Wynnewood, PA: Elevation Burger’s Cheeseburger

50 E Wynnewood Rd
Wynnewood, PA 19096-2013
(610) 645-7704

I first posted about Elevation Burger way back in February so needless to say the anticipation has been building for a while on this one…and I am happy to report that Elevation Burger did not disappoint.

With a mantra of “Ingredients Matter,” what many have dubbed the “healthy Five Guys” opened their first store here on the outskirts of Philly over the 4th of July weekend.  It took me a whole 2 days to get down there thanks to holiday festivities but lunchtime Monday was destined to be all about Elevation Burger.

Four of us from work headed over and I was not surprised to run into another burger-loving friend already waiting in the short queue ahead of us.  Word seems to have spread fast as they had a decent lunchtime crowd already for their first work-day service.

I opted for the Cheeseburger, as opposed to the Elevation Burger (1 patty vs 2 patties) and was presented with one of the best upsell attempts I have ever heard…”We find men are more satisfied with the Elevation burger (double) as opposed to just the single.” Ah-hem.  Innuendo aside, I still stuck with the single burger (a rare show of restraint) in order to justify getting a side of fries and a soda.

As you can see from the picture, the burger itself is aesthetically pleasing.  It is clear that they spend a lot of time training their staff to present the product well and I appreciate when a burger joint does that (ex: Shake Shack or In-N-Out) as opposed to just slapping together ingredients.  I ordered my burger with lettuce, tomato and “Elevation Sauce” which I was told was a creamy, light tomato sauce.  Either an homage to INO or even Big Mac sauce, I found that the sauce really didn’t add too much flavor to the package.  It didn’t distract or ruin the taste, just didn’t add that much. To be honest, that is my only complaint.  The burgers at Elevation are 100% organic, grass-fed and free range and you definitely can tell that something is different about the patties.  Well seasoned and served on a squishy bun with a nice hunk of cheddar cheese (non-processed!) my cheeseburger was a winner.  The best part may have been the complete lack of that icky, weighed down feeling (strangely enough this was a negative factor for my co-workers).  The absence of greasiness meant no strong desire for an afternoon nap which could help productivity back at the ranch.

As good as the burger was, I have to say the fries are even better.  Fresh cut shoestring style and crisped up perfectly in 100% olive oil (no trans or saturated fats), these were probably the best fries I’ve had in a long time and everyone in the group agreed they were the highlight of the meal.  A side order was enough for 2 of us to split, though in the future I’d easily order one side just for me because they were that good (perfectly salted, each one tasted like that idealized vision of a McDonald’s fry we conjure up but have only ever experienced maybe once or twice in our lives).

Bonus points for Pibb Xtra as a fountain selection.  Having spent time growing up in the south, seeing Pibb Xtra, which is the “new” name for “Mr. Pibb,” triggered lots of nostalgic memories.  And despite Mitch Hedberg famously maligning Pibb’s lack of advanced education (“Mr. Pibb is a poor imitation of Dr. Pepper. Dude didn’t even get his degree.”) I’d choose it every time over the much fizzier Pepper.

The menu also features fresh-scooped ice cream milk shakes made with Blue Bunny ice cream.  I didn’t have one, but they were hand-dipping a lot of them and I am sure I’ll get around to that at some point (maybe Jess @ Fries With That Shake will beat me to it).

Located half-way between my work and home I am going to have to try hard to avoid filling up one of their “7 Club” cards each week.  Congrats to the team that has been working so hard on getting this location open and good luck to them keeping the steady stream of people coming.  Keep delivering a good product and they will (and the demos of this area seem ideal with a Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s in short driving distance the health-concious bent should play well).

Filed under: Big Burgers, Burger, Burgers In The Burbs, Cheeseburger, Fast Food Chains, Fries, Grass-Fed, Hamburger, Healthy, Main Line, Marc Sanders, McDonalds, Narberth, Organic, Philly Burgers, Wynnewood

Burger Geek: Whole Food’s Releases iPhone App Featuring Burger Recipes

As much as I love iBurger (and the hilarious sounds my daughter makes while playing it) I haven’t found a truly useful burger app for the iPhone (note to self – get off high horse and invent truly useful burger app for iPhone). To the rescue comes a new app from foodie grocery chain Whole Foods featuring a full slate of burger recipes presented in a truly slick interface.

