BGR The Burger Joint
http://www.bgrtheburgerjoint.com
4827 Fairmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
THE CONQUEST
Some people start a business to make money and others do so following a passion for sharing something they love. The successful businessman does both. Without passion no amount of business schooling will make you successful. Such is the story of Mark Bucher, founder of BGR the Burger Joint. Mark grew up Philly where every Sunday his neighborhood assembled for what could be best described as a block party. Each week a local butcher would cook up fresh ground Burgers for which people would line up to eat. Thus was born Mark’s flame-grilled Burger obsession.
How else do you create a fast-casual restaurant that uses local Produce & Buns, fresh, dry-aged custom blended Meat cooked over an open flame and then grows quickly into 20+ locations? Passion. That’s it my friends, passion. When you love a Burger and I mean truly love a Burger, you want to share it with others. When you’re sharing a Burger why would you ever give someone a frozen or even worse, reheated, limp Patty with flavorless Lettuce, reconstituted Onions or Cheese that had more chemicals than a laboratory? Thankfully Mark’s passion is to create a fresh, never frozen, tasty, delicious Burger that soothes the soul as much as the stomach.
With walls adorned with Rock and Roll memorabilia, a Soda machine with a billion options and a menu full of unique, interesting and award winning Burgers, you’ll instantly know when you walk into a BGR that it’s been created by someone who has passion for life. A passion to serve a Burger made from prime, dry-aged, all natural, hormone free, grain-fed Beef.
THE BURGER
The fast food and fast casual business is a tricky one. As if there wasn’t already a cajillion options out there, doing things the right way, fresh and local, is like creating a beautiful headache. Frozen, per-prepared & laboratory “perfected” Food is easy, it’s cheap and it’s everywhere. Most people don’t care but for those that do, there is no other way. When I walked in for my first trip to BGR and immediately saw album art from The Who’s “Who Are You,” Dogfish Head Beer on Draft and a Lamb Burger on the menu, I knew I had arrived somewhere I was going to end up happy.
While I was tempted to make my way around one of these secret recipe dry aged Burgers, it’s tough to say no to a chain restaurant that’s serving a fresh Lamb Burger. It’s almost like spotting a Yeti, It does seem possible to exist but has anyone actually every really seen one? If reading the description of “The Greek” on the BGR menu “Featured on Food Network’s “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” Yes, it won! Fresh ground leg of Lamb, seasoned with Cumin, Mint and Garlic. Topped with Tzatziki Sauce and Feta Cheese. Served on a fresh, buttery-toasted Brioche Bun, ” doesn’t make you hungry, perhaps you are reading the wrong blog.
The Lamb Patty is well formed yet loosely packed and created with just the right amount of spices to as to accent the natural flavors of the meat and never ever get in it’s way. Lamb is funny that way. It almost begs you to add spices to it and most overwork it, adding to much and therefore masking the Meat. BGR’s “The Greek” has just the right balance so you can taste all party. The Feta is creamy, the Lettuce is green and fresh and the Bun is study and just a little sweet. It also comes with Cucumbers and Tomatoes, which I am sure were equally as good but not something I like on my Burgers.
“The Greek” Lamb Burger at BGR the Burger Joint is so good that it gives me hope that more Chefs will be inspired to add Lamb Burgers on menus across the country.
8 out of 10 Ounces
-Rev
“πάθος” is how you spell passion in Greek, FYI.
THE BURGER COUNTQUEST
578 Burgers
November 13, 2012 – 1:25 pm
The Rev Meter for Social Community
“The Rev Meter” is a social community meter for assessing how optimized a bar or restaurant is with social networking. By taking what I consider to be the 10 most important social networks and creating a point system, I can accurately asses how well your business is using social networking as a tool. My goal here is to educate and assist great business to better effectively use these tools.
BGR the Burger Joint scores a 7 on The Rev Meter.
– Yelp, Google & Foursquare are based on the Bethesda, MD location
– Mark is also a bit of a social media fan so I would be surprised if he didn’t score high on this.
SCORING:
4 points or less You’ve missed the 5 basics and are less than optimized
5 points You’ve covered the basics, which is better than most but far from optimized.
6 to 9 points You’re doing better than most and on your way to becoming a well respected social community whiz.
10 points Congrats on a perfect score!
