Umami Burger

*Post by Mark.

This is neither a rant nor a rave. In fact, this may be the least inflammatory review of Umami Burger you could possibly read. People love the chain. People hate the chain. People love to hate the chain. In a few short years since they've opened for business, Umami has become an empire, most recently opening their fifth store in Studio City with an eye on expanding towards other cities.

Depending on who you ask, Umami is either a Japanese word indicating the fifth taste or a mystical pile of feces with little foundation in science. Largely responsible for popularizing the word in American culture, owner Adam Fleischman (who is not Japanese) has taken some heat. So much so that it's funny to see his most recent restaurant venture posting a manifesto that reads more like a preemptive defense strategy against the inevitable haters. Then, once Red Medicine had declared that anyone can cook Vietnamese food, they went one step further to insure that not everyone could eat it. It almost seems like drama is part of the business model.

Here I am writing about hype and controversy, and not the experience itself. It's just become rather difficult to eat at Umami without considering all of the accompanying baggage... wait!

Maybe that's what Umami is! It's certainly difficult to define and always on the tip of your tongue. Who needs salty, sweet, sour and bitter when you have hype, dissent, puffery and provocation? The fifth taste! I get it.

While Father's Office and Golden State Cafe have made a name for themselves pairing craft beer with their burgers, the best drink you'll find at Umami's original location on La Brea is a Mexican Coke. If you're looking for booze with your burger, head to any of their other locations, where various alcohols account for a more considerable portion of the chain's sales.

We kicked things off with what appeared to be the healthiest thing on the menu. The truffled beet salad comes with ricotta, smoked almonds and truffle dressing, all served over a bed of baby arugula (below). For a salad at a burger joint, the beet dish was surprisingly well-executed - the smoked almonds were a particularly nice touch. That being said, neither Angela nor I tasted much truffle in the dressing.

The malt-liquor tempura onion rings (below, left) are a favorite of Angela's. We were also intrigued with the Smashed Potatoes (below, right). The battered rings have a really nice crisp golden exterior, and those smashed potatoes get bonus points for being double-fried. 

Now, on to the burgers. My first trip to Umami Burger came two years ago, shortly after their opening. My take at the time? Best burger I'd ever had. Since then, gourmet burgers have sprung up everywhere, and fast food joints like In-N-Out aren't the only competition anymore. It's a crowded field out there and I was sad to discover on the revisit that Umami wasn't quite everything I'd remembered it to be.

On our first visit, the triple pork burger (ground pork, chorizo and bacon with manchego cheese) and and the hatch burger (made with four types of chiles) fared pretty well with our taste buds. Mixing things up this time however, provided mixed results. The 'Manly Burger' (below) for instance, is topped with beer-cheddar cheese, smoked-salt onion strings and bacon lardons. There very well may be quality meat in this burger, but the excessive toppings and bold flavors make it hard to taste the meat itself. With burgers there is such a thing as too much.

  

Angela went with the SoCal Burger (below) which is topped with butter lettuce, slow-roasted tomato, house spread, American cheese and caramelized onions. She had fewer troubles with the additional flavors overwhelming the burger, and thought the beef was actually pretty well-seasoned and juicy. She especially enjoyed the subtle addition of the tomato spread, which added sweetness and tartness. Neither of us had much comment on the buns - they were fine, not too bready and held up well against the juiciness of the burger and toppings. But they didn't wow us, either.

We finished the meal off with a root beer float (below, left) and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich imported from Milk. Both sweet selections were a solid way to end the meal.

And so that brings me back to my original point. Is Umami the best burger in Los Angeles? It's not. Is Umami Burger an insult to the very idea of burgers? Nope. If you can get past all this 'umami' nonsense the burgers are pretty solid. But let's face it, Los Angeles has become saturated with gourmet burgers since Umami turned into a gazillion dollar franchise, and Umami's offering is just not drastically better (or worse) then so many of the other, less hyped burger joints in town. 

If you're planning to try Umami, make sure you hit up Golden State, Father's Office, Stout, 25 Degrees, Go Burger, 8 oz. Burgers, and Juicy Burger (who am I forgetting?) as well. You're likely to find many comparable or better burgers amongst that bunch. For my money, I still maintain that the burger at Oaks Gourmet Market is the best I've had in town.