(Editor’s note: What’s that sizzle in the air? Why, it’s Cheeseburger Week in Pasadena! We won’t regale you with the old story of the first cheeseburger being invented at Sternberger’s 8 million years ago. If you’re reading this, you already know that. We’re here to talk cheeseburgers, and here is our first feature review—the cheeseburger at AKA An American Bistro at One Colorado.)
It seems simple enough. Take some beef, fry it or grill it, place it between baked buns, add ketchup, or mustard, some lettuce, some tomato, and turn on the TV. But between that first sizzling beef patty and the last leaf of lettuce, anything can happen.
AKA an American Bistro (We will never figure out this name) is a good example. First, the beef.
This over-sized but comfy gastropub starts with certified ground angus beef—organic and grain-fed with a grass finish—thats ground in-house. They place that in a brioche-style bun and dress it with pepper jack cheese, bacon, shoestring fried onions, red onion, jalapeño slices, sliced pickles and a house-prepared horseradish aoli. One could leave the red onion, jalapeños and pickles off to the side of the stage, as we did, and still mount a brilliant show.
The cheeseburger comes with thick-cut steak fries that are just crispy enough on the outside to welcome you to the fluffy insides. You can also get the cheeseburger with a fresh salad, if you need some green with your lean.
Their Cheeseburger Week special is $15, and it’s enough lunch to take you to a late dinner.
a|k|a an American Bistro is at 41 Hugus Alley in One Colorado, Pasadena, (626) 564-8111. www.akabistro.com.
