BURGER, SHAKES & FRIES: 800 POST ROAD, DARIEN (SECOND LOCATION)
12/02/2010
BREAKING BURGER NEWS — After announcing their move into Darien this spring, the much-anticipated second location of Burger, Shakes & Fries had a soft opening today in their new digs on the Post Road in Darien.
BSF has become a cult favorite in the Byram section of Greenwich, even garnering mentions in New York Magazine — actually, it was one of the first burger joints I blogged about on the Lunch Break Chronicles (read more).
Thursday, after LBC reader @unsatisfiedmind broke the news on Twitter, a crack team of Stamford Advocate journalists mobilized within minutes to scope the place out. We found BSF totally slammed with office workers, families and other assorted rubberneckers like Espresso NEAT regulars Mickey and Joe. Owner Kory Wollins and the staff did their best to keep up with the rush, but give them some time to iron out the wrinkles (the milkshake machine wasn’t up and running).
One of the problems with the original Byram location is the size (it’s tiny). By contrast, the Darien shop is massive, featuring ample counter space, huge communal tables, and four-tops. The new BSF even has a bar with wine and a half-dozen beers on tap.
Importantly, the menu is the same as the original and they serve up some of the best burgers in Fairfield County.
That’s all for now, I have actual work to do, but we’ll revisit this soon.
–CP
To Dissatified BurgerLover
First, you are right in that the Moses comment was uncalled for, my apologies. And let’s call it even with the stick comment since it did hurt on the outbound.
I too am a firm believer in the 1st amendment, and have discussed my feelings with many burger places in CT and I do like BSF as one of the best in our town. And like you I am passionate about burgers and express my feelings like I eat my burgers. I think I am both open minded and opinionated, I tend to disagree with many when they tell me this place or that place is good or bad, just one of those things.
The owners of BSF have decided not to have seaters, greeters or facilitators, and maybe they would consider when prime time hits, no idea. I am not an investor, family member or employee, just someone who loves their burgers and their shakes, and glad I do not need to drive to G’wich to enjoy them.
I do not go to places on a Friday night where i think I may need to wait, heck my normal time at BSF is mid-afternoon whenthe lunch crowd has left, too old for that nonsense. Take your kids at an off-time and relax and enjoy the burgers. The service does have kinks, as I mentioned and agreed with you above, and maybe they will work them all out, but time will tell.
If you do love burgers and want your kids to enjoy one of the best, take them back, and enjoy.
All for now.
Dear Burger Maven,
Mine name isn’t Moses and I don’t expect the seas to part when I enter a restaurant. What I do expect is a enjoyable dining experience.
Now, on to the matter at hand. The only BS (and I don’t mean bacon and swiss) is what you spout when trying to insult someone and infer that your opinion and comments are the only legitimate ones and that we all need to bow to your widom and palate preferences.
If you read my post with a thimble full of an open mind, hell even a half full thimble of an open mind, you would have ready that the “group of Seven” included two small kids. You would have also read that I wasn’t “trashing” the place or anyone… I was merely stating my opinion which by the way a little thing called the Constitution and the First ammendment give me the right to do.
As far as your so called sense of “entitlement” on my group’s part… don’t be an A**. Any person or group of persons (and there were several who walked in after my group), walking into a restaurant of any kind has a reasonable right to expect to be seated with his or her party.
Usually a greeter/hostess will tell you that there might be a wait of x number of minutes.. they don’t take your order, call out next customer, and expect you to fend for yourself to find a seat. Perhaps in the case of BSF, the people taking orders should have stopped taking orders for a brief amount of time (unless it was for a take out order, or could have suggested that due to the number of people in our party, that perhaps we could wait a few minutes to let the crowd die down and some tables to open up.
As I said in my comments, overall the overall experience wasn’t terrible, I merely stated my opinion that the experience didn’t match the hype.. and that I was disappointed. I merely pointed out a few examples of why it didn’t stand up to the hype.
That evening, when asked by the bartender, “How was everything?” I didn’t want to say anything, so I answered alright… he came back with “what do you mean all right? tell me what was wrong, thats the only way we can make it better” So I expressed my issues to the bartender that night in a polite manner, and politely refused his offer for a drink in order to make it right.
Burgermaven, perhaps you need to be a little more open minded… from what I have read here …. your posts show a blatant one sided attitude on this restaurant… so either you are a investor, a family member or a close friend of the owner.
