Sometimes you just want a burger. Let me clarify: Sometimes I just want a burger. Not a fast food burger, even if In-N-Out makes a killer one, but I’m looking for a hand-formed burger, made with good quality beef, a little bleu cheese, fresh tomatoes, red onions and lettuce and a bun that’s tasty, but not too doughy. Seems an easy proposition, but it’s not. There’s a handful of great burger joints in LA that are known for their predictable deliciousness, but it shouldn’t take a jaunt across town to satisfy that craving. (410 Boyd in Little Tokyo made my favorite burger ever, tucked into rosemary bread–but those were the days of Kash Brouillet, long before he opened Blue Star.)

One hot afternoon, not too many days ago, we stepped into 38 Degrees Ale House on Main in Alhambra to sample one of their 40+ beers on draught. Their beer menu was pretty impressive, packing a good number of classic brews, with some we’d never heard of and some local faves like Eagle Rock’s Solidarity. The menu seemed pretty standard bar & grill fare, with burgers, salads and the like, but I was focused on the burger. I chose the namesake 38 Degrees Burger with Angus beef, bleu cheese, onion relish, baby arugula, and garlic aioli. It’s hard to get a burger cooked rare most places, but here it came out delightfully red, not pink, not pinkish–but red, just the way I like it. My husband’s cheeseburger was cooked perfectly medium well and my daughter tossed back the mini sloppy joe sliders like a pro.

The decor is very early-2000 brewpub, but a lot of seating faces huge big screens that are playing various sporting events, so it’s a good place to go watch a game or several. Considering the amount of sports watching going on in the bar area, the space isn’t too noisy at all (and there is a separate dining section). Settle in with friends, drink a beer or two, enjoy the AC.

I’ll be back for the burger.

38 Degrees Ale House & Grill

100 W. Main St.
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 282-2038
www.38degreesalhambra.com/

Hailing from Los Angeles, I’m a Mexican food snob. So Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen, Vegas’ chain of MexAm restaurants, would not customarily be my first choice. Frankly, their food is tasty enough, but is as Mexican as I with my red hair and freckles. But my in-laws live in Vegas and, party animals that they are, they have a trunkful of these cute margarita glasses that not only guarantee you a larger pour of one of my favorite elixirs, but also a deal ($3) on the tab. After a couple of these, it really doesn’t matter that the salsa has no zing and the cheese is an unnatural shade of yellow. All is well in the world. And family? They’re the greatest.

www.Macayo.com

After a week spent wishing I was in festive New Orleans and not rainy LA, I was able to get my fix at the most unlikely of spots, just off Lake Ave. in Pasadena.

Coming out of Pasadena’s 2nd run movie house, the Academy, after an afternoon hiding from the rain, we were drawn around the corner to the scent of fresh baked pastries and found ourselves in the small storefront of The Gourmet Cobbler Factory. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked past this place in the evening and never noticed it.

Obviously, most everyone in the area knows about this place, because the cases were almost empty. But we scored a small peach cobbler that barely made it home and a blueberry cobbler for Super Bowl Sunday. And then I got of whiff of what I’d been craving: gumbo! Homemade gumbo, with that earthy, smoky, meaty essence that sets good authentic gumbo apart from the pretentious stuff others make. A sample was quickly devoured and we ordered a quart to go and they sent along a pint of rice. It was quite a feast.

The Gourmet Cobbler Factory

33 North Catalina Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91106-2301
(626) 795-1005

Gone are the days of the two Martini lunch. I always thought ‘good riddance’–after all, I can barely function after a glass of wine with lunch. Well, after a week of late nights trying to meet a printer deadline, I finally had the day off and met at Musso’s with a friend I hadn’t seen in 16 years–how’s that to make you feel as ancient as Musso’s itself?

This venerable Hollywood instituion–and, at 90, the oldest restaurant in the neighborhood–though Miceli’s down the street comes in a close second–does a mean breakfast menu. Omelets perfectly prepared (I had the mushroom and tomato) and the bar is fully open and well populated.

Nothing changes there. Manny is still at the door and just as big a flirt as ever. The geezer factor is high, but it’s also full of young filmmaker types and plenty of others who come to soak up the atmosphere. And the steaks. Me, I come for the extra dry vodka martini–and am never disappointed.

Musso and Frank Grill

6667 Hollywood Blvd. 90028

www.MussoandFrankGrill.com