The Best Cheeseburger in Los Angeles, Roundup Edition

There's a a competitor at Club 26 on Washington Boulevard. Took my oldest daughter to lunch yesterday at Club 26 -- took along a copy of the Steve Perry novel I've been reading -- she took that as a challenge and was relentlessly witty and charming throughout lunch, so I never got to the Perry.

They have a variety of burgers at Club 26, including an obscene 5x5 patty plus cheese stack that no one over the age of 25 should even be in the same room with -- regular cheeseburgers are bad enough for you. This is the 3rd time I've eaten at Club 26, and both previous occasions I had the Old Fashioned -- medium rare burger, shredded lettuce, tomato, mustard, relish, wheat bun, cheddar. They grind their own meat at Club 26 and you can taste it. Twice previously I've rated this burger a 9 -- meat a little cold once, lettuce and tomato a little warm another time. Yesterday it was perfect -- burger doesn't make it into the Top 3 because of past inconsistency, but if I get another 10 out of them, I'll add it. (One of the 3 burgers in the Top 3 is the Pie'N'Burger in Pasadena -- which I've only had once, so it hasn't had a chance to exhibit inconsistency.)

It's a charming little restaurant, too, beyond the first-rate burgers. The beef chili nachos my daughter ordered were very good, and we split a lemon bar Sunday that was superb. It verges on romantic, as far as mood and setting, while being reasonably priced.

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Elsewhere and on other websites I've rated the burger at Marie Callendar's a 7. Had it again since the last time I blogged the Best Cheeseburger, and it's still a 7. Competent, fresh ingredients, nicely prepared. I like the pickles and thousand island a lot -- mostly I don't like thousand on burgers, but Marie Callendar's has the world's best thousand island, and it takes a burger that would be a 5 and makes it a 7, all by itself.

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There's a particular class of burger, the Plain Hamburger -- ketchup, mustard, pickles, burger, bun -- that very few places make well. Burger King's burger is a 4, for example, and the only Plain Burger that rates a 5 was at Mi Taco in Upland, California -- until recently. The Sunrise , fast-food joint on Venice Boulevard near where I live, about a mile west of the 405 on the north side of the street, produces a Kid's Hamburger on a toasted bun that's a 7. Burger goodness distilled to its essence. They also have a plain burger -- same thing with more bread around it -- a 5. Crispy toasted bread, hot from the toaster, good meat, good pickles, ketchup and mustard. I could eat that burger every day and weigh 300 pounds.

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About 2 in the morning some Fridays back I pulled through a 24-hour McDonald's and ordered the 2-cheeseburger meal. These aren't very good burgers, but you can improve them immensely by ordering them off-standard -- that way you don't get one of the pre-made burgers they stick under the lamps. I order mine without onions. Fresh and without onions, a 3. It's the only McDonald's burger that ranks that high -- the Quarter Pounder is a 1 and the Big Mac a zero. They now have adult burgers with lettuce and tomato, but I haven't tried them, and probably won't.