Mess Hall

Los Angeles, CA
messhallkitchen.com



The Order: Mess Hall Burger, medium rare.  Slow onions, Vermont cheddar, b&b pickles, and smokey aioli on a brioche bun.
Side Order: Does not come with fries (add for $5 at lunch, $8 at dinner)
Lunch $10 - Dinner - $15
Drink Order: Stone IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 10.5/15




Located at Los Feliz Blvd and Hillhurst Ave. in Los Feliz, Mess Hall opened about a year and a half ago to widespread positive acclaim from local reviewers, but has remained relatively under the radar as a contender in the established Los Angeles burger scene.  Head chef Keith Silverton has created a menu that falls into the ubiquitous category American (new), with a wide variety of options designed to appeal to the young Los Feliz and Silverlake crowds.


The Fanny Bay Oysters were an excellent starter for the meal with mild brininess and a cucumber finish.

Here in Los Angeles, like in other major metropolitan cities, there has been a resurgence in oysters as relatively cheap artisanal fare.  The small selection of oysters here are moderately priced at around $3 each, and come with accurate descriptions.  Like everywhere else, the Oysters help get you in the door to then spend your money on other higher priced items, except that the rest of the menu isn't so outrageously expensive that you mind.  The entire menu is filled with upscale Southern food with items whose flavor pack a big punch to your mouth.  A fried chicken sando with honey mustard on brioche.  Buffalo wing confit.  You'll come here wanting to satisfy cravings for big flavors and balance them all with beer and cocktails.  The same applies to their burger which treads carefully at the edge of a flavor profile that could be a little too much.


This burger's onions are just pouring out all over the place.

When the Mess Hall Burger arrives, it's just ready to fall apart.  I mean, it's amazing that they've managed to pile all of the toppings onto the burger and maintain a clean plate.  As soon as you touch it it begins to ooze and drip cheese, onions and sauce.  "It sure is a... messy burger," my friend Will exclaims while eating.  Get it?  Messy?  But he's also correct.  This thing will end up everywhere.  Don't wear white when you come here, or you'll end up wearing this thing out.

First off, there are a ton of onions on this thing.  They're all sweet and delicious, but are a bit much.  Now, when you get a bite that has all of the ingredients they come together in your mouth to create an amazing and strong but balanced flavor that is at times sweet, tangy, salty and smokey.  It's just a delight to savor the cheddar with the onions, and when the little bit of sourness comes through from the pickles, it's like your mouth has died and gone to heaven.  There's plenty of cheese and pickles on this burger, but for some reason they're not evenly disbursed so many bites have a disproportionate amount of onions and when eaten alone they become overwhelmingly sweet.  My recommendation?  Remove the bun from the burger before attacking it, and use your knife and fork to more evenly disperse the toppings.  You'll be more guaranteed to have delicious bites every single time.

The meat is a custom blend of brisket, chuck and flank steak with a 70% lean to 30% fat ratio that is delivered from Niman Ranch up near San Francisco and ground daily in-house.  The large fat content in this burger is awesome, allowing a slightly larger margin of error when cooking and allows for good overall cohesion in the patty.  The one big detriment to the burger, however, was that it was a bit overcooked!  They were able to get a fantastic sear on the outside of the burger, so there was a little crunch to every bite, and the meat was nice and flaky, but if the burger is overcooked, you're going to lose points.  It's not as if the place was all that busy so that the chef was churning out order after order and couldn't keep an eye on the patties we ordered.  Regardless, at $10 for a lunch burger (no fries), this a really good deal for the amount of food, and the quality of the ingredients.  Next time I'd stress it being cooked correctly, but overall an awesome burger.  Also, don't miss out on their Monday Night Burger + Beer/Bourbon Deal for $15, or Tuesday night $1 Oysters!




Cooked Correctly: 4/5
Design/Ingredients: 3/4
Plating: 1/3
Value: 2.5/3

The Oinkster - March 2014 Burger of the Month

Eagle Rock, CA
www.theoinkster.com



The Order: The St. Patrick's Burger. A 6 oz. corned beef brisket and ground beef patty with a bubble n' squeak fritter, Oinkster mustard, and pickles on a potato bun.
Side Order: No side.
 $9
Drink Order: Lucky Charm Shake ($6)
Burger Menu Rating: 8/15




If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times.  The Oinkster's burger is hands down my favorite pedestrian burger in Los Angeles.  They began their official Burger of the Month specials in late 2012 and since then have produced a variety of interesting creations.  From the Little Bear Burger to the Oklahoma Onion Burger, to the Chili Cheese Dog Burger, The Oinkster's creations are generally interesting takes on either classic burgers, or classic meals made into burgers, and are often in response to the upcoming season or holiday.  This month's burger attempts to tackle a "classic" Irish dish, Corned Beef and Cabbage, and it does so with some success, but leaves something to be desired.  It turns out that Corned Beef and Cabbage is about as truly Irish as green bagels are, so if The Oinkster missed the mark a little, we'll forgive them. A little


The Bubble n' Squeak Fritter nicely formed and placed on top of the patty.

When this burger comes out, you might ask yourself, "is this a hash brown?!" You wouldn't be that far off.  A Bubble n' Squeak is a traditional English dish made from leftover roasted vegetables, generally potatoes and cabbage.  It is so named because of the sounds it makes as it cooks in the pan.  The Oinkster's version is a little bit bland.  Having deep fried their version, the potatoes and cabbage are surrounded by a layer of breading which is a bit extraneous next to the potato bun.  The potatoes in the fritter don't provide much more than a mushy mouthfeel next to the cabbage, which is slightly sour and left me wanting more.

The corned beef brisket and beef patty is certainly an interesting choice for the burger, but ultimately falls short as a choice for a burger meat blend.  Brisket is cooked to tenderness over a long time, and when it's done, there's almost no fat left to hold it together.  Adding back in some ground beef to up the fat content was a solid choice, but ended up playing down some of the brisket flavor.  The end result was a strange combination that left me unsure of what flavor I should actually be tasting.  It had some of the saltiness for sure, but overall the meat was a little bland.  Or maybe the meat wasn't bland, but was just being completely overpowered by another ingredient: the mustard.


The corned beef had its distinctive pink color.

I've had the Oinkster Mustard a few times before.  It's extremely strong, and on this burger, having a lot of it is a detriment to the overall balance of flavor.  I understand that a lot of people eat their corned beef with mustard, but having a large amount smeared on the bottom of this burger just doesn't work.  Stacking order people!  The ingredients towards the bottom of the burger get the most tongue-time and influence all the flavors that come after!  So with this burger, what I tasted was mostly mustard, with a little bit of corned beef flavor.  Next time use less!


It sure is a good looking combo though.

This burger, like all their other sandwiches, does not automatically come with a side.  As always, the fries at The Oinkster as delicious.  But I wanted to get my hands on that shake, and I knew that if I ate the burger, fries and drank a shake that I would regret it for hours after.  The Lucky Charms shake is absolutely delicious and there are giant marshmallows throughout the thick beverage, but therein lies the ultimate problem!  My mouth was so tired from trying to suck those large chunks of cereal through the tiny little straw.  Either get a bigger straw, use a spoon, or avoid this shake!  But seriously, it was delicious.




Cooked Correctly: 5/5 Corned beef - no choice
Design/Ingredients: 1/4
Plating: 1/3
Value: 1/3