The Secret Is Out About Burger Parlor - CLOSED

Burger Parlor 

108 W. Wilshire Ave.

Fullerton, CA 92832

When I heard of Burger Parlor, I knew I had to go. When I read the reviews from other blogs, Burger Parlor immediately moved up my restaurant wish list. If you have ever read my blog before, you know that I love hamburgers. They are such a diverse yet simple food. Our county has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great burgers here. I was just hoping that Burger Parlor could live up to the hype I had built up in my mind.

Burger Parlor comes to us from Joesph Mahon, a classically trained chef. From La Habra, he left to learn his craft, but now he is back in OC, building burgers four nights a week. Oh yeah, did I mention that Burger Parlor is a pop-up restaurant? They share space with Rialto Cafe Wednesday through Saturday nights. The pop-up aspect of Burger Parlor added to my excitement. It was like a secret spot, even though it had already been written up in numerous places. Enough chit-chat, though; let's take a look at the food.

Before our dining partners arrived, we ordered the Snack Shack to start us off. This is not your standard chili cheese fries. At Burger Parlor, they serve Belgian fries with a short rib chili and a cheese sauce. I am not usually one to like cheese sauces, but this one was very smooth and not crazy cheesy. The potatoes were different from what I had expected, too. They came cut larger than I would have liked, but it worked here. They were cooked all the way through and were a great compliment to the chili. My one complaint about this would be that I would have liked more chili served with this. Otherwise, it was a delicious starter.

I will start the burger portion of our show with my choice for the evening, the Mahon Burger. This burger features pastrami, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, pickles, and a mustard sauce. Once again, this burger was different from what I had expected, but it was terrific. The pastrami was not sliced. It was cubed. This allowed for more pronounced bites of the meat. The burger was very juicy, and the cheese was good as well. The mustard did get lost here, but that can usually be a good thing because mustard tends to overpower foods. I would definitely get this burger again, but first, I have others that I need to try on future visits.

Some people like putting potato chips on their sandwiches; that is what Katie's burger reminded me of. The Chip Shot combines fontina cheese, chipotle aioli, mushrooms, and tomato confit, with potato chips added to the top. Katie felt the burger tasted fresh, but she would have liked a more robust cheese. The fontina was too mellow for her, so all she could taste was beef and potato chips. She did mention that the bun was incredible. Mahon worked with a small bakery to perfect his bun recipe, and the buns really stood out from the items inside the burgers.

The health nut of our group, Heather, ordered the OC Burger. This one featured a turkey patty with sprouts, avocado, carrots, provolone, and an herb sauce. I usually stay away from turkey burgers, but the bite I had might change my mind about the holiday fowl being used in a burger. The patty was very moist, and the condiments used here were fresh. They melded together nicely. She also had some fries, which were sliced thicker than I would have liked, but they were crisp and cooked all the way through, so they turned out to be all right. Heather was pretty happy with her choice.

Trevor had one of the more unusual burger offerings at Burger Parlor, the Lasorda Burger. With a name like that, you would expect it to be a bloated burger featuring blue cheese (Get it? Because the Dodgers wear blue, and because he is a big guy!). This burger came with a sausage patty, a fried mozzarella patty, oregano, and roasted peppers. Trevor enjoyed this burger but was not overly impressed. He felt that the fried cheese here was a little over the top. He would opt for a more traditional burger the next time he was here.

We also ordered Beer-Battered Onion Rings. These had a great outer coating that overshadowed the onion inside, but that is easy to do with onion rings. They came out scalding hot. We ordered feta sauce to go along with them, which went very nicely with them.

Burger Parlor was all it was advertised to be. The burgers were fresh, and the combinations worked well. The menu is small compared to other burger spots, but you will find a burger you like. They offer ten different burgers, three sides items, and three salads. Next time, we will have to save room for desserts. The Ice Cream Sandwich and Banana Bread Pudding really caught our eye.

The prices were a little on the high side, but these are gourmet burgers, and it is okay to splurge occasionally. They run in the $8 to $11 range, and with fries and a drink, it will run you about $16. A little higher than that combo meal at Carl's Jr., but way more satisfying. This place really reminded me of Umami Burger. Smaller burgers that really hit the spot. We were glad to be part of the, "in crowd", on this particular night.

Out of five glasses of Hawaiian Punch (because it is a little-known fact that Hawaiian Punch was invented in a converted garage in Fullerton), five being best to zero being worst, Burger Parlor gets a solid 3.5 glasses of Hawaiian Punch.

For more information on Burger Parlor, click here: http://www.burgerparlor.com/