The Counter-A New Twist on an Old Favorite

Ron and I went to the new burger joint in the Forum last week to see what the line out the door was all about. It's a new twist on everyone's favorite, the hamburger.

As you can see from the pictures, it's got a very casual, contemporary style, and is very crowded. Tables are so close that some heavier customers have trouble getting into their seats. Pretty embarassing. You'll find lots of families, young 20's and 30's singles, and many older folks too. I would call this a trendy restaurant. It made me feel like I was was back in L.A. I'm not sure why, maybe it was the well dressed young girls or the very demanding customers. I didn't like that feeling.

The food is very good. The twist is that everything, and I mean everything is a la carte. You decide on a 1/3 or 2/3 pound burger, then you have options, and every add on is another 50 cents. Lettuce, 50 cents, tomato, 50 cents, russian dressing, 50 cents, you get the picture. By the time you're done your burger could be $11-12 depending on what you add. Actually, I just went to their web site, and although they don't have prices, they say that you get a few toppings for 50cents. I think it may differ at various locations, but in any event, toppings are extra. And then come the fries. A combo of onion strings and french fries is $4.95 for a large portion. Ron and I spent $34 for the two of us, before the tip. Pretty pricey burger, if you ask me.

The burger was good, so were the fries. One criticism, other than that everything is extra, is that the tomato slices were so thin and the lettuce was not a nice big piece of crispy iceberg, but a lettuce blend all cut up, that kept falling off the burger. Additionally, they serve chicken burgers, shakes, fried dill pickles (delicious- we had them) and a turkey burger.

It's certainly a restaurant you will want to try once, just to see what everyone's talking about. The Counter www.thecounterburger.com) has 22 stores in the Western U.S. They have crayons for the kids to keep them busy and a children's menu. One other negative for me, is the noise level. It's noisy with music playing in the background to make it even louder. I guess they think that's what people want. So give The Counter a try and let me know what you think. Good food, pricey but different enough that people may like it. You be the judge.