Short Order: The burger’s promised land to open Nov. 18

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The buzz surrounding Short Order, Nancy Silverton and the late Amy Pressman’s new burger restaurant, has been as sustained as a motion in a courtroom drama and just as riveting. Since word first leaked out to food bloggers several years ago that the two revered chef-friends would be collaborating to bring seasonal gourmet burgers to the Original Farmers Market, tongues have been wagging in speculation -- and anticipation -- of what the partnership would reap.

Now the time has come to taste the meats of their labor. Pressman recently died of esophageal cancer, but her legacy and love of farm-fresh ingredients will live on through the new restaurant and in the guise of a bakery called Short Cake that will soon open alongside Short Order.

Short Order is serious about using only local, sustainable and artisanal ingredients, and to that end most of the meat is sourced from Sonoma County. The animals are all free range, humanely treated and produced without the use of antibiotics or hormones.

Short Order chef Christian Page immediately gained the trust of Pressman when the two met at Test Kitchen and bonded over a shared love and knowledge of gathering natural ingredients for fresh and creative preparation of wholesome comfort food.

The burgers that the team created include the following: Short Order Burger (grass-fed beef, Morbier, griddled mushrooms, bibb lettuce, ‘mustardy mayo’); Nancy’s Backyard Burger (Nancy Silverton’s beef blend, which can also be purchased at Huntington Meats in the Farmers Market, artisan bacon, Comté, avocado, tomato, onion, iceberg lettuce, spicy mayo); and Amy’s Turkey Burger (organic turkey, sage cheddar, melted celery, leeks, bibb lettuce, ‘mustardy mayo’). To drink there will be a list of cocktails tailored by star cocktail consultant Julian Cox (Rivera, Playa, Picca). In keeping with the artisanal, sustainable mandate of the restaurant, Cox has crafted the bar menu using only liquors from small-batch U.S. distilleries.

‘They are picking certain produce from a certain local farm and chocolate from San Francisco and so on, so I wanted to marry that same concept with the bar,’ says Cox. ‘It’s very all-American, just like the burgers.’

Also all-American? Eating as many burgers as you possibly can. Get in line on the 18th.

Short Order, 6333 W. Third St., L.A. (323) 761-7970; www.shortorderla.com.

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: One of Nancy Silverton’s burgers circa 2005. Credit: Beatrice de Gea / Los Angeles Times