Made famous by Oprah (of course), The Counter has become a nationwide chain dishing out gourmet burgers made to order. No, literally.
What makes this place exceptional is its daring list of ingredients you can add to your burger to make it, truly, your own.
Things like hardboiled eggs, horseradish cheddar, peanut sauce, or grilled pineapple. Unlike Carl’s Jr., this is a $9 burger. But you get a big bang for your buck.
You pick your meat, the size of your meat, your bread, a choice of cheese, 4 toppings (more for an additional $1 each), and a sauce (more for more $). It’s really quite a good deal.
Me? I went for the unusual, the not-going-to-find-this-in-a-drive-thru kind of burger. The unforgettable, must take your picture kind of handheld heaven. The kind that makes the wait staff excited and mean it earnestly when they drop your plate off and smile, “Enjoy your burger.” If you devise something edgy and the waiter returns to ask you how it was, he’s really asking — tell him the cranberries balanced the spice of the chilis perfectly.
Officially, the Tasha Burger is 1/3 pound beef burger with ortega chiles, tillamook cheddar, lettuce, tomato, dried cranberries, and a fried egg nestled sweetly between an extra large English muffin with a side of roasted garlic aioli. The experience was messy, with cranberries flipping out all over the place, and egg drooling down my pinkies. But if you look around — everyone’s eating like that, so don’t be ashamed (just don’t speak of it ever again after you leave).

Add a side of cheese fries and ranch dressing dip and you have yourself over 2,000 calories on your plate. 2,000 calories of perfect deliciousness. Yes, you’ll feel disgusting afterwards. Yes, you’ll wish you and 24-Hour Fitness were attached at the hip. But it will be one of the best burgers and fries pair you’ll have all year, guaranteed. And the best part is, you can say you made it yourself…sort of.

To lighten up…go somewhere else. If that’s not a choice, try a turkey burger (Honestly, the Tasha Burger is converting to a turkey paddy next time; the beef plus all the other thousands of calories makes this meal uneccessarily heavy; I think turkey burgers have a great flavor and don’t take away from the experience at all). Try a wheat bun. And stick to toppings that aren’t creamy and are full of vitamins — the full list of veggie toppings should make this easy, and delectable.
The Counter is burgeoning all over the place, but check out its current locations here: http://www.thecounterburger.com/locations/
And check out their MENU at: http://www.thecounterburger.com/menu/







