Underground Sensation ‘Burgers Never Say Die’ Pops Up at Animal Next Week

One of the city’s most celebrated backyard operations, Burgers Never Say Die, is teaming up with Animal for a two-night pop-up inside the seminal Fairfax restaurant. The party runs March 28 and 29, and reservations are open now.

For months now, Burgers Never Say Die has been one of the hardest meals to actually snag in Los Angeles. The illegal underground weekend eatery has been flooded with fans since word got out last year, making for hours-long lines and a waitlist of even potential attendees that ran into the hundreds. The owners behind BNSD ultimately had to shut down their operation because of all the attention, but are planning to move soon into a new storefront over in Silver Lake.

In the meantime, there is Animal. Much like the lauded Trudy’s Underground Barbecue, a jump to the kitchen of one of Los Angeles’s most famous restaurants legitimizes the only-in-the-DMs nature of modern LA underground cooking, where so much emphasis is placed on secret cooking locations and sultry food photos. Bringing BNSD to a wider paying audience in anticipation of an upcoming restaurant opening is good for business, and great for showing Animal still very much has its pulse on what’s in the current culinary zeitgeist.

Reservation lines are available for the $55 event by calling the restaurant directly at 323-782-9225, which comes with burgers from the crew as well as salads and sides from Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo’s team. There will be beer and wine as well, of course, but most importantly this may be the first time that plenty of from-afar fans will be able to enjoy the smashed-flat burgers that have been making the social media rounds in Los Angeles.

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