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!

Ackee Bamboo Jamaican Cuisine...it doesn't get much more authentic plus a Reggae Night gift

4305 Degnan Blvd.
Ste. #100
Los Angeles, CA 90008
(323)295-7275
Mon-Thurs 11AM-9PM
Fri-Sat 11AM-10PM
Sun 11:30AM-6PM

I have a special treat for one reader today... read to the end to find out.

Not enough people in LA eat food from different cultures. And no, Mexican does not count, as Los Angeles could partially be called little Mexico as whole. I'm talking about other regions past a two hour drive South from here. Cuisines like Ethiopian, German, or even today's choice spot, Ackee Bamboo which is Jamaican cuisine that's as authentic as you can find it.

Ackee is located in one of the most prized, historically cultured areas of LA, Leimert Park. Leimert has been a hotbed for Los Angeles Jazz and Black culture for decades. What many people don't know is that Jazz is one of the only original American art forms. That said, this area has a lot of history with greats that have gone through here and and a lot to do with how they help to keep it alive. Not to mention, this strong black community thrives and is in a constant state of creation for all things involving their culture. It really is one of the beautiful charms of Los Angeles.

The restaurant is named after the national Jamaican fruit called Ackee that comes from a type of Evergreen tree. It is this fruit that is a main staple in many traditional Jamaican recipes. Knowing this, when we ordered, we made sure to grab their Ackee and Salt Fish. We also grabbed a couple of their patties (one beef and one chicken) as well as their Jamaican Jerk chicken.

The patties are basically the Jamaican version of Spanish style empanadas. Both hinted at being on the spicy side, but not anything to remotely worry about. The patties are simple little dough pockets that are filled with ground beef and in this case, or chicken. The spice seemed like it came from a pinch of cayenne. While these weren't the best patties I've had, they were fantastic all the same, and at $1.85 per you really can't lose.

As I mentioned, we had to grab a plate that had some Ackee in it. I was so incredibly thankful that I did. If you didn't look at the link up above, notice here what Ackee looks like fresh from the tree. When cooked it has the consistency of tofu or fried egg whites. When our plates arrived the first thing we noticed was "Wow...that's a lot of food." The ackee and salt fish was smooth and rich with flavors of onion and the subtle flavors of mushroom from the ackee. The salt fish (a type of cod) was great to have again as I haven't had it in years. Also a big plus, sometimes salt fish can be a little too salty if it's not only lightly salted to begin with or boiled long enough to get some of the salt off. Judging by how tender the salt fish was, my guess is that it was boiled. It came with fried plantains that were sweet and fried to perfection with just a little bit crispness to give it that candy like consistency. It also came with what appeared to be a large corn bread hush puppy, steamed veggies(mostly cabbage) and rice and peas. The corn bread was an awesome little treat as it had a hearty consistency not typical of corn bread, it was more like corn cake that was dense in mass, reminded me a bit of a corn version of one of those really crusty doughnuts. The rice and peas were great, in fact I'd almost ask for twice the amount of rice and skip the veggies. Then again veggies aren't my forte, but my wife Celeste loved them!

Celeste's jerk chicken came with all the same sides. What made all her food slightly different, was the juices from the jerk chicken soaked into it all just a little bit. She dipped her corn bread in it and everything. The jerk chicken itself, she said, was the best she's ever had. It was very flavorfully spiced, but not too hot, and wouldn't be even for someone with a lower threshold for heat than her. I'm sure there was black pepper, cayenne, allspice and a sweeter spice like clove or nutmeg, but what came through was a flavor that tasted whole with no separation of flavor. It was succulent fall off the bone chicken that must have been cooked at a low temperature for several hours. Another plus, for Celeste the portions were so large that she ate half and had an awesome lunch for herself the next day.

