Burger Love
Forget fast-food chains and stop at these local roadside eats
By Amiee White Beazley

I’ve got a dirty little secret: Sometimes I crave fast-food burgers. Go ahead, judge me, but I can’t help myself. Since I was old enough to chew I was reared on these ammonia-injected, processed and salt-, sugar- and fat-enhanced bad excuses for beef patties. Heck, my sixth birthday party was at McDonald’s.

So one can understand why I often find myself in need of a quick burger fix. But my new understanding of fast food has put a serious dent in my ability to patronize the fast-food franchises of my childhood — the meat they serve, their ethical lapses and the long-term health impacts weigh upon me (no pun intended) with every hot bite. It’s all but forced me to ward off any food delivered through a window. But that doesn’t alleviate my desire.

So you can imagine my delight (and my children’s) at the opening of Fatbelly Burgers on Main Street in Carbondale. Fresh, you say? Locally raised beef, could it be? Great price — you must be joking!  But it’s true. Chef and owner Shane Vetter (he operates Fatbelly with wife Kristy) quietly opened Fatbelly last November and has been serving an average of 300 burgers a day ever since. Suffice it to say, Fatbelly is a hit.

“Cows fear me,” Vetter laughs, but he’s not really kidding. Each week Fatbelly goes through two grassfed cows, reared by Carbondale’s Jacober brothers at Crystal River Meats. They are processed locally in Craig and then between two buns and wrapped in paper soon after.

Fatbelly was created around a simple plan and a simple menu: burgers, grilled cheese, fries and a veggie burger for those who don’t dig the beef. But it’s the simple cheeseburger called The Standard that is Fatbelly’s foundation. This is not a gourmet burger, but it is created with a chef’s intuition.

In the creator’s words, it is a round, pressed-beef patty cooked at 500 degrees so it has a dark-brown exterior and the juices are locked in. “With grassfed beef, this process makes the beef a lot sweeter,” says Vetter. Add cheese and the “secret sauce” — a Thousand Island-type spread with relish, spices, ketchup and mayo. This adds the creaminess. There are also iceberg lettuce for the crunch, ripe tomatoes for the acid and pickles for the vinegar tartness. Pile on the grilled onions. Why? Because they just belong, that’s why.  Physics aside, this burger is delicious in its simplicity, and if the line out the door on any given day is an indication, my taste buds are as right as usual. “If it’s not done right, it’s just another burger,” says Vetter, who is in the shop daily. “It’s a labor of love.”

Look for the addition of vanilla and chocolate shakes, and outdoor seating this summer.

“Our success depends on local business and volume,” says Vetter. “As long as everyone keeps coming, we’ll keep cooking.”

Now, if you are not like me, with visions of Happy Meals dancing in your head, but instead had condiments like truffle oil in your preschool lunchbox, burger love awaits you, too.

I discovered Larkburger, the gourmet burger joint in Edwards, a popular pit stop off I-70, on a trip to Denver with my family. I had already warded off Wendy’s, where for years I would grab a burger as I filled up my tank, but was hitting a moment of weakness. To my luck and surprise, just a mile down the road, and a minute away is the real deal: 100 percent Black Angus beef burgers layered with sharp Tillamook cheddar, leaf lettuce, vine-ripened tomatoes and a homemade Dijon sauce or truffle aioli, on a perfectly toasted bun.  “Hamburgers are a timeless American favorite, and their popularity never seems to wane,” says Adam Baker, Larkburger’s president and operating partner.

Indeed, a burger craze is sweeping the nation. Bobby Flay has opened four locations of his Bobby’s Burger Palace (pick up his book “Burgers, Fries & Shakes” — it’s a keeper). Danny Meyer is off the charts with his three burger joints — Shake Shack — in New York City. Larkburger, meanwhile, was spun off from Vail’s award-winning new American cuisine restaurant Larkspur. After seven years as managing director of that restaurant, Baker launched Larkburger in Edwards. Now there’s also a location in Boulder, and one on the way in Denver.

The menu includes the 1/3-pound Black Angus Larkburger, an all-natural turkey burger, the gourmet Truffle Burger (the Larkburger with truffle aioli), a tuna burger with wasabi-ginger sauce and cilantro, a roasted portabella mushroom burger and a great selection of children’s items. And for all those gluten-free folks, they, too, can have their burger — wrapped in lettuce, of course. But no matter what you get, or how you get it, it is mouthwateringly good, and so are the fries.

“The first thing that we wanted to do was make the best-tasting hamburger that we could,” says Baker. “It was also really impor tant to make food that we felt was wholesome, something that you would make at home and not feel badly about, a place where families would feel comfortable to eat.”

Competitively priced, a meal at Larkburger, including a burger, a side of fries, soybeans (yes!) or a salad and a drink costs just $10.

Larkburger also sets an incredibly high standard for environmental responsibility. They use compostable packaging, cups, and utensils, and recycle its canola oil into automotive fuel.

The prices are fair, the food is great, and I don’t feel like a jerk after I’ve given them my money.

Yes, there is an alternative to the Golden Arches, a creepy King or a cute little girl hawkin’ burgers in her redheaded pigtails. You just have to look down the road, and you will find it: fresh, real, juicy, handcrafted, responsible dining for every burger lover in your family. Now that’s real burger love.

Fatbelly Burgers, www.fatbellyburgers.com
220 Main Street, Carbondale
(970) 963-1569

Larkburger, www.larkburger.com
105 Edwards Village Blvd; Edwards
(970) 926-9336
2525 Arapahoe Road; Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 444-1487