Over 25 burger recipes are featured ranging from the uber-healthy (beef and bulgur burgers) to the truly decadent (stuffed burgers with gorgonzola and smoky bacon).

Nutritional info is provided (and thankfully placed strategically so it is easy to ignore) as are diet keys which help point you to offerings that may/may not fit into your diet (you’ll be happy to know that Sliders are good for those who are “sugar conscious”).

One of the best features (though not burger specific) is called “On Hand” which allows you to type in up to 3 ingredients you have “on hand” and then suggests recipes in the library based on that.  Pretty handy to have when you are scraping the refrigerator bottom before shopping day.

We’ll be testing out the slider recipe soon and probably checking in on the app while out shopping to see what we can create.

Whole Foods annual “Buck A Burger” sale ends tomorrow (July 7th) I think.  We loaded up and cooked off some of their bacon and blue cheese burgers for lunch yesterday (tweet – Rounding out a weird weekend with some Bacon & Blue Cheese burgers from Whole Foods Buck A Burger sale. http://twitpic.com/9eezw10:41 AM Jul 5th from TweetDeck ) – pretty tasty.

ps:  If you are a budding iPhone app designer and are interested in helping create the burgatory iPhone app (and enjoy working for free) drop me a line…we actually do have a neat idea!

Filed under: Bacon, Burger, Burger Geek, Burger Recipe, Family, Healthy, Home Cookin', Main Line, Meat On Meat, Recipe, Recipes, Twitter, tweets

Burger On-Deck Circle (Another Update): Elevation Burger Wynnewood, PA & Weird Twitter Story

Note in the comments section of the last post from the owner of the Wynnewood location says “July 4th should be the first day for Elevation Burger.”

Plus, interesting story in the Wall Street Journal about Twitter Imposters, the last place I expected to read about Elevation Burger…weird tale though -> read full story here or excerpt below.

At Elevation Burger, a seven-outlet chain owned by Elevation Franchise Ventures LLC, a vendor in March found an unauthorized Twitter profile with tweets promoting rival Z Burger. Hans Hess, Elevation’s founder and chief executive, complained to Z Burger and Twitter, which later suspended the profile after a letter from Mr. Hess’s lawyer.

Kenny Fried, a publicist representing Z Burger, says owner Peter Tabibian created the Elevation Burger profile on Twitter, as well as profiles in two other competitors’ names, “to be creative and fun in promoting Z Burger” and didn’t intend to be malicious.

Mr. Hess calls the stunt “extremely unprofessional.”

Old stuff below:

Just a quick note to say the sign went up yesterday! Can’t be too much longer now. Lots of activity over the past few weeks means hopefully they will be open before the end of the month. Will update with pics for those interested via the Twitter feed later today.

Read my Elevation Burger post from February here.

If this place is half as good as I am anticipating I am going to have to alter my route home from work.

Filed under: Burger, Burgers In The Burbs, Grass-Fed, Hamburger, Healthy, Main Line, Marc Sanders, Organic, Wynnewood , Elevation Burger

Home Cookin’: Buffalo Bill/Dabney Coleman BBQ Bacon Cheese Burger

Sunday night is burger night around the house and this weekend’s version was inspired by a viewing of a PBS The American Experience episode about Buffalo Bill Cody, which when trying to cook and tweet at the same time somehow morphed into a reference to Dabney Coleman’s early 1980’s sitcom Buffalo Bill (see tweets here – heck, sign up to follow if you wish).

What made these burgers even more special was that the beef and bacon were procured from our local farmers market.  In most parts of the North East farmer’s market season has just kicked off and that is great news.  Within walking distance of our house are a bevy of delicious, seasonal options produced and sold by the person behind the till.  Stories, suggestions, recipes and heart are all within easy reach of the consumer and we are all a bit better for taking the time to slow down and interact on a more personal level with our food and those that grow it.  Of course these markets are famous for their veggies but we have found that many offer great quality meats as well.  Whether “farm-raised,” “grass-fed,” “organic” and/or “natural” meat, options abound and include not only beef from cows, but good quality bison and small-batch bacons.

