French Fry Diary 455: Smashburger 2013

Here it is, the report from the annual trip to Smashburger on New Year's Day. I had anticipated this year getting together a whole expedition to go from folks at the NYE party the night before, but it didn't work out. Hangovers do that. And the couple we had wanted to come with us passed because of vegan issues.

I countered with the argument that Smashburger had a wide variety of vegan and/or vegetarian offerings, including a veggie burger and several flash-fried veggies as sides. I was told that just going to Smashburger, and giving them their business, would be like saying what they do is okay, and for them - it's not.

I understand completely. No harm, no foul. We're cool. But it did get me thinking. I suppose there are a lot of folks who feel that way, and it made me wonder. Are the fast food burger outlets just wasting their time by making vegan/vegetarian offerings available, when those folks won't be coming in any way? I would love to hear the thoughts of folks out there in the foodie blogosphere.

Now, on to the regularly scheduled annual Smashburger visit. Unlike the last two years we had been here to the Riverside Square Mall location, the place was packed, and hopping for New Year's Day lunch. After placing our order and sitting down, The Bride and I busied ourselves on our iPhones playing the BurgerSmasher game. You can test your skills here making burgers the Smashburger way.

Our shakes came to the table first. I got a big thick chocolate shake, as thick as McDonald's used to have, and Sonic still does. The Bride thought her Oreo shake was very good. They come in a glass, with more in the mixing cup so you know they did it right. In hindsight, this was the best part of the meal right there.

After the last two trips here, I elected to skip the Smashfries this time, in favor of the delicious Haystack Onions. These thinly sliced and deep-fried onions are a bit greasy, but very good. I ordered my Smashburger plain, as usual, but piled some of those onions on top of the patty. Both the burger and the onions were awesome. The burgers are always good.

Of course, the burger and onions only brought to mind the lunch of the previous day, and I have to say, Smashburger paled in comparison to Little Shanty in nearby Warren NJ. Now I hope to get there sooner, but I think next year we'll have a new tradition, lunch at Little Shanty both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Sorry, Smashburger.

French Fry Diary 200: Smashburger

Colorado-based Smashburger opened in 2007, not just French fries but also deep-fried green chilis, pickles, sweet potato fries, banana peppers and fried onions all frizzled up. That last one called haystack onions. They also have veggie frites – flash fried carrots, green beans, asparagus, with sea salt and black pepper. This is also probably why, along with Elevation Burger, and too far out of state contenders Whataburger and In-N-Out Burger, Smashburger is one of the places I get the most recommendations for. Several dozen folks have told me I have to check out the fries at Smashburger, so it's a serious contender.

So we were in the wilds of North Jersey (yeah, "Jersey Shore" land) for a New Year's Eve party, and knowing we were also in the land of Smashburger - I called to see if they were open, so we set out to the Riverside Square Mall for a New Year's Day lunch.

Once we were there (the GPS and the street signs had some real difficulty in determining where this mall actually was), the place reminded me a bit of Cheeburger Cheeburger in design, and similar to Gino's in ordering. You order at the counter, take a number with you and they bring the food to you.

As expected, catastrophically picky eater I am, I got a plain hamburger, and The Bride got something more normal, for sides we got the Smashfries and Haystack Onions to share. The burger was a bit greasy, but very flavorful, and very filling. All things considered, it was the best part of the meal. Notably, the burger was even better with the Smashfries or the Haystack Onions sandwiched under the roll.

Now on to the main event, the favorite fried food at Smashburger - the Smashfries. At first sight, the fries themselves were nothing spectacular, just standard shoestrings deep-fried, as they would have been at any diner or pizza joint. Then the magic happens. They are tossed in olive oil, rosemary and garlic to give them that extra special kick. This is a great trick to trump up the taste of not so great fries and the flavor combination can't be beat. The problem is of course, the fries, tossed in oil after cooking, tend to be a bit greasy.

The Haystack Onions are thin sliced onion rings and onion straws that are positively addictive, much better than the fries, and definitely recommended. I am reminded a bit of the Onion Strings at Famous Dave's. Again, the problem is that they are also a bit greasy. Both these and the Smashfries come in ersatz baskets, and in good portions.

As mentioned above, the grease is the problem. The burger is a little greasy, the onions are a little greasy, and the fries are a lot greasy. Separately it might be forgivable, except maybe for the fries, but together it literally leaves a bad taste in your mouth and stomach.

I would definitely come back however. I would get the burger alone, and maybe the onions, and maybe the flash-fried veggies as well, and definitely one of those tasty looking shakes - but probably not the fries. The large variety of options here at Smashburger was why it was originally planned as a group French Fry Diary field trip. With three or four friends along, we could order and try all the different things on the menu. Not this time, but maybe next time.

