51522 Mon Sep 16 00:39:02 -0700 2002 8 2 Los Angeles Area 0 261835 Hounds may recall that back in May I asked where to find the best non-beef burger (see attached). I have now eaten at all of the places that hounds recommended, and below I present my results. First, though, a few methodological notes. I ate these burgers over a period of four months and didn't take any notes, so I might get some details of names and ingredients wrong. I ordered each burger without cheese or mayonnaise, which means that the relatively dry burgers probably suffered in comparison. I haven't tried to compare prices; you get different amounts of food and different sorts of side dishes at each place, so price comparisons would not be meaningful. You basically get what you pay for. Though I did eat everywhere, I did not have all of the non-beef burgers that were available at each place. Thus, for example, I did not get all of the veggie burgers that were recommended, such as the one at Mo Bettah Meatty Meat Burgers that I'm told is the ultimo supremo. Finally, because in most cases I had only one example of each burger, my test may suffer from the randomness of particular visits, e.g., busy times versus non-busy times. Okay, here is the ranking of non-beef burgers, roughly from best to worst: Rosemary chicken burger, Mustard Seed Cafe (1948 Hillhurst Ave, 323 660 0670). Clearly the best, it was the only burger that seemed to reflect real thought. It had rosemary, mustard, and grilled onions, and literally alone in the entire group it had an interesting, distinctive, very nice flavor. 26 Special (ask for turkey), 26 Beach Cafe (3100 Washington Blvd, Venice). More of a party gag than a meal, the 26 Special includes two turkey patties that could double as hockey pucks, along with lots of veggies on a big bun, in a pile so humongously high that no human being could possibly eat it. You have to take it apart, discard one of the turkey patties (perhaps scavenging some bread to fashion it into a second burger), and eat the rest. Once you finish reengineering it, however, it's good. It's not like the elements come together in a distinctive taste; rather, what you're getting is the integrity of the separate elements, all of which are fresh and properly prepared. Veggie burger, Huston's (Century City, Pasadena, Santa Monica, etc). This is the best of the veggie burgers that I had. It more or less solves the chronic problem of veggie burgers: structural integrity. Veggie burgers tend to break apart when you bite into them, squirting halves and thirds of the veggie patty out the side of the bun. But the Huston's burger stays relatively intact. It also has much more flavor, much more, than your average veggie burger, a dark spicy flavor that I quite like. Chicken burger, Daily Grill (Brentwood, Pasadena, Burbank, etc). The appeal of this chicken burger is mainly the mechnical experience of eating it. It's big, and it's got a good-sized hunk of meat. Like everything at Daily Grill it's reliably prepared and a little bland, and like 26 Beach Cafe you're getting the freshness of the separate ingredients more than any whole. It comes with apple relish, which is kind of interesting, in case you want a break from ketchup. Double turkey burger, Fatburger (all over). It doesn't look like much, with a relatively small diameter and a couple of somewhat grey-looking turkey patties, but if you put a bunch of ketchup on it it's remarkably satisfying. Turkey burger, Break Shot (11970 Venice Blvd, 310 391 3435). As befits a sports bar, this a real guy burger. It's fairly large around, probably the most two-fisted of all the burgers, and it too is pretty darn satisfying to eat. It has some structural integrity problems, though. Double king turkey burger, Mo Better Meatty Meat Burgers (5855 W Pico Blvd, 323 938 6558). This double turkey burger came totally slathered in mustard, and as far as I can tell it was the mustard that was holding it together. It really was crumbly, and the patties disintegrated back into ground turkey as I tried to eat them. For all that, though, it was reasonably well cooked. Teriyaki chicken burger, Red Robin (6602 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park, 818 883 1060). Red Robin is a corporate place, too alcohol-centered but staffed by friendly high school students. The teriyaki chicken burger is a fairly small burger whose claim to fame is a slab of pineapple. I'm not sure what pineapple has to do with teriyaki, but if you want pineapple on your chicken sandwich then this is the place to go. Planet Burger (veggie), Good Earth (12345 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, 818 506 7400). The Good Earth veggie burger is supposedly made of numerous vegetables and seeds. Why seeds I don't know, given that seeds are one of the more unhealthy things you can eat. But the resulting patty has extreme structural integrity problems, and I spent most of my lunch doing crowd control, trying to pack the various factions of the thing back into the bun. What saved the burger experience, though, surprisingly, was