Smashburger

St. Anthony, MN

I found out Smashburger was coming to town and looked into it some to find out that a location in St. Anthony was already open. It's a short drive from work so I decided to try it out for lunch.

Smashburger is a Denver based fast food chain that has some ambitious plans to expand into Minnesota. They plan to open 30-35 stores over the next 4-6 years, including 4-6 new locations by the end of the year. It's a slightly more upscale fast food joint, akin to something like Chipotle. The burgers are of higher quality and, thus, a slightly higher price than regular fast food places. The name Smashburger comes from the practice of smashing the burger on the grill. Apparently they take a ball of hamburger and press it onto the flattop and they claim that makes a juicier burger. They also claim they have "the best-tasting burgers anywhere", which is a bold claim to make while trying to enter into Minnesota's burger culture. I mean... Ju(i)cy Lucy... 'nuff said.

I decided to get a one-third pound (you have the choice of 1/3 or 1/2 pound) Classic Smashburger. I thought that would be a good place to start and if I liked it I could expand to something else next time. I also ordered the Smashfries, which are tossed in olive oil, garlic, and rosemary. I ordered it to go so I didn't buy a drink, sticking with water at my desk, but I was kind of impressed at the beer selection they had. They had bottles of Grain Belt Premium, Leinenkugel's HoneyWeiss, and Summit EPA along with Miller Lite and High Life. That's more than what I'd expect from a fast food joint.

The takeout packaging was a little confounding to me. They start by wrapping your burger and fries in paper, ok I get that. Then they put it in a cardboard box that is about the perfect size for a burger and some fries. "That's kind of neat," I thought to myself. Then they stick it in this giant plastic bag and throw napkins and ketchup in. The thoughts I had about that included, "What's the point of that?" and "What a waste." Plus, now I get to feel all weird about carrying around a giant bag that says Smashburger on the side in huge type when all I have is a third pound burger and fries. Skip to the end of my meal and I'm left with a giant plastic bag, which thankfully is recyclable, and a cardboard box that normally would be recyclable but is covered in food grease, condiment drippings, and rosemary, rendering it unrecyclable. I think next time I will dine-in.

Anyway... my burger was loaded with veggies; leafy lettuce, tomatoes, thick-cut pickles, and red onions. It also had melted American cheese, ketchup, and their Smash sauce. I actually really enjoyed the freshness and crunch of all the veggies. The Smash sauce didn't have much of a presence on the burger. I knew it was there, but I didn't really notice it. The burger itself was pretty good. It was very juicy and seemed very fresh, it was cooked somewhere between medium and medium-well, I don't know if that is standard or just the way mine turned out, and it was a complete mess. My hands were covered in condiment, veggie, and burger juices and it seemed like I was constantly on the verge of burger catastrophe. The bun did hold up pretty well considering the circumstances.

The Smashfries were also good. If you've never had any kind of garlic, rosemary fries, then you are missing out. These were seasoned pretty well, but I felt they required the slight application of ketchup. I've had better seasoned fries, but I'll save that for my next post.

Overall, it certainly blasts anything McDonald's does out of the water, but it's not going to be "The Best Burger You Ever Tasted". It's still rather good. The $7.25 I spent seems like a decent price for the offering. I definitely say give it a try if you're curious.