French Fry Diary 423: An Open Letter to Smashburger

Dear Smashburger,

It's that time of year again, that time when The Bride and I plan our New Year's Eve. For the last two years we have attended a party up in the wilds of North Jersey at the home of our dear friends Jan and Rob. And for the past two years, we have had lunch on New Year's Day at Smashburger.

You can see my reviews of those two visits here and here. As you can see, I really dig Smashburger, but you guys are sooo far away. We don't get all the way up to North Jersey all that much, as a matter of fact, it's just once a year.

Have you given any thought to opening a restaurant in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area? Maybe more South Jersey than Philly, cuz that's where I am? I know there are lots of burger lovers around here who would just love to sample and continue to visit should a Smashburger location open around here. I know I would definitely eat there more than once a year. Give it some thought, and I'll see you on New Year's Day.

French Fry Diary 322: Smashburger 2012

Smash. Sizzle. Savor. That's what it says on the windows at Smashburger, and it pretty much says what the burgers there are all about. They are fantastic. And after re-reading my first review of Smashburger last year, the burger, and the Haystack Onions, are why we came back.

Like last year, The Bride and I were in North Jersey for New Year's Eve -good friends and good fun- and we decided to again hit Smashburger in the Riverside Square Mall in Paramus for lunch. It was just the two of us and we were hungry, as opposed to exploring the menu or writing reviews (although you knew it was coming, I couldn't let you folks down), so we just got the usual fast food staples.

However, remembering the grease factor of our first visit, I ordered the Haystack Onions over the Smashfries, although The Bride did get them. The fries - shoestrings with rosemary, olive oil, and garlic - were as bad as last time. The burger on the other hand was better, an almost perfect roll too, and it was less greasy than I remember, as were the onions. I wished I had remembered to sandwich them though, that would have been great. The Bride still held on to her opinion about the greasy burger while I was thoroughly satisfied with mine. We also shared a terrific vanilla Butterfinger shake.

I walked away from this visit much happier than I did last New Year's, and anxious to try it again. I think perhaps next year we'll make Smashburger an official annual tradition, and invite some of our party mates along as well. Maybe I can convince someone to try the various flash-fried veggies next time.

French Fry Diary 678: Smashburger 2015

I must confess I have not been impressed with Smashburger the last few times I'd been there, and although several have opened in my area recently, I have not really checked them out.

As our usual Sunday night take out dinner has been disrupted by Casa Carollo's becoming the much inferior Marlton 73, so we're taking suggestions and shopping around. Smashburger just opened up within throwing distance right around the corner, so it was in the running. Since we could order online and pick it up, we gave it a shot.

What a surprise! First the order was perfect and on time. We'd always eaten in so I've never seen their packaging. The fries and haystack onions came in cup-like holders that actually stand up on a flat surface, something most fry containers can't do, so props for that. Now the shake and burger were terrific, and I of course sandwiched the onions and fries. Mmmm... good stuff.

Now I have to mention the Smashfries were different. Rather than the usual frozen shoestrings, these were natural cuts smaller than shoestrings but not quite as thin as matchsticks. Quite good. Recommended, will definitely be going back more. Looks like I got my wish.

French Fry Diary 183: Elevation Burger Is Coming

I was hanging out with my father-in-law yesterday and we decided to see a movie, Unstoppable with Denzel Washington. The only place it was playing was at the mall, so we headed to the Moorestown Mall. Now I don't go to the mall often, after all, it's not the eighties any more, ya know, and the last time I was at this mall was probably last Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw when I entered the food court - a sign indicating Elevation Burger was coming soon to that location!

Now, I've never been to Elevation Burger, but you need to know, I get recommendations all the time for where to go for the best fries and what places to review. There are four places that rank very high up in the category of recommendations, among them - In-N-Out Burger, Whataburger, Smashburger ... and Elevation Burger. The first two are far far from my happy home unfortunately, but the latter have locations just upstate. I was tentatively planning a roadtrip sooner or later for Smashburger and Elevation Burger. How nice of Elevation Burger to come to me!

So now I'm looking forward to 'Fall 2010' (hurry up, not much time left) so I can try their organic burgers, their milkshakes and especially their fresh fries cooked in 100% olive oil. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 611: b. good

The South Jersey area has been invaded in the last few years by upscale gourmet burger restaurants like Elevation Burger, Smashburger, Zinburger, and coming soon, Burger Fi. The trend continues with b. good, just opened in the Promenade in Marlton. At first glance it looks like a quick service burger place, but it's much more than that, and costlier.

You order, get your drink and have a seat. The pricing is a bit misleading if you're used to menus and meal deals at fast food restaurants. There are signs that say you can add drink and fries for $5.99, but the deal isn't $5.99, for an additional $5.99 you can get a drink and fries. Add that to the pricy burger and it adds up - this is not a typical quick service burger place though, the service is quick, and the burgers are really good.

