Beyond the Basic Burger

To track trends and translate them for product development, CCD looks to fine-dining chefs for emerging culinary trends. For burgers, celebrity chefs are new exciting players. At Bobby Flay’s four-unit Bobby’s Burger Palace, the signature burger, The Crunchburger, is a cheeseburger with a layer of potato chips between patty and bun. Fellow Food Network personality Michael Symon recently opened his own burger joint, B Spot Burgers, in Cleveland, where he garnishes burgers with an assortment of deli meats like bologna, corned beef and fried salami. The Fat Doug Burger, for example, comes with pastrami, coleslaw, Swiss cheese and mustard.

NOT THE SAME OLD GRIND

One notable way these celebrity-chef and “fine-fast” burgers rise above the everyday competition is the meat. At B Spot, the menu proclaims, “We proudly serve naturally raised beef from Pat LaFrieda. Custom blended for B Spot.” Pat LaFrieda, a New York City wholesaler, famously supplies custom-blended beef to Danny Meyer’s popular Shake Shack. To create his signature Black Label blend, he grinds dry-aged beef (selling less dry-aged steaks these days...) into sophisticated burger mixes.

“What we are seeing now is a return to house-blended beef that represents the chef,” says Tim Reardon, culinary director, The Food Group. His preferred burger blend includes short rib, chuck and hanger steak. He’s also a proponent of adding aged beef fat for character.