Burgers

The Counter Opens Third OC Restaurant

I still miss Fatburger, which used to hold court here at Park Place in Irvine. It's not that the plaza was exactly burgerless (you could technically get a burger at Ruth Chris, Houston's, or even the employee cafeteria in one of the buildings if you can find it), but open finally this past week ... More >>

Smashburger Opens Its First Two OC Restaurants

Five Guys, In-N-Out, meet Smashburger. I believe you already know The Habit. Smashburger has opened its second planned restaurant last week in Aliso Viejo after debuting one in Mission Viejo weeks before, on November 20th. The latter was the first outlet in Orange County for the Denver-based ... More >>

[UPDATED, W/IN-N-OUT STATEMENT--WON'T STAND FOR COW HATERS] Claim: In-N-Out Buys Its Cheese From Cow Abusers

Updated, with new information at the bottom...ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 10, 11 A.M. If there is one fast-food company that gets universally positive coverage, it's In-N-Out--hell, even anti-fast-food crusader Eric Schlosser praised their practices at the end of his epic Fast Food Nation (and how cool that ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Fast Food Fiefdom, Final Round: TK Burger Versus In-n-Out!

Well...hello again! Last time we did this tournament, Dave had a showdown between G Burger and Umami Burger in the Burger Baron category, with the La Habra upstart beating the Los Angeles chain in a controversial upset.That was on August 9. I was supposed to follow by matching up TK Burger versus In ... More >>

Vegetarians Petition For In-N-Out To Make A Veggie Burger

One of the travails of becoming a vegan, as Ari Solomon has found, is that your choices are pretty limited at In-N-Out. The LA-based activist once enjoyed the chain's burgers but can no longer eat them. So in an attempt to make In-N-Out more vegetarian-friendly, he started a petition that calls for ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Dominion of Diners, Third Round

In this third round in the Dominion of Diners, we are left with two very good competitors. Taylor called it exactly like I would have if I had judged round two. Whomever should ascend to the next round will fight on to what I assume will be the most difficult-to-judge and hard-won battles yet.

Game of Burgers: Burger Barons, Second Round

Ah, the Burger Barons--those places selling mostly burgers in higher-end joints at higher-end prices. With that price comes better quality ingredients, only, unlike the entrants in our Gastropub Gentry, many of these burgers are customizable with an array of toppings, rather than customized for you ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Fast Food Fiefdom, Second Round!

This bracket ain't fancy-schmancy, but it's got some great burgers worthy of your stomach space. (And some not-so-great ones.) Read on!   

Game of Burgers: Dominion of Diners, Round Two

I have more experience with HBO's Game of Thrones than I do with these four burgers. Which I suppose is a good thing for I had no biases. I may be a Wildling when it comes to the burgers I've been called to judge, but my judgements were as fair as and balanced Tyrion Lannister (though perhaps a bit ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Burger Barons, Round One

We've got no shortage of places in Orange County that specialize in burgers and only burgers. They're not diners (not enough blue hair and orthopedic shoes on the waitstaff), they're not fast food (not at these prices), and they're not gastropubs (which have non-burger foods). The question is, are t ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Gastropub Gentry, First Round

This gastropub round fancies up the Weekly's Game of Burgers. At a gastropub, the stakes are raised from the fare you gladly accept and adore from a fast food restaurant. A frozen beef puck ain't gonna cut it. A gastropub burger calls for freshly-ground beef from the subprimal cuts of steer that de ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Dominion of Diners, First Round!

Let's get down to it shall we? My first round has four battles between eight contenders in the division we're calling the Dominion of Diners. We have Pee Wee's versus Red Robin; Memphis versus The Catch; Mick's Karma Bar versus The Rider's Club; Yellow Basket versus A's Burgers.So without further ad ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Fast Food Fiefdom, First Round!

Sorry, ladies and germ: I really wanted to do as thorough a Game of Burgers first-round review as possible, but the news side of my life has occupied the past couple of days. Instead of being completely thoughtful, I'll try to be succinct, and offer my thoughts.One thing I do want to explain: the ov ... More >>

Savori Is the Next Burger Generation

[Hole In the Wall] This Fountain Valley restaurant shows what happens when Vietnamese kids get into the burger business

Announcing OC Weekly's "Game of Burgers," Our 32-Burger Tournament Extravaganza!!!

