Burger cravings
“If you ask chefs what is their favorite fun
food, many would say a hamburger,” says
Adam Baker, president/operating partner of
Larkburger, with venues in Boulder, Denver
and Edwards, Colo. “Chefs who cook in
fine-dining, white-tablecloth restaurants
working with foie gras and caviar want to
kick back at the end of the night and eat a
hamburger, so all chefs have become adept
at making really good hamburgers.”
Burgers have been a favorite of dining
patrons for years, and chefs have been
happy to menu them. Virtually every fine-dining restaurant coast to coast menus an
upscale hamburger at a premium price.
21 Club in New York serves the ‘ 21’
Burger, which comes with a toasted Parker
House bun, frisée, preserved tomatoes,
sautéed onions, haricots verts and choice
of potato for $30. Spago in Beverly Hills,
Calif., offers a burger made with Kobe
beef, Vermont farmhouse cheddar and a
garlic aïoli for $22. db Bistro Moderne,
New York, menus its db Burger Royale,
made from 9 ounces of sirloin and stuffed
with braised short ribs, foie gras and 20
grams of shaved black truffles, for $75 for
a single and $150, double.
“What we’re seeing today is a natural
progression of chefs moving the burger out of
the dining room to opening restaurants that
solely focus on serving burgers,” says Baker.
chefs who have found success moving
toward more casual restaurants—now
more than ever in these economic times,”
Kornick says.
“To maintain a fine-dining, white-tablecloth
restaurant requires much more attention
to detail in running the business compared
to a casual restaurant. This is not to say
that you can turn a blind eye to the quality
of food and service in a casual-type
restaurant, but the pressure is not as great
to maintain guest expectations. There’s
an opportunity in a casual restaurant like
a burger bar that allows me to generate
a consistent product at a good price in a
marketplace where people are looking for
value and entertainment when going out.”
Burger bars
DMK Burger Bar menus 14 burgers, but
when the restaurant opened, it did not offer
all of them. “Prior to us opening, we sent
out a press release listing all the burgers
we would eventually serve, but when we
Grant Kessler
opened, we only served 11. I purposely
decided to hold a few back,” Kornick says.
“My thinking in doing this was that it’s
difficult for restaurants to maintain the
initial attention received after the grand
opening. So we kind of have smaller grand
openings every time we launch a new
burger, and make a party out of it.”
Diners at DMK Burger Bar enjoy the
comfortable community seating of the
casual restaurant that menues several
burgers, including the Big DMK, a
tribute to McDonald’s Big Mac.
On Feb. 2, Kornick launched burger No. 5,
featuring prosciutto, fontina, red pepper,
sea salt and vinegar chips. On March 5,
he introduced the Big DMK, featuring
two grass-fed patties, special sauce,
lettuce, cheese, bread and butter pickles,
marinated tomatoes and onions on a flour-
top bun—his tribute to McDonald’s Big
Mac. Every burger is $8 except the Big
DMK, which is $11 because it’s a double,
and sides are extra, so a burger and
Chef/owner Michael Kornick might be best
known for mk, his fine-dining restaurant in
Chicago, but in November 2009, he and
partner David Morton opened DMK Burger
Bar in the city. “There’s been a surge of
“What we’re seeing today is a natural progression of chefs
moving the burger out of the dining room
to opening restaurants that solely focus on serving burgers.”
– Adam Baker
