One Of The Best Burgers Keith Lee Has Ever Had Is Located At This LA Restaurant

TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee has more than 17 million followers, and a high rating from the prominent influencer can make a restaurant go viral overnight. One LA burger spot experienced what's been called the "Keith Lee effect" firsthand in October 2023 when he proclaimed its burger not only the best in the California city, but among the best period. The morning after Lee posted his TikTok review for Easy Street Burgers, one of the only Lee-approved restaurants in LA, 50 people were already lined up an hour before opening time.

Lee sampled a double original burger, which is topped with cheese, pickles, and Easy Street's wild sauce. He gave it a 10, raving that it was the best burger he'd ever had. The eatery makes smash burgers, which differ from regular burgers; the patties are pressed really thin, creating crispy edges while the meat remains juicy. The thin, lacy edges were one of the things Lee praised most, and he also liked that the burger was well seasoned. He further noted the crunchy pickles, the soft potato bun, and the bit of spiciness in the sauce.

Lee also tried a bacon double cheeseburger with grilled onions and complimented the smoky sweetness the bacon brought to the burger. He gave it a 10 as well, saying he'd only given two 10s to a restaurant twice before. A cheeseburger with jalapeños got a still high 9.2, with Lee saying the spicy peppers take away from the burger itself, which he declared the "star of the show."

The smash burgers on Easy Street's simple menu come with single, double, or triple patties (more are optional) with cheese, pickles, and wild sauce. You can also add bacon or grilled onions, which is how Keith Lee made his bacon double cheeseburger. The Jalapeño Monster burger comes with Swiss cheese, jalapeños, grilled onions, and wild sauce, and there's also a Veggie Burger with a Beyond Meat patty. Classic and Cajun fries are served, as well as Wild Fries with grilled onions, cheese, and wild sauce. The Filthy Fries have the same toppings as the Wild Fries, but come with a smashed patty. There's also a jalapeño version of the Wild and Filthy Fries with the peppers and Swiss cheese.

Brothers Alfred and Freddy Asatryan founded Easy Street Burgers in February 2020 as a pop-up tent in an East Hollywood parking lot. After two years, during which they weathered a two-month shutdown one month after opening due to the pandemic, they moved Easy Street to its current store location in Studio City. Alfred Asatryan told LA Weekly he believes three elements have been central to their success. "The key ingredients that made Easy Street Burgers a viral sensation include our commitment to quality, our unique homemade wild sauce, and the crispy edges of our thin smash burgers," he said.

The wild sauce has been compared to Thousand Island, which shouldn't be a surprise, as Thousand Island-like sauces have become a common burger sauce, used at places like In-N-Out and Shake Shack (however, contrary to popular belief, McDonald's Big Mac sauce isn't Thousand Island). Backing this up, a Redditor who appears to be an Easy Street worker has said the sauce is Thousand Island with a custom seasoning blend.