Not so much a recipe on this one…more a parts list:

85/15 all-natural ground beef

Thick-cut all-natural bacon

Ultra-sharp cheddar cheese

Onion rings

BBQ sauce

Whole-wheat Telera rolls

Bobby Flay calls his version a Cheyenne Burger.

Carl’s Jr.’s call it a Western Bacon Cheeseburger.

Dabney Coleman Fever movie on YouTube (kiss 8 1/2 minutes of your life goodbye before clicking)

Filed under: Bacon, Bad TV, Big Burgers, Buffalo Bill, Burger, Burger Recipe, Burgers In The Burbs, Cheeseburger, Dabney Coleman, Family, Food Network, FoodTV, Grass-Fed, Hamburger, Healthy, Marc Sanders, Meat On Meat, Organic, Recipe, Recipes, Twitter

Burger Legends: Where’s Herb Now? Burgatory.com’s Interview with Jon Menick (Pt. 2)

Read pt. 1 here

“Bald guys like me don’t get famous, we’re just happy to get work.”

Fresh from the road playing the role of Elwood P. Dowd as part of the touring company for Mary Chase’s Harvey, Jon Menick’s agent arranged an audition for “something.”  The intentional ambiguity of the agent’s statement would portend a lot of the secrecy which surrounded this second part of the campaign.  With so much on the line (money-wise), finding an unknown actor and then keeping his identity a secret until the right time was critical.  Menick’s acting ability and lack of national presence helped him secure the role of Herb, and Menick shared with me some of the planning that went into fleshing out his character.

Filed under: Burger, Burger Geek, Burger Legends, Hamburger, Herb, Marc Sanders, Opportunity Of A Lifetime, interview

Home Cookin’: The Burger Explosion

More than a little hat tip to the gents over at BBQ Addicts whose invention, the “Bacon Explosion,” was the creative jumping off point for this monstrosity.

No shot of getting this thing in the New York Times, but my concerns (and those of our crew of culinarily curious friends) were in getting this in our bellies.  The idea just seemed like the logical next step and although it took about 3 hours start to finish, it is more than worthwhile trying it out at home for your next get together.  This one is guaranteed to stop people in their tracks.  As always, I will note that I am not a professional chef and though these directions worked for me, they may not work well for you.  This recipe is fairly forgiving so as long as you are certain to cook these beauties all the way through I can see little danger in making a minor misstep (and tons of upside in creating your own variations).

I actually made a Bacon Explosion alongside the Burger Explosion for comparison’s sake.  The recipe for the “Bacon Explosion” which is packed with pork sausage is best picked up at BBQ Addicts, though I will note that I tweaked that recipe a little, swapping out the bbq rub for a home spun mixture of salt, pepper and rosemary.  The rosemary worked out very well.

Burger Explosion (serves 8-10)

1lb 80/20 ground beef

4 slices of white American cheese

9 slices thick cut bacon

3 slices of regular bacon

1 butt of whole grain bread – toasted

1 large egg

2 tablespoons Oyster Sauce

1/3 cup BBQ sauce (any kind will do)

Step 1 – Fry up the 3 slices of regular bacon on a griddle as you would for morning breakfast, when done remove from griddle and pat dry (don’t worry about getting too much grease off, this ain’t health food!)

Step 2 – Take the butt end of the whole grain bread and sop up the rendered bacon fat from the griddle.

Step 3 – Place the bread into a food processor and whir it up for a few seconds to make breadcrumbs (yes, even the breadcrumbs are gonna taste like bacon!).

Step 4 – Put your ground beef, egg, oyster sauce and 3 tablespoons of the bacon-y breadcrumbs into a bowl and mix thoroughly by hand.

Step 5 – Make a 4×5 lattice pattern with the bacon (this may be the most fun part of the recipe)

Filed under: Bacon, Burger, Burger Geek, Burger Recipe, Burgers & Beer, Burgers In The Burbs, Cheeseburger, Family, Hamburger, Home Cookin', Marc Sanders, Meat On Meat, Opportunity Of A Lifetime, Recipe, Recipes, Twitter, Where Have You Been My Whole Life?

