The Grill on Hollywood

Hollywood, CA
thegrill.com

 

The Order: American Kobe, medium rare.  Black and white truffle mayo.
Side Order: Comes with Jumbo Onion Rings
$21.50
Drink Order: Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard
Burger Menu Rating: 2/15




Situation in the busy Hollywood and Highland mall at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, funnily enough, The Grill on Hollywood is where you can find many of the designers, producers and technicians who are working on the Oscars during the weeks leading up to that show.  I'd eaten here before, but never gotten the burger.  But this time was the time; the moment was at hand, that hand was mine, and it was holding a burger.  And boy, I could not have been more disappointed.

Sitting with Joe, Gloria, Travis, Damien, and Perry, most of whom were working on the Oscars at the time, I confidently ordered the burger medium rare (I said medium rare twice), after which Joe ordered his burger medium well with fries instead of rings.  And so out came our burgers, rings for me, fries for Joe.  By this point, I'm so hungry that I inhale half of the burger.  It's been hours since my last meal.  Then I realize how much water and beer I'm drinking as I eat this burger, and look down.  It's gray.  Not even pink, but gray.  They cooked it completely wrong.  So then I look over at Joe's burger.  Pink.  They cooked HIS completely wrong.  They swapped our burgers.  Now I was sitting right next to Joe which could have cause the confusion, EXCEPT that they got our sides correct.  So somebody in the kitchen made a huge mistake, and unfortunately, it really cost them.  Zero points for being cooked correctly.

The sauce on the burger was good, lightly earthy, but that was the only uplifting quality to this otherwise terrible burger.  The patty was bland on top of being cooked into shoe leather, and the bun was a bit too charred.  The coarse grind the used I'm sure would've been awesome if it hadn't been cooked well beyond what I ordered (again, I said medium rare twice).  No thought into plating.  The fries on Joe's plate were merely dumped on, though my onion rings only looked slightly better.  Look at how the lettuce is jutting out of the burger on two sides, instead of being neatly stacked.  Overall, this place is definitely NOT worth it.




Cooked Correctly: 0
Design/Ingredients: 1
Plating: 1
Value: 0

Rare Burger

Manhattan, NY
www.rarebarandgrill.com



The Order: Artisanal Burger, changes day to day. Pork tenderloin infused with chive and butter, mahon cheese, apple smoked bacon, caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms
Side Order: Comes with Parmesan Truffle Fries. Frickles ($5)
$20
Drink Order: Brooklyn Lager



The waitstaff here are pleasant and attentive. Now, this may have been a fluke, but our burgers took over THIRTY minutes to arrive. I know pork has to be fully cooked, but thirty minutes is a little much. After an apology from both the waiter and the manager, our burgers arrived quickly. Excellent presentation (sorry about the crappy picture), but what was bewildering to me were the toppings and taste of the burger. While delicious, I soon found out this was NOT the burger I ordered (The burger toppings above reflect what I received, not what I ordered). It was definitely made with pork, but with all the wrong toppings. Mine was supposed to have mahon cheese and bacon, with chipotle butter and apple & apricot sauce.

Oh well. It was still a fantastic burger, and I ate every last bit of it. Rare was recommended to me by fellow burger enthusiast Erin, who accompanied me on this Rare Burger adventure. Their Artisanal Burger changes every day, which is exciting, but that means unless you go on the right day, you'll probably never have this exact burger. Don't let that stop you from coming here. Don't let the ordering mishap, or our unusually long wait time stop you from coming here either. The burger was delicious. The portions were generous. The Parmesan Truffle Fries were excellent. And the dipping sauces are all complimentary. Try them all, but spring for the BBQ and the Chipotle Mayo, which were by far the best.

I also had a bite of the M&M Burger (not made with M&M's), rare with cheddar, bacon, sauteed onions, and the beef was whiskey infused, which was delicious though no actual whiskey taste came through. It just made it really tender and juicy.

The Frickles were excellent, far better than Corner Burger's. And served with some kind of pesto sauce. They were sweet, sour and fried. A great opener for the meal. The Parmesan Truffle fries were great. Not a single fry left on the plate. Truffle oil makes a huge difference, and the parmesan wasn't overwhelming. Just a light dusting, enough to make you taste it.

Go here. Now.