To foodies, especially burger lovers, May is known as National Hamburger Month as it’s the time of the year when people start grilling outside. Along with backyard barbecues, it’s always great meeting a friend for a burger and catching up.
I’ve been covering grass fed burger restaurants since the beginning of this blog in 2011. I’m amazed at how many great options there are now for grass fed burgers in Los Angeles. These real burgers can be found at everything such as pop-ups, butcher shops, fast casual joints, cafes, gastropubs, family restaurants, and even fine dining.
While more people understand the concept of grass fed beef, unfortunately the USDA requirements for a grass fed label simply mean the animal was fed grass one day. So now ranchers are using the term “100% grass fed”. All of the entries on this list both use meat from farms I’m familiar and meat which is indeed 100% grass fed.
With the places I list below, I also point out other ways the restaurants and businesses use real food from organic hamburger buns to local and organic produce to grass fed cheese to real condiments. I even list great beverage pairings that these burger eateries include in terms of cane sugar soda pops and shakes made with grass fed ice cream.
In alphabetical order, here are the 17 best grass fed burgers in Los Angeles:
Botanica Restaurant
Location: Silverlake
www.botanicarestaurant.com
Before founding Botanica Restaurant founders Emily Fiffer & Heather Sperling had worked as food writers and editors. Their started the restaurant with the core values of nourishment, hospitality, respect, equality/equity, sustainability, positivity, and professionalism. Botanica’s menu is sourced with ingredients from farmers markets. Their burger contains Niman Ranch beef and a potato bun from the local Bub & Grandma’s bakery.
Burger Lounge
Locations: Larchmont, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Culver City, Marina del Rey, Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Northridge
www.burgerlounge.com
Originating in San Diego, the Burger Lounge has been popping up all over Los Angeles in the past decade and more recently have opened restaurants in Orange County, the Inland Empire, northern California and Las Vegas. Their beef comes from Jensen Meats. Burger Lounge works hard to also get all of their other ingredients from sustainable sources. The hamburger buns are baked with organic wheat. The 1000 island dressing for the burgers is made from scratch. Their burgers can then be paired with their drinks from the California based Batch Craft Soda. Burger Lounge is even sustainable in terms of recyclable to-go packing, composting leftover food, and using table tops made from recycled water bottles.
Burgerlords
Location: Highland Park
www.burgerlords.com
Wake and Late founders Ben Richter & Alex Claster now own a majority stake in Burgerlords, a restaurant originally by Frederick & Max Guerrero in 2015. Since running the daily operations of Burgerlords, Richter & Claster make every aspect of the burger in house, such as the potato milk buns, thousand island dressing, and American cheese. And when it comes to the beef, they grind it themselves with the 100% regenerative grass fed meat from Standing’s Butchery. Burgerlords also cooks their french fries in beef tallow.
The Curious Palate
Location: Santa Monica
www.thecuriouspalate.com
The Curious Palate co-founders Elliot Rubin and Mark Cannon had come from different walks of life when they launched the restaurant. Rubin was an engineer and Cannon was a television producer. Just as they came from diverse backgrounds, the plan was to also provide a menu with a diverse variety of foods found all over the world. In addition to a large menu, sustainability is an important part of The Curious Palate. Their produce is purchased from local farmers markets. Their grass fed beef comes mainly from Sun Fed Ranch with a part of it coming from Painted Hills Natural Beef. The Curious Palate has several types of burgers with toppings using worldly cuisines from California to Greece to Japan.
A Cut Above
Location: Santa Monica
www.acabutchershop.com
Acclaimed chef Eddy Shin founded A Cut Above after having spent over 20 years working at high end restaurants. For five years, he was executive chef at Primitivo Wine Bistro. Prior to that, he gained his fame at Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse in downtown LA, working for Chef Joachim Splichal of The Patina Group. Shin’s resume also includes his time at Fleisher’s Grass-Fed & Organic Meats in Kingston, NY. Additionally, he was featured on the History series Modern Marvels in an episode titled “The Butcher”, where he gave expertise on dry aging. At his current A Cut Above butchery, he sells beef from Novy Ranches in Mount Shasta. A Cut Above has a diverse menu of sandwiches and salads. Among these items is a grass fed burger made from a blend of short rib, ribeye, and brisket, topped with caramelized onions, blue cheese, and a fresh Russian dressing, and on a brioche bun.
