Johnny Rocket's

There used to be several locations of Johnny Rocket's around the city but now the only one that exists is at The Banks. We have eaten at a couple of now closed locations (Kenwood and Newport) as well as the original which opened in 1986 on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. The restaurant was set up as a throwback to those '50s and early '60s diners, all chrome and rock and roll. Today there are 300 restaurants in 30 states and 16 different countries all sporting this feel of nostalgia and early rock music attitude.

In keeping with our usual criteria we ordered up one of their basic 1/3 pound, fresh, never frozen, cheeseburgers and our choice of garden. The burgers were made and, yes, cooked to order while we sat in a booth listening to Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.

The burgers were as we remembered and as advertised. They were juicy and carried a nice full meaty flavor that was enhanced by the cheddar cheese, the soft functional bun and our garden and condiments. There was even that little bit of flattop char that can make a burger even more tasty.

Still, as we were enjoying these burgers there was something nagging at both of us and Josh finally pointed out that, yes this was a decent burger but it was still a chain burger. That got us talking about whether or not we have an inner prejudice against the chains. There are plenty of chains that we do like but quite a few where we haven't really thought the burger up to speed. There have also been some local joints where we weren't all that over the top about the burgers.

What we ultimately decided was that Johnny Rocket's makes up a very good burger. Yes it is a chain but so are both Five Guys and In-And-Out Burger and they can put a pretty tasty burger in front of you. Is Johnny Rocket's one of the top burgers we've ever had? No. Is it better than most? Probably.

No, this wasn't our favorite burger of all time, not even our favorite chain burger of all time but it does rate up there. This is a burger that, if you haven't already, you owe it to yourself and your taste buds to check out.