The Counter: Build your burger to order

The Counter comes to the South Bay via Plaza El Segundo

Today I was fortunate to  participate in a soft opening at The Counter, located in Plaza El Segundo.  The staff there referred to the event as a “Practice Party”.  Party indeed; All seats for this free — yes free! — event were by invitation and reservation only.  Thankfully, Annalise had been on top of this occasion for weeks so we had no problem getting a seat.  Sadly, folks without reservations were turned away at the door.  Bummer!  I didn’t feel bad for long though…there were burgers that needed to be eaten! 🙂  Not to mention this opening was one highly anticipated by us and others familiar with the great food served at other Counter locations.  I had heard amazing things about their fare, but never sampled it.  My expectations were high.

When I arrived, I ran into Lockell, one of my good friends from work.  She had heard about the Practice Party just this morning and had quickly made a reservation.  Fortunately, she was able to get in.  I sat and chatted while I waited for the rest of my party to arrive.  Lockell had opted to not “build” her burger; she ordered the Counter Burger, one of the six signature burgers offered on the menu.  I wondered why until I saw the menu.  Building your burger to specification at the counter comes with many choices!

When Margaret, Annalise, our good friend Mandi arrived, I was eager to get to the business of specifying a custom built burger.  First, we were instructed in the run rules for the Practice Party.  Each of us was offered to build a 1/3 or 2/3 pound burger — one 2/3 per table — with almost no limits on the cheeses, toppings, and sauces.  We could also order one appetizer and one shake per two guests.  Good thing there were four of us.  Unfortunately, beer, wine, and desserts were not available at the time.

The "Build your own burger" card at The Counter.

Ordering at the counter was similar to ordering at a sushi place.  We were given a card that outlined the 5 steps to building our burgers.  Step 1 is choosing the meat.  Choices were beef, turkey, veggie, or grilled chicken in 1/3 or 2/3 of a pound.  Or, for the hungrier crowd, a full 1 pound of meat could be selected.  I was the brave one of the bunch and ordered the 2/3 beef patty.  They also have an option for those that want to go bunless, a burger in a bowl.  Forget that…give me bread!

The next step, though, is selecting the cheese.  Being a big fan of most things spicy, I picked the horseradish cheddar.  Other options included Greek feta, Gruyere, and good old fashioned yellow American.

Step number 3 is probably what makes it so tough to build the perfect custom burger; choosing the toppings!  There are almost 30 toppings to choose from including the “regular” ones (you can be select four at no charge) and the premium ones that go for $1 each.  We marveled at the selection: dried cranberries, hard boiled eggs, grilled pineapple.  Our mouths watered while our minds raced trying to figure out what to choose.  Everything seemed tasty individually…not to mention how they might complement the burger!  I didn’t want to take my first experience too far from home, though, and chose grilled onions, mixed baby greens, and the standard issue tomato.  I did, however, pick up a premium addition with the honey cured bacon.

Step number 4, selecting a sauce, could have been another speed bump but I was hungry by that point.  With 18 sauces to sort through, I made an executive decision and went with the peppercorn steak sauce.  Finally at step 5, I chose the honey wheat bun.  Thankfully, there were only two other choices:  an English  muffin or the standard white bread hamburger bun.

The friendly and helpful staff answered any questions we had and quickly took our order.  In addition to our burgers, we added our two appetizers.  Margaret suggested the fried dill pickle chips while Annalise pitched the “Fifty-Fifty”, a plate of half regular fries and sweet potato fries.  Next we added our shakes: one chocolate-coffee and one peanut butter-banana.

Our food came up quickly, starting with the appetizers.  The pickle chips were a great treat.  Battered and fried evenly, they were crisp on the outside with a tart crispy pickle on the inside.  The pickles were paired with apricot sauce and one other creamy one that I can’t recall the name …both were tasty!  The fries were also served with the apricot sauce and a different, but also creamy sauce whose name I can’t recall.  The regular fries were, well, regular fries.  The swet potato fries were crispy and flavorful but also par for the course.  If you’re interest is in fries you could probably get better ones some where else…but the sauces made the difference!  I pretty much broke down to using the fries as spoons to eat the sauces.  In addition to the ones that came with the starters, we also asked for a palette of some of the other ones: peanut, roasted garlic aioli, spicy sour cream, sun-dried tomato vinaigrette, and sweet BBQ.  Hands down, the peanut was the best.  By the end of the meal everything except the shakes had been dipped in there!  Speaking of the shakes…fabulous!  They were served in tall, plastic cups topped with whipped cream. The chocolate-coffee one was the perfect blend of mocha and coffee. The peanut butter-banana one left us speechless with the taste of fresh bananas and toasted peanuts.  I must admit, I bogied that one!

The Counter Burger, one of six signature burgers on the menu.

The appetizers and shakes were closely followed by our burgers.  Annalise and Mandi got there burgers just fine.  As for Margaret and me, ours were beautiful…they were just put together wrong.  Somehow our orders — which were similar but not identical — had become crossed.  She had my 2/3 burger on her English muffin while I had my grilled onions on her 1/3 burger on my whole wheat.  All of our specs were there so we pondered a way to make the swap without having to send it back.  Our waiter was quick to assure us that fixing it would not be a problem and whisked our plates away.  We returned our attention to the starters while we waited a few minutes or less for our correctly prepared orders.

The burgers were very good.  They were cooked to perfection, with my well done being firm and brown through out.  Everyone else had medium wells, browned nicely on the outside and pink on the inside.  I was the only one that got a bun; the ladies opted for the English muffin and commented on the interesting change from the typical bun.  With at least 1/3 of a pound of meat (we all ordered the beef), the burger toppings, and the bread, biting our burgers was a mouthful.  Each plate was served with a knife to cut them into manageable pieces.  We all managed to finish at least a half with me (having ordered the 2/3 pounder) wolfing down the equivalent of the whole of everyone else’s.  Oh, I forgot to mention that at The Counter, the burger weight is the weight AFTER cooking.  I’m sure you could order the big daddy one pounder and split it with a friend.  Its listed on the menu for $13.25!

We finished what we could of the appetizers and packed what remained of our burgers in to-go boxes.  Wow!  What an tasty experience!  We all agreed that a return trip was in order.  Even though we’d given it our best shot, there was still too much on the menu to explore.  Look out for more updates from The Counter!

The Counter

700-A Allied Way
El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 524-9967