Either way, you need to take that stick out of your you know where and you need to learn that your opinion is not all that matters in this world, just like my opinion isn’t all that matters.
Any restaurant/food service facility have good and bad lunch or dinner services. For most parts the good outnumber the bad, but recognizing and admitting that “oops, we could have done that better” would only make the experience better for the next customer. If customers didn’t critique a meal when they had a bad experience, we might all be eating slop out of a trough ! ( and by this I am NOT saying BSF is a trough or that their food is slop)
Now a P.O’d Dissatified BurgerLover
to dissastified burger lover
It is always disappointing to not sit with family when eating out with family but 7 people at 7PM on a friday night is pretty much prime time at any decent restaurant in lower fairfield county. you probably would not get seated at 90% at all.
but i do scratch my head a bit on how you equate a place that is SRO, you cannot sit together because it is so packed as not being successful. That strikes me as TOO successful. And at prime time they are churning lots of burgers.
Are there kinks to still be worked out? There are always kinks to work out. how could they not deliver the burgers all over the restaurant when you were seated all over the restaurant. there absolutely should have been cheese on the burger if you ordered it, no question that is an oops.
But to be disappointed that a party of 7 cannot walk in off the street and get a table for 7 at prime time on a friday night at the hottest burger place in fairfield county strikes me as a bit of entitlement on your part. did you not see how crowded it was BEFORE you ordered? sorry but trashing a place because the seas did not part like Moses when you arrived is BS, and that ain’t bacon and swiss.
Well, my family wanted to try the new burger place so I agreed.. Having been contemplating opening my own place I have done alot of research and testing to find the right recipe for a successful enterprise. To me, (and I somehow hope I am wrong) BSF is missing an ingredient of two…
I was not overly satifified with my BSF experience… Not saying that it was toatally bad, just not what the hype suggests.. we had a family of 5 adults and two children and we showed up last night (Friday 3/4/11 around 7:00 ish… Place was SRO so we placed our orders at order station and paid for our meals… then we proceeded to wait for an open table ( The staff was not eager to help so we were basically on our own to find seats since our order had already been placed and paid for) WELL !!! we ended up spread out all over the restaurant. When our order finally did start coming out it came out piece meal.. literally one or two items at a time, and the wait staff had to walk parts of our order all over the restaurant. Then, finally my double cheesburger with chili and bacon came out… there was no cheese anywhere to be seen, and several other of my family orders were not right ( I found out later since we couldn’t actually sit together.
All in all it wasn’t a bad place ( I have seen much worse ) but the experience didn’t match the hype. Looks like it’s time for me to get started on putting my burger shop dream on the road to reality.
Sign me a
A VERY, VERY
Disssatified Burger Lover
Are you kidding me?! $70 for a couple of burgers cooked in some fried bread?
Day started off badly waiting at the ‘bar’ to put in my order while being ignored by the two employees. Watched and waited as two people already standing there had their orders processed – after they had left I waited to see if I would be acknowledged – I was not so – I asked if I could put my order in – was then talked to like an idiot by what I can only presume is one of the ‘managers’ – “you need to put your order in over there / we don’t take orders here / you should be in line with all the other people” – so I walk four feet to my right where there were ‘no other people’, no sign saying ‘ORDER HERE’, no direction, no nothing (but I’m an idiot and should know how the place runs!) – and placed my order.
If my family were not already seated I would have left there and then. After eating the food and paying the money – i wish I had trusted my first instinct.
I consider myself a “burger Junkie” and have tried all of the burger options in FFLD County, new and old and honestly BSF has outpaced the rest of the field. Not only is the food excellent, but the service is also fantastic. Recently I was in with my son and after ordering,I realized my credit card was not in my wallet. I requested we cancel the order, but the counter staff and the owner Lance were both adamant that I put it on a tab and pay as soon as I could. Now, I realize this is far from normal business and I made sure to return within the hour to settle up, but the impact it made on my son to learn that merchants consider their customers and will even sometimes take a risk to satisfy them. He went so far aas to say – “Betcha Five Guys would never do that!”
Used to head down to Byram from Westport or a taste of the delectable burger!!! so glad you are in Darien and will head there tomorrow for the first time! BOO to all those whiners!!!! Keep up the great work BSF!!!!!!!!! i cant wait to take my kids there as well!!!
