Step Aside, Five Guys... BGR: The Burger Joint Ignites its Open Flames in Old Town

Photo by FLICKR/wwny/388794199/ Angus beef topped with American cheese + fried egg + mayonnaise + ketchup + grilled onions + lettuce + tomato between bun. My overall impression? This was a very sweet burger. The meat was quite juicy and came apart easily in a few bites. At just 1/3 lb, this was just right and I didn't feel like an overstuffed pig afterwards..

First came Five Guys, the national phenom which made the Murrells of Alexandria very wealthy when the concept was franchised from coast to coast.

Now comes BGR: The Burger Joint, a Bethesda-based dining concept, which has opened its newest restaurant, this time in Old Town.  The restaurant is located at 106 North Washington Street. A third location, at 1528 Connecticut Avenue, NW, is also expected to open soon.

BGR prides itself in high-quality ingredients, flame-grilled burgers, and a shop with an 80's vibe, tunes et al., said founder Mark Bucher.

Bucher said that the concept goes back to the long days of summer, growing up just outside Philadelphia where each Sunday the entire neighborhood would gather for a block party of sorts.
 
"As a child, there was nothing better than Mr. Kaufman's burgers," he recalled. "Philip Kaufman was a butcher and he owned the only prime beef butcher shop in the area. He definitely knew his food. You could smell his burgers cooking over the grill for blocks. All the kids lined up, waiting to get their hands on the first one. I never forgot the smell of the burgers cooking, nor that special one-of-a-kind taste that immediately brings me back to my childhood."

As an adult, Bucher said his formula for a good burger was simple: "Grab some ground beef at the local store and put it on the grill for backyard cookouts. They were always good, but I was in a constant battle to recreate that fond childhood memory for my family and friends. Then it became an obsession. We visited all of the burger chains, both big and small. Some were good, actually very good; but not spectacular, and not worthy of my lifelong memory of The Event."

Bucher said that he stands here ready to present to Alexandria foodies his  passion and commitment to the craft of burger grilling.
 
"Our burgers are crafted with the finest beef on the planet," he boasted. "We only use grain-fed cattle; all natural, no hormones, fillers or antibiotics, and most importantly they run free in the fields. Our prime beef is dry aged (the amount of time is a closely guarded secret), blended and ground fresh."

The beef is only one component, but it's the canvas he said he uses which differentiates BGR from the pack.
 
"The buns are made for us locally and delivered fresh every day," he said. "The tomatoes are the finest available. Lastly, the burgers are grilled to temperature over an open flame -- not fried on a piece of stainless steel. We present not a fast food place, not a mass production burger operation, but a 'joint' -- one that you can make your own, stay awhile and enjoy the food."
 
Contact the writer at jarundel@localkicks.com