Driving down Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, you can’t help but be captivated by Heavy Handed’s fun aesthetic.
“It’s joyful orange,” co-owner Max Miller explained. “It’s our Santa Monica building, it’s our food truck as well. And, one of the criteria for us is finding a building that we could paint that joyful orange.”
Miller and business partner, Danny Gordon, are proud of the location as they’re both from the valley.
The vibe is casual and the menu is simple: burgers, ice cream, french fries, beer and wine.
The business started in 2020 in Gordon’s Sawtelle garage. They used that area to make and test their pickles, sauce and signature ground short-rib beef blend.
Miller never thought he’d end up in the burger-making business. He made burgers and fries for his friends. However, Gordon is a chef and has been working in restaurants since he was 14.
“It’s in his blood,” Miller revealed. “He took me under his wing and showed me a little of the ropes and we decided, ‘Let’s make some burgers and fries together.”
On the day of the Los Angeles lockdowns, the duo opened their pop-up in Gordon’s driveway. Blown away by the response from customers, they decided to put their pedal to the metal and head full force into their venture with a food truck.
That then led to the opening of their Santa Monica and now, Studio City, locations.
“From that day on we had about 100 people show up, we didn’t think there would be that many people, and we kept on running,” Miller said.
While they can’t completely credit the pandemic for their success, Miller said their business allowed people to “have fun” and “have a great time” during uncertainty.
Not bad for an idea that stemmed from Miller’s backpack.
“My grandiose idea was making 100 burgers, packaging them up, taking a backpack down to The Victorian or a bar on Main Street Santa Monica and selling them,” he revealed. “Backpack burgers.”
While Gordon wasn’t keen on the backpack idea, it did spark the two to collaborate on what’s now known as Heavy Handed.
The pair tout their short-rib meat blend, carmelized onion technique, homemade pickles and their specialized Thousand Island sauce for their brand’s success.
Simple, but delicious, the establishment isn’t a fan of substitutions. This means, the burgers come as they are.
“We are unapologetically heavy-handed,” Miller confessed to Jessica. “We are who we are.”
This segment of California Cooking aired on Episode 173.