
Go Burger plays with original recipes
Posted January 26, 2011 at 8:43 pm in Lifestyle
We live in a post-burger world.
The humble burger is not just a humble burger anymore. Itâs a statement, a blank canvas, a form of nostalgia and an American comfort food.
Classic and innovative ideas bump shoulders constantly in Los Angeles, and burgers are no exception.

Burger bar · The burger variations at Go Burger include everything from the âUltiMelt,â made with a couple of grilled sandwiches as a bun, to the âSmashed Burgerâ which is literally âhand smashedâ and comes with onions. - Cory Sanford | Daily Trojan
Thereâs In-N-Out, and the always popular Tommyâs. Umami Burger serves up a fascinating gourmet version, as do Bouchon, Lazy Ox Canteen and Wolfgang Puck.
Might as well add Go Burger to the list.
Newly opened in Hollywood, Go Burger is the BLT Restaurant Groupâs new venture into the world of Los Angeles burger joints.
It features various gourmet burgers with an endless selection of toppings, as well as a weekly special. Also available are hot dogs and a few other entrees.
Additionally, Go Burger boasts a delicious drink menu, full of combinations that read like the  work of a rebellious 16-year-old.
The menu presents spiked milkshakes with ice cream, liqueurs and hard booze, as well as âadult floatsâ with, you guessed it, more ice cream and hard booze. This is accompanied by a long list of beers from the bottle and on tap, a few house cocktails and even beer cocktails.
Go Burger is virtually a mosh pit at 8:30 p.m. on a Friday night, with dozens milling around the hostâs stand hoping for an open table. Thankfully, the wait this Friday was made bearable by SportsCenter and the Lakers on Go Burgerâs numerous large, flat-panel TVs.
The ambiance blended diverse elements, modern and luxurious with dark woods and lowered lights, but also raucous and trendy with crowd noise and throwback elements like simple tables and steel chairs.
Still, few care about ambiance when burgers are on the brain. And Go Burger certainly doesnât disappoint in this respect. The menu lists a few âSignatureâ burgers, including the violent-sounding âSmashed Burgerâ which comes âhand smashedâ and âstudded with onions.â
It is ferociously delicious, particularly when done âPhilly styleâ with griddled onions, peppers, pickled jalapeños and provolone cheese.
And who could resist the âUltiMelt,â a grotesquely seductive concoction of fat, meaty beef plopped between â wait for it â two grilled cheese sandwiches? Granted, they are extremely slender grilled cheeses that are really just a sprinkling of cheese between two shavings of tasty rye bread, but the idea is still mouth-watering. The UltiMelt is undeniably rich, but not the heart-stopping monster that the menu implies.
Other burgers run the predictable-but-still-delicious gamut of topping combinations. The âGreat Hills Blueâ is a standout, with a salty-creamy-sweet mix of Great Hills blue cheese and caramelized onions.
There is also a âBLT,â a âPrimeâ burger made with dry-aged cuts of meat and the de rigueur âClassic,â all served on toasty if somewhat generic burger buns.
But the meal also had its low points. The âKobe Dog,â made with a Snake River Farms frankfurter, is surprisingly average. If grilled or griddled it could have been better. Instead, this dog feels boiled, with a mildly chewy skin.
It couldâve gone head-to-head with a Hebrew National and earned a draw. In any event, the Kobe Dog is certainly not worth $7.
The duck fat fries, which are stunningly crisp and aromatic, came in a notably paltry portion for $6 a pop.
But should you still get them? Absolutely. Everything is better fried in duck fat, especially potatoes.
One can only push the burger envelope so far, and Go Burger doesnât tread many mysterious culinary waters with its options (save for perhaps the UltiMelt).
But although Go Burger might lack the sheer innovation and precision of, say, Umami Burger, it offers flat-out satisfying burgers that donât disappoint.
Sometimes thatâs exactly what you need.
Also in the Daily Trojan:
Tags
This article is tagged: bouchon, food, Go Burger, hamburgers, in-n-out, lazy ox canteen, restaurant, tommy's, umami burger, wolfgang puck







[...] . By eddie kim · Daily Trojan. Posted Today at 8:43 pm (9 seconds ago) in Lifestyle. More here: Go Burger plays with original recipes | Daily Trojan [...]