First time i went to bsf i didnt see the sign of how they cooked there meat within 30 mins the meal was on the side walk.
went back and got it well done the next time it was a great bugger
Fries could be better,
To Jonny J, you forgot his tinfoil hat.
mitch,
sorry you didn’t enjoy the place. everyone is entitled to their opinion. good luck and happy new year.
cheers,
kory
kory,
My wife and I tried the new Darien BSF last night. I REALLY wanted to like it, as heaven knows we need a good burger place in Darien. But there are a few issues for us. While the beef was indeed good, that greasy butter-saturated bread is just terrible. We need a burger, not a greasy grilled cheese sandwich. In fact, it just competes with the taste of the meat, of which you are so proud. And why no lettuce? Your signs invite special requests, but you have no lettuce? The counter guy said “it’s tasteless.” Many think cool, crisp lettuce compliments a burger. And what’s with the cheapo Freaky Dog cola? It tastes like the generic store brand stuff. With such a stated emphasis on quality, please follow through on the drinks. And there was the fries. They’re not “bad” but why shouldn’t they be great? They were so typical Deli when they could be fresh and hand-cut. For input on great fries, see Swanky Franks. And please, please, please consider a quality hamburger bun that’s not soaked in butter.
Dear Mr Relic, …You really missed out on a good burger…”maybe you are a health nut?..or just a nut.” It’s a burger, not a bullet. I think you should find a nice little spot that serves free-range organic chicory and bean sprout burgers just like the ones they serve for $25 back in Los Angeles.
I also recommend a good “padded” football helmet for your child as Connecticut winters are dangerously harmful to children who may slip on the sidewalk ice while briskly walking by toxic burger joints. Oh, i’m sorry, he’s “home schooled?”
The “organic” haze that is planted over LA has probably fouled your judgment. I have lived in rural Nebraska and have seen “so called” free range chicken and beef farms. The chicken do little “roaming” and the low-dose antibiotics given to these animals prevent them from becoming diseased, which prevents us from becoming sick. The non-organic feed leaves many animals leaner and less tasty. There is little “rotation” on these farms. Many more of the animals die in the fields without the farmers knowledge and spread disease to the others. The carcasses of the so-called “free-range” animals are sent to RENDERING PLANTS for fertilizer. I shudder to think of all the things in life your child may miss out on because of your over protective, ignorant nature.
There is universal agreement from most “mainstream” scientists that we are safe from non-organic meat. You scare me. You probably have a giant U.V. sterilizer for your house water and secretly wear a ventilation mask around the house. You were probably that parent who walked around town with a “leash” attached to their toddler.
Finally, maybe you are seeing the wrong MD. I bet you can get rid of those “cramps” by visiting BSF more frequently and making an appointment with one of the many fine PSYCHIATRISTS we have here in Fairfield county. Bon Appetit
thanks for the support guys!! we appreciate it.
sincerely,
your resident burger banana,
kory
Mr Relics,
With all due respect, I’m sorry but that’s just BS. You state that you ONLY eat organic beef, yet you knowingly and willingly lined up at BSF and the ONLY question you asked was how they prepared the meat. You did not ask if the meat was organic and did not order well done. A simple phone call would have answered your question on the genealogy of the beef. Yet you ordered, you paid and then you come here to trash the place because prima facie the meat was not organic. NOTHING could change that on site. I can point you to many local farms that raise their beef as you mentioned but are not US certified organic since those requirements would probably force many into economic hardship. So what standards have you set…US certified or have you done the research on each farm where the beef is raised. Since you did not do the basic research on BSF not serving organic beef I’ll move to a theory on what is the motivation for your posts?
You are associated with one of the competitors who use and flaunt the use of organic meat. And now a huge competitor shows up a little too close to home and you decide to use the internet to trash the place. During the first few days, several employees of competitors arrived and ordered burgers at BSF, it is a small community. That’s called good market intelligence and learning what makes a competitor successful raises the bar for all. But to come here and bad mouth a great burger is wrong.
Some people will only eat organic, some people do not care; some people will only eat burgers cooked past 160 degrees, others will eat tartare; others will not eat beef at all. It’s called choice and I for one am glad I can choose where I want to eat, and how it is prepared. There are good organic and good non-organic burgers in Fairfield county, let’s applaud them.
Give me some BSF burgers over some of the organics and non-organics I unfortunately have tried to eat.
J Relics,
That’s funny – I know exactly who you are and
I just saw you at the Ex 9 double decker McDonalds – (now that’s organic)
Just b/c you were eating upstairs – doesn’t mean you won’t
be spotted. Your about as original as your Audi A4.
