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Have it Your Way * 300,000
The Counter's burger choices are nearly countless
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Photo: Jimmy Forrest |
As I started to dig into the burger of The Counter’s Loco Moco ($8.95), I thought of the old television newsroom adage, ”If it bleeds, it leads.” The cliché about the media’s fixation on tragedy wasn’t wholly appropriate, since there was no blood involved and the loco moco was the furthest thing from tragic. But when my fork came down on the patty made of all-natural, free-range, hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, all these clear, flavorful juices started to flow. I thought: a burger joint that really knows how to prepare beef properly? Now that’s newsworthy.
The Counter is a Mainland franchise that features burgers you build yourself, choosing from dozens of cheeses, toppings and sauces. The restaurant offers everything from feta and fried egg to black forest ham and roasted garlic aioli. Since chef D.K. Kodama is one of the local backers of the Kahala Mall restaurant, Honolulu’s version of The Counter also includes kim chee among its toppings as well as the aforementioned loco moco.
According to the press material, all these options add up to more than 300,000 possible burger combinations, so ordering can be daunting. However, we made our selections from an orderly, ballotlike form, and our waiter had useful advice: Keep it simple. He explained that too many items can overwhelm both burger and diner. So I went with a one-third-pound burger ($8.95) with American cheese, kim chee, green onions and teriyaki sauce. There are two larger burgers, a two-thirds-pound ($10.95) and a one-pound ($13.95), each coming with one cheese, four toppings and a sauce. Extra choices cost more.
Diners can also eat their burgers in a bowl, which is a good idea if they plan to go nuts with toppings.
We also ordered The Fifty-Fifty ($5.50), equal portions of french fries and sweet potato fries, along with Fried Dill Pickle Chips ($4.95). I know what you’re thinking. Those pickle chips sound a little, well, counterculture. But I liked them a lot. The battering and deep frying mellowed the normally sour pickles and the sweet apricot dipping sauce on the side provided a smoothing contrast. I actually liked the chips better than the fries, which were good. I also enjoyed my burger, which, like the loco moco, surrendered its juices when I cut it in half. The beef was moist and packed plenty of savory flavor. Luckily, I took my waiter’s advice and didn’t overwhelm the patty with too many flavors and textures. The kim chee was solid. It would have made a fine complement to a good bowl of rice.
The CounterKahala Mall |
Speaking of rice, my favorite dish that day was the loco moco, which, besides the traditional beef patty, egg and brown gravy, also featured a topping of french-fried onions. As I already mentioned, the beef was excellent. But I especially liked the gravy, which was deep brown, shiny and silky. Its flavors were as rich and luxurious as its color, but, much to my surprise, didn’t overpower the burger. However, as with all loco mocos, you’ve got to eat the thing pretty fast, because once the gravy starts to congeal, the dish starts to lose its charm. That wasn’t a problem, because, for me, there are no better burger options than rice and brown gravy.
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