a great huge wad of some kind of reasonably flavorful lettuce that wasn't your normal boring iceberg. Buffalo burger, Astro Burger (7475 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, 323 874 8041). A sign on the counter of this fairly promising retro joint announces that the buffalo burger is a "distinctly different taste" (or words to that effect), so I abandoned my plan to get a veggie burger and decided to try the buffalo burger instead. Once they got done cooking it, however, "taste" wasn't quite the right word for it. The buffalo patty was so thin that it didn't have an inside, just a slab of char and a bunch of shredded lettuce (definitely iceberg). Veggie "chicken" burger, Orean (817 N Lake Ave, Pasadena, 626 794 0861). Orean is a little taste of 1974 right here in 2002, and its "chicken" burger appears to be a deep-fried golden puck of some kind of vegetable matter in a fairly small bun. It was odd, I can say that for it. Turkey burger, The Kettle (1138 Highland Avenue, Manhattan Beach, 310 545 8511). Lots of good intentions from this appealing down-home sort of place near the beach. But the turkey patty had been cooked until it was too dry to eat, like someone forgot it on the grill. Gobbler burger, Natural Cafe (508 State Street, Santa Barbara, 805 962 9494). Bad, dry, tasteless burger brought to you by dumb people ("that's not mayonnaise, it's thousand island dressing!"). Okay, that's it. Do let me know if there are high-quality non-beef burger vendors that I have left out. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/50242#254059 Mon Sep 16 00:39:02 -0700 2002 0 Stan 1 261849 what is a hamburger, chopped ham? no, it's chopped turkey! Mon Sep 16 12:46:39 -0700 2002 261835 0 Est Nyboer 1 261873 Thanks for the report. It doesn't sound like any of the non-beef burgers were worth ordering other than the MSC one. I was curious about the veggie burger at Mo' Better. I have a vegetarian friend who swears that it is the best veggie burger he has ever had. Just wanted to know if you had tried it. Mon Sep 16 18:02:35 -0700 2002 261835 0 Bonzo 1 261875 If you're looking for moist, tasty, and "thoughtful", I'd recommend giving the black bean burger at Highland Grounds a try .... Mon Sep 16 18:25:51 -0700 2002 261835 0 Bradbury 1 261880 At Fatburger, get the turkey burger with a fried egg on top ! Totally compensates for any "dryness issues", IMO. Mon Sep 16 18:54:53 -0700 2002 261835 0 Mike G 1 261884 What a great post! Thank you, Stan. Now I'm eager to go to Mustard Seed. This is why we love Chowhound. Mon Sep 16 19:07:10 -0700 2002 261835 0 Key Lime Guy 1 261973 You must know that you're risking stepping on toes here, from your subject line. First, you must have hit SB on an off day. My learned spouse swears by the Gobbler on State Street, and its nearness to the "real" thing, to the point where I and the Chow-pup used to tease her that they used "them SPECIAL turkeys, the ones that go 'mooo!". Must say that the last time i was there, i was less impressed with it than say, ten years ago. Got to admit the location is just too "groovy", though now that I'm pushing 50, makes me feel like an old coot... And you question Mo Bettah? Both their turkey and vege. are our office favorites. Now, admittedly, they have slow service and NO location (to even use the word "ambiance" in referring to a place called "Mo Bettah" seems just silly), and they're getting pricey but the sheer VOLUME of the King Double is impressive, and it's tasty. Make'em hold the mustard next time. anyone else want to defend here? rfgs Tue Sep 17 18:28:35 -0700 2002 261835 0 Richard Gould-Saltman 2 261993 It's always possible that I hit the Gobbler place and Mo' Bettah on off days. But even if you took the basic ingredients of their burgers and cooked them optimally, you still couldn't get a burger that ranked highly compared to some of the others. If you want a massive turkey burger, for example, the double turkey burgers at Fatburger and 26 Cafe have Mo' Bettah smoked. I can easily imagine someone liking any of the burgers on my list if they hadn't tried the better products available from competitors, but having had all the burgers that I listed, I called 'em as I tasted 'em. Even so, if someone else has different readings, by all means let's hear them! Tue Sep 17 22:48:06 -0700 2002 261973 0 Stan 3 262009 Must admit that I haven't done the scientific blind A-B comparision which the relative proximity of Fatburger and Mo Bettah to my office would permit and indeed almost dictate; may try this shortly (though I've thought Fatburger over-rated since they expanded, though not as over-rated as In-N-Out). Anybody got thoughts on: Mani's, (Fairfax; also Santa Monica?) which now has added a grill menu to their bakery and in addition to turkey, by myrecollection has at least two, and maybe three, different vege-burger varieties? Puran's (La Brea; also B.H. I think)? Topp's in Glendale? (new and supposedly healthy; hey they have turkey DOGS!) rfgs Wed Sep 18 11:41:25 -0700 2002 261993 0 Richard Gould-Saltman