In-n-Out

Fast Food Burger
$3 for the classic Double Double. $6 for the whole combo.

Various locations throughout the West

I went to the one at:
119 S. BRAND BLVD.
GLENDALE, CA 91204

All right, so if you live anywhere in California, you know about Inn n’ Out. We grow up on it, and we swear by it. It is, without a doubt, the West Coast’s claim to fame as far as burgers are concerned. I can’t even remember how many people I know who have visited California only once and still to this day talk to me about how good Inn n’ Out was. And that’s why, as a Californian, I’ve got to review this place. And you Californians out there probably aren’t going to like what I have to say.

First off, I’m not going to deny that this is a solid burger joint. Inn n’ Out restaurants tend to be very clean, with the white, polished, old-school diner feel. The food is, likewise, cooked the all-natural way. You can see how fresh everything is. The fries, for example, are actually made fresh—what a novel concept, right? Inn n’ out actually takes whole potatoes and shreds them right in front of you, then fries them and gives them to you fresh. The veggies are all crisp and fresh, and even the beef tastes like it wasn’t preserved artificially like in other fast food joints. Still, the burger’s just a plain burger. The fact that Inn n’ Out only has one real option for burgers is also a double-edged sword—on the one hand, they’re confident in their guns, but on the other, they can do a lot less with the burger, since they’re just going for a solid, clean burger that everyone’s going to like.

When I went, I ordered the Double Double, as usual. Two meat patties, with two slices of cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato, and thousand island sauce. Like I said, the vegetables are all fresh and taste cold and crisp. The cheese on the burger is also great—two slices melted perfectly so that it’s gooey and oozing all over the burger. The meat also tastes natural, and the sauce goes very well. It actually tastes less fatty/cloying than mayo and is more enjoyable. Still, the burger has a greasy feel to it that I find all too reminiscent of most fast food places. In that sense, it still tastes like a normal fast food burger, and the toppings on it don’t make it anything special to set it apart from other fast food places, in my opinion. To be fair, though, the burger has MASSIVE value—$3 for a Double Double. You’re really not going to find a cheaper burger with that much quality.

As for the fries and the milkshake—what I consider the two other essential components of any good burger meal—they’re also just solid, old-school style good but with no frills and nothing too fantastic. The fries are honestly a bit of a disappointment. Though they are fresh beyond belief, they really just taste like fresh potatoes and salt. Very little is added so that the thin crispness, while okay, is just plain. If you want real fries from a fast food joint, I’d check out Oinkster’s Belgian fries.

The milkshake I can’t complain much about in all honesty. It was milky, rich, and actually tasted like chocolate ice cream. Burger joints always have really good milkshakes, and Inn n’ Out’s would be classed as one of the better ones, with good flavor and creaminess.

Overall, Inn n’ Out is a solid burger joint, just not the Holy Grail of Burgers as so many have hailed it. Not only that, but it’s just about the best value for a true fast food joint you’re going to find—$6 for a double double, fries, and a medium drink. For that fact, and the fact that Inn n’ Out is practically a state landmark, I have no problems recommending it.

Taste: 2.5/5.0
Value: 4.5/5.0. Way cheaper than what you’d pay even at most fast food places.
Verdict, for the burger and for the food in general: 3.0/5.0

Middle Eastern Fast Food (Doner Kebab).
About $10 for a doner kebab and a side.

I went to the location in Eagle Rock:
2506 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90041.

When I was in Germany, I ate a lot of Doner Kebab, a really fatty type of kebab in which the meat is cooked in fat (its own I think) on a skewer. The meat is shaved off the skewer and placed in mounds in bread with a special garlic based sauce and some fresh veggies. So basically it’s a Mediterranean kebab sandwich. I’m not too crazy about Doner Kebab in general, because it tends to be very fatty, greasy, and even sickening at times, but it was all over in Germany, given the large Turkish population. That’s where the owners of Spitz took their cue. After traveling around Germany, they decided to bring the Doner tradition back to America, and  they started one of the only Doner Kebab fast food restaurants in LA.