The drinks are intriguing. No Coke or Pepsi here. They have cane cola, skinny cane cola, Italian lemon, and Pennsylvania red birch beer (yum), to name just a few. I know I'm a Coca-Cola guy, but I enjoyed trying the different soda flavors, much more than the Lay's potato chip flavors I've had to try of late at least. The cane cola is awesome.

The burger was very good. The meat was local, as is everything at b. good, dry-aged, and house-ground, and it's a loose ground, which makes for a juicy chewy burger. On a softer bun, this would've been an amazing burger, but as is, it was only great. And by great, I mean better than the burgers at most other places.

The natural cut fries, also local, were very good. They were excellent hot, a little soft but still managed to have the right amount of crisp too. There's a subtle seasoning that give them a little kick, nice. I think I got the tail end of a batch as they were many small pieces and stubs. It happens. I saw some awesome sized regular cut fries on the plates of others. I also got a few sweet potato fries with mine, which was a nice surprise. All in all the fries were very good. On a later visit the fires were even better. I guess they just needed to get their groove.

The French fries bags have a lot to say. "These fries are special. They're hand-cut and oven-finished." I like that. Additionally they have the calorie and fat counts of McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King as compared to b. good's. There's also another slogan, "Food made by people not factories." Nice. I really liked b. good a lot, and can't wait to go back, and bring friends and family. Recommended.

French Fry Diary 550: Little Shanty 2014

No more Smashburger for New Year's Day, not since discovering Little Shanty in Warren NJ. Now we have a new tradition. I love this place. We arrived just after they opened at noon, and I was surprised and pleased to find them quite busy.

Our mission this time out was to try the homemade chips. I'm glad I brought my appetite because we ordered big - burgers, fries, a shake, sea salt and vinegar chips for The Bride and BBQ chips for me. We were both pretty psyched for the chips.

You know that sound a vinyl record used to make when you pulled the needle off of it suddenly? Yeah, that screeching brake sound. Just a moment after I typed that last part into my iPhone, we were informed by our server that they 'didn't have any chips made right now.' As substitute we got the fabulous onion rings and a side salad. I can't say I wasn't disappointed, but hey, what could I do?

The burgers were awesome, as were Grandma's Fries, natural cut shoestrings with deep fried onions. That combination is something else. These are formidable fries, among the best. And the onion rings, specifically Angus & Patty's Almost Famous Onion Rings, are also among the best.

Jonathan the owner came out, it was nice to put a face to the name. He was busy doing prep when we came in. He apologized about the chips, having had a couple employees call out. It was New Year's Day after all. Very nice man, we talked a bit about Pomme Frites in NYC and the demise of Olga's Diner down near me.

He even gave us dessert on the house, including the luscious and decadent deep fried Twinkie (they also have Oreos and Milky Way candy bars), that alone is worth the trip. The batter they use is perfect for this kind of dessert, rivaling similar treats at Cookes of Dublin and the British Chip Shop. Good stuff.

We didn't finish our lunch and had to take some home with us. A pleasure to walk out with Little Shanty bags of food for later (the burger and rings were still pretty awesome reheated at home). We will have to come here more often. Jonathan, good to finally meet you and thank you so much for taking care of us. Everyone else, you have to check this place out. Excellent food, excellent service, highly recommended.

You can find Little Shanty at their website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

French Fry Diary 453: Little Shanty

I was actually invited to Little Shanty by the owner Jonathan Lidz via the Facebook, and he promised to reimburse gas money if I didn't like the fries. If there's anything I like more than a challenge, it's a man who's confident in his fries. Or in this case, they're his Grandma's fries.

The Bride and I normally spend New Year's Eve with friends in North Jersey. The last few years it's become a New Year's Day tradition to hit Smashburger and then take a look at the always-closed American Bandstand Grill on the way home. I figured since it already was sort of a FFD road trip anyway, why not stop in to Little Shanty on the way up? Thanks to various social media and a GPS, it was a done deal.

We finally found it on New Year's Eve afternoon, in a strip mall in Warren NJ, a small but cozy place. And right there on the sign, there it was, "Grandma's Fries." Yep, I couldn't wait. There's a simple but very varied menu available, with vegan and gluten free options as well. I went for my usual, a burger and fries, and a side of onion rings. We ordered and took a seat where we could see our food being cooked in the kitchen, and before long the friendly waitress brought it out to us.

After trying the fries, rings, and taking a bite of the burger, The Bride and I both said to each other, "We're not getting our gas money." The food was just not that good, the meal was fantastic.

The onion rings, properly named Angus & Patty's Almost Famous Onion Rings, are truly among the best, if not the best o-rings I've had, period. Thin and thick at once, very crispy, I think these sweet onions were beer battered, but they didn't taste like it, a good thing because I don't usually like that. These are the best.

