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Ok - WAIT! LA's New Best Burger is called "THE RODFATHER BURGER"... located at Joni's Coffee Roaster Cafe in Marina del Rey. I have had Fathers office, Hinano, The Counter, blah,blah - Joni's has re-invented what a true burger should be: Big, messy and fun to eat! First they take a half pound meat patty cooked perfect with melted pepperjack and cheddar cheeses with fresh tomatos, slightly grilled red onion and a mound of shredded lettuce on a slightly warmed homemade pretzel bun. The magic is in their own whipped horseradish sauce that layers both buns. Not hot, just right. When you take your first bite, you realize that everything else is out the window! You seriously have got to check this out! Also, they have a chili burger that is made with Dark beer and choc sauce - It's called the Mick Jagger Chili Burger. It looks amazing, but I have not tried it yet!

People complaining about the lack of the FO burger only do so because they think it's the cool thing to do since everyone thinks it's such a wonderful burger, mostly from what they've read; it's a classic case of groupthink. I think the FO burger is great if you're having it with one of the beers they offer and that's likely why they stick to you being over 21 to get in, to prevent the non-drinking child from coming in to have a burger and tell them the Emperor has no clothes. Taken alone, the burger is too much bun with a confusing attack of sweetness and tang. The meat is fabulous and should be the star of any burger, so the flavors need to be toned down to appreciate the flavor of the dry aged beef. People seem to have forgotten what a good burger should be, allowing themselves to get distracted by the stage dressing.

This is a great well rounded list. It sounds like a majority of those posting about this article love FO's soooooo much they probably work there. Get over it! FO's is not on the list, but 25 other great burgers are. Branch out a bit. All you FO lovers should take a day off and hit up the apple pan on Pico. Its nice and old school. Bring your WSJ and suck down a big coke and a great burger on your lunch break.

Come on, guys, it is anyway a kind of a list of personally preffered burgers. For a real objective list it is necessary to make a research with surveys of eaters, cooks and just food experts. According to Hadley's comments, there isn't any serious massive information support for his list. But this list is pretty interesting since there is information about the ingredients and their sourses. It is enough for a smart choice. But I have to support some comments - slideshow sucks. We are able to read books even without pictures, aren't we? So, Hardley, you can count on us and publish an one-page full list. Now I have to take a look at the hand-made list for info. ;) I think, the most notable burgers are: In-N-Out, of course - they make them from fresh ingredients and they are really cheap, but surprisingly good. The Bowery - the mix of cheeses is pretty impressive! The Counter - it is huge! No - it is HUGE! 1 lbl it is good for a real hungry man. And thanks for comments - now I know a little more about LA cuisine. My 2 cents. I used to try Wood Spoon's Brazilian-style pork burger in Downtown. It is big, juicy, good and gives another twist to burger-style food. And if you just hungry, Carl's Jr is not bad since it is easier to find in any area in LA and to save some bucks by easy-to-find coupons.

So Hadley - let me get this right - you didn't include the FO burger because so many other people like it, that it's hit so many other #1 lists, and you wanted to include other options to be fair? Did you even pop by to give the burger a try? I guess if you had, you would have managed to find space in your pretty lame list by bumping a less worthy "notable burger" (26 Beach? Are you serious? Rush Street? Don't get me started)...

Been dying to find a minute to answer all of the questions. Most importantly, I was never asked to include or exclude a single burger. Leaving out Father's Office was not an intentional diss to be controversial. The working title was not necessarily notable burgers nor was the story trying to rank anything while being put together. I understood the assignment to be great beef burgers and felt The NY Times story illuminated just a little of our new burger scene and was a good starting point to include a lot of the newer burgers on our streets. I do know people who are not Father's Office fans and others who feel its reputation is blown way out of proportion. I figured those who are fans know the place, love the place (ya think?), and have plenty of best burger lists that say it's number one to satisfy them. I didn't feel obligated to include it and felt there were a ton of burgers that should be. As I said before, if this was a personal best burgers list, a couple of things would be different, so I did go for a well-rounded list in terms of geography, taste, fame, and notability, but again not in terms of ranking them. I would have liked to get The Hellman burger in there. Of course this is L.A., the list could have been 50 burgers or more strong. My only apology is given if I did any of these other great burgers a discredit by not including another that people feel is the best. Father's Office is not on here, no, but there are 25 great burgers that are that should not be overlooked.

I have heard all sorts of things about the FO burger, but I have never, ever heard that it's "not a burger".

I don't think I've ever heard someone say that the Father's Office burger doesn't qualify as a burger. Claiming that many people feel that way would seem to be a bit of an exaggeration to me. It's certainly no less traditional than half the burgers on this list. Can't help but think it was intentionally left off so that people would talk about and link to the list. The sheer fact that it's constantly on lists in and of it self is why FO is "notable". Apple Pan is on every list too, yet that's not overlooked here.

notice how they didn't tell you where fatburger gets their meat.

any way this site can save my name/email/URL? Anyways, I had the sante fe burger from la grande orange last night, with the new option of getting it with their superb english muffins. the wood-fired grill does wonders for the meat. it's definitely one of the city's best burgers.

The lack of Father's Office on this list is a massive hole. While there's plenty of debate about what THE top burger is in LA, there's little argument that a Father's Office burger is among LA's most "relevant, beloved, and delicious." --especially on a list of 25.

How is it possible that the Father's Office burger has been omitted?

Where is Father's Office?

Welcome and best wishes. I've always enjoyed Grub Street and am glad to see the expanding. Keep in mind that LA can be a tough crowd. We don't particularly like New Yorkers coming to town and stereotyping our highly diverse cuisine as "raw vegetables, juice bars, and ionized Whole Foods water."

Sad that you skipped Beacon's sublime burger, so juicy, so meaty.