Burger Legends: Where’s Herb Now? Burgatory.com’s Interview with Jon Menick (Pt. 1)

Every so often the Internet kicks out something that triggers a tidal wave of memories and sets you off on a silly (and probably completely useless) quest to find a nugget of info or the answer to that long ago forgotten question.  A few weeks back I saw an “I’m Not Herb” shirt listed on eBay and off I went…to YouTube to watch the commercials, to Wikipedia to read about the campaign, to Google to read critics panning the campaign and ultimately imdb to learn about the career of the actor who played Herb in the iconic Burger King campaign of the mid-1980s.

If I told you that today, Jon Menick, the actor who portrayed the hapless Herb was out of show business you might not be surprised.  If I told you he is out of show business after a long, fruitful career which included feature films, network TV and a slew of national commercials you might not believe me, but thanks to the kickstart offered by this campaign, Jon Menick carved a nice career for himself out in Hollywood (eschewing the seemingly certain perils of typecasting) and has recently ditched the rat race for a more peaceful life working in the Valhalla of the Americas – Asheville, North Carolina.

I had the chance to speak with Jon about life pre- and post-Herb, but for those who may not be 100% familiar with the campaign, perhaps a bit of a refresher is in order (I keep having to remind myself that not everyone who reads this blog is a mid-30’s male weaned on TV and fast food – although I am sure there is some Google Analytics tool that would tell me I have the demo pretty well pegged…thanks for visiting!)

Homogeny From Sea To Shining Sea

In the early 1980’s a war raged across our country, one that would change the landscape (and shape of humans) like no war had before or since.  Fast food, which until then had been a regional affair, was in the throes of the last great land grab.  Regions of the country that had subsisted on burgers and fries prepared with local flair at hamburger stands and greasy spoons were facing an invasion of golden arches, burger royalty and a freckle faced girl in pigtails.  It is hard to even imagine now areas of the country that didn’t have access to these homogeneous fast food empires, but it is true (and it occurred in my lifetime).  I can (and I am sure many readers can, too) remember dominant local chains which existed and thrived across the country delivering what may realistically have been just complete knock-offs of McDonald’s, Burger King and to a lesser extent Wendy’s…but many of us did not know better (and/or may have been better off for it).  So, back to the war…

By the 1980’s most every part of the country was infiltrated and in order to gain market share, the big chains spent millions battling for mindshare and walletshare by launching some of the most memorable and expensive TV ad campaigns ever seen.  Perhaps we’ll explore this a bit further in future posts, but the first major shot fired was by Wendy’s with their famous “Where’s The Beef” campaign featuring the lovable octagenerian Clara Peller.  Wendy’s had placed McDonald’s and Burger King on the defensive and each answered in a completely different way.  McDonald’s introduced the McDLT, with its unique packaging and value statement (wasn’t it “Keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold?”).  Burger King answered with a character of their own to match up against Peller…Herb.

The Original Whopper Virgin

Herb was born in the fertile minds of the creative folks at J Walter Thompson, who at the time were helmed by James Patterson who now enjoys life as basically the most successful fiction writer alive.  Though his direct ties to the Herb campaign are tough to confirm, what is known is that Herb almost never happened.  In fact, the first time the character-driven concept was presented to their client (Burger King) the idea was shot down.  Pitched again months later as the Burger Wars continued to heat up, the idea grew legs and a two-part campaign was crafted.

The first part was “Who’s Herb?” in which the world was asked to ponder what would a guy who has never tasted a Burger King Whopper look like?  Concerned friends and relatives appeared in commercials questioning just what type of person could go through life without tasting a Whopper. The implication was that only “Herbs” (a nickname for geeks/nerds/other undesirables) don’t eat at Burger King and if you wanted to avoid the stigma of being a nerd yourself you’d better get one right now.  (It is at this point that I must tell any millennials/Gen Yers reading this that there was a time in our humble country when using a computer and showing a modicum of interest in technology was not cool…if you need more information on this wild and backwards-seeming time I encourage you to add the following to your Netflix queue Revenge Of The Nerds, Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise, Revenge Of The Nerds III: The Next Generation and of course Revenge Of The Nerds IV: Nerds In Love).

