The Counter – 7919 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

1) Grab a clipboard. 2) Pick up a pencil. 3) Try and keep from drooling. This is the process you go through when you first sit down at The Counter. This “build your own burger” franchise prides itself on providing its guests with over 312, 120 possible burger combinations, using only the freshest and finest quality ingredients for you to personalise your own gourmet burger. With this kind of formula, friendly staff and ice cold beers, they’ll have you coming back week after week day after day.
If the idea of creating you’re own burger just seems like too much pressure and avoids you asking, “I wonder what pineapple, hardboiled egg and mustard taste like..?” then look a little further down the menu and grab yourself one of their tried and tested Signature Burgers. I decided to go for the Counter Burger that included a Hamburger bun, 1/3 pound beef pattie, Provolone cheese, crispy onion rings, lettuce blend, sautéed mushrooms and tomato, all finished with a side of sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. These guys also have a wicked fries menu including a “Fifty-Fifty” where you can get a mix of both regular fries and sweet potato fries! (Breaking News: Aussie Burger Fans! Don’t have time to get to the States? Check out their closer to home, Sydney location).

“In true LA style, I parked my electric scooter on the curb, removed my helmet and gave my hair an awesome Fabio flick. After almost knocking into an interracial gay couple walking a lactose intolerant Labradoodle, I made my way inside, then immediately asked to sit outside – God bless LA weather. There wasn’t much point building and reviewing my own burger (although I would’ve made a cracker) as everyone has their own taste and style. So I tackled their Signature Counter Burger; excited at the thought of my first experience of Porvolone and Vinaigrette together. After ordering from my cute, waitress/actress/dancer I only had to wait for about 3 minutes before my order of “Fifty-Fifty” fries came out. Just when I began to think “Wow that was quick!”, my burger was being presented before me. When things seem to be too good to be true, they usually are. You want to feel like they’re taking some time in the kitchen, singing as they cook and talking about how much they love their job. In contrast, it was a bit like, “Hey you wana burger? Here’s one. Let us know when you want to pay.” But maybe I’m just old fashioned? Even though it came our super-quick, it also came out looking super-awesome. I couldn’t wait to get the photoshoot over and done with and sink my teeth into those crunchy looking onion rings. I took a few bites and nothing really jumped out at me. The Italian cheese had a bit of a bite to it, but you only really tasted it if you ate it without any meat. The beef was ok: lightly seasoned, a little bit pink, but too perfectly shaped and not juicy enough for my liking. It wasn’t until after I poured on the sun-dried tomato vinaigrette that the burger took a turn for the positive. The mix of heavy flavours from the Provolone, mushrooms and beef were now getting a contrasting and delicious tang that you rarely taste in a burger. For some reason I ate rather quickly, but still managed to feel pretty good afterwards. Then the sleepiness from the Provolone crept up on me forcing me to stay put, and to order another beer. A fun place to take your friends and try all of your different creations, but as for the Signature Counter Burger, its only real highlight was the sweet sun-dried tomato vinaigrette.”

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