mbucher

Hi, sorry to be behind this month it's the Eliot Spitzer Burger, which is the shirt rib version, and by popular 'rocks" demand we will have the "rocks" burger in July : smoked, then braised ( we're going to sous vide it) pork shoulder, pulled, hit with a tangy bbq sauce, and topped with cold fresh cole slaw" I forget who it was but indeed shoulder is the way to go on this one!

Boulud is winning 6-2 as of this am 5/29/08

A Don Rocks Challenge: Vote for your favorite to be the burger of the month for June: 1 Daniel Boulud's braised short rib stuffed burger, with tomato confit and truffles. 2 BBQ Blast, stuffed with sauce smothered smoked pork rib meat, topped with ice cold crunchy napa slaw. email me at mbucher@burgerjointdc.com so we dont clutter the board. Voting opens now and will close on the 30th. You all rock!

Rob, come see me next time, this was the first night I took off and we got buried. I appreciate the comments, and we'll make it right by you! THX Mark

Good point, hmmmm i heard that Giant finally, got neighborhood approval to redevelop that corner, basicaly from their store all the way up to Starbucks, and down to cactus cantina. Wonder if they are closing? that place used to be the standard I measured tex mex by in this town. I think they also own Lauriol plaza

chris patterson was not a founder. rob wilder (jaleo, zatinya, and anything jose andres does) and scot shaw were the founders. chris patterson was brought in to "right the ship" years ago. A few good men were there Kurt Miller, ( wonder where he landed) and some of the old school gms. They were/are great guys, but eccckkkkkk not even free kids dinners on Mondays can get my kids inside the place. yuck... there were a few threads on Siestmas live chat about the disintegrating food quality at austin grill and cafe deluxe in the same breath............ anyone else see of notice this?

you're right. Potomac Village, impossible spot for a restaurant, sky high rents, sky high customer expectations, ask the Potomac Deli guys," mission impossible.. Hunters across the street, just OK food, mucho dinero, and dirty@! yuk! and yikes. bezu, of course is the exception. they are of course above ground and in the other center where thers ample parking.

Actually, thats the rub, i've been scouting the dc market for retail space for over a year, honestly the rents are the same in certain parts of NYC. Its crazy, retail rents have topped 100 psf after maintenance and taxes in DC. Krispy Kreme is a differet story, just because the are open doesnt mean they are making money, every chain has a flagship that loses money and you can bet its the Dupont store.

hi guys, its mark, the founder.... ugggh, these things keep me up at night. I dream of tickets printed in numerical sequence, and then one goes missing....... im so sorry for that experience. I cant promise it'll never happen again, but I can promise the approach will be gentler. On the other hand Im soooo glad you enjoyed the food and as you can see, the comments on these posts do have an impact, we switched the bacon presentation, to the strips instead of the chopped, im pysc'd you dig the fries. I cant tell you how backbreaking it is to prepare them, everyone in the world thinks we are crazy, but my committment to quality is unyielding. As a matter of fact I sent back 9 cases of tomatoes today, because they were "mealy" the produce rep told me that they are "good enough" for a certain high end hotel in town, I said god they can have them all! next time ask for me! thx Mark

About 6 months ago Austin Grill as a company was sold to Thompson Hospitality, a company generally in the business of cafeteria operations at places like courthouses and colleges.

If you've worked the grill at houstons or cheescake factory, we ned to talk. looking to staff up and only A players will cut it. we pay the most in the area, health, dental, and huge bonuses. CONTACT: mbucher@theburgerjointdc.com

Amsterdam folks sold out about a year ago after a fight with their money partners dude runnign the place now has had it for sale for months, hes selling frozen sysco dogs, trying to make a living, but the "q" for quality " went out the door when the amsterdam folks left............. too bad..

Im kind of new to this DR thing. BUT YOU GUYS ROCK! (that should be your slogan). I cant believe how many of you came in today, identified yourselves, and we had great chats. I think about 40 folks came in and simply stated "Don Rocks" to me. It was awesome@! Im in this biz because I enjoy people, and making people smile. You guys are awesome! I look forward to meeting more of you! YOU GUYS ROCK!

ill be here ask for me tx mark

It's very interesting, when you come in i can show you in person a few interesting burger things. when the patties are hand formed and char grilled, ( the flat top method of cooking allows the cook to "press" down the patttie as it cooks to get a good meat spread" for a char grill we cant press " it's be a cardinal sin to squeeze the goodness out"" so the result is they "puck up". visualize a pattie, that is 1.5 inches in the center and very thin around the edges, makes for a hard burger to eat. This only happens with super fresh ground beef. so our processor ( recently, like in the last 4 weeks) worked with us to develop a new pattie system, that actually makes the patties vertically, meaning the beef is never "pressed" into a pattie, it merely gently falls into a ring then is cut horizontally. ( we applied to patent the system) all patties are hours fresh, never cryovacked or frozen. And yes the buns come in un cut, and we cut them all , one at a time. Trust me the temptation is to have them pre cut, ( which would mean they'd have to have a preservative added), but we will stay true to the promise of hand crafted all away around our place. Point in fact, tomatoes are another issue. everyone in the world wants to sell us a tomato slicer that will slice a tomato into wafer thin slices, like you'd see in a prison food line, we ripen every tomato in our place and hand slice them. each and every one of them. I cant look at a tomato the same way again. ask for mark or nate when you're in. well make sure is exactly right.

thats the web url only, not our name.