Photographic Evidence Of The Existence Of Nerds

The second part of the campaign was “Where’s Herb?” and in what may have been the first example of a character jumping off the TV screen into real life, North Americans were challenged to be on the lookout for Herb at their local Burger King and if they were the first to spot him they would win $5,000.  Enter into the story, Jon Menick, who at the time was a stage actor living in New York City.

(Wow!  You just read almost 1000 words about Herb…want to hear more?  Part II will be posted later this week.  I will announce the post via twitter @burgatory or if you’d like me to email you when it is posted, send me an email with the subject “I gotta have more Herb!” to burgatory@gmail.com.  You’ll get a one-time email from me – that’s it!  No spam, just a heads up when the next part of the story is posted)

Filed under: Burger, Burger Legends, Burger Wars, Fast Food Chains, Hamburger, Herb, Marc Sanders, Opportunity Of A Lifetime, interview , 1980's, ads, advertisement, burger king, interview, TV ads

Philadelphia, PA: goodburger’s $4.99 burger special

1725 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 569-4777

Had a meeting with one of our customers the other day that went particularly well and during the walk back to the car we passed goodburger (is it always lower-case?) and their strategically placed placard touting their contribution to the recession busting craze – the $4.99 burger and soda special.  Agreement on going in was almost non-verbal (scary) and as usual, goodburger delivered.

The special is for the small version of their regular 7 oz burger, but at 5.5 oz it is considerably larger than many competitors and comparable to the offerings at Five Guys in the same neighborhood (price-wise).  The burger-to-bun ratio was way off though and really the only downer.  The stock art they chose for the ad shows your typical white squishy bun that might have been sized better, but the kaiser roll that this came on was too wide leaving a few too many hollow bites.  Minor hiccups though.

The toppings were stellar.  Surprising to see such a deep red tomato this early in the year (most likely not a NJ grown fruit, but that’s ok) with such great flavor.  Great crispy raw onions and a nice flap of iceberg lettuce rounded out the healthy bits.

I ordered mine medium and it was done to a “t.”  My co-worker ordered one medium-rare and after a minimal attempt to talk her out of it (might be standard operating procedure) they delivered her burger exactly as requested.

All told complete happiness.  $4.99 is more than fair for the quality (including soda w/refills – basically the soda is free if you use their normal menu as a guide since they do offer a 5.5 oz burger at that price point – so more packaging then huge savings, but heck I’m a sucker for a good marketing ploy).  It was listed as a limited time special, but they actually had some printed materials which leads me to believe this one may last a while.  Here’s to hoping we have more clients downtown eager to discuss the wonders of cash management and remote deposit capture technologies.

ps:  This special was offered at the goodburger in Philadelphia.  Not certain if they are offering a similar special in NYC.

pss:  Just saw that the next “meating” of the Phila. Burger Club (organized by Fries With That Shake) is taking place at goodburger this Saturday 5/16.  Click through to their site for more details.

Filed under: Burger, Burgernomics, Fast Food Chains, Hamburger, Marc Sanders, Philly Burgers, goodbugrer

Burger Tweets: Beyond 140 Characters

Doing some housekeeping on the site this morning and noticed that a few days had passed since the last post (more to do with the last post being about the birth of our son than with the lack of burger related news). Like millions of folks I have been “tweeting” and since I have more readers here than followers there I thought I’d republish a few recent tweets (with some extra info that I couldn’t cram in with the 140-character limit) to hold you over until I finish up a few pending posts.  Feel free to follow me @burgatory.

R.I.P. Gino’s Genie (Dom DeLuise) http://ow.ly/5kyz Nostalgic for the old Gino’s chain? Check out this amazing fan site http://ow.ly/5kyO

Remembering the late Dom DeLuise and stumbled upon info that he was the “Gino’s Genie.”  Gino’s was an east coast burger/chicken chain which ceased operations in the 1980s.  I can distinctly remember the location near my parent’s house.  Didn’t remember DeLuise in this role, but this was pretty much the only burger link I could find on the Internet (stunning considering his size and love for food).  The Gino’s fan site run by John S. Flack, Jr. is pretty amazing and a great way to waste some time on the web.

