Monty’s Good Burger just opened its doors in Koreatown and I decided to drop by for a taste during its soft opening. The sign on the blue exterior proudly proclaims they are “100% plant-based”. Inside the restaurant formerly occupied by Sumo Dog, is a small space where you can watch the burgers made just an arms-length away.
The menu is refreshingly small and simple. The focus is on the burger. The burgers come in either a single or double patty. At $11 (or $14 for the double), they aren’t exactly cheap.
Each burger comes with an Impossible Patty, Follow Your Heart vegan cheese, their “House Spread” sauce, and lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions in a Potato Bun.
Like all good hamburgers, Monty’s good burger is about texture, the charred surface of the Impossible patty, the crunch of lettuce, and the full, fluffy, and the Bosch Bakery potato bun toasted to a soft crisp within. The hamburger leaks thick, pink dressing that reminds me of the Thousand Island sauce from In-N-Out; soft, grilled onions add both a certain squishiness and a caramel sweetness.
Follow Your Heart vegan cheese melts convincingly over the patty and thankfully isn’t too salty or rigid.
The key takeaway here, is vegans finally get a burger that packs a big punch of taste with the perfect textures. The house spread, the ooze of the vegan cheese, combined with the char of the patty and soft interior make for a mouthwatering combination. The sweet potato bun is thankfully not smashed in during preparation as well (ahem, Five Guys). It’s a good-sized burger too, better stretch those jaws before you walk in!
100% Plant Based
Besides being delicious, Impossible patties use 1/20th the land, 1/4th the water, and produces 1/8th the greenhouse gas emissions of real meat. What’s the secret to the taste? A substance called “heme”, which is taken from plants and fermented. This is what gives the patty the taste and aroma.
Throw Some Cheese On It
Pioneered in 2003 by Canoga Park based Follow Your Heart, the vegan cheese used in the burgers are non-GMO and soy free. Follow Your Heart is the pioneer in vegan cheeses and they’ve been improving the formula since.
All cups, straws, and eating utensils are made from compostable material.
I know this all reads like an ad but really, this place just checks all the boxes when it comes to the ideal burger joint that is tasty yet environmentally conscious.