger, cheddar cheese and crispy ice burg lettuce with a unique taste. That unique taste was their hickory sauce. The sauce was savory with no bite, not a barbecue style sauce at all. The burger patty literally melted in your mouth, it was tender and juicy. I finished my burger quick and almost ordered another one. Go to the Apple Pan, you won't be disappointed.

Five Guys

Where: 11411 South Street, Cerritos, CA
Price: $6

There's a battle going on right now that has caused a stir in the burger world. Everyone is debating whose burger is better, In-N-Out or Five Guys. Living in Southern California for 100 percent of my life, In-N-Out was and is still the gold standard for fast food burgers in the region.

But when Five Guys, a restaurant that opened in Lorton, Va., made its way West, the "newbies" loved it, loved it so much that Zagat, a review website, awarded Five Guys the 2010 award for Best Burger.

There are a couple of Five Guys restaurants in the LA area, the closest by my house was in Cerritos. I stopped by there because of the hype and I wanted to see for myself if it was indeed better than In-N-Out's burger. What I ate, was a good burger.
Taste
I ordered a cheese burger, which was really a double cheese burger. A single patty burger is called a little burger, go figure. Anyway, my burger included grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, barbeque sauce, the patty, and sesame buns.

For my $6, the burger exceeded my expectations. It was very tasty, thanks to the barbecue sauce, which was my favorite part of the burger. The patty was cooked more well done than I would've liked, but it was fine. The lettuce and tomato was average, but I didn't expect a knock out from the vegetables anyway.

All in all, I welcome Five Guys in Southern California. For a growing restaurant chain, they cook great burgers. Just not as great as IN-N-Out's. ;)

Fronk's Restaurant

Where: 9260 Alondra Blvd
Price: $10

As the voice of the Clippers Ralph Lawler would say, "Oh me, oh my!"

This trip started out around 11 a.m. on Saturday and while looking for breakfast, I figured why not eat a burger? Since I didn't feel like driving very far for a place, I went on Yelp to help me find a nice spot around the Pico Rivera area. I found Fronk's Restaurant and their pictures really intrigued me. I had to check out their burger immediately to see if it was really that big.

Luckily for me, the restaurant was off the 605 freeway on Alondra Boulevard. I got there in 10 minutes and was pretty excited. As you can see in the picture, the outside texture of the restaurant won't marvel you, but it's a different story inside. To me, it was a mix between a sports grill bar and a western restaurant put in one, very family friendly. There were only two people working and I ordered behind three people so it took about 20 minutes to get my burger.

Taste
I'm always going to get the signature burger from the places I go so I ordered the "Fronken Burger". The ingredients include a half-pound angus burger with beer battered onion rings, maple bacon, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, Monterey Jack cheese, and Chipotle ranch sauce. Yeah, that's a boat load of stuff going on in the burger. I also ordered sweet potato fries for my side dish that each burger comes with.

To be honest, the burger was intimidating. It was the largest burger I have ever seen, it was a tower. My warning: there is no chance to get a clean bite on the burger, no matter how big your mouth is.

As big as the burger was, the taste was overwhelming, burger nirvana was instant. Let me just say that the patty melted in my mouth, if that makes any sense. It was soft and flavorful, this was indeed the best burger patty I have tasted thus far. I am not really an onion ring in my burger guy, but boy, the crispiness of the ring was light, not very crunchy (which is good for me). The Monterey Jack cheese, along with the Chipotle ranch sauce, gave it a nice small kick after swallowing. So many flavors, nothing was bland, not even the fresh tomato and lettuce. The flour of the bun has no flavor, but the bun was sweet and the crust was buttered nicely.

I didn't bother eating a lot of fries because the burger had me full. As much as I tried to focus on the individual ingredients, the flavor the angus patty prevented me a little to explain a lot more. It was too good, I really can't say enough about it.

Please come here. I have to give it a perfect score.

The Golden State

Where: 462 N. Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA
Price: $10

I first about the Golden State after a friend from a baseball blog said they served great burgers, so naturally I wanted to try it. I guess it was a bad idea to go on a Friday afternoon because the traffic back home from West L.A. to Whittier was just about maddening.

I admired the location of the restaurant. It lied smacked in the middle of Fairfax Avenue where there is just about every cool thing there like vintage stores, classy restaurants, art galleries, and an urban-hip hop barber shop where I would love to get my hair cut.

The place was neat. As you walk inside you'll notice the the clean white wall on your left and a brick wall to your right. The setting looked as if you lived in a loft, which is cool. There were about five people working the kitchen and register, not a big place.

I ordered "The Burger" which ingredients include: Cheddar cheese from Fiscalini Farms, apple wood smoked bacon, hamburger patty from Haris Ranch, Arugula, and homemade aioli and ketchup.

