Counter Act

Dressed up burgers are peeking from their egg washed bonnets all over town these days. I’m all for affordable indulgence, but certain topping combinations are becoming more overexposed than brawling Bravolebrities. 

Consider A Restaurant’s beef patty the size of a solidarity fist with its buttery brioche bun, caramelized onions, bleu cheese and  bacon. Now ponder Haven Gastropub’s mad amalgamation of pork and beef entangled with pungent pickled red onions and blanketed with triple cream bleu cheese. Sound familiar?   

The fun of  the rapidly expanding 25 branch hipster franchise The Counter is having infinite choices of what to put or not put on your juicy whoopee cushion of grilled goodness, even when the current trend is all about blue-veined cheeses, manipulated onions and pork. 

Whipped avocado, fried tomatillos and pepper jack? Check!

With its powdery blue walls, soft globe lighting and industrial aluminum furniture, OC’s brand new and only branch of The Counter is the latest backdrop for stylish alternative servers with the deliberate bed head of  Himalayan guinea pigs and the ink, but not the vacant poker-faced stares of Travis Barker.   

The treated concrete floor and large retractable wall that bathes the room in light give the impression of an artist’s studio or gallery space, but under its cool facade lies a warm fuzzy ethos. The website says The Counter was ‘anti-established’ in 2003, but the most subversive thing about the chain is the radical step of ditching factory meat and choosing humanely raised and handled Angus beef.  

Did you miss out on waiting tables? There’s still time! At the counter, you take your own order by checking off boxes in five sections of the menu on a clipboard.  While you do this, you will need inspiration. A fifty-fifty combo of sweet, wispy fried onion strings and match-stick thin savory fries served with barbecue and ranch can help. On another visit, the monthly special was a  gritty application of low-end parmesan on fries and the fried dill pickle chips channeled Carl’s Jr.’s slimy fried zucchini coins, but with a sodium-packed punch. This left valuable real estate in my gut for the main course. 

I built a 1/3 lb. manwich with horseradish cheddar, roasted chiles, roasted red peppers, mixed baby greens, grilled onions,fried onion strings and  roasted garlic aioli. In a deft feat of physics, the chefs balanced my seven unwieldy topping selections with Jenga-like precision. Juicy, savory and seared to a pink medium rare, the beef  seemed to absorb all the other flavors and textures on its pliable, crenelated surface. 

If you were fashion challenged  kid swaddled in the Garanimals mix and match separates who learned never to pair the monkey label shorts with the rhino tag shirt, choosing from a legion of toppings and sauces might be tough. My advice: order a malty bottle of Three Philosophers Ale, take a deep breath and go for it! Sun dried tomatoes, herbed goat cheese spread, fried eggs, soy-ginger glaze  and caramelized onion marmalade are just a few choices. Be brave and change it up in 2010! 

The Counter 6416 Irvine Blvd. Irvine, CA 92620.949.336.7272. Dinner for two, $25.00, food only.

Tags: angus beef, burgers, diner, humanely-raised beef