Today, Umami Burger steps into the world of fast casual burger-dom — the other words fast food — with the opening of U Mini on Westwood Ave in Westwood Village. The new location, which opened to the public at noon today, is serving smaller burgers (sliders?) at a cheaper price point than regular Umami burgers.

The new spot is a testing-ground, both for the concept of going fast food with the Umami brand, and as a place to test out new recipes for the company. In other words, if all goes well, you can expect to see U Minis popping up all over the country. Maybe.

Umami is expanding at breakneck speed these days. This is the third new restaurant for them in the past four months, with a huge, swank location opening at the Grove in August and a Pasadena location opening late last month.

U Mini: 1131 Westwood Ave., Los Angeles.

And in somewhat related news:

A Salute to Burgers in Los Angeles

Poll: The Underrated Burger Smackdown

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