The #12
A Johnny Rockets classic with a numbered name straight out of a diner order pad. A patty with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and the chain’s tangy red sauce. Simple, bright and very much in the spirit of the old counter that started it all.
The story
The #12 is one of the four burgers Johnny Rockets has treated as its signatures since the beginning, alongside The Original, the double-patty Rocket Double and the St. Louis. Ronn Teitelbaum opened the first Johnny Rockets on 6 June 1986 as a twenty-stool counter on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, and the #12 was set apart by its own “red, red sauce” in place of the Original’s mustard and relish. The Melrose counter itself closed in October 2015, but the burger outlived it.
What’s inside
Make it at home
There is no copycat of the The #12 yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.
- Shares beef and cheese
McDonald's Daily Double (Copycat) - Shares beef and cheese
McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe (Copycat) - Shares beef and cheese
Skip Marooch's Chutney Burger - Shares beef and cheese
Whopper (Copycat)
Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the The #12.- Max Burgers · beef and cheese
SignatureOriginal - Herfy · beef and cheese
SignatureSuper Herfy - Red Mill Burgers · beef and cheese
SignatureVerde Burger - McDonald's · beef and cheese
Big Tasty
More from Johnny Rockets
About Johnny Rockets
Ronn Teitelbaum opened the first Johnny Rockets in 1986 as a tiny 20-stool counter on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. He modelled it, down to the counter seats and the burgers wrapped in paper, on The Apple Pan, a West Los Angeles burger counter that has been open since 1947. The idea was a sincere, not gimmicky, recreation of the malt shops of his childhood.
Around 90 US restaurants and a large presence in more than 30 countries.
Not affiliated with Johnny Rockets. Trademarks belong to their owners.