The Grind

I'm not a frequent burger eater, and rarely even glance over the burger portions of menus when I dine out. But every so often, a craving hits me like a ton of bricks. The I NEED A BURGER NOW feeling is very pursuasive, so it's always good to have a few favorite locations on hand to visit within a 5 hour window. No angering the burger gods on my watch.

The Grind is a popular local restaurant in the Arcadia area, just a few streets up from my apartment. I've been before for happy hour, but never ordered a burger (much to the dismay of all of my tablemates).

You feel a little bit shunned in those types of situations, especially when the menu offers about four alternative non-burger options. Which are actually really good. While my mom was in town the craving hit, and I knew we needed to check this place out. It also happened to be a Monday, a.k.a. all day happy hour. Such a win.

We decided to split the barbecue burger - which is topped with house made barbecue sauce, house made mozzarella, wild arugula and garlic aoli on a brioche bun. Awesome. A side of sweet potato fries to split made this the perfect meal size, I have no idea how people attempt to go at it alone. Coolest thing about these burgers? They're cooked in a coal-fired oven, which cooks the meat at more than 1,000 degrees. What! Crazy talk. So really you can't recreate this at home - I highly suggest you visit and check it out.

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