It seems only logical that someone would strive to serve a great burger at each of the various trendy food halls. The incredible Vaka Burger has been tapped for the upcoming Mess Hall in Tustin, but that’s still far into the future. Meanwhile, oddly, good burgers have been mostly MIA at all the area’s existing food halls.

When Santa Ana’s 4th Street Market debuted several years ago, the crew from Playground operated a very good burger stall called Wagyu Chuck, but surprisingly that kitchen was one of the market’s early casualties.

Finally, there’s a replacement. Graze opened in March and serves a sharply focused menu of a half-dozen burgers and hand-cut fries. I’ve sampled only one of their burgers thus far, the one called Agave ($9.95), which is accented with roasted jalapeños and tequila aioli. Although not the absolute best burger and fries I’ve tasted this year, it’s all very good — certainly good enough to make me want to return. And it certainly fills what was a serious void at 4th Street Market.

Meanwhile over at Trade in Irvine, a new burger joint called Ground House has replaced the absurdity formerly known as Pig Pen Delicacy. It’s the same owners at work here, but they wisely concluded that their wackadoodle carnival fare (burgers made from fried mac and cheese buns, for example) didn’t really have much of a shelf life. People will try anything once. But again and again? Better to serve a real burger.

With a new name on their kitchen, now they’re making real burgers and hand-cut fries — and they’ve gone from being the worst kitchen at Trade to being possibly the best. I say “possibly” because I’ve tried only one of their five burgers thus far, the Pinoy burger ($12.40 for the double), whose patty is a blend of beef and longaniza sausage, which is utterly fantastic. However, they do also serve a Hawaii-inspired burger with pineapple, cheddar, ham and teriyaki, which still sounds a little too much like carnival food to me. Fortunately, everything else on their tightly edited menu sounds perfectly reasonable.

The Pinoy burger at Ground House, located inside Trade food hall in Irvine. (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Agave burger at Ground House, located inside 4th Street Market in Santa Ana. (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Graze

Where: 4th Street Market, 201 E. 4th St., Santa Ana

When: Lunch and dinner daily

Online: grazehandcraftedburgers.com

Ground House

Where: Trade, 2222 Michelson Drive, Irvine

When: Lunch and dinner daily

Online: tradefoodhall.com