‘Smashburger’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Review: Elevation Burger

September 27, 2012 · Narrative

A few months back, a facebook status update from an old elementary school classmate caught my eye.

“The fries taste like they have been sprinkled with magic unicorn dust.”

Now if that isn’t a review to pay attention to, I don’t know what is.

He was talking about the fries he had just had at Elevation Burger. And after reading that, I made a mental note that we should stop in and check them out.

All in the name of good research, after all.

Last Friday found us with exactly an hour and a half before The Ex came to pick up the kids for the weekend. Which presented us with the perfect opportunity for a super early dinner with a girlfriend and her son. At Elevation Burger, of course.

Located on the busy Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, you can find on-street parking or a spot at one of the nearby municipal lots. We also found out, after the fact, that the restaurant has a parking lot behind the building as well.

We walked in and had the kids stake out a space at the counter area while we figured out the menu.

Burgers, fries, shakes. Your typical burger joint offerings. Toppings galore, which I do so love.

And a commitment to organic ingredients, sustainability, and being environmentally friendly.

Which makes it all the better.

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Verizon FiOS: I Heart You

June 2, 2011 · Narrative

Even though I have no trouble admitting how much I dislike change, sometimes I like efficiency more. I have been a DirecTv fan forever and a day. When The Ex and I bought our first house, DirectTv went right in, and followed us from house to house to house to house. Optimum came knocking on our door to entice me to change, waving cheaper bills in my face and I said no. DISH Network tried to sway me with their channel line-up and I was undeterred. I knew my remote. I knew the channel numbers I liked. And I was sticking to it.

And then, our last move, something changed. All the sudden, my living room tv programming didn’t work. DirecTv came out to work on the problem. Not once. Not twice. Not even three times. FOUR times. They sent the same tech three of the times. Then his manager. Replaced the dish. Ripped up some wiring. Still major pixelation and static. They threw up their hands and told me to talk to my neighbors. It MUST be their backyard trees interfering with my signal. Get them to cut them or trip them (to the tune of $700) and everything would be fine. I balked. At the time, we had five tvs in the house. The problem only existed on one, so I wasn’t buying the tree interference story. I called Verizon and switched right away. Hatred of change or not, lousy customer service outweighs my own issues.

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Review: Red Robin

February 9, 2011 · Narrative

Just as the kids and I fell into reviewing various pizza joints in the area (more coming soon!), my friend Beth and I have fallen into scoping out the best burger joints in our fair state. We already have the next spot picked out for the end of the month. Last year, when I saw there was a Red Robin opening up nearby, we made plans to give it a whirl and see how it stood up against a few of the other places we have tried (smashburger and Bobby Burger Palace are recent examples). Her husband Roger decided to come with … all the more opportunities to try more of the menu!

We all ordered different burgers (I went with their Bleu Ribbon Burger, Roger ordered the Whiskey River BBQ Burger and Beth I think went with the Patty Melt?), and added the towering stack of onion rings, along with their Chili Chili Con Queso Dip with Nachos. I really wanted to try their cupcakes just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, but Beth scoffed at the idea.

The service was ridiculous. In a mostly good way. They checked up on us so many times that night that Roger actually politely asked the waitress to stop coming back. “Really, we’re fine. I promise.”

My burger arrives and I could barely find the bleu cheese on it. Beth’s order was all wrong, and Roger’s had nary a hint of BBQ. Two out of three went back. Their menu (and wait staff) boasts over 20 versions of “gourmet burgers,” making the decision that much harder. We all agreed, though, that the burger itself had little to no seasoning, and they are relying instead on all the toppings. It might have something to do with the fact that the restaurant has its own seasoning. If they’re relying on their seasoning to up the flavor, then they should mention it at some point. They don’t. Were they the best burgers ever? No. Not bad though.

The onion rings? Delicious. I’m very picky about onion rings and hate ingesting the fat and calories unless they’re stupendous. These were crispy and huge, coming with two dipping sauces. The Queso dip was thick and cheesy and, well, I’m not picky when it comes to melted cheese. You all know that already. The chips were crispy, warm and salty, just the way we like them. I could have made a meal just from the appetizers.

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Review: smashburger

October 4, 2010 · Narrative

When I saw the “coming soon” on the window of a new smashburger location, I made a mental note to add it to our list of places to visit. And then, magically, less than two weeks later, it was open. My friend, Beth, has become our unofficial partner in crime when it comes to evaluating burgers, so it seemed only natural that we went together. After some time at a nearby town festival, we made our way over this weekend.

As soon as we opened the door, it reminded me right away of Bobby Flay’s Burger Palace. From the way the line queues up and people place their order, to the long tables for seating to, really, the menu. The Denver-based restaurant is growing at a super fast pace, planning to open up another 100+ locations by the end of the year, and has franchises lined up to bring their total number of restaurants to 375 in the next five years. Voted a Hot Concept! last year, it’s a nice, albeit even healthier, alternative to the usual spate of fast food burger joints.

The menu is varied enough to have a nice variety for meat eaters and meat-freers alike. There are plenty of salad options, kids meals and free soda refills. The shakes, although we didn’t get them, are made with Haagen Dazs, and there are a ton of burger topping options and delicious side items, including fried pickles, haystack onions and sweet potato fries.

Burgers: I went with the New Jersey smashburger, which was topped with bacon, tomatoes and bleu cheese. I added avocado. This burger came on an onion bun and had I been paying attention, I would have swapped it out for a wheat bun (egg bun is the third option), because I thought the onion flavor overpowered the burger. The burger had little to no seasoning on it, and it seems they rely solely on the “smashburger technique” and toppings to carry the burger’s taste. As a side note, I really hate it when restaurants try to use subpar tomatoes and avocados on burgers, as if we wouldn’t notice. The avocado had too much brown and while it may have been fine for guacamole, it had no business crowning the burger. The less than red, less than ripe tomatoes as well.

Haystack Onions – A lot of restaurants offer these, and I think smashburger’s are now the ones to beat. Fully seasoned and totally addicting.

Sweet Potato Fries – I’m not usually a fan of these, but stole a few of Beth’s. There was a definitely taste of rosemary and salt, and they were delish, soft on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside.

Fried Pickles – One of those weird little things that you can’t stop eating, especially with the dipping sauce….