Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Had it tonight and it was superb. Skip the cheese when ordering this one, this meat stands on its own. Fries were a bit undercooked, oil not hot enough, but the fried scallions were great.

Hell YEA I would send it back - I ASKED FOR RAW!

Just perfect---the meat to bun ratio is ideal to the last bite. I had the Manly Burger, and the porkbelly was a perfect addition. The ketchup was heavy on the anise, but the burger didn't need it. This is my favorite burger next to the one at Olives in Las Vegas at the Bellagio and the one at the Left Bank at the On The Ave hotel in NYC's Upper West Side. Umami is my new "go to" burger in LA.

It looks quite juicy in the picture, despite the fact that it's 87/13.

I think I'd probably like some cheese on it, though.

@frank; cows' hooves aren't meant to be on concrete; they're meant for softer ground. Add in the fact that most modern mass-production beef cattle have been bred to put on as much weight as possible as quickly as possible and I'm sure you can imagine their discomfort on a feeding lot. A sad fact is that both mass-production cows and chickens will break their legs under their own weight if not slaughtered.

One reason we find grass-fed beef to taste oddly is that we weren't raised on it, as our grandparents were. It's better for the animal and better for the beef. It's like fine wine, or vintage champagne; it takes time to appreciate, but it's worth it in the end.

I second Adam's comment - that's about as "not too finely ground" as it can be without it being the original slab of meat.

When did they add the option of a beef burger? They were lamb burgers only for the longest time.

Wow, those guys are d-bags. But at least one part of that sweet club seems accurate, they do seem like bottoms.

While I agree that medium rare is the only way to order a burger, let's remember that taste, by definition, is subjective.

these guys don't know anything about hamburgers. their inattention to everything is a disgrace to the very hamburgers that they're eating. and the cows. any idiot with a publicist can get featured on the today show. but these seven fools have struck the hamburger chord that lies near to my heart. so check out my hamburger blog at

http://insurgencyhamburgercooperative.blogspot.com/

long live the hamburger.

What bugs me here is that there are all types of burgers lumped into one list. Personally I like to break them up into fast food, pub/restaurant, and specialty. I love shake shack but I wouldn't put it into the same list as Royale (my #1 pup/restaurant burger). It's just such a different experience (Shake Shack is my #1 fast food burger, white castle #2). The rule is simple, if you can't order it medium rare, it's fast food. And on the same note, if it's got ingredients that are atypical to a burger like guac, peanut butter or redwine sauce, it's gotta go on a different list too. (Piano's Red Wine burger #1 on my specialty burger list)
And as far as judging burgers with bacon and cheese, as long as these guys are always getting it exactly how they'd like it, then why not. I personally would never order a plain burger and judge like that because i need the cheese. In the same way, I'd never be able to judge a burger covered in ketchup because I don't like ketchup on my burger. So as long as you order it just the way you like it, the same way every time, then I'd consider it valid judging.

Dude, WTF, Guttergourmet! I just got carpal tunnel in my scroll-wheel finger looking at that page. Thanks a lot, man.

I went last week, and whiule I was a skeptic beforehand, I'm now a believer. I think this is on the very short list for best burger in L.A (with the Kobe at Lucky Devil's being my other current favorite).

A couple of gripes:
1) As at Lucky Devil's (and Father's Office), the "pre-packaged" burgers get in the way. I frankly didn't want either the "Umami" burger OR the "SoCal" burger - but instead just a burger, medium rare, with cheese so as to be able to judge the burger on the taste of the base components, and not accessories. I felt compelled to order the SoCal burger, but next time I will request the butter lettuce, sauce, etc. to be left off. I don;t think they brought much to the table.

2) The fries, the fries, the fries. Maxcriden, your pictures indicate that at least for a little while they ventures away from the ultra-thick fries. I wish they had continued that experiment. I don't 4 or 5 "fries" that taste more like mashed potatoes with a crispy covering. This place really needs some version of traditional fries. Why is it such a problem? Not everything on the menu needs to be groundbreaking.

3) No wine and beer/corkage. I'm sorry, but the 5 dollar corkage needs to go if they're not going to have wine or beer available. If you're bringing a $40 bottle of wine to a steakhouse, which already has its own wine list, $5 corkage would seem like an excellent value, but this is a burger joint, and all I want is a glass or two of beer or wine. If I need to go across the streeet to buy a beer, I shouldn't have to pay an additional $5 to drink it. That's just ridiculous.