Hoppdoddy is the happening and hopping new burger place

Burger bars have become all the rage in LA, with new ones popping up all over town. The latest eatery to get on this burger-voire’s radar is Hopdoddy, declared by Rachel Ray as home to America’s best burger.

Our party of four ordered a table full of different burgers to try as many as we could stomach. We were all curious about the bison, having heard so many positive things about this lean and nutritious meat, so the Buffalo Bill was top of the list.  This thick patty came with apple-smoked bacon, blue jack cheese, Frank’s hot sauce and sassy sauce, plus regular burger fixings. Truly this was one of the best burgers any of us had ever put our mouths on, deliciously juicy and full of rich flavor.

To complement our burgers, we also ordered a hefty couple of side plates, starting with a baby kale salad with arugula, feta, and fresh chunks of watermelon and generous slices of avocado, sunflower seeds and dressed with a mellow pomegranate vinaigrette with a perfect touch of tang.

While the adults relished the parmesan fries laced with seasoning and chucks of crumbly cheese, the kids declared the fries, “not the best,” surely owing to the kiddos being spoiled, in the true sense, by fast fries that they must have gotten at a playdate, since for the record we never feed them that junk.

Other burgers we sampled, priced $9 to $13.50, included the Classic Burger, comprised of angus beef, red leaf lettuce, white onion, beefsteak tomato, sassy sauce; the Magic Shroom, a burger of angus beef, laura chenel goat cheese, field mushrooms, mayo, basil pesto, red leaf lettuce, white onion, beefsteak tomato; The and the Ahi Tuna Burger of Sushi-Grade Tuna, Sprouts, Nori Chips, Teriyaki, Honey Wasabi, Mayo, Pickled Ginger, Red Leaf Lettuce, White Onion, Beefsteak Tomato, all of which were devoured by our finiky kids.

Besides equisit burgers, Hopdoddy’s had a number of delicious drinks, including Frozen Banana Shake ($6): Made with homemade churned ice cream, fresh bananas and a decadent chocolate sauce; and for the grown ups a Watermelon Mojito ($7) made with a blend of juicy watermelon ice cubes, extra-large mint leaves, freshly squeezed lime juice, simple syrup and a splash of soda water.

HopDoddys is a happening place, at the Marivista location often lines are out the door for this new eatery, located in the mall surrounded by the massive condo complex for many years in dispute because of its location atop of the fragile Bollona wetlands. To ease the guilt of eating there, they do have a burger, their most popular, called the goodnight / good cause, which is an angus beef burger with tillamook cheddar, caramelized onions, jalapeños, hickory bbq, sassy sauce, red leaf lettuce, beefsteak tomato,  for $9.25, for which $1 is donated to friends of ballona wetlands.

Currently there are two local restaurants in El Segundo and Playa Vista and two in the OC, in Tustin and at Fashion Island.  But get there early, or the else the scene might be like an LA cattle call, otherwise known as a long line.