Smashburger

1671 Clarkson Rd.
Chesterfield, MO
On the  Web

First, to answer the big question. Why go all the way to Chesterfield for a franchise burger?
I'm glad you asked. I was on assignment.
Earlier in the week I received an email, via the 'Email Me' pushbutton on this page, from a gentleman by the name of Brad Garoon, from New York City:
I found your blog while searching for food lovers in St. Louis. On Burger Weekly I periodically run a series of Smashburger reviews from all over the country, as each state has at least one unique burger on the menu. I typically pull reviews by other burger (or general food) bloggers, and have them plug their blogs and twitter feeds, etc in the review. Would you be interested in doing a review of the St. Louis Burger at Smashburger in Chesterfield or St. Charles, Missouri? You'd be able to plug your blog in the review, and I'd shout you out on all of BW's social medias.
It's all about the networking.
New York City!?!?
Yeah, Brad's blog, Burger Weekly is kind of a big deal in the eatery review world. Apparently there are a lot of burger joints in the Big Apple, and Brad is determined to try them all. Sure, he's probably nuts, but his reviews are succinct, informative and his reach is comprehensive.
Why he has expanded to reaching out to others for assistance for a place I'd never even heard of, I'm not sure.
This weekend was fortuitous for such an effort though.
Chesterfield is well outside of our preferred range for these reviews as it takes, in light traffic, forty five minutes to get there from the house. This weekend though I would be going alone. Angel was completely booked with dogs, Adam had been off work all week and this was his first day back, so I decided that I'd just get up on Saturday morning, dope myself up with bad coffee and trek on up to Chesterfield, the closer of the two St. Louis options. So that's what I did.

The Place:
I'd never been to Chesterfield. Simply no reason to go there. It's west of the city and is mostly fairly new

development. Since St. Louis was settled in the the early 1800's it was known as the starting point for westward expansion. That also describes the history of St. Louis itself. The hub of the city, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, is not quite what it once was. For nearly two centuries, the population center of St. Louis has been drifting west. Most of the newer, more affluent and growing areas are now well west of the famed Gateway Arch. Chesterfield and St. Charles are both out there. Most of the people I work with settled in towns like this. Newer, less history, less crime.
When you meet someone that says they are from St. Louis, ask them to be more specific. Chances are they aren't from the city itself, but twenty to forty miles outside of it. Like me.
I didn't see a building older than twenty five years old there. Upscale, handsome, skinny people on bicycles, doing smart, ecologically friendly and healthy things. I felt a bit out of my element.
Smashburger was a little hard for me, an outsider, to find. All the shopping centers looked alike, signage was, by ordinance, minimal. I finally found the right place, next to a Trader Joe's.
It was about 10:30 not many people there at all, everyone was still golfing, with the kids at the lacrosse field, or doing whatever busy, socially conscious, upscale people do on Saturday mornings.
I'd read ahead a little. The lady at the counter, whose name I did not get, greeted me and asked if I'd like to see a menu. I said yes, even though I knew what I'd be ordering. I ordered, paid and was told it would be five to seven minutes. In the meantime I found out from the lady that she'd been there since the store opened, three years, and that she'd come from the St. Charles location where she had worked since it opened. A Smashburger lifer, impressive.

As I waited I looked around. Clean, modern, not plastic feeling. Tall ceilings, exposed and painted flat black metal rafters and ducts. the primary color theme was black, red, and off-white. On each table were plenty of napkins and condiments, the basics, mustard and ketchup, name brand, not generic.
Overhead, music played, contemporary pop, Katy Perry, et al. Not exactly my favorite form of music, but infinitely better than Country or Nordic Opera.
Sure enough, in about five minutes the lady brought out my food, on paper, in a metal rack-tray. I'd already poured myself some un-sweet ice tea.
The Food:
Had I just stumbled into the place I would have probably ordered one of the many other burgers offered. But since I was on assignment, I ordered the St. Louis Burger, and Smash Fries.
Smashburger does this, as Brad pointed out. Everywhere they put a restaurant, they develop a regional burger that is only sold in that area. A nice gimmick. Kansas City has one, you guessed it, slathered in barbecue sauce.
In Ohio you'll find the Buckeye Burger, laced, I suppose, with crushed buckeyes. I could look it up, but I'm too lazy. You get the idea.
So what makes a burger a St Louis Burger?

