a note from the founder

We signed the lease before we had a plan — I was cooking at a steakhouse on Congress and the room here had been empty for a year. It came with fourteen seats, a walk-in that did not work, and the flat-top I still cook on every night. We opened in April 2002, sold thirty-one burgers, and ran out of buns by midnight.

The late hours were not a strategy — The bar staff next door finished at two and had nowhere to eat. We started staying open for them, and within a month that was most of the business. We never went back to closing at ten. If you have wondered why a burger counter keeps bar hours, that is the whole reason.

One recipe, twenty-four years — Chuck and brisket, ground in the afternoon, one press on the griddle, potato bun in the butter the patty left behind. People have asked me to add things to it. The answer has been no every time, and the answer is going to stay no.

What has actually changed — The deck out back, the second fryer, the ticket rail, and the fact that there are now eleven of us instead of two. The griddle is the same one. It has been reseasoned more times than I can count and I would not cook on anything else.

Come in after midnight — That is when the room is best and when we are all still on. I am usually at the pass. Order the double.