After we finished our Final Pho tournament last year in which Edwin, Dave, Shuji, and I subjected ourselves to weeks of pho to determine which was the best in Orange County (Pho Thanh Lich, come on down!), I figured we should do tournos for all the beloved entrees of Orange County. And I figured we ... More >>

Why McDonald's Won't Serve Breakfast After Breakfast Hours And Other Secrets of The Fast-Food Chain

See also:*McDonald's Shamrock Shakes To Come Back...Everywhere*McDonald's To Stop Using "Pink Slime" in Beef*McDonald's New Uniforms Inspired from Mad MenIt remains one of the greatest first world problems. All you want is to start your day with Sausage McMuffin and hash browns, but as usual, you ro ... More >>

Umami Burger Anaheim To Open July 1

For months, I have wanted a hamburger to go with my cold glass of 1888 steam beer California common beer (screw you and the trademark you rode in on, Anchor Brewing!) from Anaheim Brewery. For months, I have been teased--nay, taunted--by the sign promising Umami Burger immediately adjacent to the br ... More >>

The Hoff Hassel-Hearts Surf City Beaches

Beach season unofficially begins Memorial Day weekend, and when it comes to the best beach on this blue planet, Huntington Beach has been Hasselhoffed.See what former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff has to say about Surf City after the jump . . .

Umami Burger Brings Something Savory This Way

Adam Fleischman's phenomenon finally opens in OC

Mick's Karma Bar Is Burger Heaven In Hell

[Hole In the Wall] This Irvine gem makes amazing hamburgers from a corporate Irvine office tower

Battle of the Bristol Street Burgers: Umami Burger vs. TK Burger

South on Bristol, in the middle of Orange County's Hipster Triangle, is a burger place everyone should try. The meat is fresh, the bread is baked specifically for the burger and everything is made to order. It's even in walking distance of the Camp and the LAB, just to give diners a little something ... More >>

Second Anepalco's Opens Today; Already Awesome, and Features the Best New Burger in Orange County

​I eat at Anepalco's Cafe in Orange enough enough so that I've gotten to know chef-owner Danny Godinez pretty well, the kind of relationship where he tells me things months in advance, then swears me to secrecy because he knows I won't blabber about it to everyone until he says it's nice and ready ... More >>

Presenting This Year's Crop of New Burger Joints: More Umami, Another The Counter, And BurgerFi

​We're still living in a burger Renaissance folks. As you may recall, the past few years saw a surge of new burger joints, some came from highfalutin gourmets chefs (think Joseph Mahon's Burger Parlor, Charlie Palmer's DG Burger, and Marcus Samuellson's MarcBurger), some came from the In-N-Out-lev ... More >>

Another Fatburger Closes

Edwin Goei​There used to be two Fatburgers in Irvine. Now, there are none. The Fatburger at Park Place, on Michelson and Jamboree, is finally closed following other Fatburgers in the area to oblivion. The company had long ago already filed for bankruptcy.

South County's Foodie Emergence, Steamed Hams and More!

What the Stick a Fork In It bloggers learned about food in Orange County in 2011

Eat Here, Not There: Burger Combo

​For this installment of Eat Here, Not There, I revisit Mick's Karma Bar in Irvine, which is owned by Michael and Megan Schepers, who also own Kitima Thai next door. I came back for the burger combo that so impressed me back in March, and found that it is as good a deal now as it was back then. Bu ... More >>

The Higher Standard of Review for Expensive Burgers

Dave Lieberman​Two weeks or so ago, Jeff Overley at the Orange County Register wrote a poll for their Food Frenzy blog about whether gourmet burger joints are a rip-off. Overley knows his stuff, and he's got his feet on the ground when it comes to value received for money paid. When something is e ... More >>

Belly Up to Slater's 50/50

There's nothing halfway about the Huntington Beach eatery's embrace of America's bacon crush

A & J Drive-In, Burger Spot on the Blacktop, Continues to Deliver in Fullerton

​If I'm ever pulling into a lonely asphalt lot greased with diesel, oil and debris, it's probably for one of the best burgers in Fuller-town. On a breezy summer afternoon, A & J's Burger Drive-In is a hive of lunchtime activity, and I've been buying their cheaply priced and consistently tasty ... More >>

How Disgusting is McDonald's Jalapeño Cheddar McChicken Sandwich?

