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News & ArtsTuesday, September 15, 2009
Chow Battle Royale (With Cheese)
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Opening September 21 in Ballard: The Counter, an upscale burger chain out of Culver City, California, with locations from New Zealand to Salt Lake City to Ireland. The Counter offers more than 312,120 possible combinations from its build-your-own-burger menu; ingredients include hormone and antibiotic-free fresh Angus beef, housemade vegan burgers, and "specialty seafood burgers" with options of 10 cheeses, 28 toppings, 18 sauces, and three types of buns. What's that? You want some annoying advertising copy?
Anti-Established in 2003, The Counter® is the 21st century’s bold answer to the classic burger joint. Ushering in a fresh era of industrial decor, today’s music, cold beer, unique wines, cocktails, and burger options that are only limited by your imagination.
Ballard already has its own locally owned, build-your-own-burger-from-mind-boggling-numbers-of-artisan-options spot, Lunchbox Laboratory. Chef/owner Scott Simpson said by phone he's had a The Counter burger before: "It was pretty good." They do a charbroiled burger, he says, so the taste will be different, but he noted that the prices are similar and that it's a similar operation overall to Lunchbox Laboratory. He sounded philosophical about the "huge corporate chain," as he put it. "They might put us out of business," he said, "then that's another locally owned place that's gone. We'll see." But! He also says Lunchbox Laboratory may be moving to a different neighborhood anyway—the building it's in is falling apart, and they're looking for a new location. "They wanted to come here to battle us," he said, "but we might be gone."
- DREW MCKENZIE
- Eat local, dammit! Lunchbox Laboratory's fine foods.
1
I've been watching them put in The Counter for a while now and the whole time I've been thinking "why does Ballard need two yuppie burger places?" Lunchbox Lab is great, it fits its niche, its small and kind of esoteric. The Counter looks like it's going to be all faux-spartan.
What Ballard really needs is a coffee place that's open till midnight and serves pie.
What Ballard really needs is a coffee place that's open till midnight and serves pie.
2
@1: Make it 24 hours and we're golden.
Personally, I think LL needs to move to First Hill by the Frye. Or I wonder if 7th and Madison has restaurant space? Hmmmmmm!
I say this without any sort of bias involved. Nope, none.
Personally, I think LL needs to move to First Hill by the Frye. Or I wonder if 7th and Madison has restaurant space? Hmmmmmm!
I say this without any sort of bias involved. Nope, none.
3
Just keep it away from CapHill. I'm on a diet and it's bad enough I gotta walk by ice cream, frozen custard, and cupcakes on my way to stir-fried-veggies-and-brown-rice at Ballet.
4
I was looking at The Counter's menu and it looks like a pretty good burger joint, but its choices pale in comparison to Hampton's Hollywood Cafe in Los Angeles (RIP, Hampton's, and thanks for some mighty righteous hamburgers over the years). If I recall, they had about 30 items you could add on to the standard burger - including, believe it or not, peanut butter and jelly.
I once asked a waiter if anyone ever orders the peanut butter and plum jam addition. "Yeah, sometimes," he said.
http://www.seeing-stars.com/dine/Hampton…
I once asked a waiter if anyone ever orders the peanut butter and plum jam addition. "Yeah, sometimes," he said.
http://www.seeing-stars.com/dine/Hampton…
5
I'll stick with my not-quite-as-pretentious local burger joint: Blazing Onion Burgers. The options are pretty slim in Lynnwood, but BOB would survive anywhere.
8
I live in Ballard and I've never heard of Lunch Box lab. Looking at their location - it isn't the best if yuppie is part of your customer target groupl But it looks good. I'm going to go try it before they move!
10
Enough with the "Angus beef". They serve Angus beef at frigging Jack in the Crack. "No antibiotics", "all natural", yadda yadda, you're missing the point, which is: GRASS FED. Grain fed beef is an ecological catastrophe; grass fed is sustainable, within reason.
11
Funny, I just wrote a review on yelp about Lunchbox Laboratory earlier today. I had some insane sticker shock when I went there. Nearly $40 for burgers for two people? I'll NEVER go to that ass-rape palace again.
I hope the counter is CHEAPER and less pretentious then Lunchbox Labs. I guess we'll see.
I hope the counter is CHEAPER and less pretentious then Lunchbox Labs. I guess we'll see.
12
@9:
Unfortunately, no. Although by the time you get done eating a burger & a side, there's generally not much room for anything else. I always wonder how people can manage to get down the milkshakes, even when they're splitting it with someone else.
@11:
Yeah, I'm sure your patronage will be sorely missed there. And enjoy your $0.99 Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheese pellets.
Unfortunately, no. Although by the time you get done eating a burger & a side, there's generally not much room for anything else. I always wonder how people can manage to get down the milkshakes, even when they're splitting it with someone else.
@11:
Yeah, I'm sure your patronage will be sorely missed there. And enjoy your $0.99 Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheese pellets.
14
LL is good, but the place is a dump - it just looks and feel dirty, at least every time I've been there. maybe a new building would change that.
but enough with the burger joints already, ballard. there's also hamburger harrys, zestos, scooters, king's hardware, zak's, ballard brothers ... am i missing any? local business
= yay, good, blah, blah, etc., but a little more variety would be appreciated.
but enough with the burger joints already, ballard. there's also hamburger harrys, zestos, scooters, king's hardware, zak's, ballard brothers ... am i missing any? local business
= yay, good, blah, blah, etc., but a little more variety would be appreciated.
15
Wait, this quote bothers me:
He sounded philosophical about the "huge corporate chain," as he put it. "They might put us out of business," he said, "then that's another locally owned place that's gone. We'll see."
