25 Degrees

I have been really disappointed in the quality of my blog over the last couple of months. My jokes haven't been as funny. My insights haven't been nearly as profound. And maybe worst of all, my movie reviews have been incredibly shallow and lacking in regularity. I have been meaning to rectify this situation for the last couple of weeks but have been unable to come up with quality material. I ask myself why and am unable to come up with a quality reason for my lack of inspiration. In an effort to recapture my former glory I decided to revisit one of my favorite topics - The LA Burger Scene.

For the record, there are three tiers of the burger world as defined by me. These tiers are most easily defined by the price of the burger and are broken out as such:

Tier 1 - $0-$9.99
Tier 2 - $10-$19.99
Tier 3- $20 and above

Here are the reigning champs for each tier:

Tier 1 - In-n-Out Burger
Tier 2 - Fathers Office - And for all you contrarians who enjoy arguing simply for the sake of arguing, don't even bother mentioning The Counter in the comments. We all know that Fathers Office is by far the superior burger.
Tier 3- DB Burger. Yes, I know that technically this is a burger from the NYC but it is so amazing that it deserves top billing in this blog. Picture if you can braised short ribs and foie gras wrapped in top notch beef and sandwiched between two slices of heaven aka the bun of delight.

So now we have a new entrant in the contest - 25 Degrees. I have been meaning to go there ever since Joe Escalante of The Vandals and the 103.1 morning show declared it to be the best burger in LA.

25 Degrees (for some reason I kept calling it 28 Degrees. Maybe it was due to my affinity for a great little band called 98 Degrees. You may have heard of them. PS I totally stole this joke and am not ashamed of it.) is located on the ground level of The Roosevelt Hotel, which by the way is pretty awesome. It totally crushes The Chateau Marmont in every aspect ranging from architecture to ambiance. Oh yeah, and the burger is like 300 times better as well. If you haven't been to the Roosevelt you should totally stop by the next time you are in Hollywood. Hollywood, yuck. This is really the only drawback to 25 Degrees. You have to drive ALL THE WAY to Hollywood. I was reminded of the reality of ALL THE WAY to Hollywood on Saturday when I was distracted by this totally awesome story that I was telling and missed the La Brea exit and decided to take the 101 instead. I know that Mike swears the 101 is faster but it really isn't. I promise. So I got stuck in traffic on the 101 and it took forever to finally get to 25 Degrees. Luckily for me I didn't run out of totally awesome stories to tell and the time passed quickly.

I am really struggling right now with how best to summarize my 25 Degrees experience so I think I will just dive right in. The decor was fantastic. The deep burgundy booths combined with great wallpaper and cool light fixtures was perfect. As I side note, I learned that the wallpaper was velvet flocked wallpaper.

Now for the burger. I ordered the number one, the highlights of which were the caramelized onions and bacon. The beef was excellent. The bun was superb. After all was said and done, it ranked number two on my list of best tier 2 burgers. I don't think I would drive ALL THE WAY to Hollywood for the burger. However, if I was already at the ArcLight and in the mood for a burger, 25 Degrees is without a doubt the place I would go.

But wait, I am forgetting the best part. The sweet potato fries were undoubtedly the best sweet potato fries I have ever had. If I could combine the sweet potato fries from 25 Degrees with the special sweet potato fries dipping sauce from Fathers Office, I think I would literally be in heaven. They were really that good. But wait, there is more. I also was able to try the regular fries and they were undoubtedly the best fries I have ever had. Nice and thin. Perfectly cooked. And with great seasoning as well.

So overall I loved my trip to 25 Degrees. The solid burger combined with the great atmosphere and the best. fries. ever. combined to make a great burger eating experience. However, it is still no Fathers Office. And as I mentioned before I would probably not drive ALL THE WAY to Hollywood just for the burger. But I will definitely go back. Maybe next time I am at the ArcLight.