I'd Go There Again
Okay, so I'm not like a really close
personal friend of Bobby Flay's. I don't have his number on speed
dial on my phone. (Although I do have a few pictures of him on it!) I have
met him at industry events (hence the pictures) and have spent a
little time talking food and cooking with him. Anyway, when I
spotted a “Bobby's Burger Palace” at the mall near my hotel in
the Washington, DC suburb of Woodbridge, Virginia, I figured,
“Bobby's place? Why not?” And my wife and I went on over there
for dinner.
Even a few days after Christmas, the
parking lot of the super-busy Potomac Mills Mall was packed. My wife
had driven us over from the hotel and she suggested I hop out and get a
table while she found a place to park.
First off, there's no “getting a
table:” the place is counter service and all the tables are
communal. Surprisingly, considering the overall volume at the mall,
Bobby's wasn't particularly busy at 6:30 or so on a chilly, rainy
Thursday night. There was one couple in line in front of us, three
more people came in after us, and there were perhaps eight or ten
other customers seated at tables around the restaurant. As I said,
all tables are communal, so if you're looking for a place for a
romantic interlude or even for quiet personal conversation, don't
look here. Unless you don't mind sharing your thoughts with the
strangers sitting across the table or seated beside you. More on that
in a second, but picture having an intimate dining experience at a
Waffle House service counter. Get the idea?
But hey! It's a burger joint. It's
described in published literature as an “upscale fast casual
restaurant” and I can get behind that description. The location,
the ambiance, and the menu are definitely a cut above, say,
“What-a-Burger” or “Five Guys.” But all in all, it is what it
is: it's an “upscale” burger joint. Just as Bobby Flay intended.
Bobby Flay has come up through the
ranks. From age ten when he asked for an Easy Bake oven for Christmas
to the French Culinary Institute to his work with Jonathan Waxman and
Jerome Kretchmer to helming the kitchens at Mesa Grill, Bolo Bar &
Restaurant, Bar Americain, and Bobby Flay Steak, Bobby has
circulated in the upper atmosphere of the culinary world for many
years. Back in 2008, he decided he wanted to work a little closer to
the ground: to bring a touch of the “fine dining” experience to
the more common market. Bobby says, “Food is the epicenter of my
life – what inspires me every day. It’s the way I make my living,
the way I relax, the way I express myself and how I keep healthy. I
want to share that passion with as many people as possible.” And
since one of his favorite things to eat and cook is a burger, the
first “Bobby's Burger Palace” opened at Smith Haven Mall in Lake
Grove, Long Island in July of that year. The location where we dined
is one of nineteen now spread across eleven states and the DC area.
The menu is pretty simple and
straighforward. There are about a dozen sandwiches on offer,
including a veggie burger and an adult “griddled cheese.” You can
choose your meats from among beef, turkey, and chicken and opt for
add-ons of bacon, fried egg, or double meat. You can have your burger
“crunchified” – topped with crispy potato chips – at no extra
cost. Hand cut fries, sweet potato fries and buttermilk onion rings
round out the menu. BBP also features a selection of “spoon
bending” shakes in a variety of flavors. Unlike your run of the
mill burger stands, BBP serves beer, wine, and frozen margaritas as
well as the usual assortment of soft drinks.
My burger-loving wife went with the Palace Classic Burger. She also ordered one of those signature shakes, the vanilla bean one. Heretical though it may seem, I'm not a
burger guy. I'm part Italian. I like food that ends in vowels. But
the Griddled Cheese looked appealing, so I ordered one. The food was
outstanding. My wife found her burger to be completely drool worthy
and even the “griddled” cheese was way above average. The fries
were perfect and the portions more than adequate. And the prices
were ridiculously reasonable. It didn't cost us any more to eat
“upscale” fare at Bobby's place than it would have had we gone to
the Five Guys down the road.
The only thing that gave us pause was
the service. It was kinda slow for the relatively low volume of
business. Now I don't know that the kitchen may not have been snowed
under with call-in orders or something, but they seemed to have a
hard time getting food out to the dining room in a timely manner.
It's an open kitchen so you can see what's going on back there, and
to our trained eyes it looked like the flow could have been a little
smoother and the service a bit faster. The ticket time on our order
was nearly thirty minutes. Now that's about industry average
for an an entree at an “upscale” fast casual joint, but considering the
aforementioned Five Guys boasts a seven to eight minute ticket time
for the same order...... well......it just seemed a little long for a
burger and fries. And my wife's shake arrived a full five minutes
after her burger had been served.
And call me anti-social but I'm not so
much on the seating concept. My wife and I sat across from one
another near the end of one of the long tables. We were quietly
discussing the events of our days when a party of three women seated
themselves immediately to my wife's right, leaving one or two seats
between. So now you've got five people at a ten or twelve-top, four
on one side and one on the other. As the newcomers started their
conversation it kinda put a damper on ours. Communal tables are great
for large parties of friends or family. But two groups of strangers
sitting elbow to elbow? Not so much.
Be that as it may, would I go back to
another Bobby's Burger Palace? Sure. I'd definitely go there again,
especially now that I know what to expect. The place was scrupulously
clean, the atmosphere was pleasant, the service was friendly if a
bit slow, the food was delicious, and the price was right. Overall,
it was a great experience and one I'd recommend – with certain
caveats – to anybody looking for a nice “upscale fast casual
restaurant.”
The BBP I went to is located at 2700
Potomac Mills Circle, Woodbridge, VA 22192. They're open Sunday thru
Thursday from 11AM to 9PM, and on Friday and Saturday from 11AM to
10PM. You can call them at (703) 490-2121. No reservations. Casual
attire. Ample parking. Call-in and online ordering are available. The
Potomac Mills location partners with Doordash for delivery. Find more
locations at http://bobbysburgerpalace.com/locations
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