Taste
This burger is probably the best looking burger from the restaurants I tried so far. Because of that, I hoped that it would taste as good as it looks, but I came away somewhat disappointed. For one thing, the bun was hard. I like my hamburger buns to be soft, but the buns were hard yet sweet. I wasn't a fan of the arugula and prefered lettuce a lot more, but I guess the restaurant wanted something more unique.

The meat was juicy, but the taste was "meh". The bacon was pretty good as it was cooked for a crispy texture. I have to say that the best part of the burger was the cheese and ketchup... And the sweet potato fries that complimented the burger (Those were awesome).

All in all, I don't think I would come back to this place unless I was strolling around Fairfax Avenue. Melrose Avenue is just a block away and I know better places to eat there than The Golden State.

Rating

Dave's Burgers

Where: 3396 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CA
Price: $4

Living in Whittier and going to school in Long Beach, I don't normally eat around the places around Long Beach City as I hope for. The only places around Long Beach I do eat at are normally besides Long Beach State University. On Friday, I decided to try Dave's burgers, which is a local favorite and serve a great burger from what I hear.

Small Place, Huge Burger
The location of the restaurant surprised me as it was placed right next to Chevron in the same vicinity. If you look in the picture, I'm the guy in the middle wearing the white shirt and the car you see in the picture is my car, it's parked right at a gas pump. The staff consisted of two women, and that's it. After you place your order, you have to pay after they make your order. Why do they do that? I don't know.

I ordered the "Jumbo Burger" which is third-pound burger and many other ingredients to make up the burger, thus the term "jumbo" becomes appropriate. Other ingredients include grilled onions, lettuce, pickles, and American cheese.

Taste
At first glance, my expectations were low because I thought it was going to taste like a burger that I could find at any other low-profile burger stop. Alas, I was wrong. The burger was exceeded those expectations by a mile. The patty was cooked right, but was seasoned more than what I would like. The dressing was up to par and the grilled onions were sweet. One of my favorite parts of a burger is the lettuce, in my view, the lettuce should absolutely ALWAYS be crisp, this burger delivered.

It isn't a gourmet burger like "Juicy Burger", but it was a good "basic" burger.


Rating

Burger Stop #1: Juicy Burger

Where:6340 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Price: $11

So I begin my adventure in Hollywood.

After doing some research on Citysearch.com, people voted the restaurant "Juicy Burger" to have the best burger in L.A. So, instead of reviewing the best for last, I decided to do try the best first.

The restaurant is located on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif. so it shouldn't be a long drive if you live in the county.

Walking in
Walking in the restaurant is a humbling restaurant as you get "hellos" from the cooks and employees that work there. The restaurant is an odd shape. After the entrance, you will find yourself at the ordering counter where a large menu will be presented to you, but the dining area is weird because it's a narrow hall that stretches about 50 feet.

The walls were a painted by a bright orange that is complimented by a dark brown wooden floor. A huge couch lined up the right side of the wall where people could sit to dine, on the left side of the table are chairs.

Ordering
Ordering was a fun exercise. I began by filling out a form that has many ingredients to make your burger starting with the most important, the burger patty. You can select to have a half-pound burger or a third-pound burger, as well as ordering grilled chicken, turkey, and a veggie burger. I went all out and marked the half-pound.

What I liked most about ordering were the special ingredients you put in your burger that you rarely see in other restaurants such as curry mixed with ketchup. I didn't mark that and I mostly stayed away from the special ingredients... Except for the caramelized onions.

Presentation
The cashier told me I had to wait 10-15 minutes for my burger, but was surprised to get it in seven. Before tasting my burger, I ate a couple fries, which were delicious. The best comparison I could come up with are In-N-Out fries becoming a super hero, they're that good.

To the burger. The bun was clean with out sesame seeds and a lot larger than the normal hamburger buns you see. The top bun was shaped as a dome and had a tough shell, but soft, if that makes sense. The cheddar cheese was melting by the time I got it and was completely melted after I took my first bite (more on that later). The lettuce was nothing special. I'm not a fan of chopped lettuce; I prefer fine, crispy, sheet lettuce on my burger. The thousand island dressing dressed the bottom of the bun, just where I like my condiments (I don't like them on the top bun).

Taste
I grabbed the burger with my whole two hands as the burger is huge. My first bite of the burger was grand. The patty lived up to it's restaurant's name, it truly was a juicy burger. The buns were toasted perfectly and I swore I tasted some of the butter on the crust. The cheese wasn't too sharp, I thought that's what I was going to taste coming off a cheddar cheese, but alas, it was good. My favorite part, though, was the dressing and the patty eaten together, so much flavor, it was great.

The lettuce was unimpressive, like I thought. As juicy as the burger was, the patty soaked the bottom bun more than I expected. Eating the burger more and more resulted a messy plate. I'd probably award this burger the messiest of all the burgers I had. Messy is good, but you don't want a disaster after four bites.

Juicy Burger was a wonderful experience and I would love to go back when I'm in the area again. The opening hours are extremely flexible as they open from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thanks for the burger, Juicy Burger!