How can one burger place put another burger place out of business? The only logical answer is by making a better burger. Are they scared?
(FOR THE RECORD: Never eaten at either Lunch Lab or the Counter. Not averse to trying, but rarely in Ballard and my allegiance is to Mr. Lu's on the Ave. Now that's a tasty burger!)
He sounded philosophical about the "huge corporate chain," as he put it. "They might put us out of business," he said, "then that's another locally owned place that's gone. We'll see."
How can one burger place put another burger place out of business? The only logical answer is by making a better burger. Are they scared?
(FOR THE RECORD: Never eaten at either Lunch Lab or the Counter. Not averse to trying, but rarely in Ballard and my allegiance is to Mr. Lu's on the Ave. Now that's a tasty burger!)
16
Lunchbox Laboratory has a way of making everyone who went there regret it. Like eating your $20 burger at a dirty picnic bench between roaring traffic on 15th and the restaurant's own dumpster ten feet from you. It's that new restaurant aesthetic of I'm-a-clever-chef-and-my-customers-are-peons.
Good place to go if you feel like being slapped around and kicked to the curb, through.
Good place to go if you feel like being slapped around and kicked to the curb, through.
17
LL burgers are not $20. They come to about $12 each. Expensive but not $20 expensive. Red Mill would be my choice but their onion rings are always dodgy.
18
@16:
I've eaten there several times and while I agree the ambiance is on the seedy side (you should have seen the BBQ joint that preceded it!), the quality of the food more than makes up for it.
And I've never been ill-treated during any of my visits; if anything the Customer Service has improved significantly, once they got through the first couple of months, and regular visitors were more aware of the need to have their orders ready, keep aisle clear and such.
But even so, the current location is too small, and a change of venue could only be an improvement.
I've eaten there several times and while I agree the ambiance is on the seedy side (you should have seen the BBQ joint that preceded it!), the quality of the food more than makes up for it.
And I've never been ill-treated during any of my visits; if anything the Customer Service has improved significantly, once they got through the first couple of months, and regular visitors were more aware of the need to have their orders ready, keep aisle clear and such.
But even so, the current location is too small, and a change of venue could only be an improvement.
19
@17:
Well, if you order ala carte, as opposed to off the daily menu, and load it up with a lot of extras plus a side and maybe a shake, add tax and tip, you can easily hit the $20 mark.
Well, if you order ala carte, as opposed to off the daily menu, and load it up with a lot of extras plus a side and maybe a shake, add tax and tip, you can easily hit the $20 mark.
20
Thats true COMTE. That would be great if they moved to another location. Preferably in the same neighborhood or further north and closer to where I live. I'm tired of Capitol Hill getting all the good stuff I want and wish to try.
21
I've been to LL twice. The lady who works the register is like the Soup Nazi. I understand it is hectic and busy, but they could work on their customer service. Also, there is no room to eat inside.
The Counter is next to my gym. I will simply eat there and then work my ass off.
The Counter is next to my gym. I will simply eat there and then work my ass off.
22
@21:
Since you probably weren't paying attention, Allegra HAS to use a bit of the ole' Master Sergeant routine just to get from the cash register to the door, seeing as roughly half the people standing in line have their thumbs firmly inserted up their asses, evidently having never stood in a line before while a server is trying to pass through a narrow aisle, and further being apparently completely incapable of making a decision about what they want to order, even after standing in said line for several minutes staring up at the menu board with those big, wet, stupid, bovine eyes of theirs.
Frankly, I don't blame her for having a bit of 'tude: she works hard, far too many of their customers are inattentive boobs, and she's just way too busy to be all nicey-nicey with every nose-picking lookey-loo standing between her and the other customers.
You want faux-polite, go to Applebees for fuck's sake...
Since you probably weren't paying attention, Allegra HAS to use a bit of the ole' Master Sergeant routine just to get from the cash register to the door, seeing as roughly half the people standing in line have their thumbs firmly inserted up their asses, evidently having never stood in a line before while a server is trying to pass through a narrow aisle, and further being apparently completely incapable of making a decision about what they want to order, even after standing in said line for several minutes staring up at the menu board with those big, wet, stupid, bovine eyes of theirs.
Frankly, I don't blame her for having a bit of 'tude: she works hard, far too many of their customers are inattentive boobs, and she's just way too busy to be all nicey-nicey with every nose-picking lookey-loo standing between her and the other customers.
You want faux-polite, go to Applebees for fuck's sake...
23
Lunchbox Laboratory is not worth it. Their burgers are OK, greasy and overpriced, but just OK. The thing that really makes them average is the service, it sucks.
24
Jesus, COMTE, are you getting a free burger for every comment you put up in LL's defense?
There's plenty of room between the hyper-trendy greasy hipster burgers and fast food for other options. Making your own goddamn burgers, for one.
There's plenty of room between the hyper-trendy greasy hipster burgers and fast food for other options. Making your own goddamn burgers, for one.
25
Inattentive boobs? But I thought really smart people paid $20 for a burger and fries?
And take a look at their captacularly precious yet non-funtional web site, lunchboxlaboratory.com. If you can somehow navigate to the food menu (don't feel bad if you can't find it), you'll see that while a plain beef patty is $9, if you get that with cheese, a topping and fries, it comes out to $20. So there.
Drinks extra.
And take a look at their captacularly precious yet non-funtional web site, lunchboxlaboratory.com. If you can somehow navigate to the food menu (don't feel bad if you can't find it), you'll see that while a plain beef patty is $9, if you get that with cheese, a topping and fries, it comes out to $20. So there.
Drinks extra.
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