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Counter Culture: Counting Down – But When?

“Arriving Early 2012.”

Uh-huh. We’re nearly May now.

What’s happenin’, fellas?

The sign is stuck to the window of this new condo building at 6th and G downtown.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22998/

It's right beside an application for a “41," the beer and wine license, and scrumptious pictures of three-feet-high mega burgers...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22993/

...plus the promise of a dozen craft beers on tap.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22997/

The idea here: build your own burger.

The motto: “Let them build it, and they will come.”

The claim: you have at least 312,120 unique combos you can make.

This is gonna be The Counter (695 6th Avenue, downtown), one of maybe three dozen franchises mainly in California, but stretching from Times Square to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22994/

The make-your-own idea is great, and spreading (see Which Wich? the sandwich franchise). You come in, grab a clip board and start checking off all the stuff you want between da buns. That’d be half an hour for me right there.

The caution: ya’d better have a Jackson in your pocket. The Counter is being cute about prices, but it looks like it’ll be way more expensive than, say, In-N-Out. Maybe $11-$12 for your burger with fries.

Call it a Burger assault on the Bourgeois.

Standard burger will have a 1/3rd-pound patty, one cheese, four toppings. And, à la Burger Lounge, they promise the cows are humanely-raised and handled (read: they just get a bonk on the head when they least expect it), and are hormone and antibiotic free. Didn’t see the word “organic,” though.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22995/

Talked to Amy at corporate HQ. She said expect an opening “about June.”

Her personal favorite combo? “Third-pound beef on wheat with sprouts, mixed greens, peperoncini, and a fried egg.”

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22996/

My big worry: Choose-your-own usually means waiting a long time while the cooks make up your special recipe.

Thing I’m most looking forward to: fried pickles as a side.

Meanwhile, sigh, two months and counting...

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Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes

“Arriving Early 2012.”

Uh-huh. We’re nearly May now.

What’s happenin’, fellas?

The sign is stuck to the window of this new condo building at 6th and G downtown.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22998/

It's right beside an application for a “41," the beer and wine license, and scrumptious pictures of three-feet-high mega burgers...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22993/

...plus the promise of a dozen craft beers on tap.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22997/

The idea here: build your own burger.

The motto: “Let them build it, and they will come.”

The claim: you have at least 312,120 unique combos you can make.

This is gonna be The Counter (695 6th Avenue, downtown), one of maybe three dozen franchises mainly in California, but stretching from Times Square to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22994/

The make-your-own idea is great, and spreading (see Which Wich? the sandwich franchise). You come in, grab a clip board and start checking off all the stuff you want between da buns. That’d be half an hour for me right there.

The caution: ya’d better have a Jackson in your pocket. The Counter is being cute about prices, but it looks like it’ll be way more expensive than, say, In-N-Out. Maybe $11-$12 for your burger with fries.

Call it a Burger assault on the Bourgeois.

Standard burger will have a 1/3rd-pound patty, one cheese, four toppings. And, à la Burger Lounge, they promise the cows are humanely-raised and handled (read: they just get a bonk on the head when they least expect it), and are hormone and antibiotic free. Didn’t see the word “organic,” though.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22995/

Talked to Amy at corporate HQ. She said expect an opening “about June.”

Her personal favorite combo? “Third-pound beef on wheat with sprouts, mixed greens, peperoncini, and a fried egg.”

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/22996/

My big worry: Choose-your-own usually means waiting a long time while the cooks make up your special recipe.

Thing I’m most looking forward to: fried pickles as a side.

Meanwhile, sigh, two months and counting...

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