The restaurant itself is very small, almost cramped, with very little parking. You really come here for the food, not for much else. And I have to say, the food delivers in a lot of regards but ultimately fails at what it’s supposed to be best at, the Doner Kebab. The food itself does have a good Middle Eastern feel to it, with options that include things like feta cheese and hummus. But ultimately, I would recommend Zankou Chicken over this place as a more authentic and a more wholesome style of Middle Eastern food. If you want good food at Spitz, I recommend sticking to the hummus, the sweet potato fries, and especially the gelato, which has, for good reason, been voted Best Gelato in the Universe by the LA Times.

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Chicken Doner—It has the taste of a typical Doner. I got it wrapped in lavash, street cart style, i.e. with some garlic aioli and fried pita strips. Really, the whole sandwich had some pretty good components. The veggies were fresh—you could really taste the crisp lettuce, for example. And the sauce was what it was supposed to be—a bit tart like yogurt, and pretty light and creamy. But the chicken just tasted like an awful gyro. It was spiced well, but felt greasy, to the point of making you feel like your arteries were clogged. It wasn’t atrocious, but it was definitely overhyped, and I would take any shawarma sandwich from Zankou over this one any day. 0.8/5.0
2. Gelato—I had some Café Mocca, Vanilla Bean, and Peanut Butter Cup. Every single flavor tasted just like what it was supposed to, and each had a different level of sweetness and a different texture. The vanilla bean was light, smooth, practically melting in your mouth, with a bit more sweetness. The peanut butter cup had actual, visible swirls of chocolate and peanut butter, and it was gooey, to the point of being difficult to cut through. It had a fabulously thick consistency. The mocca was similar to the chocolate, more on the gooey side, and it tasted like newly roasted coffee beans. All in all, this is real gelato, and one of the best in the city. At times, it seemed like it didn’t have enough sugar, but the focus is on flavor, not sweetness, and each flavor has a fabulous texture and taste. 4.0-4.5/5.0
3. Sweet Potato Fries—I didn’t have these at my most recent visit, but they’re awesome. Savory, good size, and just the right crispiness. It’s a keeper. I can’t remember quite enough to give too many specifics, but they were the best part of my meal last time.
4. Fried pita strips and hummus—Now this is Middle Eastern food. It’s one of the best hummuses I can find in a restaurant, and this is from a fast food place no less. Just an amazing texture, great, strong garbanzo flavor, with just enough spices. Doesn’t get boring at all. Remember too, this recommendation is coming from an Armenian—someone who has grown up with homemade hummus. Again, I didn’t have the hummus on my most recent trip, so I can’t give tons of detail. But I can say, on my Armenian hummus-tasting prowess, this hummus is a must!

Taste: 2.0/5.0
Value: 2.0/5.0. Way overpriced for a fast food joint, especially for the quality. Gets points for the price of the gelato, though.
Overall  Score: 2.0/5.0. Scores high on everything but the headliner, the Doner.

The other night, I was hitting up some bars and clubs on the Sunset strip with my friend Paul. After a couple drinks, though, both of us got the late night mad munchies, and we embarked on a trip to find a late night food stop. We ended up at Pink’s Hot Dogs, quite possibly the most famous hot dog joint in all of Los Angeles, which, incidentally, is open until 3 am on the weekends. I had never had these mythical dogs before, but they are supposedly the best chili dogs in town. It’s so popular, in fact, that when we got there, there was an hour long line curving around the back of the restaurant. That’s right—at 1:00 a.m., there was an HOUR LONG line out the door.

So why would anyone wait that long? That’s exactly the question I was asking myself after finally trying these legendary hot dogs for the first time. When Paul and I finally got to the joint, it didn’t seem like much. It’s really not all that impressive—just a small hot dog stand, more or less, with a large outdoor seating area in the back, but that seating area is more or less a parking lot with plastic tables and chairs. So you’d think the food must really just be THAT good, then, right?

Nope. What I got was not the best hot dog in town, nor the best chili, nor the best flavor combinations. The hot dogs were well-cooked but I wouldn’t say they had anything special to them. As for the toppings, the chili was just a mess, like toxic ooze just clashing with the taste of the dog and settling heavily in the gut. The toppings, too, just seemed tacked on for no reason. Sure, you can put bacon, cheese, mushrooms, and onions together on a hot dog, but why would you, especially when you can’t even fit the hot dog in your mouth? Obviously if you put a bunch of awesome toppings on a hot dog, the hot dog is going to taste okay, but stacking up toppings like that just seems an excuse to cover up the inadequacy of the core product itself.