To answer, you'll need to know some local history and about St. Louis style pizza.
The popular regional pizza is thin crust with a sweet tomato sauce, topped with Provel cheese. The trademark 'Provel' is currently held by a subsidiary of Kraft Foods. The recipe was developed more than fifty years ago specifically to top what was to become St. Louis style pizza. You can hardly find the stuff at all outside the region. It is a combination of Swiss, Cheddar and Provelone. It was designed primarily for texture more than distinct taste. When you bite into  it it does not string out like mozzarella and at room temperature it remains soft, not crusty. It has a mild, salty taste.
What Smashburger did was to take that regional cheese product, added green peppers, onions and mushrooms, just like you'd find on a typical local pizza. They put this on top of their standard 'smashed' burger and all that goes on a pretzel bun.
If it was really trying to scream "St. Louis!", it would be on a Gus' soft pretzel, lined with toasted ravioli and with a side of gooey butter cake, personally served by Yadier Molina himself, asking you where you went to high school. Chuck Berry would, of course, be rocking the joint.  (St. Louis folks will get all of those references.)
On the side was the real prize of this franchise, the Smash Fries. Hand tossed with garlic, rosemary and olive oil. Shoestring style, crispy, crunchy and delicious. Darned near addictive little things.
A Smashburger is 100% Angus beef, never frozen, balled up then put on a grill and smashed with a spatula. This makes the burger thin, with rough, crispy edges, my absolute favorite style of burger.
I like a thin burger and this one was pretty tasty. The mushrooms were not overwhelming, the cheese, as specified, was creamy and melty.  On second look though, it appeared to have started breaking down a little. I liked the burger just fine, it was exactly as advertised. And yes, the cheese made it taste like St. Louis. But as I said earlier, I'd probably have ordered something else if it was left up to me. I like a sharp cheddar myself. And bacon.
Summary:
This was a fine burger. I like Smashburger's style. Thin, smashed burgers, fresh toppings, a choice of cheeses and sauces. The smash fries were the real star of this show though. The tea was surprisingly fresh and tasty, not bitter or weak.
On the way out I ordered two standard Smashburger bacon cheeseburgers for Angel and Adam to have later, it was part of the deal. The fries did not stay crispy, of course, but they both agreed that these were pretty good burgers.
Smashburger is similar to and every bit as good as Five Guy's which is one of my favorite franchise burger places. The unique fries might give Smashburger a slight edge in that two-way race.
Across the parking lot I could see a McDonalds. I could not believe that people were lining up to go to that vile place when this, much, much better burger place was right next to it. Sure it cost a little more, my own feast put me back just over ten bucks, but the quality was far superior than that awful McDonald's place. I will never, ever understand the attraction for that hideous chain.
Was Smashburger the best hamburger in the area then?
No, not at all. By far, my favorite burgers are at Concord Grill. They understand burgers, they understand St. Louis. Then there's Gordon's Stoplight Grill in Festus. No frills, no fancy cheeses, just a good old fashioned diner style burger served perfectly every time.
The staff was friendly, polite, efficient and professional They kept an eye on the customers and made sure to check up on them and ask what they thought.
Oh yeah, bonus, Smashburger serves beer. Take that, Micky D!

Pizza Junction

 Hillsboro. Mo
 On Facebook

* Very important disclaimer at the end of this post!


This choice was obvious. It's a brand new place in Hillsboro that we'd been been eagerly awaiting to open.
Before we start though, I'd like to give a shout out to a new friend, Suzi. She sent a nice email this past week and called Eat and Critique ". . .one of the highlights of my week". I of course, suggested she seek immediate counseling from a certified get-a-life coach. Anyway, she was very sweet and funny, and I always appreciate hearing form you, my loyal fans, as long as you're not one of those freaky nut jobs I occasionally hear from, or a Russian spammer... what is it with those guys anyhow?
Suzi also said "You go to some horrible restaurants. . ."  I couldn't completely disagree, but I can assure you this, I may indeed go to some horrible eateries, but this particular place is not one of them, at all.

