[Photographs: Damon Gambuto]

Lo and behold, another premium burger outlet has opened its doors in the City of Angels. I know you are as shocked as I am. This new spot, Rounds Premium Burgers, shares components found at many other burger outlets—burger ordering sheets like The Counter, bulbous brioche buns like 25 Degrees—but it is probably easiest to explain Rounds Premium Burgers by referring you to my review of Juicy Burger.

The man behind this new West Hollywood spot is also responsible for Juicy Burger. George Ghaby seems undeterred by the rapidly saturating (or already saturated) Los Angeles premium burger landscape as he decided to create a spin-off of Juicy Burger; this time partnering with his brother Charbel.

They've take the same basic formula of Juicy Burger and re-branded it as Rounds. This location is on Santa Monica Boulevard on the Western edge of what we affectionately call "Boystown" and is the same kind of simple, straightforward, order-at-the-counter affair as its progenitor. In fact, it's so similar to Juicy that when I was re-reading my review of Juicy I found myself tempted to cut and paste my thoughts; but new burgers demand new reviews so away we go.

I ordered a couple of burgers at Rounds starting with The Classic. The patty is about a third-pound of fresh-ground chuck that comes in a predictable (and pleasurable) 80/20 meat-to-fat ratio. It's given a medium to coarse grind and kept at a pleasing thickness, but better than that, it's heavily seasoned (lots of salt makes me happy). The griddled patty is topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and a healthy slap of Thousand Island dressing. I added a slice of American to mine.

My patty was nicely cooked to my preferred medium rare and had a solid, if not intense, crust. The chuck's flavor—that clean, beefy profile that sings "burger"—was spot on. The toppings too played a pleasing supporting role as they all came in fresh and crispy. The American got a proper melting and added that processed tang I can't seem to resist. But the buns at Rounds, like Juicy before it, are where I call the Ghaby brothers' tastes into question.

This bulbous mass is sourced from the Ca'Do'Oro Bakery in Santa Monica and (pardon the pun) is one that's made the rounds here in the L.A. burger scene. It's a beautiful looking piece of bread, but it's the genuine article when it comes to the brioche moniker. It was sweet and flaky and, although soft from being fresh that day, lacked the sponginess I want from a great bun. On top of that, it's too much bun by half: The bun-to-burger ratio is thrown into all sorts of imbalance when this behemoth shows up.

I also tried Rounds' Commando burger, which I am going on record as saying owes its name to a Mr. Nick Solares and his coining of the term to describe his preference for just meat and bun.

The patty was well seasoned and, again, nicely griddled, but the bun robs the pleasure that it would normally afford. The ratio is so tilted in favor of a flaky bun that I couldn't enjoy this version nearly as much as I'd hoped.

The fries are handled nicely with a fresh-cutting and double frying (again, like they are at Juicy Burger), but this time I wasn't rewarded with a sufficiently crispy batch. I was disappointed because they'd been a success at Juicy. I can only hope this was a one time mistake.

The reason I'd hope for this is because Rounds gets a lot of things right. Most importantly the patty is a solid foundation that is waiting for a proper bun to come make this place a real winner. The prices are surprisingly low (burger, fries, and a drink can run you just $8.50) and considering the quality that feels like a bit of steal. If Rounds would do a little more investigation into bun alternatives it would make for an unassailable premium burger deal in a city with fewer of those than you'd imagine.

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