I know Pink’s has endless throng of followers, many of whom will want to stone me for this review. But I have to go with my gut (pun intended). Pink’s just doesn’t live up to the hype at all. In fact, it’s just plain sloppy.

What I had:

1. Stretch Chili Cheese Dog: This was an utter disappointment. The meat itself was nothing special. It was cooked pretty decently, but there was no special flavor or seasoning, nor was the quality of the meat especially good, so the meat tasted like it was just normal store-bought hot dog meat. The chili, moreover, really didn’t do much and might have even detracted from the taste. It was awfully greasy, without much flavor to it, so that the hot dog was drenched in a tasteless slop that just made it extra heavy and oily.  0.5/5.0
2. Planet Hollywood Dog (Polish Sausage, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, bacon & cheese): This hot dog was a little better than the last, especially since it got rid of the chili and instead focused on superstacking the hot dog with a list of what seem to be great ingredients. And, in all honesty, the ingredients were good. Again, the hot dog meat wasn’t anything of note, just a normal Polish sausage that was nicely cooked. The bacon was crisp and oily, the cheese was gooey, and the onions and mushrooms added some more flavor. But it a mess of a combination, superstacking the dog so highly that I couldn’t fit it in my mouth. Moreover, each topping was extremely oily, and the combination just made the dog excessively greasy and oily. Finally, the flavors, while perhaps good separately, just clashed—the weird spicy taste of nacho cheese with the salty, fatty bacon and  mushrooms? Really? Maybe it was a poor choice of a hot dog on my part, but the toppings just seemed tacked on.  1.5/5.0
3. Chili Cheese Fries: The fries are actually very tasty. They’re very crispy, crunchy, and peppery, and they have a satisfying greasiness to them. Everything else on the chili cheese fries, though, is a trainwreck. The chili really doesn’t add much. Again, it’s really flavorless, with kind of a dull bitter greasiness to it that the fries would do much better without. And way too much is provided, so that it turns the fries into a soggy bowl of chili with potatoes. Moreover, in my batch about 1/2 to 2/3 of the fries didn’t have any cheese on them, so I was stuck just eating chili.   1.5/5.0

Taste: 1.0/5.0
Value: 0.0/5.0 (in consideration of the 1 hour in line you must wait)
Overall Score: 0.5/5.0

As you’ve noticed by now, I’m quite the burger lover. It seems like every other LA restaurant I review is another burger joint, and that’s probably not an exaggeration. Still, this time I finally I’ve found the first truly legendary “burger” in LA—one that combines the classic with the gourmet and gives an endless variety of options to boot.

That burger would be found at The Counter. There are lots of locations throughout California, including in Santa Monica, Marina del Rey, and Pasadena. I chose to go to the Pasadena one.

Upon entering, you’re immediately struck by just how epically classic this place is. It has the classic diner feel to it—nice little bar, the typical white-washed look, very clean-looking, with a good deal of space among tables. The place makes you feel like you’re in a modern version of Johnny Rockets, sans the juke boxes. So this is definitely the type of place where you can go with a friend or a date just to relax.

More importantly, the food itself is excellent. It’s cooked extremely well, with tons of choices, and nothing I had was bad in the least. Not only was everything consistently good, but the food served was, especially for the price, a phenomenal value. If you want a “traditional” burger, i.e. not too messy and perfectly cooked, this is the perfect spot for you, and so far it’s my favorite in LA.

Moreover, you have a create-your-own-burger option, and it’s quite amazing, though I didn’t take advantage of it, since I wanted to try their specialty burger. If you don’t find what you want, though, you can choose your patty size (up to 1 lb.), cheese, toppings, sauce, and even your bun. And these toppings are about as gourmet as it gets. If you want fried egg, they’ve got that. Avocado, guacamole, fried onions, sun-dried tomatoes, greek feta, and bleu cheese are only some of the other options. Really, not only do they have a fantastic menu in its own right, but this customizability makes it ideal for even the pickiest eaters.

For all these reasons, I can’t help but recommend The Counter as both an amazing place in itself and as one of the best places (in fact, my favorite!) to find a gourmet burger and a great milkshake in Los Angeles.