The Place:
 A few months ago Bobby Munzert's closed its doors. A nice building at the northwest corner of the intersection of Highways 21 and B. Across from the mall (Dollar General).
A few weeks ago we noticed that the Munzert's sign had finally been taken down, but we also noticed a busyness around the place. Then signs and ads started popping up indicating that the spot was about to become Pizza Junction.
Hillsboro doesn't have a pizza joint, unless you count Imo's, which I don't. I was happy to hear that someone would be giving it a shot.
We arrived for lunch on Saturday for reasons I'll explain later*. Angela and I went, Adam was at work.*
The place had not been gutted, there would have been no reason  for that, it wasn't in bad shape before. As we entered the foyer we noticed that to the right, which had been the non-smoking dining area, was now an area that could be reserved for parties. In the foyer itself some large arcade machines had been installed. The  area on the left, which had been the bar/smoking area was now a bar/dining area. It had been filled in with nice booths, several of them. The motif was brown and black, the walls a neutral cream. Several overhead fans spun quickly. The lighting was muted, but more brightly than Munzert's had been. It smelled much better that I had remembered it, it now carried the narcotic aroma of yeast and garlic.
    It wasn't very busy when we arrived so we were told to sit wherever we liked. Two or three wall mounted TV's were on, muted, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed they were not tuned to sports, but rather, the Discovery Channel. Finally, a bar/pizza joint that didn't assume that their patrons need a 24/7 sports fix.
On the back wall was a new-style jukebox, wall mounted, playing something contemporary. I'm not in to the music the kids are into these days, at least it wasn't too loud or offensive.
We sat back against the wall, I turned sideways and took up the entire bench. Sydney brought us the menus.
We snickered. The plain paper menus had been glued to a part of a pizza box lid. Cute.
We ordered our drinks, tea and sweet tea.
The menu was three pages, one for pizza the others dedicated to sandwiches, salads, etc.
I was tempted by the lighter salads, and sandwiches... yeah, right...PIZZA!
The Food:
There were a few pre-defined pizzas and they looked okay. But the interesting choice of toppings for a free-style was too good to pass up.
I made up my mind on a nine inch, traditional crust, with crab meat, pepperoni, Italian sausage, green peppers and onions. Yeah, Crab meat!
Angel picked a niner as well, thin crust, because she doesn't understand pizza. She topped it with shrimp, Italian sausage, black olives and mushrooms.
I was tempted to add another interesting option, sauerkraut. I know! Long time fans will realize the karmic irony of this from this review.
We assumed Adam would want some when he got home from work, so we also asked for a twelve inch  traditional 'Junction', to-go from the pre-defined list. It contained mostly meats. A twleve incher so we could all share it with him and not have to prepare any meals for the rest of the weekend. Mmmm, breakfast pizza.
While we waited I glanced around, taking in the changes. I liked it. It opens at eleven most days, and offers wi-fi. We wondered aloud about how Adam was doing at his new job. He'd only started the previous weekend, part time, but he seemed to like it.

12" 'Junction'

The aroma reminded me of the pizza places I'd worked at. Garcia's Pizza in a Pan in Rantoul, Illinois, (home of the Flying Tomato Brothers.) They had customized delivery cars, AMC Pacers, decorated with green plastic stems on their tops, you know, so it looked like a tomato.
I also worked at one in Springfield, I don't recall the name. I was officially a delivery driver at both, used my own car to get the mileage reimbursement. I also worked the back and learned a few tips and techniques of the business. The delivery bit also permanently odored my cars with that same delicious smell that I swooned over when I first stepped in this place, yeast and garlic. Lovely, simply lovely.
We watched the muted TV's, closed captioning was enabled. As best we could tell this was one of the newer reality shows devoted to documenting the stupid things rural hicks are willing to do to sustain a reality show.

