Eureka! Burger Debuts New Tasting Kitchen Concept at Hawthorne Airport

Hark! There's a new burger place opening up on the horizon! That is, of course, if the horizon is actually just the Hawthorne Airport. Eureka! Burger is the shouty burger lounge concept that's been popping up throughout central and southern California since 2009, and now they're coming to Hawthorne.

With a focus on (in their words) eater-tainment, Eureka! has had success in the beer and burger market by offering up weekly themed events, bouncy house music and plenty of screens for your hungry eyeballs. But with their new home base at the Hawthorne Airport — the entire restaurant group will be moving their corporate headquarters above the new digs — Eureka! is expanding into a “Tasting Kitchen” concept. Backed by Manhattan Beach chef Ron Guidone, the flashy Eureka! Tasting Kitchen looks to expand on their current burger lineup with fresh ingredients, a full run of local beer taps and inventing recipes that are honed in-house.

With Space X and about a zillion other corporate office buildings within paper airplane-tossing distance of the Hawthorne Airport, Eureka! is making a pretty safe bet that office workers might flock to something a little more upscale than a strip mall lunch. As an exclusive to the new Hawthorne location, they'll be offering the Vodka Burger, a Havarti-topped slab of beef that comes with peppers, garlic, capers, onion and prosciutto, all tossed in together with a stiff swig of vodka and sautéed. Other options from the expanding Tasting Kitchen concept include a Beach Boys Benedict and eggy plates of huevos rancheros. And with taps that include Ballast Point, Bear Republic and Green Flash — plus a whiskey shelf that's said to be sagging with options — the 88-seat restaurant will probably be doing a strong two-drink lunch business.

With seven other California locations, Hawthrone Airport is the first of what Eureka! Burger hopes to become a wider Los Angeles expansion plan. And, with the new Tasting Kitchen concept, perhaps an entirely new business model to go along with those vodka-soaked burgers. Eureka! Tasting Kitchen officially opens for business on May 15.

Eureka! Burger: 12101 Crenshaw Boulevard #200, Hawthorne; 310-331-8233.

See also:

– 5 Great Old School Burger Stands in Los Angeles

– Plan Check x Stussy Burger Collaboration Begins Saturday

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.