Dissecting new Costco food court items and the city’s best burgers

Greetings, people of Earth! We’ve got food courts and burgers, among other things, to discuss today. I’m columnist Lucas Kwan Peterson and I bring you this week’s Tasting Notes newsletter.

I go, you go, we all go to Costco

The new roast beef sandwich at Costco.

(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)

High-end restaurants have their appeal, of course, and I love a fancy meal every now and again. But I find it just as interesting to look through a broad critical lens at dishes and restaurants that more of the population has access to. Why don’t we treat our pizza and hot dogs the same way we treat our tasting menus? We eat, as a country, far, far more of them, don’t we?

That’s how I ended up reviewing the new food court at the Skechers retail store in Gardena last week, and broke down the Costco food court’s new menu items this week. This wasn’t an intentional juxtaposition but it is a fortuitous one, because there is a fairly strong link between the two.

Food courts, which most of us probably associate with malls, are the ultimate in populist eating. Think Sbarro, Orange Julius and Wetzel’s Pretzels. There’s a wide swath of choices, usually priced reasonably, with something for even the pickiest of eaters. Other retailers have gotten into the food game — think Ikea or department stores like Nordstrom or Marshall Field’s (R.I.P.) — but Costco took the concept to another level, offering good quality food at a price so reasonable it became a draw in and of itself.

But are the days of the $1.50 hot dog-and-soda combo nearing an end? Costco, with its new offerings, seems to be attempting to make money — or, at the very least, not lose money. A $9.99 roast beef sandwich costs more than an entire pepperoni pizza at Costco. A new Caesar salad with a portion of rotisserie costs more than an entire chicken.

I’m on the record as stating that we, as diners, should be willing to pay more for our food and that it’s not really good for anyone when huge corporations use their financial heft to make food prices unreasonably low. So it seems to me that Costco may have painted itself into a bit of a corner here: By setting expectations for prices so low with its pizza and hot dogs, will consumers balk at paying an objectively reasonable price for its new sandwich and salad? We’ll see, I suppose, by how long these items remain on the menu. And I mention this in the article, but please:

Bring back the combo pizza slice. Do you want me to beg? I’ll beg.

I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today

If you haven’t looked at our team’s best burger guide, you need to click on this link right now and check out the latest map we’ve published. Written by, well, pretty much everyone on the Food team, this list of more than 30 iconic L.A. burgers is our first big team burger project in over four years. (With apologies to J. Wellington Wimpy.)

There are the standbys, the stalwarts, if you will: Father’s Office, Apple Pan, Pie ’N Burger. Then there are the new classics: Poltergeist’s Mash burger and Ototo’s Ode to the Mos Burger, among others. I look forward to (slowly) eating my way through the entire list. And yes, for the vegetarians out there, there are options for you too.

There is one sad thing about this list, however, that I can’t help but bring up. One of my favorite burgers in the city that emerged during the past several years is no longer with us: The coffee shop Go Get Em Tiger made, for a brief, shining moment, an incredible cheeseburger. A nigh on perfect burger.

I’m currently scrolling through the “2019” section of my camera roll with a mixture of nostalgia and befuddlement at the pre-COVID times, and I’ve still got a photo of that burger. Onions, melted cheese, pickles, perfectly grilled meat and not much else. I won’t go too much further, lest my tears short out my laptop keyboard, but I’ll just say that I miss that burger. Its greatness has only grown in my memory, and while I’d love to see it back on GGET’s menu again, maybe it needs to remain in my consciousness as an unblemished memory. Don’t be sad the burger is gone; Be happy that you once enjoyed it.

Did your favorite burger make the list? Let us know.

Colossal Burger from Hawkins House of Burgers.

(Dylan + Jeni / For The Times)

And don’t forget to check out ...

• Stephanie Breijo has the lowdown on Level 8, the new downtown space that looks like a 30,000-square-foot funhouse of food, booze, luchadors and aerialists. Going back to our food court convo, this appears to be a food court, of sorts. Only much, much more luxe. Looking at the photos, it reminds me a little of Clifton’s Republic, the 1930s cafeteria that has gradually morphed into a sometimes-open nightlife spot. Has anyone been to Clifton’s lately? What’s going on there?
  
• Bill Addison reviews Poltergeist, Diego Argoti’s eclectic restaurant inside Button Mash on Sunset Boulevard. Who doesn’t like to grab a bite between games of “Rampage” and “WWF Royal Rumble”? Statick-y, supernatural TV set is hopefully not included.
  
• Jenn Harris tries a whole bunch of chocolate chip cookies. And for more cookie coverage, revisit Julie Giuffrida’s quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie.