‘The Counter’ opens today at Ballard Blocks

Geeky Swedes Ballard

It’s been in the works since spring, now The Counter opens today at Ballard Blocks (4609 14th Ave NW, Suite 108).

Although they do have a standard menu with six burger options, this gourmet burger joint prides itself in the hundreds of thousands of combinations you can come up with. They say that 80-percent of customers opt to build-their-own burger. The Counter boasts a total of 312,120 options, with three different patty sizes, 10 cheeses, 28 toppings, 18 unique sauces and three types of buns. You can also choose from angus beef, grilled chicken, turkey, veggie and specialty seafood burgers. Find out their burger and shakes of the month on Twitter. They have been known to also tweet a special deal. They open today at 11 a.m. Their hours will be Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (This picture is of the Santa Monica restaurant.)

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

63 thoughts to “‘The Counter’ opens today at Ballard Blocks”

  1. OMG NOT ANOTHER <insert cuisine here> PLACE!!! THERE'S ALREADY SO MANY OF THOSE!!! WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS A <insert cuisine here> OR A <insert cuisine here> RESTAURANT!!!!1

  3. Hey, guys, I think we all need to just calm down the hate and the knee-jerk reactions, and just try the place out. If it's good, go back. If it's not good, don't go back. Simple!

    So, you guys do that. Me, I'm not going near it because, honestly, another burger joint? Really? ;)

  7. That's a common misconception. Not many people know that, in actuality, whenever a chain store opens in a neighborhood, five toddlers are required to be summarily executed. State law.

  9. Oh, crap, I thought it was six…. I let you call his mother and break the news. “Well the good news is we did not have to kill your son, the bad news is we already did.”

  11. Wow – that place in West Seattle does look neat! Bacon … yuuuuum.

    I don't know, I think this new burger places sounds kind of cool. I like the idea of getting to put tons of whatever on my burger – stuff I doubt I'd have on hand readily at my house. I like the whole “buffet” thing. Although anything with Twitter makes me cringe. But then Twitter is just an ugly reality of life now it seems like.

  16. the really cool thing about Twitter is that it's an opt in kind of thing.

    don't like it? don't use it? But it would be silly of a business to not take advantage of every tool available to advertise. Especially the free ones.

    but then again, it wouldn't be myballard if someone didn't find something to complain about.

  23. Then again, it wouldn't be my ballard if someone didn't state the obvious. No. There is no way to put “the really cool thing” and “twitter” in the same sentence…unless you watch Oprah.

  27. Had a great burger there. Excellent quality burgers. The meat was perfectly cooked, and the sides (onion rings and sweet potato fries) and other ingredients were all fresh and high quality. I thought the chocolate malt was a little too sweet, but thoroughly enjoyable.

  29. Ditto on the swinery, looks amazing!!! ….this cracked me up on their site:

    “FOIE GRAS: We carry it. It isn't local, it is from Hudson Valley, NY. Why? Because we love it and believe in it. And we are giving the finger to those who don't. By focusing hate on foie gras producers and chefs who serve it, protestors have effectively given permission for the cruelty that takes place in the rest of the meat industry. Our products are cruelty free… and we say this with a strait face. Hudson Valley is humane and sane way to raise ducks. We have been there, and seen it with our own eyes. When someone opens a local foie gras farm, we will switch, but we will always carry foie gras. Protestors are welcome to come any time, but we recommend Fridays… nothing sells the foie like some idiot with a bullhorn spouting things they have read on the internet. Anytime there are protestors, we start sampling free foie and sauternes…bring it.”

  30. Yes, thank you outerballard for posting your experience of the restaurant. This thread was funny at times, but really started feeling like the threads of the past when people insulted each other rather than focusing on the point of the original post. Ugh. Go somewhere else if all you feel like doing is insulting one another.

