Robb Walsh of the Houston Press slams burger chain Fatburger, describing their King Burger as "one of the worst 'gourmet burgers' I have ever sampled." Failure came in the form of lean, flavorless meat and a cottony bun.
Posted by Nick Solares, September 9, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Although I live in New York City I spend quite a bit of time in Los Angeles, which gives me the chance to explore all that the City of Angels has to offer in the way of hamburgers. And that is an awful lot. As a friend who lives in L.A. stated, "NYC has pizza; we have burgers." Indeed, the proliferation of burger spots across the L.A. landscape is heartening for any lover of America's favorite sandwich. I have recently reported on the Apple Pan, Pie N Burger and Fred 62, so here is a quick roundup of some other burgers that I have tried in L.A.
In-N-Out Burger
There is surely no burger more synonymous with the Southern California style than the venerable and ubiquitous In-N-Out Burger chain. If I fly into Burbank, the Sunset Boulevard location is usually my first stop from the airport. While most people go for doubles, I prefer the simplicity of the single. I have also recently discovered Animal Style fries (topped with cheese, spread, and grilled onions), which make for an interesting diversion from the standard. If you have never eaten at In-N-Out, it should be your first stop in L.A.; if you have been there, it probably already is. 7009 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood CA 90028 (map; numerous other locations); 800-786-1000; in-n-out.com
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Posted by Adam Kuban, August 15, 2008 at 5:20 PM
According to Advertising Age magazine, the rapper and entrepreneur has the rights to bring ten locations to the Chicago metro area. The first will open next month.
The rapper, producer and sometimes political activist isn't the first celebrity franchisee to stake new territory for the 56-year-old chain. Fatburger has focused on African-American tastemakers to aid its expansion. Last year, talk-show host Montel Williams opened stores in Colorado and rapper Pharrell Williams opened the first locations in New York. Former Baltimore Raven Orlando Brown also bought rights to open Fatburgers last year in Washington.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 29, 2007 at 8:45 AM
It's only mentioned in passing, but this Q&A on real estate trade website Globe St. mentions that the California-based Fatburger is coming to Manhattan's Greenwich Village:
What we’re looking for mostly is a high-traffic environment where we can have good exposure and work with a relatively small footprint. Big-box centers with outparcels where we can get good exposures and get an endcap seem to be the dominant type of location that we’re looking at currently. That gets the traffic and gives us the visibility. Quite often those centers are built side by side with lifestyle centers. If we had to choose we would go with the way I just described. That’s not to say we can’t be successful in other venues. The other location that we think works well in urban settings is storefront retail where there is sufficient traffic driven by adjacent retail and nearby parking, or alternatively very high density, as would be the case in the Village.
Of course, if you can't wait for that location, there's always the Jersey City one, at 286 Washington Street.
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 28, 2007 at 10:51 AM
A burger from the Five Guys in Philadelphia. Photograph from "Hamburger" Matty's Flickr photostream
From the New York Post today:
[Five Guys] N.Y.C. prognosis: High-five! The first city location will open in College Point, Queens, next month, with stores to follow in Manhattan within two years.
[Fatburger] N.Y.C. prognosis: Fatties rejoice! The chain plans to open three stores in Manhattan in the next 12 months. One in Greenwich Village, one in Harlem and one in Midtown. Rapper Pharrell Williams (inset) is a partner in the venture.
The big question is whether these companies, as good as they are elsewhere, can maintain their high quality in New York City. With a few exceptions, fast food chains in the Big Apple tend to devolve to dirtiness and surliness pretty quickly.
Chain Reaction [New York Post; via AHT reader Fred S.]
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 26, 2007 at 4:43 PM
Photo essay from Neon Epiphany.
In a stunning turn of events that may shake the very foundations of burgerological anthropology, A Hamburger Today has been presented with credible new evidence that the first burger to use a Krispy Kreme doughnut as a bun may have evolved almost two years earlier than previously thought.
AHT reader Timm just piped in in the Comments on our post about the Gateway Grizzlie Burger, the Krispy Kreme–bunned bacon cheeseburger served at the stadium of independent league baseball team the Gateway Grizzlies: "Just thought I'd throw out there that it seems the original idea for the Krispy Kreme burger can be found here and is referred to as the Fat Kreme back in 2003. Either way, that's a heart attack on a bun/doughnut!"
The Grizzlie Burger, which appeared in spring 2006, was itself a take-off of the Luther Burger, an invention of Decatur, Georgia, pub Mulligan's that dates to early 2005.
Dubbed the Fat Kreme, this early version of fusion-burger excess places the contents of a Fatburger burger onto the aforementioned sugar-glazed treat on April 6, 2003. What's more, this new evidence moves the locus of the mashup from the South to Seattle, a geographic region known more for its advances in coffee culture than for its contributions to calorie-rich deep-fried dining.
Unconfirmed reports within the blog post in question hint at an even earlier version of the KK-burger mashup, but using In-N-Out burgers instead.
Burger anthropologists in AHT's research department were puzzled as to why, like the Neanderthals, the Fat Kreme was suddenly eclipsed by a similar species. But at least one leading researcher who requested anonymity said he believed it had to do with the fact that Yukino, the blogger who invented the Fat Kreme, placed the doughnut bun facing glazed side out. The more advanced Grizzlie Burger, in contrast, has an evolutionary advantage in the fact that its toasted-doughnut bun faces glazed side inward, giving its eater a nonsticky fingerhold.
