Foie Gras & Flannel

Stop #5 on the food tour during our weekend in Pasadena came as a recommendation from a local. We walked up to front door of The Counter around 12:45 p.m. on Saturday; like everywhere else we visited, the place was packed.

I thought it might be a southern California thing, but The Counter an international franchise. It’s rare for me to find a burger at a restaurant (especially a chain!) that rivals something I can make at home, but I really enjoyed our meal. I also enjoyed the “build a burger” experience, though another patron told us it’s even better at the Santa Monica location, where you can watch the construction (thus the “counter”).

Pictured above is what Kim ordered: The Counter Burger. The onion crisps were overkill, but the burger was tasty.

I ordered a bison burger (bison was the market special – it’s not normally on the menu) with smoked gouda, fresh greens, red onion and steak sauce. The burger was cooked a perfect medium, at the recommendation of our server, and had excellent flavor. Actually, I was quite impressed with how little seasoning was used, even with the steak sauce; it speaks highly of the meat quality.

Sweet potato fries. Hard to screw these up.

Each menu comes with a pencil to mark meat, topping and bread selections.

Action shot.

Crisp, clean. We sat out on the patio to soak in the weather.

Random story: I couldn’t help but watch this woman with her labradoodle – she was struggling to keep him from jumping on everyone that walked by.

From Euro Pane in Pasadena. I wanted to eat everything they had, but I refrained.