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Burger Lounge wild elk burger. Courtesy of Burger Lounge.

Burger Lounge, the San Diego-based chain that’s making its way into the Los Angeles area, has started offering a seasonal wild game menu with a different featured burger every two months (priced at $9.95 each and available at all locations). The first special, available this month and through December, is the grass-fed Minnesota bison burger with bleu cheese and pickled red onions.

Here’s the rest of the lineup:

January/February 2013: Grass-fed Texas wild boar burger with applewood-smoked cheddar, oven-roasted tomato relish and sriracha aioli

March/April 2013: Grass-fed elk burger with fontina, duck cracklings and jicama slaw

May/June 2013: Grass-fed BBQ venison burger with house-made BBQ sauce, crispy onion rings and smoked mozzarella

You may have noticed that all the meat on these burgers is grass-fed. That’s Burger Lounge’s thing: free-range, grass-fed meat, which applies to both the beef and turkey on the regular menu, too (the salmon burger uses wild Alaskan salmon). The company makes efforts toward environmentally sustainable choices, too.

As for Burger Lounge’s everyday menu offerings, don’t overlook the turkey burger, which is made with basil ground into both white and dark meat for a juicy, flavor-packed patty. It’s my favorite item on the menu. The salmon burger, with fried green tomatoes, sounds good, but the patty is too fishy-tasting for me. Whichever burger you get — even the very respectable house-made quinoa veggie burger — make sure to get a milkshake (they even come in small sizes!), which don’t contain any gross syrups, or a fair-trade Maine Root soda made with organic sugar cane.

Turkey burger

Chocolate shake

Note: This meal was hosted.

Milkshake in an Alice cup at Max Brenner

Yes, I’m writing this post a month and a half late. But I wanted to document my bachelorette party on this blog in some way, so I’m going to tell you about my meal at chocolate heaven-on-earth Max Brenner in The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. This may not have been the best meal in terms of food, but it was definitely the most fun.

The best part of the menu was the variety of drinks. My friends and I ordered the Mexican Spicy Hot Chocolate (red chili, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper), the Melting Marshmallow Hot Chocolate (hot chocolate with tons of mini marshmallows on top), what I think was the Hazelnut Cream Chocolate Milkshake (vanilla bourbon ice cream, dark chocolate truffle and whipped cream) and the Chocolate Chai (chai spice blend infused with white chocolate). All were very good, but my favorite was the chai, which was enhanced by the white chocolate, not overpowered as I had feared. The presentation of the drinks is noteworthy, too, as Max Brenner has created his own cups for different drinks (the Hug Mug for hot chocolates, the Alice for milkshakes, a tea pot that dispenses when you place it on top of your cup).

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