GL,
PB
mr. relics,
i think thats super that organic product did the trick for your cramps. that being said my meat is exactly the same product served at the aforementioned places, chucks don’t cost what prime strips do, but clearly you are not a meat purveyor. my meat is hand cut from prime sides of single origin and can be traced right back to the source, it might not be organic, but its just about the best product you can get for burgers. my pricing is comparable to the best burger joints around, i.e. shake shack, bills bar and grill, j.g melon, prime burger, etc. just because you get charged more don’t always think you are getting better, sometimes you are just getting robbed.
cheers,
kory
BSF is awesome–whether their beef is organic or not. It’s a burger, it’s not necessarily supposed to be healthy. Will be stopping in later today
Hi Mr. Kory
Thanks for responding. I love a good steak at Peter Lugers anytime – in fact my brother lives around the corner from there. What I was talking about was eating NON organic ground meat. I am referring to hamburgers that my children and I eat. You get your meat from Master Purveyors but I doubt you are not paying for the same grade of meat served at those restaurants. Otherwise, your burger would cost about $8. I think your burger is less expensive. I know it is smaller but Master Purveyor has different grades and costs of their meats. I am sure your meat is fine but we prefer organic meat produced without the use of growth hormones, antibiotics, conventional chemicals, ionizing radiation and bioengineering. Non organic meat (even good distributers) can contain conventional chemicals, antibiotics and growth hormones.
I may be a health nut but we all know that organically raised animals eat balanced diets of organic feed, have access to the outdoors, receive clean housing and graze rotationally in fields. Rather than administering drugs or antibiotics to ward off disease, organic meat farmers minimize illness by providing healthful living conditions and nutritious food for livestock. Conversely, nonorganically raised animals receive antibiotics and medications to prevent disease, as well as injections of hormones to increase their size and rate of growth. In addition, animals raised conventionally for meat are not typically allowed to roam outdoors. Most are kept in feedlots and cages. I watched Food, Inc. and it has completely changed my view and purchase habits. I will NEVER buy meat (especially beef) again unless it is organic. Have you seen the movie? You will understand why I am saying this.
Organic meat doesn’t contain antibiotic or chemical residue, and transfers fewer harmful growth hormones to the human body. Therefore my kids can be that much healthier.
I know you probably think I am over analyzing it, I just care what my kids eat and it is my preference to eat organic meat only. I also used to get the worst cramps you can imagine. Doctor advised me to spend one month eating only organic meat, and managed to cut the pain by 50%. I didn’t change anything else but that, and the effect was dramatic.
Anyway – thanks for your email back. I am sure you will do well. Just not my cup of tea.
You gotta go back Chris, all is well for this addition to “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”
I went last night and any kinks you experienced were fixed to perfection. The meat was perfectly cooked, milkshake has a different recipe, more chocolatey and the hot dog may also be the best n the county.
Here is a link to the full review.
http://www.ctbites.com/home/2010/12/3/burgers-shakes-and-fries-v20-opens-in-darien.html
Great job Kory.
mr. relics,
thanks for coming by. if you are concerned we gladly cook the burgers to any meat temp you like. and just so you know we use master purveyors proudly, and they have never had any bacterial contamination for the 50 years they have been in business. they are one of the largest prime suppliers in new york city, supplying the likes of j.g. melon, keans chophouse, and peter luger’s. hope that makes you feel more confident about medium rare.
cheers,
kory
p.s. hey chris, thanks for the article.
Be careful when ordering. Went today with my son and the person in line told me they are known for cooking their meat medium rare. Mine was pink but my son’s was almost breathing. Most of us these days are programmed to recoil at the idea of pink in ground beef. I am at a loss to understand how they feel that it is safe to do this. With ground meat the issue is that surface contamination originally on the meat can be moved to any place within the ground meat as a result of the grinding. There will be bacteria on the surface of the chuck meat–maybe not the deadliest of the E.coli on any given day, but there will be bacteria. When ground it can end up anywhere within what is ground–including what becomes the center of the burger.
Does anyone at this company remember the Jack In The Box drama, where hundreds got sick and three children died from tainted, undercooked hamburger meat in 1993.
Moms out there……………non organic meat, cooked medium rare, not anywhere I would want to frequent with my family.
Does anyone know where they get their beef? I only buy organic meat these days ….just to be on the safe side. In my home town of LA, they now have a rule that all burgers have to be cooked medium. It is a law. I wonder if what they do at their LA stores