Burger Time

Local Artists Curating Burgers and Shakes at The Oinkster

The FoF BBQ BFF Burger, under construction at The Oinkster
The FoF BBQ BFF Burger, under construction at The Oinkster Photo: The Oinkster

Fred Guerrero, son and partner of Oinkster and Maximiliano chef-owner Andre, reaches out to to let Grub Stree know of a few new developments from the Northeast L.A. crew. “A few months ago we started this Tumblr called #BURGERLORDS as a joke,” he says. “It’s basically just the most off the wall, weird pictures of burger’s we can find.”

It apparently didn’t take long for the site, which veers from mouthwatering photos to absurd and arty shots of burgers, to blow up, gaining more than 60,000 fans with hundreds joining in each day and The Oinkster embracing the feed into a collage on its newly revamped website. The success is spurring the junior Guerrero on to create t-shirts and stickers for what he calls The Oinkstore, and will next debut a series dedicated to the work of local artists.

Today, the restaurant launched that series, called “Hardly Staving Artist.” The first collaboration is with the Friends of Friends record label and its resident artist, beatmaker Shlomo.

The series allows each featured artist to consult on their own burger and shake recipes, which will come in a custom cup designed by the band, Them Jeans, and strapped with a download code for a mix-tape from the label.

Friends of Friends’ burger will be a “FoF BBQ BFF,” which throws The Oinkster’s own mac and cheese on a six ounce patty with pulled pork, mustard, and pickles. The shake is similarly full to the brim, called “Peaches and Lean” and packed with blueberry ice cream with a blueberry peach compote and almond shortbread cookie crumbs.

Both burger and shake will be on hand at The Oinkster until March 30, when artists form the label will rally at the restaurant and jam. And yes, already this is 1,000% cooler than Johnny Rockets’ ketchup art.

Local Artists Curating Burgers and Shakes at The Oinkster