LOCATION -Without any signs, Umami Burger can easily be passed by. The door simply displays the restaurant's logo, a top and bottom bun in the shape of lips. Although they have several locations in Los Angeles I decided to hit up the Santa Monica location in Fred Segal at 5th st. and Broadway.
ON THE MENU -
Of course I ordered the Umami Burger, after all they did name is after the place. This 10 dollar burger is well worth the price. The medium cooked patty is about 3 quarters of an inch thick, oozing with juices and bursting with flavor. A crunchy piece of fried cheese and a couple of perfectly cooked shitake mushrooms, caramelized onions and fire roasted tomatoes create a unique combination. The only downfall is, the awesome meat juices soak the pretzel roll (used as a bun) producing a soggy sandwich by the time you get to the end of it. On the other hand if you had any bun leftover you would dip it in those juices anyway. I have had this burger two times now and it is consistent in flavor and presentation.
ON DRAFT -
Nothing Goes better with a burger than a nice cold beer and Umami has a pretty good selection. I opted for the Deadlift IPA on draft, which hit the spot (they also have a few good wines as well).
ON THE SIDE -
For a side I got the cheesy tater tots, which are outstanding. Unlike the messy tots smothered with cheese that might come to mind, these tots are stuffed with cheese on the inside! On a previous occasion I had the tempura onion rings and cannot complain (think onion rings with a lighter delicious batter). Umami makes their own catchup in-house with an extra sweet kick, so it makes the sides even better.
TIP -
Lunch and weekends are a mad house with all of the people eating there and shopping at Fred Segal, so I would suggest hitting it up a little after lunch (around 2pm or so) then more than 1/2 od the restaurant clears up. They also have outside table for those perfect SoCal days.
RATING - 9 out of 10
Check out their website for locations etc.
agreed, it's a solid burger. what'd you think about the homemade ketchup on the burger? My only complaint was the taste of butter seems to be loaded into the burger and sort of overwhelms the natural flavor.
ReplyDeleteI really only used the catchup for the sides since it was already juicy. And as for the butter, I thought it melded the burger together nicely.
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