Sitting At The Counter

The Counter, 719 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach, opened about a week ago. I looked at their menu at counterburger.com and was intrigued at the thought of building my very own hamburger.

It's a new concept to me - on being seated, you're handed a clipboard and a check-off list of all the things you want on your hamburger. There are little pencils in a cup (like Keno in Las Vegas.)

There are also non-hamburger items - turkey chili, grilled vegetables, a BLT or grilled ham and cheese. Desserts include an apple crumble, Key lime pie or a caramel and chocolate brownie.

Back to this check-off business. The steps are numbered for yur convenience.
1. The type of meat (hamburger, turkey) and portion size - 1/3 lb., 2/3rds lb., etc.
2. The cheese -- 12 to choose from
3. 21 different toppings - pick any four (grilled pineapple, red onion, things like that.)
3.5 Premium toppings (bacon, avocado, fried egg, chili) There are nine of these.
4. Sauces -- 21 including chipotle aioli, tzatziki and so on.
5. Kind of bun - hamburger, English muffin, onion roll...

I started with an order of onion strings. ($4.95) I think of these thin strands of onion, lightly dusted in flour and probably white pepper as "diet onion rngs" and I love them. A platter, sufficient to serve four, quickly appeared.

My burger had: 1/3 lb. hamburger, no cheese, red onion, jalapenos, grilled pineapple and bacon, topped with a soy ginger sauce on an onion roll. $8.95 plus $1 for the bacon. (Applewood smoked, you may be sure. What's up with this anyhow?)

Richie, unimpressed by all of the ways to concoct a hamburger, ordered 1/3 lb. hamburger with cheddar cheese on a hamburger bun. How sad is that? When it arrived, he asked for mustard.

Mine arrived, splayed out open faced, ready for me to add soy ginger sauce from the little steel cup and to slap the lid on. I managed more than half of it before throwing in the towel. Richie gladly finished it off, but I have yet to hear any words of gratitude about how inventive I was, how the flavors complimented each other, yet stood out with bold audacity on their own. You know -- restaurant gibberish.

Lunch (one iced tea, one water) came to $28.66 plus 20% tip. I'm already building new hamburgers in my head...

The Counter Burger locations include: CA, CN, FL, GA, IL, HI, NY, T, VA, WA and IRELAND. No kidding, Dubline, Ireland. Unviersity town, that's proably why.