A Hamburger Today
A Half-Great Burger at Traxx in Los Angeles
[Photographs: Damon Gambuto]
Traxx
800 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (map); 213-625-1999; traxxrestaurant.com
Cooking Method: Grilled
Short Order: The restaurant inside LA's historic Union Station makes a great patty, but undermines its burger with a substandard bun
Want Fries with That? Sure—frozen, skinny cuts are professionally prepared
Prices: Traxx Burger w/fries, $13
Notes: It's hard to argue with sitting inside "the Last of the Great Railway Stations," but if it's a sunny day sit outside in the courtyard
There are few buildings in Los Angeles more worthy of going out of your way to see than our Union Station. When it was built in 1939 it was touted as being the "Last of the Great Railway Stations," it's not the biggest of America's train stations, but it is, in my view, one of the most attractive. You've probably seen its ornate interior before, but its just as probable that you didn't realize it. The waiting room has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows through the years (the best version coming in the form of a police station in Blade Runner).
I don't often take a train, but I often poke my head in to take a gander at the grand entrance, like I happened to do the other day. That's when it hit me. Traxx is the now aging restaurant inside the station that first arrived in Los Angeles around the same time I did (a short dozen-ish years ago). It got a lot of attention back then for bringing a little high-end cuisine to the station. I made a bet with myself that the current menu would have a burger ready for my attention. A closer look revealed that I was half right.
Traxx's chef/owner Tara Thomas had a successful career going prior to her train station experiment. It wasn't a surprise when she opened Traxx that she'd get a good bit of attention. But 13 years down the rails serving food at Union Station has left her menu a bit stuck in a rut. I tried a couple of things that had potential, but didn't rise past "good." Unfortunately, the burger was one of them.
The Traxx Burger is offered up as customizable sandwich. I had a feeling that adding the cheddar cheese option might overshadow some high quality meat. On that count I was just right. It was a substandard bun where things went off the rails.
The patty is a hearty, eight ounces of straight 80/20 chuck from Premier Meats. It's a fantastic and simple round of American beef that's an argument for leaving the blends in the basket. The clean, rich taste of chuck was (thanks to the deft hand of line cook Kelly) perfectly seasoned and cooked. The salt and peppering was plentiful and the crust filled with carbon from the grilling. I was overwhelmed by just how good the patty was.
That's why the inferior bun that they source from the Melrose Bakery was an even greater disappointment than a bad bun would normally be. I suspect Traxx uses the brioche with sesame bun and it's just a huge miss. It's bready and mealy—it defies the fat and freshness of the patty. Along with some shredded iceberg (another misstep), ordinary tomato, and red onion, the bun and its cohorts undermine a beautiful patty.
Don't get me wrong—this burger is totally edible, even good, but that's due almost entirely to the fantastic patty. I hungrily ate the whole thing, but kept shaking my head in disappointment that this was such a mismatched affair. Mercifully, the french fries didn't ignite the same frustration. The skinny-cut standards were very nicely rendered.
In the end, I can't recommend the Traxx burger the way I'd like to. Yes, the patty is excellent and at $13 it's the easy and affordable option on the menu. But if you're like me, the disappointment about what could have been will stay with you long after you've left the station.