A Sign in the Strip Mall

I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Elevation Burger in the Philadelphia area after getting tipped by Burgatory a few months ago. Burgatory mentioned that it opened in Wynnewood, PA over the 4th of July weekend and I was immediately doing some hamburger calculus to understand the most efficient way to get one of the burgers into my belly. Strangely, some friends were drenching the Havertown library in ambient drones this past Friday night and Ethan was arriving by train to join in the festivities. The best spot was to arrange a pickup at the Wynnewood train station. It is perfectly located across the street from Elevation Burger. (I got As in regular calculus, too, by the way.)

Elevation Burger is a Virginia based burger restaurant that has begun an expansion up the East Coast. They use organic, grass-fed, free-range beef for their burgers. They also go for the environmental angle, pursuing LEED certification for their locations, use recycled paper products, and recycle their in-store waste.

Inside Job

I beat Ethan to the punch and placed my order. I thought it would be hard to convince him to go burgering, he not being a red meat eater. Though there are no turkey or chicken offerings, there are some vegetarian options on the menu, but I wasn't sure how hungry he would be. I ordered the single patty cheeseburger "Original" style which meant lettuce, tomato, pickles, and special sauce. I also added some mustard to the mix. I also got an order of fries. I was wondering about them when I ordered because they were cooked in 100% olive oil. I didn't know you could deep fry in olive oil, I didn't think the smoke point was high enough. Or maybe it's just too expensive so that's the reason why we don't deep fry turkeys in it. According to the very useful Wikipedia, virgin olive oil's smoke point is 374°F which is interesting. I believe that a fairly standard way of making fries is to twice fry them, once at 325°F and a second time at 375°F. Meaning, there is either some tweaking to avoid burning the restaurant down or they're using a refined olive oil with a higher smoke point.

Everything at Elevation Burger is made to order, very similar to In-N-Out or Five Guys. Elevation is really working the In-N-Out angle and their menu advertises that you can stack up anywhere from 3 to 10 additional patties on your burger. I'm not sure how much a 10 patty burger will run you, but that could be a fun experiment. I did wonder if they were working the secret menu angle or not. The In-N-Out animal style has a burger patty that has been griddled in mustard with cheese and lots of lettuce and tomato with secret sauce and grilled onions. While waiting, I noticed that folks eating in had their burgers delivered in little silver cake pan looking metal trays. It gave everything a slightly classy feel and, functionally, I imagine that it keeps the stray crumbs and falling crap in one spot.

The Highest Elevation

I had placed my order to go because I wasn't exactly sure if Ethan would make it since he missed his first train. For my takeout order, I found that the fries were placed on top of the burger. Normally, that would be exactly what I wanted because fries are what you're sneaking on the ride home and are normally the most important thing to eat at their hottest. But, I wanted to photograph everything like a total food blogging nerd, so it made the unpacking a little trickier.

On first notice, the fries were beautiful thin cut. And, of course, I had to sneak some while I was adjusting my food. I was immediately blown away, no matter what the smoke point of their oil is. These were good, really, really good. Nicely crisp, not too greasy or oily, perfectly salted. The potato was a little on the sweet side, but not overwhelmingly sweet. It was really distracting my efforts to get at the burger. They also made me feel good by emphasizing a healthy angle with the deep frying in olive oil. I don't know how much healthier, but I'm going to quit while I'm ahead on that point and just accept it. They were so good that I knew Ethan would at least need to get some fries once he arrived on the scene.

A Little West Coast Style

The Chomped Section View

The burger was well wrapped In-N-Out style. Now, philosophically, the In-N-Out wrapping is done that way to eat in the car. In fact, they'll ask you in the drive thru if you're eating in the car or taking it home and will wrap the burgers differently. Of course, the "car wrap" is the one most people are getting and makes for nicer photography since it exposes a quarter of the burger or so. And then the "car wrap" gets placed in a cardboard try to sit nicely on your passenger's seat or dashboard.

The Elevation burger bun is firm, but still squishy, actually very similar to the In-N-Out bun. After the wrap and bun, however, the similarities end. What struck me most prominently was the use of "deli-style" cheddar cheese which was present in every bite. It added an extra sharpness that just isn't available in fast food burgers. The beef wasn't as special as I'd hoped, it really wasn't seasoned and didn't burst with flavor. It wasn't terrible, but not amazing, definitely not as amazing when compared to the bun and cheese.

Ethan Is About To Wish He Eats Cow

Ethan did show up on the scene and was quickly won over by the fries. Unfortunately, we now need to discuss the veggie burger he also purchased. I don't eat a lot of veggie burgers, so I'm not an expert here, but just the look of the patty didn't do much for me. Ethan had ordered his with lettuce and we had to go searching for a fairly unappetizing single sheath of iceburg lettuce tucked away under the patty. Definitely no success there. I seem to remember taking a photo of the search, but couldn't find it on the camera, so you'll have to take my word. Elevation Burger could take another cue from In-N-Out and use higher quality hand-leafed lettuce and lots more of it. The veggie burger wasn't hot, either, kind of blandly lukewarm. I took a bite of it just to compare and I really can't recommend it. Maybe they were off their game a little on our visit, but I'm going to be suspicious on any future visits. Still, the veggie burger did come with the solid bun andthe cheddar cheese. There is a second veggie burger that is a vegan option, so you may not want to add on cheddar cheese to that if you're keeping that vegan edge. [Note: Marc from burgatory left a comment saying that the veggie burger was almost as good as the fries when he tries it, so maybe we got a bum burger.]

I would say that I was impressed by Elevation Burger on my first visit. The fries were easily the best fast food fries I've had and that includes In-N-Out who Elevation Burger clearly wants to be. Though they give In-N-Out a run for their money with the bun and the cheddar cheese is a nice touch, the beef in all its cruelty-free ways just does not compare. I do applaud the effort and I will be back again. I'm wondering if getting the double burger would change up the flavor profile for the better. I'm also curious about their grilled cheese since I've always been a fan of In-N-Out's variation. And, I need to try a shake.

In the end, I would say that Elevation Burger is about even with Five Guys, not as good on the burger, but much better on the fries, so the battle ends in a tie. Still, Elevation Burger does have the ethical aspects in their favor and, while somewhat gimmicky, is still commendable.

Here are some other fine reviews of Elevation Burger from Philadelphia based blogs: burgatory, frieswiththatshake, and foodaphilia.

Tags: french fries, hamburgers, philadelphia, veggie burger