I haven’t been up to Los Angeles in quite sometime and was visiting friends, Aaron and Davey after my Top Chef Tour experience. More on the Top Chef Tour event in another posting. After a successful run to the new CB2 on Sunset, we decided it was time to get some food. It was about 5′oclock so we were hoping it wasn’t going to be crowded and we could get a seat. Recent reviews have been pretty good for this neighborhood burger and beer cafe.

When we got there it was pretty open. There were some folks in the window seats and a very handsome guy seated across from us. You order at the counter and seat yourself. Somehow between the three of us, we all decided to have “The Burger”. I actually opted for the Fish and Chips but they weren’t going to be ready for another 30 minutes or so. I was starving so opted for “The Burger”.

“The Burger” is a meaty portion of Harris Ranch Beef, Fiscalini Farms Cheddar, Glazed Applewood Smoked Bacon, Arugula, Housemade Aioli and Ketchup and cooked to a medium rare. You also get a side with it and decided I didn’t want fries – I knew one of my friends would be getting them, so I could steal a few off their plate! So what do I get? I opted for the Persian Cucumber Salad served with Shahi and a Lemon Vinaigrette. I couldn’t find a definition of “shahi” and not sure that I could identify it in the vinaigrette. So about that lemon vinaigrette, not so lemony. But I enjoyed the salad nonetheless.

My burger and salad arrived at the table served with bun on top with a nice dark golden color. I cut into my burger to find it just a bit rarer than medium-rare, but that wasn’t going to stop me! I luv my burgers rare when I can get it that way. The burger was juicy and had a good taste to it. If anything it was just salt and pepper on the burger itself. The addition of the arugula adds a nice crunch and additional peppery taste to the burger. The bacon was crisp, yet the fat had just a good amount of chew to it that you had to pry your mouth away from the burger itself. It was wonderful. The Persian salad was a nice diversion from the fries. Like I mentioned about it didn’t have a lot of lemon in it. It tasted like something my parents used to make with cucumbers which was a mixture of white vinegar, pinch of salt and sugar and fresh ground pepper. Mix so the sugar and salt dissolve and we would dip cucumber slices into it. Heaven.

My friend Aaron opted for the regular fries, while Davey had the sweet potatoefries. The regular fries had good texture, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. The sweet potato fries however looked a bit oily on the outside. Somehow I forgot to try them. I’m still in luv with the sweet potato fries from that other burger place…The Counter.

All in all it was a great burger cafe. I wasn’t feeling like a beer, but they have a nice, small collection of California beers from Lost Coast Brewing, Green Flash and Craftsmen Brewing to name a couple. They also had a delightful root beer from Reed’s called Virgil’s Root Beer. Just a smidge on the sweet side, but that was just fine by me! The Virgil Root Beer is half of their Root Beer Float which is made with gelato by SCOOPS. Scoops is a recent sensation in LA by Tai Kim. Tai brings interesting flavors to the bowl with names like brown bread or durian-ginger or avocado-apple. He even has a foie gras-pistachio flavor. Can you believe it! I’ll have to sample SCOOPS for another review later this month. Meanwhile you take a “scoop” of the brown bread gelato and the Virgils and you have one of the best floats around. Apparently. I was so full I could only handle a scoop of the gelato. Have you had the Root Beer Float? How was it?

I’d like to come back to The Golden State when I can fill up on Fish and Chips and a pint. I’ll also have to save some room for the Root Beer Float!

In addition to the great beef burgers the also have a Veggie Burger, a Muffuletta, a Chicken Sandwich and something called a BLTA – Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado with a Homemade Aioli. Last but not least, they also have a Tuna Sandwich.

The Golden State
426 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-782-8331