What's An Umami Burger? How Do You Get One?

Skip to main content Skip to main menu Skip to search Skip to footer of stories this month > Get unlimited stories

Your subscription makes our work possible.

We want to bridge divides to reach everyone.

Subscribe Business What's an umami burger? How do you get one?

The umami burger is served up by a four-restaurant chain in Los Angeles, which uses Japanese-style ingredients to create savory umami burger creations.

| Jungwirth Andrea/CHROMORANGE/picture-alliance/Newscom/File The shitake mushroom is one of the umami-laden foods used on the gourmet Umami Burger.

Loading...

• By Laurent Belsie Staff writer

Feb. 23, 2011, 4:22 p.m. ET

Umami Burger, southern California’s new, Japanese-flavored burger chain, is expanding with a new twist – a delicatessen dedicated to umami.

An Umamicatessen.

The umami flavor is the so-called “fifth taste” beyond sweet, sour, bitter, and salty, often referred to as savoriness or “meaty” flavor. And the Umamicatessen, due to open in Los Angeles this summer, will consist of four or five restaurants that sell food with an umami flavor. Diners will be able to eat deli food or dessert. Or, they can opt for one of the Umami burgers that started the umami craze.

Each Umami burger uses umami ingredients. The best-selling Unami Burger, for example, includes a grilled shitake mushrooms, parmesan cheese, carmelized onions, and roasted tomatoes, all umami toppings aimed at enhancing the flavor of the beef ground in-house.

Started in early 2009 by Los Angeles-based restaurateur and self-taught chef Adam Fleischman, Umami Burger has created a buzz.

GQ Magazine named it the burger of the year this past December.

The original outlet made $18 million in its first year, Mr. Fleischman told Restaurant News. The second one, expected to make $2.5 to $3 million in its first year, is nearly four times the size of the original.

The chain has grown to four restaurants in the L.A. area with a fifth one due to open soon and the Umamicatessen this summer.

The burgers don’t come cheap, however. They range from the $9 Port & Stilton burger to the $11 Truffle burger.

You've read of free articles. Subscribe to continue.

Help fund Monitor journalism for $11/ month

Already a subscriber? Login

Mark Sappenfield Editor

Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations.

Our work isn't possible without your support.

Subscribe

Unlimited digital access $11/month.

Already a subscriber? Login

Digital subscription includes:

• Unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
• CSMonitor.com archive.
• The Monitor Daily email.
• No advertising.
• Cancel anytime.

Subscribe

Related stories

Share this article

Copy link

Link copied.

× Read this article in https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0223/What-s-an-umami-burger-How-do-you-get-one Start your subscription today https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe

Subscription expired

Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. You can renew your subscription or continue to use the site without a subscription.

Renew subscription

Return to the free version of the site

If you have questions about your account, please contact customer service or call us at 1-617-450-2300.

This message will appear once per week unless you renew or log out.

Session expired

Your session to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. We logged you out.

Log in again

Return to the free version of the site

If you have questions about your account, please contact customer service or call us at 1-617-450-2300.

No subscription

You don’t have a Christian Science Monitor subscription yet.

Subscribe now

Return to the free version of the site

If you have questions about your account, please contact customer service or call us at 1-617-450-2300.