Mine

In this episode the silly hillbillies were picking through a landfill for fortune and fame and then went out at night, hunting for mythological creatures. I didn't actually see any laying around, but I assumed copious amounts of alcohol were involved.
The pizzas arrived soon enough. They looked great. I knew I'd like mine, I'd already had a sample of one of the Junction's pizza's the weekend before*.
Sure enough it was thick, gooey, generously topped,  and very, very cheesy.
It looked bigger than nine inches, but I'm a guy and can't estimate sizes like that very accurately. The toppings and cheese extended all the way to the edges, no cutting of corners here. It seemed massive, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing. That's what they make boxes for though.
The tea was okay, it wasn't too old or bitter.(insert wife joke here if you like, I won't. Angel occasionally reads these things.)

Angel's

Angel and I savored our pies. These were really, really good. She mentioned what I just did, that the toppings were generous and filled out to the edges. The crust was perfect, charred a little at the edges for some crispiness, not too thick to be too filling, perfect. The sauce, which I knew to be made in-house*, was great, once again nothing flashy, but good, fresh and generous. I came across the lumps of crab, I'd never had crab on a pizza before, I  can't recall it even having ever been an option. It was subtle, compared to the sausage, and I might have not even noticed it had I not been looking for it. But that's the nature of crab. The peppers and onions were finely chopped, I prefer larger pieces but that was a minor point.
 Most St. Louis Style shops and pies default to provel, that regionally popular, sweeter cheese blend. It's offered as an option at the junction though. Ours had a more 'traditional' provolone and mozzarella blend.  They also have different sauces, but I highly recommend the house sauce.
Summary:
 Sure enough, I only made it halfway through. Angel, probably because of her wafer-thin crust, finished all but one square. We had absolutely nothing to complain about, this was seriously good pizza.
Yeah, that good, better than all the local franchises, by far. There was obvious attention to quality and flavors.
The service was pretty good. I'm going to give them a break on the few minor serving errors. They've only been open a week and they hired the staff less than two weeks ago. The fact that Sydney came back to our table twice to confirm some details about our order I actually appreciated. She seemed to be working hard to get our order right, not just get it over with. She'll work out fine.
One more minor thing, easily fixable. There were no napkins on the tables. This was a problem as pizza, a hand-food, is messy. Especially if it is made well, and this was. We had to ask for napkin refills, but like I said, easily fixable. Angel pointed out that they also didn't offer silverware/plates like some of the snootier pizza joints did. I didn't see it as a problem and frankly, it didn't seem to slow Angel down much.
The bill for the two customized pies and the big take-home standard came to forty seven dollars and change. that sounds like a lot, but remember, breakfast pizza, mmmmmm! We ordered thirty combined inches (9+9+12)of pizza, that comes down to a little more than a buck an inch. Don't make me do the math for you.
I wish I could get  there for lunch during the week, they offer a pizza and salad buffet for a very reasonable price.
I highly recommend Pizza Junction. I'm always excited when a new place opens up in my adopted hometown, especially when it works hard to serve quality food at a good price. Pizza Junction succeeds at this, even in their first week.

* Disclaimer.
Yeah, now for all those asterisks. 
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, I am not a professional journalist. I'm a writer, a clown, and a very emotionally fragile and needy, yet undeniably handsome man. I do have ethics though, so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Adam's new job is at this very place, Pizza Junction. That's how I'd known it was good pizza, he'd brought some home after the soft-opening the previous weekend. He was in the back on this very day, and probably helped prepare our pies. We never saw him while we were there and we didn't want to skew the experience or interfere with his work, so we did not introduce ourselves. He pretty much guessed it though, six ingredients each on a pair of nine inch pies caught his attention, especially the shrimp and crab toppings. Not their typical orders. The sauerkraut would have nailed it.
So am I biased in my review? Maybe? No, not at all. I decided ahead of time that if it was bad, or worse, awful, that I'd recuse myself from reviewing it.
I did enjoy it though, I highly recommend it, whether Adam works there or not. It's a local place in a small town and I'm bound to have some sort of connection through family/friends at any locally owned place.
But I figured I better be up front with you about the familial connection.
Seriously, try it.