Edgemar
Location: Santa Monica
www.edgemar.la
Located in Santa Monica on Main Street, a street known for many popular eateries, is Edgemar Restaurant + Lounge. Edgemar is specifically situated in a building designed by Frank Gehry. The restaurant aims for both global and local flavors. Edgermar is run by executive chef Jared Dowling and chef Jonathan Thoma. Their beef comes from the ranches Silver Fern Farms, Bass Strait, and Wanderer.
Goldburger
Locations: Highland Park, Los Feliz
www.goldburgerla.com
The origins of Goldburger began as an Instagram account about founder Allen Yelen’s favorite burgers and then turned into a burger pop-up all around Los Angeles. In October 2018, they opened a long running pop-up on a Silverlake patio. This lasted until restaurants were shut down on the March 15, 2020 due to the pandemic. On their last day at this location, they served a constant line until they sold out. Goldburger launched a pop-up in Highland Park two months later and ended up turning into their first brick and mortar. A year after, they built a second location in Los Feliz. Their grass fed beef is provided by Grass Run Farms. Goldburger also has Swell Soda on their menu. This soda is microbrewed and hand bottled in San Diego.
HiHo Cheeseburger
Locations: Marina del Rey, Mid-Wilshire, Santa Monica, Studio City
www.hiho.la
HiHo Cheeseburger is making a giant splash not only in the sustainable food world, but in the burger world overall. The eatery has won Los Angeles Magazine‘s annual Burger Bracket two years in a row. Last year, it was also awarded the people’s choice at the burger battle in the Los Angeles Times Food Bowl. Their beef comes from First Light Farms, which is a collective of 61 farmers in New Zealand raising wagyu cattle. HiHo’s burgers also contain organic lettuce and ketchup free of high fructose corn syrup.
Hopdoddy
Locations: Playa Vista, El Segundo
www.hopdoddy.com
Guy Villavaso, Larry Foles, Larry Perdido, and Chuck Smith are four friends who shared the goal of creating new standards for a burger bar. Their vision was to bring together craft beer and gourmet burgers with high quality ingredients and even higher standards. In 2010, they accomplished this goal by launching Hopdoddy in Austin, TX. Hopdoddy is now found in 7 states, including California. Earlier this year, Hopdoddy again raised the standards by offering regenerative meat from Force of Nature. Regenerative ground beef is an option for any of their burgers or you can go for the two specifically developed to include the regenerative meat. The Mother Nature burger has Force of Nature’s beef plus Raw Farm‘s grass grazed raw cheddar and Vital Farms pasture raised egg. And the Buffalo Bill burger contains Force of Nature’s regenerative bison patty.
Hugo’s
Locations: West Hollywood, Studio City
www.hugosrestaurant.com
Terry Kaplan founded Hugo’s Restaurant with the vision of “a kitchen producing original, wonderful foods found nowhere else”. He describes the restaurants as “real food made in real ways”. They prepare the meals the way they’d feed their own families. Hugo’s sees that the principle of sustainability relies upon meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Their dishes are made to order from scratch using organic, non-GMO, and sustainable ingredients. Hugo’s has a large menu providing different items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Among their lunch items is their burger using beef from Grass Run Farms, a collaboration of family farms producing 100% grass fed beef.
Lady Byrd Cafe
Location: Echo Park
www.ladybyrdcafe.com
Lady Byrd Cafe is a small neighborhood cafe in the Echo Park community. The restaurant is somewhat hidden as it’s surrounded by houses. Lady Byrd’s commitment to sustainability, isn’t limited to just it’s food. Its outdoor dining is filled with plants, flowers, and small greenhouses where people can privately dine. It also has two large open-air patios along with seating inside. Founder Misty Mansouri was inspired by European al fresco dining and the Amsterdam restaurant Mediamatic, which placed greenhouse for outdoor dining last year. As for Lady Byrd’s burgers, the beef they use is Grass Run Farms.
