LOS ANGELES — Chef Brad Miller and restaurateur Luke Tabit have tested and eaten hundreds of burgers over the past six months. The two friends and former colleagues have experimented with countless varieties of cheese to observe how they melted, tasted numerous buns to make sure they didn't fall apart, blended various mixtures of ground beef and consumed copious amounts of special sauce to create what they hope will be your new favorite burger.
Their Original Burger Boy just might be the Rolls-Royce of smash burgers, with each component souped up and fully loaded. The two patties are a precise blend of chuck and short rib. There are two slices of Borden American cheese (the cheddar and others just didn't quite cut it) and exactly four Mount Olive dill pickle chips on the burger.
The caramelized onion marmalade that's slathered on the meat is cooked low and slow with port wine for about an hour. Miller adds balsamic vinegar and continues to reduce the mixture; then he adds molasses and reduces it further before he layers in some thyme, liquid amino acids, liquid smoke and butter. The special L&B sauce, which goes on the bun, is a combination of smoked paprika, onion, tamari, lime, "secret spices" and mayonnaise. And it all comes together on a Martin's potato roll.
