Over the years, I’ve been in pursuit of many things: the perfect career, a normal boyfriend, and a winning lottery ticket.

While not all of the aforementioned have come to fruition, one pursuit I failed to mention that has led to positive results is my search for the perfect burger. With little concern to price, I’ve found delicious (and not so favorable) burgers in many places. Morton’s and Stout have been top contenders while a few others like Hollywood Burger have missed the mark completely. Never letting go of the dream, I’ve always stopped in restaurants with the optimism of discovering a great burger. With a new hope, I visited Belcampo Meat Co. in LA to see if they would have a burger that could be added to my list.

Standing at the restaurant’s counter, I looked over the menu and reflected on what I heard about Belcampo. I was excited to try one of their burgers because I learned about the practices the restaurant upholds when it comes to raising their livestock. They pride themselves on having the best meat because they “take care of [their] soil and pasture” and “…raise healthy, happy animals”. No cages or mistreatment of animals here. Going in, I already knew the price per plate would be higher as the quality of food should be better based on their farming practices. I was fine with that because I was confident the taste would exceed my expectations. With a few final seconds left in making my decision, the bubbly waitress took my order.

After a few minutes, my Sprite ($3), Fries ($6), and the Belcampo Burger ($15) arrived. Since we’ve all had a Sprite and this review isn’t about the soft drink, we can simply look at the branded plastic cup and move on to more important things: the food! I can easily say that the fries at six dollars were a bit more than I would have liked to pay. That’s when I had to remind myself about their practices. While the portion size was adequate, I was hoping for a bit more flavor out of them. While they were soft with a semi-crunchy exterior, they weren’t significantly seasoned or salted to make them memorable. Adding the Sir Kensington’s Ketchup did improve the flavor a tad, but I was still left wishing they could have been tastier.

In between the fries was the cheeseburger. The burger came with a premium grind patty, caramelized onions (easy), lettuce, house sauce, on a brioche bun.  Instead of the white cheddar that comes on the burger, I traded it out for American Cheese ($1). A few bites in, I found myself concentrating to see if I could taste any clear difference in this burger compared to those I’ve had. The medium-well patty did a nice job at holding in the subtle flavor and the beef did have a better quality than most burgers. Additionally, it was a bit heartier and richer, but there wasn’t a drastically noticeable taste to it. The flavor and quality were somewhat minor in the grand scheme of the burger that I only caught on to it when I concentrated. The best way to think about it is if I were doing a blindfolded taste test of burgers, the Belcampo burger may not stand out. With that said, it seems a bit hard to rave about the $15 burger if the taste doesn’t stand out or match the price. I could easily vouche for this burger at the $10 range, but for $15 I can’t. I would be fine with a burger whose meat came from cows that didn’t roam freely throughout a field. Not inhumane of course, but it doesn’t have to be the Ritz either.

While I’ve taken the pursuit to achieve a variety of things, there are instances where the outcome doesn’t render the result I would have hoped. In this case, while I hoped for a new cheeseburger to add to my Rolodex of favorites in the city, I can’t say that I found that here. I did find that Belcampo serves burgers whose meat comes from animals that were raised with kindness and care. In an industry where most restaurants don’t work with such ethics, I can appreciate the effort Belcampo puts towards their food. However, since the taste of the burger didn’t match the expectation I had hoped, I can’t see myself returning frequently or recommending it to others. Instead, I’ll simply applaud them for their compassion towards animals and their devotion to the progressive practice.

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Address: 8053 West 3^rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: (323) 937-0170
Hours: Daily 10:00am to 10:00pm
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