1. Ma Nolan’s Cheeseburger in Nice, France, with goat cheese instead of cheddar. The South of France is the goat cheese capital of the world, and when you ask for it on the burger they put on an ENTIRE WHEEL like you might buy at a fromagerie to last for a week (or a day, in my house). Coincidentally, Ma Nolan’s also has the best White Russian I’ve ever had. And it’s a 40 second walk from the Mediterranean.

2. Father’s Office, Santa Monica, CA. They only have one burger and you can’t change anything about it, but it is so well put together that that doesn’t matter. It’s got a blue cheese/bacon/relish kind of spread on it, and the meat has that burning hot but still melts in your mouth kind of awesome about it.

3. The Counter, a few locations in Southern California, ½ pound burger with herb goat cheese spread, carmelized onions, dried cranberries, and sometimes with sautéed mushrooms. Super fresh and simultaneously juicy and luscious.

4. Gourmet Burger Kitchen, London, UK, their blue cheese buffalo burger, specifically when it’s sunny and should be warm outside but is actually freezing and windy. Crossing town on foot for this makes it into a sort of light at the end of the tunnel.

5. In n Out’s Animal Style Double Double, no tomatoes. Hands down the best large scale chain burger in the US, and I haven’t had anything compete with it abroad either. For those of you who don’t know, In n Out has hundreds of locations, only three items on the menu (unless you know what else you can ask for, i.e. Animal Style), and their food is unbelievably fresh. You can watch them slice the potatoes into fries on the way into the oil. And it’s one of the things I missed most about California while living abroad.

6. Bare Back Grill’s Kiwilango Burger, San Diego, CA. Yes I know I said top 5, and this burger is actually better than In n Out’s, but I had to give In n Out credit for being such an icon of my home and upbringing and the setting for so many 2 am college memories. But the Kiwilango is better. It’s a burger with bleu cheese, diced jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, red onion, hot sauce, aioli, sweet barbeque sauce, and crushed tortilla chips. If you’re in San Diego, get one.

Why is this list on my music website? I have no idea, other than to remind myself of all of the awesome food I am not eating in order to save up for this string quartet recording, and because it’s my website and I’ll type whatever I feel like typing.

As for the recording, the fundraising is going well, but there’s still a long way to go and your help would be extremely appreciated. There’s a link on the right to donate. And album artwork is nearly ready!

Back to my white bread/prepackaged meats/composing.