What I tasted (recommendations in bold):

1. The Counter Burger—All-natural ground beef, provolone, lettuce, tomato, fried onion, sautéed mushrooms, sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. The burgers are typically cooked rare with a pink inner center. The patty is near perfect. Juicy, moist, perfectly flavorful, and perfectly cooked. Can’t complain there. As for the combination of flavors, it’s just absolute bliss. The greasiness of the onions, with the freshness of the tomatoes, and the balanced flavor of the mushrooms, all topped with a surprisingly good, kind of tangy, strong-tasting sun-dried tomato vinaigrette (which actually comes served on the side), makes the burger irresistible in every bite. It’s also huge—barely fit into my mouth. And the bread was even good. It had a really nice toasty butteriness to it. It was a bit greasy but just melded fantastically with the meat b/c of that butteriness. In short, the burger’s awesome—no complaints. Perhaps the best “traditional” gourmet burger I’ve had (i.e. a normal style burger with some gourmet toppings). 4.5/5.0
2. Vanilla Shake—This is one awesome vanilla shake, comparable to the Pumpkin shake from 8 oz. burger bar or the vanilla shake from Johnny Rocket’s. This is a fantastic accompaniment to a burger and was perhaps my favorite part of the meal, which is saying a lot since I absolutely loved the burger. The shake is extremely thick, to the point that it’s not served with a straw, just with a spoon. Tons of ice cream goes into this thing, so you’re really going to need the spoon to eat it. It’s rich, creamy, with kind of a malty, satisfying thickness to it. Not too milky—actually tastes like ice cream, and good ice cream at that. On the sweet side, but not too much. Absolutely a pleasure. 4.5/5.0
3. Cheddar fries—The fries were actually pretty good. They are on the thin side, rather crispy too. The cheese is excellent too. Unlike most cheddar fries, the cheese isn’t solely on top. Instead, cheese is melted on the inside too, so it’s very well-distributed on the fries. With some ranch, these fries are great. However, one big flaw is that the fries are just way too salty, to the point of detracting completely from their taste. 2.5/5.0

Ambience (for a diner): 4.0/5.0
Taste: 4.1/5.0. Gains points for nearly infinite variety of choice. Loses points mostly for the fries.
Value: 4.0/5.0.
Overall Score: 4.1/5.0. For a “gourmet” burger joint, this is both on the cheaper side and offers just about anything you could want on a burger. This is gourmet done right, and it offers my favorite burger in LA.

I was out on a Saturday night with a good friend of mine, Jeff, looking for some excitement in Los Angeles. Before hitting up the clubs and bars, though, we really needed to fuel up with a classic LA dish—and what better than a burger? Jeff’s quite the burger freak, so I decided to take advantage of his insatiable love of burgers and drive all the way to Pico Blvd. to try out the Apple Pan, the old-school burger diner of Los Angeles.

If you want to talk classic, Apple Pan would be it. It’s been around for decades, and it still uses the same exact recipes that it used back when it was still young. In fact, it still only has two burger choices, which is quite odd in this land of constant change and variety. The Steakburger is a recipe from 1927, while the Hickoryburger comes from 1945. The pies are even older—the apple pie is even made according to a family recipe from 1881. Now that’s history! If people are still eating it, you know it has to be pretty good.

Even more classic than the burgers, though, is the joint itself. It’s still a small diner, with seating arranged in a U-shaped counter around the grill area, and there are a maximum of about 30 seats. That’s right—30 seats, and that’s it. If you think you’re coming for a quick burger, think again. With so much demand for this place, you’ll be waiting on the sides for a bit, just waiting for that burger. It was around 8 pm when Jeff and I got there, and we had to wait for a good 20-30 minutes. And remember, that’s just for fast food.

But the wait is indeed worth it. It might not be the fanciest, the coolest, or the best-tasting burger in Los Angeles, but the apple pan has such a fantastic quality, timeless, and fresh burger and pies that it’s easily one of the best LA burger experiences you can have. It was the perfect start to a great evening.

What I had:

1. Hickoryburger (Hickory sauce, mayo, pickles, lettuce, and natural Tillamook cheddar): This was an excellent burger. It’s the Inn n’ Out style, simple, fresh burger, with just a few fresh veggies, cheese, and special sauce. But this one is really different in terms of both the quality and the sauce. First of all, it tastes fresher and more satisfying than any of those other home-style burgers, without the feeling of greasiness at the end. That’s partly because of the sauce, too, which is on the sweeter side and balances out the normal fatty taste of the burger. The Hickory sauce is quite the creation, too. It’s like bbq sauce, but with a really nice tanginess to it, so that there’s a nice tingling of the back of the mouth when you’re eating. It combines the freshness of a well-cooked, home-style burger, with an unusual tangy-sweet sauce to come up with a classic, yet unique taste and flavor. 3.5/5.0. Give it a 4.0+ if you like your burgers really simple and plain (I don’t).
2. French Fries: These are just very simple French Fries, handcut and prepared freshly with a good amount of salt. They are not wedge fries, but they do still have some thickness to them, so that you get the mushy potato taste. They weren’t anything of special note, though they were rather fresh and crispy, without any sogginess to them. 2.0/5.0
3. Apple Pie a la mode: This is about the most American apple pie I’ve ever eaten in my life. Just a simple apple pie, without a special presentation or an extra flavor. I got it with some vanilla, which wasn’t much to get thrilled about. It’s probably just normal store-bought ice cream, but it’s perfect with the pie, which is near perfect on its own. Unlike other apple pies, it doesn’t feel like you’re fighting this one. The pie is so flaky that you can just cut into it and get a nice chunk in your mouth. The crust is thin, doughy, and with little or no sweetness of its own, letting the apples really shine. And the apples really do deliver. Not too sweet, with just the right gooey texture and tangy sweetness. 4.0+/5.0.
4. Pecan Pie: Just as good as the apple pie. Unlike most pecan pies, this one seems drier than others (in a very good way), as it’s not the gooey kind where the pecans are in a heavy syrup that’s just oozing all over the pie. Rather than make a glop of sugar, the Apple Pan opts to make its pecan pie with a heavier, nuttier flavor and balances the sweetness. While you do still get a lot of sweetness, you actually taste the pecans very nicely, and because it’s not a syrup (more like a glaze on top of nuts), you get the nice crunch of the pecans, too. Very nicely balanced, so that it’s not cloying. 4.0+/5.0

Various Locations throughout CA and some in Las Vegas

I went to the one at:
1717 Colorado Blvd.
Eagle Rock, CA

Some would argue that Los Angeles is somewhat of a burger haven—and for good reason! LA is full of “famous” burger joints that have been serving for decades. Literally any style of burger can be found, with each burger joint claiming a different specialty. The supposed king of chili burgers, though, is the Original Tommy’s, a classic California fast food chain like Inn n’ Out, with really only one kind of burger (differentiated only by the number of patties and slices of cheese). I’m not really a chili fan in the least, but whenever I hear that something is the “best,” I’m immediately skeptical. So when a friend told me about Tommy’s, I had to again go and check it out.

I received something that, while not as good as the hype might suggest, still stood on its own as pretty decent fast food. Tommy’s gives an old-fashioned, very simple, classic-style burger with decent fries. All that goes on the burger is the patty, cheese, the fresh veggies, and some chili as a sauce. Still, in terms of the burger quality, it’s probably on par with Inn n’Out, though the chili, being so greasy, actually can detract from the freshness of the burger and make it a little bit too heavy and rich. The quality of the meat and cheese though, is great, and so is the chili, even though it’s so oily and a bit like slop. The problem is in the combination—just two completely different flavors clashing. The chili just doesn’t add much to the burger.

The chili cheese fries were also okay. The fries themselves were nothing special and, if plain, they’d probably lose to most fast food fries in terms of taste. However, the cheese and chili really do work. The chili can be overpowering, but overall, the cheese and chili make for a gooey, meaty, greasy mess that’s pretty satisfying, even though it’s insanely heavy and oily, to the point that you’ll regret eating them almost immediately.

Overall, Tommy’s isn’t exactly one of my favorite fast food places, but I can see why it gets the hype, since it’s one of the cheapest values in town, and the chili isn’t bad for a fast food place. Still, I’ve never been a fan of chili, and Tommy’s does nothing to change my mind.

Taste: 2.3/5.0
-          For the burger: 2.5/5.0
-          For the chili fries: 2.0/5.0
Value: 4.5+/5.0. One of the cheapest and most filling fast food meals around.
Verdict: 3.1/5.0. For a chili burger, this is probably the ideal cheap place to go to, but make sure you really like oily, greasy chili. For chili fries, head instead to The Hat.

