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Bobby's Burger Palace in pictures
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Bobby's Burger Palace in pictures
Bobby Flay will officially open his fifth Bobby's Burger Palace — and his first in a truly urban area — tomorrow at noon in the Radian (3925 Walnut St.) in West Philly. Meal Ticket dropped by the space earlier today to chat up the Iron Chef (pick up our upcoming issue for a full Q&A) and get a feel for the space.
The Palace, right next to Chipotle, looks less like a Palace than it does a really bright 'n' mod escape pod — it's polished and modern, with room for about 70 along a curvaceous counter and elongated dining tables. (For what it's worth, the Rockwell Group, which designed Stephen Starr's space-age Pod, also handled this space.)
We posted the menu last week — Flay's inspiration for the burger lineup are America's regional eating habits, and that's why the burgers are named after U.S. cities. The L.A. Burger, Flay's fave, has avocado relish, watercress, cheddar and tomato; a spice-crusted Dallas rendition boasts BBQ, slaw, Jack cheese and pickles. A Philadelphia-style burger, with provolone, grilled onions and hot peppers, is on the menu at the previous four BBPs (they're situated in suburbs of New York), but here, you can get your Philly patty slathered with honest-to-goodness Whiz. ("You can't come to Philly, have a Philly Burger, and not offer Whiz," concedes Flay.)
Patties are 6 ounces, seasoned (in almost all cases) with nothing but kosher salt and cracked black pepper, and served on soft sesame-seed rolls. Fries are hand-cut, and in other spud news, Flay encourages people to "crunchify" their burgers by adding a handful of Lay's potato chips into the mix at no charge. Housemade sauces, which are also available retail, include a jalapeno hot sauce, a spicy/sweet "burger sauce" akin to A1, and chipotle ketchup. The restaurant has a liquor license, and is offering beers and milkshakes both virgin and spiked.
Flay says he has intentionally steered clear of trying the various signature burgers in Philly. "The one thing I don't want to be is influenced by anyone else's stuff," he says. "There are particular things about the burgers that we do here that are important to me, and I think that they are successful in getting people to crave them. That's really important." The chef adds that he's earned quite a bit of flak — particularly from his wife, Law & Order: SVU's Stephanie March, who he says is a big burger fan — about opening his first city Burger Palace in Philly instead of in the Big Apple. "I wanted to try the concept outside of New York," says Flay. "I didn't want it to become a New York thing. I have high-end restaurants in New York, and if I do something [there], the microscope goes on it … I just wanted to open a fun burger place."
Lastly, we're curious what P.Y.T.'s Tommy Up will have to say about all this.
Social comments and analytics for this post... This post was mentioned on Twitter by mealticket: Check out pics/info on @bflay's @bobbysburgerpal, officially opening tomorrow in West Philly: http://bit.ly/cusZ2x...
Don't be fooled, this is an overpriced sham that is playing off a TV name. Nothing special here, move along. All burgers come with cheese so if you want to ease fat intake you have to pay for cheese. Cruchify merely means adding chips. Prices are too high for a normal size burger that is undercooked -- I like pink, not deep purple -- Trendy joint that gives nothing above the average local strip mall shop. Sauces were not good and i stuck with their ketchup with was inferior to Heinz but the best sauce option. Best to go to a Fuddruckers and have a much larger burger for a fraction of the cost. For the price of a standard flay burger at Fuddruckers you can get a huge healthy Buffalo, Elk, Ostrich, burger or a regular huge beef one for a couple bucks less... with free fixins and $1.00 beers. I will not be fooled again; I will not go to Bobby's just because of his name being on it... what a waste of time and resources... Why? Just so I could say I went there? No thanks.
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