tiffin unboxed

The first time at Umami Burger, at the La Brea location, a couple of friends and I tried several things on the menu and cut everything into quarters. Perhaps there were too many distinct tastes for any one thing to stand out. While everything was tasty, I did not understand they raves and thought it wasn't something I'd try again.

Recently, after a long show at the Hollywood Pantages Theater, a couple of friends and I walked over to the Cahuenga location for a late dinner. It could have been the extreme hunger talking, but the signature burger was magical to taste and delicious to behold.

The burger is based on the savory, meaty fifth taste (after bitter, salty, sour, sweet) of Umami. Umami is attributed to glutamate which is naturally occurring in certain foods. What is unique about these combinations in the burger is that they meld together to create that deep flavor, rather than provide flavor and texture contrasts like In-N-Out burgers' raw onions do in that burger.

The burger looks like their gorgeous logo. And this time I noticed the logo branded on top of the shiny, Portuguese bun that has a light and elastic quality. It soaks up the juices and provides the perfect ratio of bread to the other ingredients. It is one of the few burgers where I will eat both of the buns.

Nobody knows the complete set of ingredients but what can be discerned is the freshly ground beef patty griddled to medium-rare, a parmesan cheese frico, a roasted tomato, carmelized onions, a grilled shitake mushroom and a side of the housemade Umami ketchup.

Like I said, there is nothing new and different about this burger, but they should just keep doing what they're doing.