There's No Place Like 'Home'

Greetings, Readers!

Summer is just grinding along here in Los Angeles with the temperatures again hitting triple digits this weekend, I wanted to continue our summer discussion here on Burgers before the unofficial end to summer with Labor Day.

On a Friday night, we headed to Home, a quiet restaurant in Los Feliz made to look, well, home-y with a house-like exterior and a warm atmosphere lit by candles and accent lights at night. This is an excellent place to have a quiet dinner with one person or a small collection of friends, and was a place I hadn't visited in over two years.

Not planning to actually review a sandwich at this place, I quickly changed my mind when I saw that they had a Hawaiian burger on the menu. It had been quite awhile since I had one of those, and was curious to try it even though my original intention was some breakfast food.

The Hawaiian burger is made up a of a thick and juicy beef patty, topped with a thick slice of grilled pineapple, roasted green ortega chili peppers, pepper jack cheese and Home's special sauce.

The mixture of the slice of pineapple and the spicy green peppers and pepper jack cheese are the perfect combination. In each bite your taste buds surge between sweet and spicy. A perfect contrast and combination.

The burger patty was thick and juicy and, despite the flavor blast of the other ingredients, still shines through.

Really, the only downside here was the bun. By the end of the burger it had fallen apart because of the other ingredients. Don't get me wrong, this was very delicious, but by the end, you may be opting to use a fork instead.

I think I'd have to consider my suummer of exploring summer foods has been a fairly large success. There have been some real winners (here and here) that I hope you will get a chance to try out, or at the very least find a comparable option in your neighborhood.

This weekend I am off to Cleveland for a wedding, but have no fear, I will still have time to delve into the sandwiches while there. So stay tuned for next week's blog entry all you 216-ers.

P.S. - Thank you for all of your votes for LA Weekly's Best of Web competition. I did not get nominated, but your support is greatly appreciated. I will try to get even better by next year's nominations so that hopefully I have a shot to be nominated. Thanks again!


Hawaiian Burger
**** Stars
Home
1760 Hillhurst Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027
http://www.homelosfeliz.com/

It's Been A Long Time...For Some Short Rib

Welcome back, Dear Readers!

After having survived freefall on my 30th birthday, I was reminded that I still had so many sandwiches to taste yet in life, and what better time to take on one I had been postponing for quite some time.

Having relatives visiting me for my birthday, I decided to take them to a swank little eatery known as Joan's on Third in West Hollywood.

Taking a seat at one of the sidewalk tables, I anxiously awaited my Short Rib sandwich. Now Joan's has an amazing selection of sandwiches, and from what I hear, most are amazing. So if you are interested in trying this place out, but not dying for a short rib sandwich, you have plenty of excellent options.


Pulled short rib, melted jack cheese, arugula and sweet red onions stack up between two slices of grilled country bread. The short rib had definitely been cooked down the right amount of time. It just about fell apart when I bit into it, without being too mushy or ending up too dry.

Since the rib meat was pulled, the melted jack cheese permeated the whole sandwich from bread slice to bread slice.

The country bread was lightly buttered, lightly grilled, and highly delicious, adding a bit of crunch to the otherwise softer insiders of the sandwich.

Wow.

I'm still not sure why I delayed so long in eating this sandwich as it was definitely highly enjoyable, delicious, and worth a second trip. The sandwich is very similar to the sandwich i reviewed at 8 oz. Burger Bar back in December 2010, but I feel like Joan's version of the sandwich slightly edges out that one.

Like I mentioned before, Joan's has an incredible deep menu listing that can satisfy almost any customer, so if you're in the area you should absolutely check it out. But if you're looking for what most people (including myself now) consider the pinnacle of their sandwich mastery, you'd do well to try the Short Rib Sandwich.

In other sandwiching news, I will be heading back to Philadelphia for my brother's wedding this weekend will hopefully get at least one sandwich in for you east coasters to read about.  Congrats to Evan and Liz on their big day in advance.

So, Philly, what's the sandwich that is a must have?

Until next week, Readers...


Short Rib Sandwich
****
Joan's on Third
8350 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
http://www.joansonthird.com/

Yeah Baby, Yeah!

Greetings Readers!

This week my adventures found me at one of my favorite places in Los Angeles: Swingers.

Now you may not know that this is one of my favorite places because it's been quite some time since I've been there, but I used to visit there quite often. A few times a week in fact.

Having landed on their front doorstep by luck, I decided to walk in and try one of my favorite sandwiches there for review here. Maybe it's just me though, but something felt a little different on this visit, like something had changed.

Oh well, the sandwich should still be good, right?

I ordered the stuffed grilled cheese which has jack and cheddar cheeses, sliced tomatoes, guacamole, and grilled onions on grilled sourdough bread.

It really sounds delicious, and I remember it being amazing, but this sandwich fell short this time.

The blend of jack and cheddar cheeses were great and the guacamole and grilled onions were a delicious addition. Even the grilled sourdough was excellent.

It was the tomatoes that steered this entire sandwich wrong though. They were too watery and with very little taste, essentially washing out the taste of the other items on the sandwich. When i pulled out the tomato from the second half, the taste returned and the sandwich was much more enjoyable.

It'd definitely recommend removing the tomato to anyone looking to try this sandwich. Maybe next time I'll even ask the waiter to leave it off as well.

Until next week, Readers!

P.S. - Philadelphia readers, I will be back in the 215 at the end of this month. If you have suggestions as to where I should visit for a great sandwich while I'm home, please leave the suggestion in the comments section. Looking forward to trying a number of different places.

Stuffed Grilled Cheese Sandwich

*** Stars

8020 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90048

swingersdiner.com