Salute to Burgers: There, Brookhaven
Back when I wrote No Clowns, No Kings, Just Burgers, my list of some of Atlanta’s great burgers, some of you took exception to what you thought was a glaring and unwarranted omission. One commenter even said, “Clearly you put no research into this list, otherwise you would have included the bison burger at There Bar. There’s double stacked bison burger blows away everything else on your list, and is, by far, the best burger in Atlanta.”
Ouch!
That’s some bold claim, and I had to see if it was true. I mean, I worked a beer stand at Battle of the Burgers in the Highlands back in August and tried There’s bison burger. It was good, I thought, but so were the offerings from Googie Burger, Grindhouse Killer Burgers, and a bunch of other places. Trouble was, the tiny tasting burgers don’t really give you a good idea of what the full-sized burger is like.
This is what I know about the double-stacked bison burger at There, Brookhaven: It’s the real deal.
Bill Brown, the genius behind this work of art, has a story that could fill this blog for a month, but listening to him talk about the two 3.5oz bison patties, you get an idea of the influences he pulled from to create this incredibly popular burger.
If you’ve ever had the burger at Bocado, or seen our episode featuring the West Midtown favorite, you’ll know that the double patty is the signature of Todd Ginsberg who will soon to open The General Muir; Bill and Todd go way back. A lot of restaurants want to give you the leanest bison meat — Brown has no such desire: a great burger needs to be juicy to be tender, and that means it needs some fat. If you want to know what cuts go in There’s bison burger you’ll have to ask Bill, but they’re the most delicious parts. And probably a state secret. Or ought to be.
The cheese-smothered burger needs to be squashed a little to make it mouth-sized, and that comes with the usual risk of squeezing the patties out of the bun, but a little care will make sure every moist morsel of your burger ends up in your belly and not over the table.
So I apologize. If anyone is making a list of Atlanta’s notable burgers, There’s bison burger should be on it, and in the lists that are ranked, it should be really near the top.