Lingua Franca
Location: Frogtown
www.linguafrancaco.comHu
Husband and wife restaurateurs Peter & Lauren Demos hit it big on the Los Angeles culinary scene when they debuted the sandwich shop Wax Paper Co. in 2015. In 2017, they opened a second and larger location of Wax Paper. But it would take six years before the concept of Lingua Franca would happen. Peter & Lauren wanted to create a restaurant where all ingredients were local to the state of California. And from their first Wax Paper being located in Frogtown, they loved the idea of having a restaurant on the walking path of the LA River. After being delayed due to the pandemic, Lingua Franco finally opened its doors in 2023. Among its menu listings is its burger with Stemple Creek beef and Point Reyes Toma cheese. The burger can be nicely paired with the root beer from the Indian Wells Brewing Company.
Market Burgers
Location: Torrance
www.marketburgers.com
Torrance Certified Farmers’ Market has one of the largest farmers’ markets in California with its 60 California famers every Saturday morning. The Torrance Market also has nearly as many food vendors, including Market Burgers. Market Burgers prepares its burgers with Novy Ranches beef and toppings from local farms. Market Burgers also does pop-ups in breweries in the South Bay, Long Beach, and surrounding areas.
Pono Burger
Location: Santa Monica
www.ponoburger.com
The word “pono’ is Hawaiian for “to do things the right way”. This fits well with Pono Burger‘s Chef Windy “Makani” Gerardi’s philosophy listed right on the menu of using organic and farm fresh ingredients s for a handcrafted burger made with integrity that above all, tastes great. Their beef, in particular, comes from Eel River, which is located in Humboldt Country and part of the business collective Humboldt Made. Their toppings for burgers include produce from various organic California farms. One And if you’re in the mood for a shake with your burger, they’ve got milkshakes crafted with organic ice cream from the Straus Family Creamery.
Rita’s Deluxe
Location: Downtown
www.ritasdeluxe.com
Rita’s Deluxe is founded by high end chef Luke Reyes. Reyes is co-managing partner at Gitanes Restaurant Group in Ottowa as well as the founder of the former LA bistro Butchers & Barbers. But Reyes’ first professional gig was at age 15 working at McDonald’s. It was there that he learned how to be a short order cook. The concept behind Rita’ Deluxe is taking his fine dining past and placing it into a burger. The restaurant is named after his grandmother. It’s a throwback to 50s era fast food chains and east coast diners with its counter seats and a soda fountain. Their burgers include the Strauss Brands grass fed beef. Rita’s uses beef tallow for their fries and makes shakes with organic ice cream.
Salt’s Cure
Location: Hollywood
www.saltscure.com
In 2010, Salt’s Cure opened with an emphasis on nose to tail butchery and farm to table cooking. Salt’s Cure uses fresh ingredients from local farmers markets. Chefs/owners Chris Phelps & Zak Walters visit the farms they source from to verify the animals are treated humanely. The meat is obtained from local California farms and the butchering is done on site. Among their many menu offerings is a grass fed cheeseburger with beef from Niman Ranch.
True Food Kitchen
Locations: Pasadena, Century City, Santa Monica, El Segundo
www.truefoodkitchen.com
Renowned integrative medicine physician Dr. Andrew Weil founded True Food Kitchen in 2008. The restaurant is all about serving food which works for people by nourishing them as healthfully as possible without sacrificing the flavor. True Food Kitchen carefully selects every ingredients of their signature dishes on the menu. Their grass fed burgers are a top menu item with its Cape Grim Beef and flax seed bun. Among the burger variations is their Peruvian grass fed burger with caramelized onion, Peruvian pepper sauce, a Vital Farms fried egg, and Point Reyes blue cheese. Another one of their burgers uses Force of Nature bison. On True Food Kitchen’s refreshers menu is limeade from the Tractor Beverage Co., the first only organic certified non-GMO beverage company for the restaurant and hospitality industry.