{"id":83109,"date":"2024-07-24T14:26:36","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T21:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=83109"},"modified":"2024-07-24T14:28:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T21:28:28","slug":"grill-em-all-burgers-long-beach-matt-chernus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/grill-em-all-burgers-long-beach-matt-chernus","title":{"rendered":"Meet Grill \u2018Em All \u2014 and its constantly rotating menu of heavy metal burgers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matt Chernus has gone from lead singer of a Cleveland metal band to head burger chef at Horny Corner, but on that 15-year journey, one thing\u2019s stayed the same: his taste for the extreme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From humble beginnings serving out of a food truck that struggled to surpass 40 mph, Chernus in April upgraded to a metal-themed burger concession stand near Bayshore Beach, where he serves burgers piled high with a medley of far-out ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the raddest location because every day you feel like you\u2019re on vacation or like in some \u201880s John Candy movie,\u201d Chernus said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Long Beach Burger Week<\/a>, which runs through Sunday, he brought back a fan favorite from the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $15 Cowboy from Hell \u2014 an ode to the Cowboys from Hell album released by the Texas-based heavy metal band Pantera \u2014 comes with pulled barbecue chicken, jalape\u00f1o bacon, garlic aioli, cheddar, red onions, lettuce and mosh pit barbecue sauce all piled on top of a beef patty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Matt Chernus, owner of Grill ‘Em All, at his burger shack at Horny Corner in Long Beach, Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant\u2019s first brick-and-mortar opened in Alhambra in 2013 with the help of $50,000 in prize money Chernus won from the Food Network\u2019s first season of \u201cThe Great Food Truck Race.\u201d Its location roughly eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles served its last burger on Jan. 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chernus had been making the roughly 26-mile commute from Long Beach, where he has lived for over 10 years, to the Alhambra storefront for the entirety of the time it was open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His efforts to open a location in Long Beach came to fruition when his real estate agent found out the city was leasing out the concession stand at Bayshore Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reached an agreement with the city to begin leasing the property in July 2021, but construction delayed the opening until late April this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Cowboy from Hell burger created for Long Beach Burger Week in Long Beach, Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The eatery\u2019s interior includes \u201cDeath to False Burgers\u201d in red font on a black wall along with a sign that declares \u201cno mosh pits, crowd surfing, stage diving, wall of death or slam dancing.\u201d Behind the register, Chernus printed out flyers advertising old metal concerts at the Fenders Ballroom \u2014 a Downtown Long Beach music club that closed in 1989 \u2014 and the Long Beach Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Chernus moved to Los Angeles nearly two decades ago with his \u201cstoner metal\u201d band Amps II Eleven. After his music career didn\u2019t pan out, he was working in the restaurant industry when he and his former business partner decided to start a food truck in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grill \u2018Em All now offers fries for $5-$11, $9 craft beer on tap and in tall cans, salads ranging from $8-$12, and options for kids including chicken strips, grilled cheese and a hot dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the restaurant is known for its creative burger combinations. The $16 Behemoth comes with two grilled cheese sandwiches as buns with cheddar, barbecue sauce, bacon, grilled onions, pickle and a patty in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the $15 Dee Snider \u2013 named for the Twisted Sister singer and songwriter \u2013 contains peanut butter, strawberry jam, bacon and sriracha on a burger patty. The dish got its name because its colors resemble the makeup Snider wore in the early days when performing with the \u201cWe\u2019re Not Gonna Take It\u201d hitmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snider himself visited the Alhambra location twice \u2014 once to enjoy his namesake burger and a second time to sign autographs for fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the nicest rock-and-roll guy I have ever met in my life,\u201d Chernus said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that he\u2019ll come by here sometime [and] sign the wall of fame.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grill \u2018Em All also features a new burger each month to keep the menu fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a challenge, a really annoying challenge, but at this point, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever stop doing it,\u201d Chernus said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Two beachgoers walk past the Grill ‘Em All, burger shack at Horny Corner in Long Beach, Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This month\u2019s burger is the Warmaster, which comes with jalapeno bacon, deep-fried dill pickles, ghost pepper jack cheese, cream cheese, hickory-smoked whiskey barbecue sauce and lettuce with a beef patty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reception from neighbors has been \u201coverwhelmingly positive,\u201d Chernus said. Fans of the Alhambra location have even come to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was probably the most black T-shirts this beach has ever seen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grill \u2018Em All is at 5411 E Ocean Blvd., at the south end of Horny Corner just southeast of 54th place. It is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cowboy from Hell hamburger might be the most extravagant meal being offered during Long Beach Burger Week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":83094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-83109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83109"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83117,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83109\/revisions\/83117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83109"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=83109"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=83109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}