Grandma's Fries were thinner than usual natural cut shoestrings with fried onions mixed in - a great combination. The fries were hand cut, pan-fried, crispy on the outside and soft and hot on the inside. I loved the addition of the onions, a simple thing, but the just the right zing for the fries. These perfectly crispy fries were great for sandwiching on the burger, which was big and juicy, the best I've had in a while. It was cooked to order and served on a brioche bun. I loved this entire meal, they even had Coca-Cola products, bonus.

The Bride would have liked her burger a bit more well done, but hey, that's her. And even still, she thought it was excellent. She also thought the fries a little salty, but again, there was nothing left on the tray at the end of the meal if you know what I mean. If I had any complaints, it would be I hadn't tried the fry dipping sauces, or the homemade chips, or the hot dogs, or the shakes. They also have Funnel Cake Fries, as well as Deep-Fried Oreos and Milky Ways. Oh well, I know we'll be back. Little Shanty is too good to stay away for long.

I loved Little Shanty. It gets my highest recommendation. I have found a new favorite restaurant. Check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and their own website. I just wish they weren't so far away. Hey, Jonathan, any thoughts on opening a Little Shanty down in South Jersey?

French Fry Diary 613: Birthday Goodies

I have a pretty important landmark birthday coming up later this week, and I wanted to talk about freebies, specifically birthday freebies from fast food and chain restaurants. For the sake of the blog here, I'm on an awful lot of email lists for these restaurants so of course I'm on their birthday list as well. I should add that there's a substantial lack of the favorite fried food for free.

Denny's is the granddaddy of these bad boys with their free Grand Slam breakfast on your birthday. You get two eggs, two pancakes, two sausage links, two slices of bacon - but no breakfast potatoes or hash browns. Sad. IHoP goes one better with a free breakfast that might just include hash browns.

Friendly's will give you a three scoop sundae, Dairy Queen does a Blizzard, Chili's a brownie sundae, and Cold Stone Creamery, Baskin-Robbins, Rita's Water Ice, and Ben and Jerry's all have ice cream in a cone or cup. Also in the cold club are Smashburger and Zinburger with milkshakes, and P.F. Chang and Outback both get you free dessert.

Sonic, Charlie Brown's, Red Lobster, Famous Dave's, Moe's Southwest Grill, Qdoba, and Fuddruckers play it safe and mysterious by saying you're just get a free gift. Maybe it's a watch? Hmmm… all I wanted was fries… Don Pablo's goes right for the wallet with the lazy birthday tact of a gift card.

Red Robin rules with not just a free burger, but also a side of those bottomless fries. Houlihan's gets you a free entrée, Johnny Rockets a free burger, and my friends at Cool Dog Café are good for a free hot dog. Hmmm… I'm thinking Cool Dog for lunch maybe and then Red Robin for dinner…

French Fry Diary 324: 25 Burgers

Like Smashburger, 25 Burgers is mostly a North Jersey phenomenon, but with one location in my area, in Woodbury. The claim to fame of 25 Burgers is that you have at least twenty-five choices, including angus beef burgers, chicken breast burgers, and other specialty burgers. They've been around since 2009, and have expanded their franchise since.

The day after New Year's Day was a day off for most folks, so The Bride and her folks decided we'd make a road trip to 25 Burgers, as I had wanted to for some time. Over the last couple years I have gotten several recommendations for their fries, so I was looking forward to it.

25 Burgers, other than Boardwalk Fries, also offers cheese fries, chili cheese fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, and potato pancakes as sides as well. For this trip, I ordered the rather inexpensive Boardwalk Fries, along with my usual plain burger. Notably, this is a Pepsi place, no Coca-Cola products, but they did have Orange Crush on tap. Bonus points.

The restaurant itself reminded me of Five Guys in color scheme, very red and white and checkered. The overhead music was oldies and the walls were covered with pics of Marilyn, Sinatra, Elvis, and other icons of the 1950s and 60s. The staff was very friendly and helpful.

The burgers can be huge, depending on what you order. Mine was small, others were big, and all were (no choice) well done. And like Tony Luke says, it's all about the roll - and the rolls are fabulous. The burger, other than being a bit more than well done, was fairly good. The Bride got the Maui Burger, which she liked, but found unwieldy to eat. It might be better without the roll, and with a knife and fork.

The fries, very golden brown, were regular natural cuts, and very spicy. I found them similar to the fries at Checker's, spicy with the crunchy coating. The difference though is the size, these are shorter than Checker's fries, which are pretty long. That said, we might have just gotten to the end of a batch. Quite addictive, but have a drink close by as they have time delay heat. The mother-in-law liked them a lot.

All around, it was a good lunch with the family. I don't know if we'll be rushing back any time soon, but it was pretty good.