​Before you dismiss me as a corporate-hating elitist...well, maybe I'm the former, for sure. But I do not reflexively hate McDonald's. I still maintain their ham Egg McMuffin is one of the great fast-food creations, one that spurs me to eat four in a sitting, while their small apple pies, gooey an ... More >>

Houston, We Have The Flaming Hot Cheeto Hollandaise Burger

Houston Press Jaws dropped, eyes bulged, clouds parted and fingers typed "Houston airfare" when we came across this post from our sister paper, Houston Press. The Flaming Hot Cheeto Hollandaise Burger, oozing with hot cheddar cheese and topped with an egg and spicy Cheetos, is served at on ... More >>

G Burger Hits the G Spot

George Makri's La Habra burger stand straddles the comfortable center between dives and boutiques

CBS LA and Food & Wine Put Out Best Burgers List

Edwin Goei​For some reason both CBS Los Angeles and Food & Wine Magazine published a list of their favorite burgers around the same day this week. The former focused on LA burgers; the latter cast its net nationally. Why burgers and why now? The answer is hits. Putting out such a list, of ... More >>

A Fast Food Rereview: Fatburger

Edwin Goei​I know not why the Fatburger franchise is in trouble or what set of wrong-headed decisions or circumstances led them to file for bankruptcy protection a few years ago. In this writer's humble opinion, Fatburger is still one of the best fast-food burger joints we have. Now that the fe ... More >>

Top Five Cheeseburgers Under $5--and Our Top Five Cheeseburgers Over $5

Chasen Marshall/OC WeeklyIn-N-Out: A god among burgers, but OC's best?Let's get this out of the way quick: I'm no food critic. ​I'm just another blue-blooded American who loves him some bloody beef and flavorful cheese on a big, toasted bun. If there can be a beer and a ball game (anything but bas ... More >>

Carl's Jr. Gets Voted as the Best Burger Around...in Singapore?!

How many burgers can beat this? Let us count the ways...​Singapore is one of the world's great food centers. CNN is one of the world's great news organizations. Together, they have come to a bizarre conclusion: Carl's Jr.'s Portobello mushroom burger is the best on the island.

Charlie Palmer on His New DG Burger, the Genius of Guests, and His Favorite OC Restaurants!

Palmer: A class act all the way...​Everyone else today will spill worth-it praise on Charlie Palmer's new burger joint, DG Burger, rave about the burger, wax purple over the fries, breathlessly report on the hundreds-deep line that snaked around his South Coast Plaza eatery to take him up on a fre ... More >>

Tustin Brewing's Onion Rings: Even Better On A Burger

Dave Lieberman​You know, for all that I love the ethnic and the weird, from Chinese chitlins to pit-roasted goat cheeks, I am an American man. Sometimes, all that will do is a burger, a beer and football (real American football, not that prissy figure skating on grass the rest of the world calls f ... More >>

Double Up at Apollo Burgers

[Hole in the Wall] Another local answer to Five Guys

Forget Five Guys Burgers: Why Can't We Get a Blake's Lotaburger?

In retrospect, I should've taken a better picture...​Finally got around to trying the much-hyped Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and the verdict is...eh. Not meh: they make a good burger, better than the chains for the most part, but not as good as In-N-Out by any sense of the imagination. And defini ... More >>

Dueling Dishes: Five Guys vs. In-N-Out

Edwin Goei In-N-Out​This week in Dueling Dishes: Washington D.C.-based Five Guys Burgers and Fries versus the home team, In-N-Out. A Five Guys opened in Orange last week, the first of many more planned for OC. If you've read about Five Guys anywhere, you won't go a few sentences without so ... More >>

Five Guys Orange to Open Monday, August 2

Dave Lieberman​Orange County, your long, Cajun fries-free nightmare is almost over.

Work For Five Guys Burgers and Fries!

Flickr user Big C Harvey​Back in December we reported that the famed East Coast burger chain Five Guys is coming to Orange County perhaps around April 1. Okay, so that didn't end up happening after all, but with this new Craigslist ad searching for North Orange County managers promising a 30 store ... More >>

Gyro Kabob Is No Ordinary Beach Shack

[Hole In the Wall] Sunset Beach eatery serves up refreshing Greek treats

Maragritaville Party

The Gaslamp

TK Burgers Refuses to Conform to the Numbing Sameness of a Fast-Food Chain

[This Hole-In-the-Wall-Life] A Zen Burrito at Fuji's Famous Burgers

This week in north North County

Meat Knowlwood!

In this carnivores paradise, the veggie burger is best

The Wronged Cobb

Its a great saladwhen its made right