The Counter started in Santa Monica, with their unique build-your-own burger concept with clipboard menus for you to customize your own burgers. Fourteen years later, they’ve expanded to over 40 locations in the US and internationally, creating a burger empire.

The Counter still offers the create-your-own-burger clipboard menu, with over 85 ingredients and over 1 million possible combinations. To assist you with deciding, there’s even a regular menu with preset Signature burgers, sandwiches and salads, along with appetizers.

I seem to have the only teen in America who does not eat burgers. For my non-burger lover, there’s the Grilled Cheese Trifecta, a blend of Tillamook yellow cheddar, provolone and American cheese on grilled sourdough.

If you like deals, there’s the Counter Combo offered all day Monday through Fridays. For $12, you can choose one of four burgers and a side (fries, sweet potato fries or salad). An extra $5 will get you a Stella Artois on draft.

I could not resist and got the combo with a Chipotle Turkey burger. The burger had jalapeño jack, lettuce, dried cranberries, scallions and chipotle aioli on a brioche bun.

Burgers are all natural, antibiotic free, with no added hormones and weigh 1/3 pound after cooking. The patty was definitely a good size and luckily the burger wasn’t too spicy. As with most of the burgers here, I definitely needed a knife and fork to eat it.

Admittedly, the flavor combination wasn’t something I would have chosen if left to my own devices (dried cranberries on a burger?), but by eating a turkey burger, I could feel better about scarfing down the sweet potato fries.

My husband was excited to see that the Impossible Burger had made it to The Counter. The Impossible Burger patty is 100% vegan, plant-based and tastes remarkably like beef. He chose to build his own burger with the Impossible Burger, grilled onions, pineapple and cheese. When cooked medium rare, the Impossible Burger even “bleeds,” but he chose to get his cooked medium well.

If you’re planning on visiting LACMA or the La Brea Tar Pits, The Counter offers free 90-minute validated parking in the lot in back, with up to an additional 90 minutes for $3 – a deal since parking at LACMA costs $16. A trip to the museum and burgers and fries? Sounds good to me.

Location –  5779 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90036. Additional locations throughout California, across the US and internationally.
Website – http://www.thecounter.com
Kid-Friendly – Yes
Kid’s Menu – Yes
Vegetarian/Vegan Friendly – No
Gluten-Free Options – Yes