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Savvy Men Know Meat: GQ Names Umami 'Burger of the Year'
Photo by carlos ※ rossi via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Photo by carlos ※ rossi via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Gentlemen (and ladies), the Burger of the Year is LA's own Umami, says GQ Magazine in their December issue.
Food writer Alan Richman says the magical "fifth taste" burger from Adam Fleischman's burger emporiums is "half beef and half beyond belief." (Actually, Richman's take of Fleishchman borders on idolatry, too: "This is a man among burger men, worthy of our adulation," whose "face belongs on the Mount Rushmore of the burger world."
The burger itself is a standout: "Elsewhere in L.A., the burger world is in disarray," says Richman, sneering in the subtext at Burger Kitchen for importing meat from Manhattan, and claiming that the fast food stand-bys are "in retreat." (Richman seems to have missed some of the other amazing burgers in town, like at Cube, Comme Ca, or even 25 Degrees. Tsk tsk.)
Still, this is Umami's moment of glory, and we don't mean to distract. You know that burger: It's small, it's rich, and it's something just next-door to salty (that's the umami flavor, yo!). You don't know that burger? For shame, meat eaters. Get thee to a Umami to see what the fuss is (or isn't) about. Report back. Burgers are serious business.
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