Various locations throughout CA

I went to the one at:
2635 West Olive Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505

Living in LA, I can’t help but be a fan of Mexican food, given the large Mexican population and the large number of fantastic Mexican restaurants. And there’s no Mexican dish I like better than an awesome burrito. That’s why, when my friends took me to a local burrito chain, Poquito Mas, I was quite a bit skeptical about the quality of the food. Inside, it looked just like a Chipotle or Baja Fresh. While Chipotle might be good for a quick meal, it’s still just a fast food joint, so how good could this place be?

And yet, I was wowed by this chain restaurant, even though I really only tried a couple of things, the Mucho Mas Burrito and the sopito, and even though only one was any good.

The sopito was nothing to note. It was just a small corn tortilla filled with some meat, black beans, and cheese, more or less. It was basically a mini burrito, but the black beans completely overshadowed the other flavors, to the point that it was basically like eating the bean burrito.

The Mucho Mas burrito, however, was phenomenal. It has tons of meat (steak, chicken, or carnitas), great toppings, the right amount of cheese, and especially a crisped tortilla exterior that makes it really stand out as a unique burrito you can’t get anywhere else. One of the best burritos I’ve had, even if it comes from a chain. But the quality is better than what you get at most Mexican restaurants.

Taste (for the burrito): 4.0/5.0
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score: 4.0/5.0. I really haven’t tried too much to cast a real verdict on the whole restaurant, but with a burrito this good and this filling, there’s no reason or need to get anything else.

Various locations throughout CA

I went to the one in Pasadena in LA:
491 N. Lake Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101

It should be apparent by now that I’m quite the pastrami fanatic. I’ve already tried a few places in LA: Langer’s, Oinkster’s, Billy’s, etc. So I’ve had some good pastrami. But my father insists that nothing beats the good old-fashioned pastrami at The Hat, served the classic way, overstacked and topped with mustard. He was so convinced that he just had to take me out to lunch there the other day, just to show me the “error of my ways.”

When we got to The Hat, I was pretty excited. I remember eating the pastrami once as a kid. It was so greasy, it leaked completely through the bag that was holding it, and it was so stacked that I couldn’t even fit it into my mouth. Further, The Hat is somewhat of a historic culinary landmark, having served Californians for decades and having numerous locations throughout California. The joint itself (I went to the Pasadena one) isn’t much to speak of, but it does have the old-school feel of a real diner. Semi-dirty and a little greasy, with no frills at all. You can even smell the grease of the food as it’s cooking right in front of you, in an open kitchen area.

I have to say, I was pretty disappointed, though, especially after all my dad’s praise. What I got was a plain pastrami sandwich, with mustard and pickles, in a long French roll. The mountain of pastrami I remembered from my childhood was more like a little hill, and it was way too salty and greasy, to the point that it overpowers you. Nothing in the sandwich serves as an adequate counterbalance, except for some pickles. The bread isn’t a bad match, since it’s nice and soft, but it doesn’t go with pastrami as well as a good piece of rye bread. The sandwich is just too plain for my taste has very little flavor other than the grease of poorly prepared pastrami.

As for the sides, they’re pretty good, but nothing extraordinary. The onion rings are nice and crunchy, though very oily. The onions themselves are just thin strands, but they’re fully smothered with batter, so the rings themselves are mostly just greasy batter. I’d imagine it would get a bit disgusting eating them after a while—hence, why I only managed a few.

The chili cheese fries, in contrast, are fantastic. In fact, they’re one of the best, if not the best, I’ve had in LA. The fries are just normal, boring fries, just very well-cooked to a crisp. The cheese and the chili though are just right. It’s literally smothered in cheese. And it’s so large that it’s practically impossible to finish. All for $5—that’s a good deal on chili fries if I’ve ever seen one.

Overall, then, the Hat has its positives, but pastrami is definitely not among them. This is an all-around decent fast food deli, but don’t come here expecting to be floored by anything, except maybe the gigantic chili fries.

