Best hamburger (restaurant): The Counter, Simmzy’s (TIE)
The Counter offers over three thousand possible combinations of hamburger, Simmzy’s offers three. You can take those three into double digits if you count the add-ins of roasted shiitake mushrooms, bacon, avocado, and fresno chili rings, but this race is still a tie between the establishment that offers a delightfully bewildering range of options and the one that offers just a few choices and does them very well. Dining at either place is delightful – at The Counter you can enjoy creating a custom burger and imaging how some of their toppings will complement each other – would the apricot sauce really go well with marinated artichokes and Danish blue cheese? (And yes, that’s a real option, and we haven’t even gotten to the question of whether the burger should be veggie, turkey, beef, or chicken, or whether it would be best on an English muffin, gluten-free bun, or something else.) The Counter and Simmzy’s have different approaches, and both work very well – hence the tie in this category, with a strong finish by Umami Burger as runner-up.
Simmzy’s, 229 Manhattan Beach Blvd., MB 310-546-1201
Runner-up: Umami Burger, 1040 Hermosa Ave, Hermosa Beach, (310) 214-8626