Opening Soon: A Burger Round-Up

Can Los Angeles be considered an unofficial burger capital of the U.S.? It wouldn't be a tough argument to make. We have plenty of burger joints: Apple Pan, Hawkins House of Burgers, In-N-Out, Father's Office, Rick's, Pie'n'Burger, and Earlez Grille, to name a handful. Next week, two burger joints — one chain and the other borne from one — will be expanding the roster.

Hailing from San Diego, Burger Lounge is opening a new location in Santa Monica, the third, coming after openings in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. In celebration of its grand opening on Wednesday, March 13, all proceeds from sales of the Lounge Burger (made with an 100% grass-fed beef patty) will be donated to the local chapter of Growing Great. The following day sales of vegetarian options like the organic quinoa veggie burger will also go towards the non-profit organization focused on school gardens and nutritional education.

On Friday, March 15, BUILT Custom Burgers will debut close to USC, at Figueroa and Exposition. BUILT is a fast(er)-casual brainchild of the team behind The Counter. Some of the same concepts will be carried over, with an emphasis on building one's own 1/4-pound burger. Except it will be more like the burger version of Subway's, Chipotle, or 800 Degrees: in which a customer watches the construction of her sandwich at the burger bar, built according to individual specifications. In addition to the sandwich, there will be options for beverage customization of sorts, in the form of “Coca-Cola Freestyle” with 125+ flavors.

Burger Lounge: 213 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica.

BUILT Custom Burgers: 3584 Figueroa St., Los Angeles.

And in related news:

– Hawkins House of Burgers: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

– Best Lowbrow Burger 2012: The Spice Table

– 10 Best Burgers in Los Angeles

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