In 2019, the chef Jae Lee had an thought. What if he might make a smash burger—an iconic quick meals dish that includes a smashed patty, American cheese, pickles, and a burger sauce—even higher? He began to tinker with a kimchi-based burger sauce, and a seasoning mix for the patty (the recipe for which he holds very near the chest). He served his first kimchi smash burger at his New York pop-up, and the fanfare was fast. After Gothamist declared that Lee’s tackle the traditional was “one in all NYC’s best burgers,” it grew to become an area obsession. Only a few months later, he opened his first restaurant, Nowon, the place he nonetheless serves this smash burger to its many followers—clocking in at about 1,200 burgers bought every week.
During the last 5 years, smash burgers have change into extra fashionable than ever. And a lot of cooks throughout the nation are becoming a member of Lee in treating smash burgers as a canvas for all kinds of reinterpretation and creativity. For them, updating the smash burger is, partially, an train in tapping into nostalgia—each for quick meals and the dishes they cherished as kids. Lee’s kimchi smash burger, as an example, is a tackle a Massive Mac, which was his favourite burger rising up. Chef Sky Haneul Kim’s bulgogi smash burger, on the menu at Present Horse in Windfall, calls again to her most-loved meal in Korea. “In Korean McDonald’s [back then], that they had a bulgogi burger, however that they had an possibility so as to add an egg,” she says. “That’s how I get it each time I’m there.”
Nowon’s smashburger.Courtesy of Nowon
These cooks are constructing on the distinctly American culinary custom of burger patties smashed flat for expediency and taste. This dish may need been cast on the flat-top grills of lunch counters and diners, however immediately’s finest smash burgers are something however old-school.
The newest increase is partly pushed by the draw of conventional smash burgers. They seem at pop-ups; in vibey, dimly lit eating rooms; on Shake Shack menus throughout the nation; and naturally, at the eponymous chain, which has places in 30 states, in addition to in Washington D.C. and Canada. For diners, these slender burgers current a comparatively cheap possibility (many price lower than $8), and restaurant homeowners recognize that they cook dinner shortly. The skinny, crisped burgers make common appearances on influencer’s feeds, too, because of their aesthetic enchantment. The oozing cheese, lacy edges, and golden buns are all over the place.
Simply because the 2010s noticed an increase in cooks remixing and reimagining juicy, traditional, decidedly un-smashed burgers, a wave of cooks has discovered methods to place their spin on the crowd-pleasing smash burger. In San Francisco, the Filipino smash burger at Bundok’s Burgers options zippy longanisa patties sandwiched between two halves of a purple ube bun. Little Grenjai in Brooklyn made headlines with a Thai krapow smash burger, which overflows with chili and oyster sauce, in addition to a lemongrass and hen’s eye chili giardiniera. Lore, one other New York spot, provides a masala aioli to their smash burger. There’s a vodka sauce smash burger, and the Kim Burger, at Kim’s in Minneapolis, which comes on a hotteok bun—a candy Korean pancake—with savory, tart onion jam.
A platter of krapow burgers at Little Grenjai, overflowing with chili, oyster sauce, lemongrass and hen’s eye chili giardiniera.{Photograph} by Christian Rodriguez