Word is it's a franchised location..............................................

i wish them the best of luck, how in the world they plan on paying DC rents, selling 4 dollar cupcakes is beyond me, They would have been better going to NYC for the same rent and a gazillion more people walking by night and day. Get em quick , they be gone in a flash.

michel Richard is a genius creator. c'mon people. the guy stays awake at night figuring out how to cook short ribs for 72 hours, his chef Cedrick, is a craftsman. Lets call Central and citronelle for what they are. pure restaurant genius. Thats why they are both packed and thats why they are both very different. If you want the same old grub, with nothing original,go to old ebbit grill, its good, if you want spectacular visit Michel's spots.

Hi all Donrockwell bloggers. Im one of the owners and yes i must be honest, the crazy dude/manager "yelling" on the cookline over the weekend. Im glad we got through it. I'm also glad to see your honest unfiltered opinions on this site. You guys should start a professional "restaurant pre-open food testing service" because your comments are honestly spot on. So here's the honest facts and details surrounding our opening this past weekend. Never in a million years, could we have planned or anticipated for the incredible reception we got from the residents of the surrounding areas. Frankly we were overwhelmed, and again truthfully we ran out of food twice between Thursday at 6pm and Sunday by 9pm. So indeed, we had to substitute a bagged fry on Saturday and Sunday morning, until our potatoes fully soaked overnight, so I forget who caught that but indeed it was true for a few hours this weekend, over salty also true, based on who we had "learning the fry station. It's a tough station as fries ar dropped in the fryer to order. Hopefully we get points for no "fast food" fry holding station where they sit under heat lamps. you'll never see that here. As for the burger meat, indeed it is certified angus, prime , dryaged ( the time period a secret, sorry) and freshly ground and pattied daily. It is processed for us in Baltimore at a Glatt Kosher processing house " that was just a coincidence", but we were impressed with the committment to cleanliness and the humane standards. The buns are delivered warm, every morning by a great french baker in DC. As for the char taste, thats a tough one, it couldnt bee clearer that we use a char grill, i think burgers are like coke and pepsi, some like one way and not the other, and when is it too much. Now to talk about the "doneness" scale. My intention was to cook burgers to temperature as all purists will know the only way to enjoy a fresh burger is medium rare. with a room temperature sun ripened tomato. Unfortunatley 99.9999999 percent of our customers were groseed out by ordering a fresh medium burger and seeing pink inside. I'm guessing we got back 50 burgers on friday and saturday, with folks saying they were undercooked, when I tell you they were spot on.So i guess we can thank the chains for training the general public to now enjoy burgers cooked well done! Identify yourself to us, and let us know that you "for real" want a true medium or medium rare burger and you will love it. As for pricing, we have woodmont grill (houstons) up the street at 14 bucks, blacks at 15 for a bacon cheeseburger Incl a small portion of fries, plus tip on both of them. Tastee Diner is up the block ans they are about 5 bucks, they have also been there for a gazillion years and own their land and bldg, so they have no rent. Dont blame us for the burger prices, blame the landlords, and the suppliers, for making it very very very hard to make money in the restaurant business. Here are the facts, wholesale prime beef is a fortune, and we dont and never will use fillers, like soy. i bet none of you know that there are two local popular burger stores. that add soy to their patties, to cut down the cost, ( you can never tell) by eating it, but its dishonest in our book) you see some chains hold their price point at say 5 bucks, and when the price of beef goes up they simply up the soy, not the price. its absolutely 100% true. As for the "cardinal sin" of putting the soda behind the counter, we offer free refills, and even cherry and vanilla flavoring, problem is we are on a publc park,and it was cokes suggestion, as it hopefully will cut back on line jumpers trying to fill their starbucks cup with lemonade. Lastly, I actually remember one of you in, after the car repair story. I remember asking you if things were good with your meal, next time you come in, know we are Don Rocks fans < and really lay on the criticism, or the praise, when your here. We are really working to be the absolute best at what we do and remain true to burger purists around the area. Lastly, as for the place being "white enough" there's Jimmy Hendrix and Prince on the wall, cmon dude.... So next time you're in ask for Nate or Mark, and we'll make sure it's perfect. life's too short to have an average burger......