Tribute to Burger Stand Week on What's To Eat LA: The Burger Stand

3413 Crenshaw Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90016
(323)733-3133
Mon-Thurs 10AM-9PM
Fri-Sat 10-12AM
Sun 10AM-6PM
CASH ONLY

Small history lesson for people who don't know me so well. I grew up in Connecticut, but before you think of White Christmas Connecticut, let me explain that I lived in Bridgeport, in the projects. If I may, I'll say that when you're in it, it's nowhere near as bad as people often portray it to be. It's more like one big family of people who all understand the big picture. So when I begin to say that today's painfully good entry into the hall of burgerdom is in an area that some would deem too scary to tread foot upon, please stop being idiotic and prejudiced. In the neighborhood I grew up in, called Marina Village, there used to be a corner store that had a grill next to it. Say what you may about the griminess of the place, but they made real deal cheeseburgers that can only come from years and years of the same person making them just right. They pounded out and put together ground beef with their own blend of spices and topped them with, what had to have been, government cheese. I know you're laughing, but it's really good because it's a really hard cheese that, when melted, soaks into the meat. They were, to put it lightly, SPECTACULAR. The place got shut down eventually and went into disrepair, never to return. I would put that burger in any contest against the majors and I'm sure it would have placed. Sometimes you have a little bit of brilliance that is only shown to a small few and then fades away.

In LA we have a handful of places like that. One such place is The Burger Stand. Now I'm not going to tell you that it's like that place I grew up with (though it's pretty close), but after you've had plenty of great burgers, and then one leaves you saying "Wow...that was a good freaking burger", not once or twice that evening...but 20 or 30 times, then you have something extremely noteworthy. Not only that, if you look around on Google or any search engine, you're not going to find any reviews or websites for this place. So here's me showing love for one bit of "brilliance", one of my very own underdogs, that's worth the trip even if you live by the ocean.

Upon inspection, you'll notice there's no way to create the pretense that this is a picturesque restaurant burger. Don't let this fool you. The meat is much much better than most patties in LA...period. There's bit of toasted pepper in these obviously freshly made patties. When you order it takes them 4 or 5 minutes, cause they only make that thing once you've ordered. The burger itself has a HUGE explosive flavor to it. I hate getting so emotionally attached to certain meals...then I have a harder time explaining how DEVASTATING they are. Needless to say, if you like burgers, this is a place you should not miss that will put every Fatburger you've ever consumed recently to shame, standing heads and shoulders above most burgers in LA! Maybe THIS is what Fatburger used to be before they went the corporate route, after all they both started in the same neighborhood.

Now for tricky part. Parking is only street parking, but since this is on the Crenshaw strip, which happens to be one of LA's heaviest arterial routes, parking seems non existent until 7PM. Don't despair though, the first little street south of it has plenty of street parking on it. As stated above it's cash only, and though it's a short wait, there is no seating. But people, I can not stress this enough that this is one of the my top spots not to be missed. It's just freaking ridiculously good!

Free Drink Refills: No
Entree Price Range: Cheeseburger is around $4 and worth every cent!