Kerry's Gourmet Burgers is the brainchild of Kerry Simon, who you may have seen on "Iron Chef" or eaten as his restaurant Simon at The Palms or in Los Angeles. Here he goes simpler with a one page menu of burgers (and a few non-burger items) but with some fun twists and turns that elevate them to more than just meat on a bun.

Before you get to your main course, start with the waffle fry nachos. That's not a recommendation that's a demand - you'll thank me for it later. Instead of corn chips, the base is made from tender waffle fries on which is piled their signature braised short rib "sloppy joe" and a generous helping of cheddar cheese sauce and jalapenos. The entire thing works deliciously together but it'll be that tangy BBQ "joe" that you keep coming back to, digging past everything else to get to it.

Other starters cover the gamut from chicken satay and tuna tartar Vietnamese rolls to fried dill pickles or deep fried macaroni and cheese. The latter is sort of like a mozzarella stick only with mac and cheese inside and a white cheddar sauce to dip it in. We'll just pretend that our cholesterol is fine and enjoy them, okay?

You can build your own burger with your choice of meat (beef, turkey, lamb, chicken, etc.), buns (onion, jalapeno cheddar, and so on.), veggies, cheese (American to smoked gouda), sauces and spreads (roasted red pepper aioli, cranberry sauce, etc.), and "extras," which include fried egg, bacon, mushrooms, popcorn shrimp, avocado, or that short rib sloppy joe I raved about above. Darned tempting.

They also have several specialty burgers including the one I tried, the BBQ bacon burger. It was huge, served on a tangy sweet onion roll with homemade BBQ sauce, applewood smoked bacon, smoked gouda, and crispy onion straws. The burger itself is thick and juicy and all together it made a comfortably familiar yet altogether original combo. I think it was the gouda. Regardless, it was fantastic and I want another one right now.

Other non-beef burger options include a buffalo chicken breast with hot sauce and bleu cheese, a salmon filet with feta cheese and Greek yogurt, a lamb burger with tzatziki sauce, and even a Thanksgiving turkey burger topped with cranberry sauce, gravy, and stuffing.

They also have a couple of salads and a foot long hot dog, but really?

You can wash all this down with one of their signature cocktails, which focus on vodka as the drink of choice - a nod to the Russian KGB theme. A full beer and wine menu is also available.

But save room because you have to try their desserts. Shakes and malts are the main attraction and feature traditional strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla and then add in things like espresso and Captain Crunch just for fun. The banana split nachos is an interesting concept - sweet tortilla chips topped with bananas, strawberries, pineapple, and vanilla ice cream. I kind of felt like that was better on paper than in execution but I was very happy with my breakfast cupcake, which takes kid favorite cereals like Cookie Crisp, Captain Crunch, and Fruit Loops and puts them in cupcake.

Prices are solidly in the moderate range. Most of the starters are under $10, the specialty burgers and sandwiches all under $15, and the desserts mostly around $5-6. Building your own burger could get very pricey since everything you'd put on it costs between 50 cents and $1.25 apiece, but control yourself and you could do that for around $15 as well. Doing a full and very satisfying meal for around $20 per person is easy.

But here's the thing... I'd pay more for these burgers. They are that good.

So yes, the burger battle is over. KGB has won.