Rita’s Deluxe

Rita's is just a burger joint in the way that Game of Thrones is just a soap opera. In roughly 400 square feet, this retro DTLA luncheonette combines everything you’d want in an old-school diner (counter seating, leather stools, and checkered floors) with some new-school touches like fancy orb lights and a wall of merch. The food is a love letter to '50s-era fast food chains, and somehow, even more memorable than the space. Expect crinkle-cut fries, beer-battered cheese curds, milkshakes, and grass-fed patties on soft seeded buns. The buttermilk fried chicken sandwich and roast beef special are hits, but we’ll be back for Rita’s “deluxe” burger. Seared but not smashed, it tastes like an Animal-style double-double got jacked doing Crossfit and put on bacon and chopped cherry peppers as accessories. If you regularly lunch anywhere around downtown, make a bee-line here to try it.

photo credit: Stan Lee

photo credit: Stan Lee

photo credit: Stan Lee

photo credit: Stan Lee

photo credit: Stan Lee