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8 oz. burger bar on melrose (closed)
7December 2nd, 20088 oz. burger bar (closed), LA restaurantsUPDATED 2011: this place is now closed. RIP vegan burgers and beer.
recently, i joined fellow la blogger and chef extraordinaire jenn shaggy for a fantastic vegan lunch as she introduced me to the local 8 oz. burger bar on melrose. apparently jenn doesn’t just write about vegan food and make fabulous cruelty-free twinkies; she can also drop knowledge on new vegan-friendly los angeles eats and thirst-quenching watering holes. 8 oz. burger bar turned out to be a both: a chill restaurant offering one of the best meatless burgers in town, and also boasting a large selection of beers on tap. the perfect place for two alchie vegan girls to get their eat and drink on.
8 oz. veggie burger: sunflower sprouts, wild arugula and avocado. with roasted mushrooms and hot sauce. $10
you see, 8 oz. burger is one of those joints that serves vegan food but advertises it nowhere on their menu. to many melrose-shopping la peeps passing through, the word “vegan” probably means “healthy-and-bland-beyond-belief,” and makes hip meat-eaters recoil in horror. 8 oz. is smarter than that, they avoid the v-word entirely. they simply list the ingredients of their veggie burger on the menu and and also offer a wide array of sauces and condiments that are almost entirely vegan. if you have any doubts, the knowledgeable staff will let you know exactly what is animal-free. for instance, even THE ONION RINGS ARE VEGAN…they aren’t fried along in the same fryer with dead creature bits and god knows what else. i can’t wait to go back and try them out.
that being said, all i had this time was the veggie burger with roasted mushrooms and hot sauce. the patty was absolutely delicious. a blend of grains, vegetables and total awesomeness; it was thick, juicy and filling. so many places offer a soy protein vegan burger that obviously comes out of a box in the freezer. not this badass, it was cleary homemade and not even trying to emulate meat. the mushrooms were a great addition to the avocado and wild arugula, and the hot sauce was spicy and tangy as ever. jenn ordered the same but with purple mustard and heirloom tomato ketchup, which i tried and were both out of this world.
so in the end, while 8 oz. burger doesn’t have what i would call a huge vegan selection, it does offer one kick ass veggie burger. they also have tons of vegan additions, condiments, side dishes and starters. i figure one burger can go a long way, and i have loads of meals to eat at 8 oz. before i get bored. it’s a great place to saddle up, grab a bite, drink a few good beers and spend the afternoon.
PLUS…8 oz. burger bar is an awesome place to hang out with your meat-eating, beer-drinking hollywood friends when they want a “gourmet burger”.
Tags: beer, hollywood, veggie burger
7 responses to “8 oz. burger bar on melrose (closed)” 
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Purple mustard? Wow… I want!
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Haha…this grumpy face icon really has to go.
I was just dreaming about heirloom tomato ketchup today. I love how you can see that my burger is practically leaning over from all the toppings I added.
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If/when you go back, try to remember to pay attention to whether there are onions cooked into the burger! 😉 Lucky you that you two got to have lunch together. 🙂
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Hmm, sounds like you got a better version than I did. I liked the ketchup, but man that patty was pasty and I thought it fell into the bland beyond belief category.
I did think the space was nice though. It’s a nice date space.
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The burger was pretty good; maybe a little too much black pepper and a tiny bit too much salt for me, but the texture was nice.
However, please do keep in mind that while the burgers may be vegan, the buns (at least the ones they currently use as of last night) are not. So if you want a vegan burger, you’ll have to get it sans bun. They claimed they’re looking for vegan buns, but haven’t liked any of the ones they’ve found.
Good news is that the onion rings are probably vegan (assuming the stout they use is vegan); they say there’s no egg or milk in the batter or used to soak the onions.
Counter has a similar problem (I believe their buns are more or less vegan, with the possible exception of some dough conditioners that could go either way), but they grill them in butter, so make sure to ask for a wheat bun with no butter if you eat there.
A lot of places that have vegan burgers or dogs aren’t at all careful about what they put in their buns, so I would always be careful to ask whether the BUN is also vegan, even if they tell you that the “burger” and its condiments are vegan.
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I checked out this place last night. Great music, cool atmosphere and tasty cocktails (a got the strawberry basil gimlet YUM). The real draw was the onion rings which were great too. The burger fell short of expectations. It was pasty and their buns aren’t vegan so it was served up between giant lettuce leaves.. after a minute or two I gave up and just used a knife and fork to eat. The toppings were barely-there and bland to boot. I’d go again if I was in that part of town but maybe bring my own bun and skip the head of iceburg lettuce.
Foodeater December 2nd, 2008 at 12:47