Big Tomy's -- Los Angeles, CA

11289 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 479-0601

Big Tomy's sits on the corner of Sawtelle and Pico--dangerously close to the Little Tokyo district on Sawtelle--Asian girls are hot.

That is a gang of food for 12 bucks

Homies--Collect 'em all

Let me begin with....The "Big" in Big Tomy's has to do with the BIG value. For 12 bucks, Colonel Mustard and I got 2 single cheeseburgers, 2 beverages, 1 order of plain fries, and 1 order of chili fries.  The chili fries--wow--I almost felt like I needed to go to rehab--they were a delicious, greasy, salty, meaty pile of poison, and I want more. I  could have written a poem celebrating the magnificence of that dish--all meat, orange grease, and creamy, melted cheese on hot, crispy fries--heart stopping goodness.

Even more awesome were the coin-operated, novelty dispensers--double win!  Homies and  Day of The Dead temporary tattoos.  I love California.

The Burger Breakdown...

The Meat:  Meh--preformed, 1/3 pound patties of bland chuck--medium grind. It was completely benign.

The Seasoning:  There was no seasoning. Another tragic case of a place the griddles chorizo not putting that latent seasoning to use...sigh.

The Sear:  Nominal--the patties were thin, and the griddle was hot, so they cooked fast, and there was no way to get a great sear onto them.

The preparation: Griddled hard and hot--cooked Well Done. In spite of of the cooking temperature and the thinness of the burger meat, these burgers still came out juicy without being greasy.  Points for that.

The Cheese: A single slice of American applied halfway through the cooking process. One slice was enough for the thin burger patty.

The Bun:  Unseeded, standard hamburger bun.  It was moist and toasted. They also didn't use oil or butter on it, which I prefer.

The Meat to Bun Ration: Perfect...not a bit of bun went to waste.

The Fries:  Fine...just fine.

Honestly, Big Tomy's made a fine cheeseburger. It was made from generally blah ingredients, which were cooked and assembled with ruthless efficiency.  The burger meat was bland, but it was juicy, and the bun and cheese lent additional moisture and savory flavors, that I wasn't left reaching for my beverage or condiments.

Burger Review : This really was an OK cheeseburger. There was nothing bad nor great about it.  The chili cheese fries, on the other hand, were fantastic.

Rating...3 Bites