Smash-Burgers Head East

Before getting into the meat of this post, I want to make clear that all of my mentions of “smash-burgers” here refer to a style of hamburger and not the fast food chain of that name.

I’ve waxed poetic in other posts about my love for a style of burger that is smashed thin on a flat-top grill and served with crispy edges that hang out from the bun. They have traditionally been found mainly in the Midwest, and I’ve made a habit of seeking them out when my wife and I travel in that part of the United States. 

Here are a few examples from our journeys to flyover country. 

It was a longtime complaint of mine that such burgers were difficult to find in the East, or at least in the Philly region. 

But that started to change when an outlet of Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers opened near me a decade or so ago. Freddy’s serves smash-burgers and at least sometimes – probably depending on who is manning the grill – they do a nice job of achieving those flappy edges. 

More recently, an increasing number of both full-service and fast-casual Philly-area restaurants have started serving smash-burgers. That they can now be found in full-service restaurants, which used to nearly all serve thicker pub-style burgers, is a very pleasant development. 

I checked out a pair of the more notable smash-burger purveyors in Philadelphia last week – Bar Jawn in the Manayunk section of the city and Huda in Center City. 

First up was Bar Jawn, which has been on my radar for a while due to their cheesesteaks. I still have to try one of those at some point, but I had their double smash-burger in mind for this visit. 

Bar Jawn* is a full-service establishment, but very casual and a bit cramped inside. When our server came by to take our orders, I requested a smash-burger minus the special sauce. When it comes to liquid condiments on burgers, I’m a ketchup and sometimes mustard guy with an aversion to dressing-type sauces and mayo. It came with spicy pickles and I also asked for fried onions on it. 

When my double smash-burger arrived, I couldn’t have been much happier with its appearance. It had flappy edges and a nice char from the flat-top grill all over the patties. The thin and crispy cottage fries that came with it were a nice addition to the plate.

After removing the spicy pickles, I bit in. Unfortunately, it didn’t taste as good as it looked. This may have been a case where the patties were smashed a bit too thin, if that’s possible. The best smash-burgers I’ve had managed to have a juicy center in spite of not being thick. That wasn’t the case at Bar Jawn. All I tasted and felt when eating this burger was that charred quality. There wasn’t much beef flavor and it lacked moisture. 

Hopefully I’ll have better luck at Bar Jawn when I return there for a cheesesteak at some point. 

A few days later, I ventured into Center City for a Philadelphia Orchestra matinee concert and arrived early enough to visit Huda for lunch before heading over to the concert hall.

Huda is a popular fast-casual restaurant. Their handful of small tables were all taken when I arrived, but I was fortunate to grab one by the time my order was ready. 

Their patties weigh five ounces, which is an in-between weight that forced me to make the difficult decision of whether to get a single or double. I opted for the former with ketchup, caramelized onions and pickles and also requested an order of fries, which came separately. To wash my lunch down, I grabbed a diet black cherry Boylan’s soda – a brand I’m very fond of. 

The burgers, as well as the interesting array of other sandwiches on Huda’s menu, come on milk buns. They look somewhat like a brioche bun, but are perhaps a bit softer and have a different and very distinctive flavor, which was right up the alley of my tastebuds. 

In addition to tasting great, the milk bun was a bit more substantial than a standard burger bun. If I had to do it over, I’d have probably ordered a double-cheeseburger to improve the meat-to-roll ratio and skipped the fries.

Not that there was anything wrong with the fries. They were McDonald’s-style and perfectly fried. But when it comes to burgers, I never find it a necessity to have potatoes on the side. 

The patty was more flavorful and moister than the ones I had at Bar Jawn the previous weekend. In fact, it was extremely good. The previously-mentioned meat-to-roll ratio was the only minor issue I had with it, and that can easily be taken care of by doubling up on the meat next time. 

While neither of the burgers I had last week were reminiscent of the ones I’ve had in the Midwest in the extreme, I’m still thrilled by the increasing popularity of smash-burgers in the Philly region. There are other places serving them that I want to try, and you’ll get to read about it when that happens.  

After lunch, I walked over to the Kimmel Center, where Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are held, and enjoyed my first live performance of a Bruckner symphony since pre-Covid days. I’ve written about my love for Bruckner’s music in the past. The Orchestra and conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin did a wonderful job with his seventh symphony. 

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I’m not sure what I’ll be posting about next week. Pizza is one possibility, but it’s not written in stone. I’ll have to figure that out very soon

*”Jawn” is a term that has come into vogue in recent years and is unique to the Philly area. It’s a wild-card word that can be used to mean anything. Frankly, I’m not a fan of it, but it’s undeniably popular among the younger set in this area.