A Dogmatic Hot Dog cart for sale on Craigslist? http://ow.ly/59r7 Did you ever see their promo video? Amazing! NSFW http://ow.ly/59ri

Still not sure the deal with the cart (seems odd that it was only used 40 times?), but the video is really great -> click to view.  Clearly not burger related but I’m going out on a limb here and guessing that if you like burgers you like hot dogs, too.

Burger/Baseball News: Summer Collegiate Baseball ‘Prospect” League Has 2 Teams Named “Sliders” Uh-oh. http://ow.ly/4SMc Mmmmmmm Sliders.

Remember back in the day when ESPN would show Canadian Football League games and every so often you’d tune in to see the Ottowa Rough Riders play Saskatchewan Roughriders (notice the subtle difference in team names).  8 teams in the league and 2 of them had the same name?  Fast-forward and switch sports and the newest summer college baseball circuit, the Prospect League, offers baseball and burger lovers 2 teams named the “Sliders.”  Oddly enough the teams do not meet during the regular season so here’s hoping both teams do well so we can see a post-season “Sliders” vs “Sliders” matchup.

Slippery Rock Sliders

Springfield Sliders

Oddly mesmerized by the intro video over @CounterBurger http://ow.ly/3CFz Might set baby up in front of computer screen to pacify him.

If you can pull yourself away from the screen you are a better person than me.  Utterly mesmerizing.  Click

ps:  Baby still not sleeping, G-d bless my wife for doing most of the heavy lifting with him while I manage our 3 year old (and her burger dreams).

Twitter image modified from free image availale via webdesign.fm

Filed under: Burger, Hamburger, Marc Sanders, Sliders, Twitter, tweets , Twitter

Bryn Mawr, PA: Hospital Cafeteria Cheeseburger

Bryn Mawr Hospital Cafeteria

130 S Bryn Mawr Ave

Bryn Mawr, PA

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Babies don’t come out in real life as fast as they do on TV, so with a few minutes of time on my hands in between contractions, an epidural and the blessed event I figured I’d post about the cuisine here at Bryn Mawr Hospital.  This being a hospital and all I was a wee bit concerned about the offerings in the cafeteria (would it be nothing but healthy stuff?), but clearly they are catering to a wide audience with their extensive offerings (salad bar ->nachos bar -> deli sandwiches -> pastries).

Was very happy to see (4) burger options on the menu, advertised as fresh from the grille sirloin.  I opted for the cheeseburger (white American), and as you can see from the above it came wrapped a la your typical fast food burger.  A self-serve toppings bar was available with some bright red tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sliced onions, pickles and bacon as options.  I actually skipped over the bacon (just seemed odd in a hospital – bacon will probably bring me back here sometime soon enough) and loaded up with a few tomato slices.

End product was about 1/3 lb (maybe even closer to 1/2 lb) cooked medium + all the way through and was served on a decent quality kaiser roll.  With some ketchup and mustard this baby doctored up to be pretty decent with a very strong beef taste.   No doubt this was a Sysco or similar food service burger, frozen until just recently but prepared well for the lunch time rush.

Wife can’t eat anything but ice chips and freeze pops (and nurse wondered what the smell was in the room in a manner that clearly said “who the heck is eating fast food in here!”) so I couldn’t get another opinion on this but it might be the real deal.  Not sure how many folks would stop by here for a casual lunch, but if this labor continues any longer (nurse mentioned someone in labor for 3 days…) I might convene a meeting of other burger lovers for further sampling.

Thanks for all of the well wishes to date (have been posting some on Twitter though promised wife I would not “live Tweet” the birth).  The world will welcome another burger lover very soon.

UPDATE:  More burgers will have to wait…he’s here!

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Filed under: Big Burgers, Burger, Burger Geek, Burgers In The Burbs, Cheeseburger, Hamburger, Hospital Food, Main Line, Marc Sanders