  33. Mia, I agree :) 32 comments and one person has gone to the restaurant.

    I went tonight and had the veggie burger. I liked choosing my toppings and I appreciate that they make their own patties, but it was was falling apart and kind of mushy. $8.25 for the smallest 1/3 lb. burger is kind of pricey. But I will give them another shot.

  34. I so wanted to like it, but alas it sucked. It is really bad this new burger place. Overcooked burger, dry bun, no moisture, too thick. I'm sad about this, but it only validates that Lunchbox Labratory is the best place to get a burger. What's really sad is that it's the same price as a burger at LL, only not even comparable. Bah.

  35. If their burgers taste anything like they LOOK on their website…I don't think I'll ever eat there. They just don't look all that appetizing.

    I think I'll stick with LOCAL (and delicious) Lunchbox Laboratory, thank you very much.

  36. can some math geek please correct me where i am sure i am making an error. the whole 312k options is not impressive at all is it?

    if i am not mistaken, 9 factorial is already 362k but clearly there are more than 9 “yes/no's” on the menue.

    what am i doing wrong?

  37. I have a question for long time Ballard residents. Does anyone remember the name of the restaurant that was once at the Blockbuster location on 15th and 60th? This was around 15-20 years ago……..thanks.

  42. Don't hate Ballard, hate these comment sections on blogs. I think this blog would be better served by disabling the comment feature and sending all discussion to the forum section.

    That being said, bring Ballard the Swinery!

  43. Was it Skippers? I remember one of them somewhere around there, back when there was one of every fast-food franchise in that area.

  44. Seriously. If all you absolute cretins can do is sit around flinging poo at each other like the base animals you all clearly are, then clearly you don't belong here and you should really get your ugly butt out of… wait, sorry, why am I posting this?

  46. Pickles and roasted red peppers both wink out of existence when placed on the same burger, to spare the universe the abomination. You get that kind of problem a lot more than you might think. It's hell for keeping up your inventory, if you're not careful.

  47. If you want restaurant reviews: yelp.com or the restaurant section of this website. Sniping and trolling is the way of the internet. The more you comment on it, the more it'll happen.

  50. I know, it's a terrible thing. But I find these comments to be addicting. It's a cry for help:)

    Honestly, don't we have jobs? If we don't, it's a beautiful day out. Must stop commenting………

  52. I think that Counter Burger is fun because, like you said, the topping and sauce choices include stuff that I might not have on hand at home. I have only had the turkey burger there so far and it was a total meal in itself. Yum! Will try the vegie burger next because the 12 vegie ingredients of it intrigues me…has anyone on this post tried it yet?……..I'm curious.

  56. The use of just n! is only for permutations, which are an ordered set of elements. In other words, you are counting a burger where you first put on pickles and THEN put on roasted peppers as different from a burger where you first put on roasted peppers and THEN add pickles. Seems like the same burger to me, unless you have an incredibly sensitive tongue.

    You are instead looking for combinations — an unordered collection of distinct elements. The formula for the number of distinct combinations of size k (the number of toppings I can choose) from an overall set of size n (the total number of available toppings) is (n!/(k! * (n-k)!)).

    hope that helps :)

  57. i knew i was wrong, but couldn't figure out how…. and i knew someone out there knew why. thanks.

    can you finish your equation and deduce how many ingredients they have then to create that number of combinations?

  60. I went on Saturday night for their soft opening, just for something to do (plus it was free..can't beat that) and I enjoyed it. I like being able to have a large number choices, since I am kind of picky about what I want on a burger. The burger was decent enough, but the fried pickles and sweet potato fries were definitely the stars of the show, and the guys I went with agreed. I guess I'd say I would go back again, it wasn't bad, our server/bartender was awesome, but overall it wasn't my favorite. The Spinach Chicken burger at Hamburger Harry's beat my Mushroom Swiss from Counter hands down, and I have yet to try Lunchbox Lab. I'd go back for the apps, and drinks, since it's right by my work, but that's probably it.

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