Taste: 2.2/5.0
-          For the pastrami: 1.5/5.0
-          For the chili cheese fries: 3.7+/5.0.
Value: 4.0/5.0. 5.0 for the chili cheese fries, which are a monstrous meal in themselves.
Verdict: 2.7/5.0. It’s a pretty decent fast-food restaurant/deli, but overall, I’d prefer to go to Langer’s or Billy’s if I want some pastrami in LA.

2005 Colorado Blvd,
Eagle Rock, CA

Although I enjoy a nice meal, sometimes I’m in the mood for some nice, cheap fast food. The only problem with fast food is that it typically sacrifices quality for time. That’s why I was quite intrigued when a friend told me about the Oinkster, a so-called “slow fast food” restaurant. A fast food restaurant with slow-restaurant-quality? That’s something I’ve got to see—or rather, eat—personally.

I finally got my chance the other day when I stopped by on my way back home. I really do have to admit that the restaurant lives up to the hype. The menu was a bit higher brow than most fast food places, which is nice. You can get caramelized onions, Fosselman’s ice cream, excellent cupcakes, etc. And almost all of it was excellent. The only problem is in the sandwich selection. Neither the burger nor the pastrami really wows. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t as good as expected for all the hype. Everything else, though, is excellent, to the point that this is definitely my new go-to place for comfort fast-food— better than even Inn n’ out in my opinion, though I know many people would passionately disagree. While the burger doesn’t deliver, the fries, milkshakes, and cupcake really can’t be beat for a fast food place. And that’s why, other than for maybe the Counter, I can’t imagine a better burger joint in LA. If you live in LA, you owe it to yourself to try this place.

What I had:

1. Belgian fries—RIGHT ON! This is how Belgian fries are made. Good enough to eat without a sauce. The only weakness though—the sauces they do have just don’t cut it. Chipotle ketchup is okay. Garlic aioli isn’t bad, but too strong, too  garlicky. There’s nothing that great to accompany the fries. 3.5/5.0
2. Ube Milkshake (with Fosselman’s ice cream)—Out of this world! Fosselman’s ice cream makes all the difference—best milkshake you’re going to find at a fast food place, period. For reference, ube is a purple potato found in the Philippines. The purple potato flavor is a tad odd, but it is very interesting and even more delicious than the plain vanilla flavor. 4.3/5.0
3. Oinkster pastrami sandwich (pastrami, caramelized onions, gruyere)—The pastrami is very good, fresh, house cured. Great meat quality. However, it’s a bit dry, especially with the bread. Nice meat, but the sandwich itself is nothing extraordinary, just good. One problem: it’s dry, so it needs some sauce, but the bbq sauce here is absolutely horrible. Try the burgers. 2.5/5.0
4. PB & J Cupcake—OMG! Best cupcake in LA? Just maybe. Stuffed with jelly and topped with PB frosting that actually tastes like PB. Not overly sweet either. First PB cupcake that convinces me it’s possible to make a good PB cupcake that’s not too sweet or too cloying. Just right—the frosting was so smooth and light I could eat it alone. The cake was also quite good for pound cake, though it wasn’t perfect. The stuffed jelly definitely added a nice touch. About as creative and delicious as a cupcake can get. 4.4/5.0. Add a couple of tenths if you love PB & J, like I do.
5. Vanilla Milkshake—great again, considering it’s Fossel’s ice cream. Still, just a normal, solid shake. Ube is much more unique. 4.0/5.0
6. Piggy fries—definitely fixes problem with the sauce. Fries are again quite good, and with cheese they are perfect. There are a few too many caramelized onions—makes it surreally heavy and greasy. But the added flavor is still great. And with thousand island, you solve the problem of weak sauces for good, even though it’s a bit too rich. Very heavy, oily, and rich, but at the end of the day, these are very solid. Just be sure to have an appetite, because it’s huge. 4.1+/5.0
7. Cheeseburger—has choice of 3 cheeses. I chose sharp cheddar. Sandwich was quite good. REALLY fresh. Meat quality was awesome. Meat was a little bit overshadowed by intense sauce—I think it was thousand island. Still, awesome burger. Just all around solid, with really good ingredients. Probably on par with Inn n’ Out, if not better. Still, not unique and not the greatest I’ve had. 3.0/5.0

Taste: 3.8+/5.0. Loses points mostly for the burger and pastrami.
Value: 4.2+/5.0
Overall Score: 4.0+/5.0. My go-to fast food joint!