Unami Burger $11 (shiitake mushroom, caramelized onions, roasted tomato, parmesan crisp, umami ketchup)
If you’ve never heard of Umami Burger, it’s a hipster burger joint in Los Angeles that emphasizes the taste of umami in their burgers. If you’re asking yourself what the crap umami is (like I did) here’s how it’s explained by the restaurant:
“Taking its name from Japanese, umami is a pleasant savoury taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious.”
So there you go. Umami is a savoury taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate. Duh.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure I still don’t understand what the umami flavor is, but I will say that these burgers are delicious. They’re perfectly juicy (medium rare, the way beef is meant to be), and the bread has this great fluffy/chewy consistency. It’s like they took a normal hamburger bun and mated it with a donut. And for the record, I fully support the mating of any food with donuts. The babies could only be delicious. The burgers were a bit smaller than I was expecting from an $11-12 burger, but I remedied the situation with my quick thinking: ordering more burgers.
Umami Burger Menu
Iced Green Tea by “T Salon”
Malt Liquor Tempura Onion Rings – The umami ketchup they serve with the onion rings and fries is delicious. I don’t know if it’s the flavor of umami or what, but it’s unlike any other ketchup I’ve had.
Sweet Potato Fries
Truffle Burger $12 (house-made truffle cheese, truffle glaze) – If you’re wondering why you can’t see the inside of any of the burgers, it’s because when I tried cutting them in half they ended up looking like this. A great big pile of mushed burger. Which still tasted delicious, but didn’t look quite as beautiful as one would expect from the description “great big pile of mushed burger.”
Hatch Burger $10 (4 types of green chilies, house cheese spice up your life)
Manly Burger $11 (beer-cheddar cheese, smoked-salt onion strings, bacon lardons)
Earth Burger $12 (mushroom and edamame patty, white soy & truffle aioli, ricotta cheese, cipollini onions, butter lettuce, oven-roasted tomato)
Cake Monkey Desserts – Got tricked into getting these because the waitress said they were good. They are not. They taste like a Hostess Ding Dong but worse.
Umami Burger
850 S La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 931-3000
www.umamiburger.com/
