Pie N Burger review

I was on a mission to try "White Hut" in Pasadena. The rumor is that they have a burger that is of the Steak N Shake style. It was closed so I decided to make the most out of the spent gas and hit up a popular burger spot called Pie N Burger.

Now there are no doubt fans of this place and for good reason. Pie N Burger is a spoon. They do a great breakfast, the prices are fair for LA and they make a good burger. Now some call it the best in town. I beg to differ. I cannot call "good" the "best". Its a style preference I suppose but I just never feel completely satisfied when I leave Pie N Burger, its a good snack but its not burger nirvana. Lets take a look why . . .



Now there is no question that what we are looking at is a damn good burger. And taking this burger apart, each ingredient delivers, but not all together, not for me anyways. Lets start with the bun. A great bun, soft, bends like a blade of grass on a windy field. I have no problem with the bun. Next, the dressing. Thousand Island, made in house. Its great and I love thousand island, so no problem there. Raw onion, raw onion is the stuff of true meat lovers, no problem there. Cheese, I dig cheese, sometimes I get it sometimes I don't, its a mood thing in the end, I can deal with my cheese. Meat. Oh yeah, that part. The patty is a good quality meat. Too bad its cooked past medium well. I can't get over how hard it is to get a true medium rare in this town and Pie N Burger is no different. Lettuce. The Lettuce. The lettuce KILLS this burger. There is a ton on there, it dwarfs the patty and the bun. The lettuce is the deal breaker.



Upon closer look, one can see the ratio is way out of whack here.




"Where's the beef"

I have gone back to Pie N Burger and tried to request the burger "my way". While I have gotten the burger "light on the lettuce", time and time again my request for medium rare has gone unheeded. To be fair, Pie N Burger is not alone in their inability to cook the meat to order but I cannot call it the best. Also I really believe that LA has better "gourmet burgers" than "classic" ones. It may be comparing apples to oranges but when I go to 25 degrees I leave full, sated and my burger fix is taken care of, not so in Pasadena. Pie N Burger is good, and reminds me of a burger from my childhood, the one you get after school that ruins the dinner you are about to have at home in an hour. But I am a grown man and this burger is for children.

I give it a "B"