The restaurant is a small abode that holds maybe 20 people or so on the inside. What is wonderful about this place besides the food is the wonderful service. We came in and after we ordered the owner (or maybe the manager) was chatting with us about the food and the drinks (we got Jamaican Cream soda made by DG) and was just as charming and sweet as you could want an owner to be. He was always available if you wanted to chat as well as handling business effectively at the same time. They have quite a history with only being about a year and a half old. Within 3 months of opening, they already had their first writeup in the LA Times! Quite a feat, cause LA Times doesn't really give honors to many restaurants as the standards they place on businesses are pretty heavy. I cannot say enough good things about Ackee except that you should make the trip over there if you haven't already.

Free Drink Refills: No
Entree Price Range: $7 to $18 (let me clarify and say that there are only a few dishes that are on the high end of the spectrum)

AND NOW THE GIFT TO ONE LUCKY READER:
In honor of the Jamaican inspired post I've been chosen to sponsor as one of the lucky bloggers to be able to give away 1 pair of tickets to the August 12 Reggae Night concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The lineup is one for the books! The program reads:
Reggae's grandmaster Burning Spear returns, plus reggae drum and bass pioneers, Sly & Robbie with the distinctive vocals of Horace Andy (last heard with Massive Attack). The Wailing Souls reunite after a 22-year absence. It's a roots, rockin' night not to be missed!

The show is already sold out for many of the sections and this promises to be a killer night of sweet music. So how do you win? All you have to do is be the first person to email me your two favorite Jamaican spots in Los Angeles. Just send the email to celeste.aubrey@gmail.com . I'll announce the winner in the comment section. How's that for showing some love?

Phillips BBQ

4307 Leimert Blvd. (though there are other locations which I'll pst at the end)
Los Angeles, CA 90008
(323) 292-7613
Mon 11AM-8PM
Tue-Thurs 11AM-10PM
Fri-Sat 11AM-11PM
Sun. Closed

In an effort to continue stepping things up on my site I'm trying to write more and more. Today I have a standard in LA for you. Phillip's Bar-B-Que has been one of the places to beat for great tasting bar-b-que for years. Foster Phillip's flavoring on his meats is something that late at night you just crave. I used to play over at the World Stage with a guy by the name of David Ornette Cherry and after our set we went right around the corner to Phillip's where he introduced me to some of my favorite all time bar-b-que. At the top I said that there is more than one location (3 to be exact) but the one I'm talking about today is the Leimert Park location, nestled on the northeast edge of the area.

Now I'll tell you this initially that the spot is humble and you know what? That's fine with me. I like it when you know that the food and service is all that a place is about. It tells me that looks don't mean everything and that the product is all that matters. I LOVE THIS PLACE! The first pic below shows the entire restaurant (which is for pickup only) and the second pic is the entire customer area inside taken from outside the restaurant. Not much really but all the food inside is dynamite!


What you can count on for a cheaper plate is $6 to $9 for a sandwich and the meat choices you can choose from are pork ribs, beef ribs, sliced beef (my favorite), beef link, chicken link, ribs tibs and chicken (your choice of white or dark) . It comes with bread (picnic style bread..oh yeah...keeping it real) and a choice of one side order of BBQ Baked beans (which I could seriously have a meal of by themselves) and cole slaw, or potato or macaroni salad (the macaroni salad is the best I've had for this style. Simple and yet flavorful.) The dinner plates have the same meats except for small ends and baby backs and give you two side orders. Let me say for $15.70 for the combination dinner which gives you 3 meats (except small ends or baby backs) is a huge deal. For dessert I would say try the peach cobbler or sweet potato pie. If any of you out there have tried the Sock It To Me cake let me know how it is cause I still have yet to try that one.

All in all this place is about the food and nothing else. They're not trying to impress your vision, they're trying to impress you mouth. Their other locations are as follows:

2619 S. Crenshaw Blvd.
LA, CA 90016
(323) 731-4772

1517 Centinela Ave.
Inglewood, CA 90302
(310) 412-7135

They do catering as well and I can only wish now that I had had them cater my wedding. I don't even care that I would have been a mess afterwards.

Free Drink Refills: It's pickup only
Entree Price Range: Sandwiches about $8 and dinners average around $13...a little pricey but trust me YOU WON'T BE LET DOWN!