Long before gourmet burgers became commonplace across SoCal, Matthew Chernus was building a cult following out of a food truck dubbed Grill ‘Em All that blasted heavy metal and served burgers named after the rock gods who sang them.
Moving from Cleveland to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming one of those very gods, Matthew found the reality that music would likely not define his career increasingly heavy. Eventually landing at the (rightfully adored) Los Feliz legend that is Ye Rustic Inn, having run-ins with everyone from Keifer Sutherland to the cast of “That 70s Show,” Matthew knew there had to be more to life than a dive bar with really great wings.
“I took some business courses at the Music Institute in Hollywood and had some really cool experiences in the industry,” Matthew said. “And Ye Rustic Inn also gave me plenty of stories… But I knew I had to figure something else out. I wanted to actually try something that had a bit more ownership to it all.”
Based on a screenplay written by Matthew—yes, there is indeed a script out there somewhere he had written about two friends starting a food truck—$10,000 was invested into a food truck at a time when Kogi and The Grilled Cheese Truck were the main players in the game. And then Grill ‘Em All became a certified Los Angeles legend.
Grill ‘Em All takes over Los Angeles—and beyond.
Founded in Los Angeles in 2009, Grill ‘Em All emerged during the first major wave of the region’s gourmet food truck boom, but its identity was far stranger—and far louder—than most of its contemporaries.
Commonly situated at Sunset and Logan, Matthew fused over-the-top burgers with an unapologetic devotion to metal culture, creating menu items like the “Dee Snider,” topped with peanut butter, strawberry jam, bacon, and sriracha, and the “Behemoth,” a towering burger stacked between grilled cheese sandwiches. (The former eventually visiting the space’s former Alhambra brick-and-mortar to eat the burger himself.)
What really drove Grill ‘Em All into proper notoriety is landing a spot on the inaugural season of The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network. Unlike many later contestants, Grill ’Em All entered the competition with actual food truck experience already under its belt. Against expectations, Matthew and his teammates fought through multiple elimination scares and ultimately won the show in 2010, taking home the $50,000 grand prize.
The exposure transformed the business overnight, dramatically expanding its audience and allowing the owners to begin planning for a permanent home.
Grill ‘Em All opens a formal brick-and-mortar.
That next chapter arrived in 2013, when Grill ’Em All opened its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Alhambra.
“A few people bitched about the drive, but, for the most part, people got it and came out to us,” Matthew said. “And that’s when, for me, Grill ‘Em All was taken to the next level.”
The location—tucked into a strip mall near chain restaurants and movie theaters—felt intentionally out of place, which only strengthened its appeal. Inside, the restaurant leaned fully into its metalhead ethos: loud music, concert posters, wrestling on television screens, murals declaring “Death to False Burgers,” and a rotating menu of monthly specials that treated burgers like concept albums.
What made Grill ’Em All endure wasn’t just the gimmick. Critics and diners alike repeatedly pointed out that the food backed up the spectacle. Publications including Eater and entities like PBS praised the restaurant’s balance of excess and craftsmanship, noting the quality of its beef, locally sourced buns, and willingness to push burger construction into absurd but strangely successful territory. Signature items became local legends, from gravy-smothered burgers to skull-branded buns.
Then the rock legends start to come…
As the restaurant’s reputation grew, so did its connection to the rock and metal world it celebrated.
Grill ’Em All became a hangout for musicians and touring artists, with figures like Dee Snider publicly tied to the restaurant through signature burgers and appearances. In 2022, the restaurant also collaborated on an official Ozzy Osbourne burger promotion tied to the legendary singer—and sanctioned by the family itself. And, as of recently, the band Revocation hosted a meet-and-greet at their Long Beach space.
The restaurant’s ability to blur the line between fan culture, performance, and dining helped turn it into something larger than a burger shop: it became a pilgrimage site for metalheads across SoCal. And long before Instagram became a haven for middling hype food that rarely satisfies, Grill ‘Em All was doing it on the regular amid rock memorabilia. Artwork. Posters. And signatures galore.
“Fans ask us all the time what we did with the signature wall,” Matthew said. “But it was drywall—wasn’t much we could do. So we have a new one started here that is already starting to fill with some great history,” he said, pointing toward the corner near the soda fountain where a green wall is adorned with the signatures of musicians and celebrities.
The woman who has largely led the charge in the Grill ‘Em All Kitchen…
If you’re wondering about the burgers and their consistent quality, look no further than Chef Niki Grasso. With the brand for over a decade, her and Matthew bounce ideas off one another
“After being in the fine dining world and just, asking myself where I want my personal sanity in a world dominated by toxic chefs, this just made sense,” Chef Niki said. “So I slid in here, didn’t say much, just worked. And here we are a decade later.”
The result? Masterful, monstrous burgers in a Long Beach world saturated in solid burgers. Surely, some are nearly impossible to tackle—”Jump in the Frier” uses full-on waffles as its buns and chicken tenders as accoutrements—but the quality of the burgers and food itself doesn’t waver. Stacked fries adorned with buffalo chicken. Well-seasoned patties made from house-ground beef. Topping combinations that, even when adorned to excess like “Napalm Death,” work incredibly well. All on the comfort of a quiet corner overlooking Alamitos Bay (with an underrated rooftop lookout to boot).
And don’t think Long Beach would be left out of the uniqueness of Grill ‘Em All’s burger list. Enter the “Long Beach Dirtbag,” an ode to Coney Island-style chili smothered with bacon and cheese. It’s a savory-lover’s sonnet and a chili-enthusiast’s dream—and vies with Proudly Serving as the city’s finest chili burger.
Grill ‘Em all is the work of resilience, dedication, and follow-through on its hype—an increasingly rare concept in a world where hype food often falters.
Grill ‘Em All is located on the sand at 5411 East Ocean Blvd.
