Master Burger #4

• 1001 S. Broadway
• Los Angeles, CA 90015
• (213) 536-5039
• No Known Website
• Menu

Friday in Los Angeles was a pretty easy day for us.  We still worked twelve hours but we weren’t as stressed and running around as much as we had been for a few days.

When we were out driving around downtown earlier in the day, my co-worker pointed out a restaurant that was right down the street from our hotel.  The advertised burgers, pasta, and pizza on signs outside.  When it came time for dinner, he asked if I’d be interested in walking to get some pasta.

The restaurant on the corner of Broadway and Olympic in downtown Los Angeles is Master Burger #4.  The #4 comes from being the fourth in a small chain of burger joints.  The original is in Vermont Square southwest of downtown.

The building, painted in solid blue, red, and yellow, looks a little out of place in a somewhat hipster part of Los Angeles known as the Broadway Theater District.  This is the kind of place I expect to find in a neighborhood in Chicago and while this one is in a pretty heavily trafficked area, the other three locations tend to be more neighborhood spots.

The restaurant looks to have recently opened.  Using Google Streetview, this building shows to have been a Japanese restaurant as recently as last fall.

The restaurant is set up like any other fast food joint.  There’s an order counter next to the kitchen that also has warming lots for pizza slices.  There was no good menu hanging anywhere, but there were a couple of laminated ones on the counter so we each took one to look over the menu.  There were pictures of some of their offerings in a lighted menu board but it didn’t include prices or a complete list of their offerings.

We both ended up ordering burgers and fries.  My co-worker was in the mood for pasta but wasn’t sure about fast food pasta so he stuck to the burger.  We were given numbers then took a seat at one of the tables in the dining room.  Nothing fancy here.  Simple dining room with simple tables and chairs.

Things got interesting as we were waiting for our food.  There was a couple who wasn’t happy with anything.  They didn’t like their burger.  They didn’t like that the pop they wanted was broke on the fountain.  They started yelling at the poor kid who was manning the register then started getting more irritated as he couldn’t figure out how to open the register to give them a refund without making a sale.  It got really intense when he tried to get them a pop but the Sprite was out so he couldn’t mix it with something.  The guy started yelling about being able to do whatever he wants since he paid for it.  Someone from the kitchen finally came to the counter and the guy that was yelling at the teenager all of a sudden stopped yelling.  As this was going on, more and more people were coming in the door and the kid was trying to take orders as fast as he could while dealing with an irate couple who seemed like they just wanted to be angry.

A few minutes after all of this dies down, a cook comes out of the kitchen with two trays of food and sets it down in front of us.

I ordered the Pastrami Burger because why not?  I like Pastrami and I like burgers.  It sounded like a good combo….and it actually was.  The fresh burger patty had a great grilled flavor.  It was a little greasy and obviously grilled on a flat top that produces a lot of burgers.  The Pastrami was thinly sliced and also grilled.  This made the Pastrami work a little bit like bacon.  It added a slightly salty kick to the burger.  I added on cheese which cost me extra on this burger but it worked pretty well to keep the Pastrami where it should be.  This is actually the kind of burger I really like.  The loosely packed meat was so good and had such a great grilled crust hanging out on the outside.

To go with my burger, I added Chili Cheese Fries.   The simple crinkle cut fries were topped with a thin meat sauce and shredded cheddar cheese.  It reminded me a lot of a Coney sauce and with a little mustard, it would have been a pretty good replication of the Detroit delicacy.  The fries were good but everything here really tasted out of a can.

Master Burger #4 was an interesting experience.  Things got a little intense there for a while until cooler heads prevailed, but I really liked my burger.  It’s just the kind of cheap, diner style burger that I could eat every night.  The restaurant doesn’t seem like it belongs in this neighborhood but it was pretty packed at 9:00 on a Friday night, so there’s definitely a market for it.