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Eat Crispy Burger: from fad to fast food chain
A drive-thru in National City takes on Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out
Eat Crispy Burger now up to 5 location, including this one with a drive-thru in National City
Credit (or blame) the internet for all the smashburgers. The world used to value thick patties and stacked toppings that could make a burger three-, maybe four-inches tall. Burgers that could cast a shadow.
But for years now, influencers and algorithms have trained a generation to pledge their burger allegiance to the word smash. Thin patties have only gotten thinner and flatter, to the point that the major selling point for smashburgers now is that thin-as-can-be patties are too wide for their buns, so that the burger's "lacy edge" drapes outside the bread.
An Original "OG" Crispy Burger with fries and onion rings
Instead of height, width is valued, practically fetishized. On TikTok, videos tout "a classic lacy edge," and "the art of a lacy edge," as if burger-lacer were a cherished traditional craft, like weaving or cobbling, rather than the result of simply letting beef sizzle on the griddle under a weighted burger press. Somehow, the internet agrees on only two things: Taylor Swift is queen, and smashburgers are everything. Declare yourself a devoted fan of either, and you will find acceptance and community.
It's the sort of craze enterprising restaurateurs might exploit to launch a new fast food brand. Enter Eat Crispy Burger.
Since launching in Encinitas in 2022, local smashburger shop Eat Crispy Burger has been popping up new locations faster than a Whack-A-Mole game. It's opened five locations in three years, all across San Diego County, including Oceanside, Convoy, and La Jolla — though I'd say its most fully realized location would have to be the National City spot, which inherited a fully functioning drive-thru from its previous occupant, Freddy's Frozen Custards & Steakburgers.
We don't see a lot of Freddy's here in San Diego, but it's a national chain that proliferated over the past two decades or so using the now passé term steakburger. Despite the drive-thru, it obviously didn't thrive in this spot, perhaps because it was forced to compete with other fast food eateries on the same block, notably Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out. Maybe Freddy's would have lasted longer if its branding let local burger fans know that its steakburgers had been smashburgers all along?
Fewer fast food workers, replaced by digital kiosks (and one of them is out of order)
Eat Crispy Burger gets that point across better, and the upstart fast food chain seems poised to compete with its better-established neighbors. Which is fascinating, because, for decades, the Double Double has been the Southern California fast food burger gold standard. And yet I found Eat Crispy Burger busy on a weekday, with lines both at its drive-thru and inside counter. Given the choice between juicy and smashed, these folks chose smashed.
Why do people love smashburgers so much? In part, because they think the best part of a burger patty is the charred crust, and smashburgers are all crust. But I think it's more primal than that. Even the pickiest of kids love smashburgers, because they make omitting vegetables a point of pride. So-called "original" smashburgers are designed to be cheap and easy.
And smashburgers were cheap, before they became an internet celebrity. They used to cost the same or less than a Double Double. Today, they cost more. At Eat Crispy Burger, a single patty Original "OG" Crispy Burger starts at $8; the double patty goes for $11. Anything with vegetables on it will cost a little more.
A double patty smashburger topped by lettuce, pickles, avocados, and a hash brown
This despite cooking with less beef, and serving with fewer employees. Walk into any In-N-Out, and you'll find as many as a dozen people bustling behind the counter. Walk into Eat Crispy Burger, and you'll find digital touch screen kiosks that ask you to order and pay yourself (and add a tip).
Now, $11 for a burger isn't out of line these days, but Double Doubles continue to be about 40% cheaper, even though we've long known the chain pays better than most fast food joints. What troubles me most is how mediocre Eat Crispy's burgers are. They're low on flavor, high on grease, and they certainly don't look like much, what with their ill-fitting brioche buns.
Eat Crispy Burger does outdo In-N-Out in available toppings, which range from egg to jalapeños to pastrami. But even dressing one up with standard veggies, a hash brown, and avocado, I couldn't be influenced into thinking this smashburger was anything special. Still, I'm guessing that if it appeared on a podcast with Travis Kelce, fans would tune in.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Eat Crispy Burger: from fad to fast food chain
A drive-thru in National City takes on Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out
Eat Crispy Burger: from fad to fast food chain
A drive-thru in National City takes on Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out
Eat Crispy Burger now up to 5 location, including this one with a drive-thru in National City
Credit (or blame) the internet for all the smashburgers. The world used to value thick patties and stacked toppings that could make a burger three-, maybe four-inches tall. Burgers that could cast a shadow.
But for years now, influencers and algorithms have trained a generation to pledge their burger allegiance to the word smash. Thin patties have only gotten thinner and flatter, to the point that the major selling point for smashburgers now is that thin-as-can-be patties are too wide for their buns, so that the burger's "lacy edge" drapes outside the bread.
An Original "OG" Crispy Burger with fries and onion rings
Instead of height, width is valued, practically fetishized. On TikTok, videos tout "a classic lacy edge," and "the art of a lacy edge," as if burger-lacer were a cherished traditional craft, like weaving or cobbling, rather than the result of simply letting beef sizzle on the griddle under a weighted burger press. Somehow, the internet agrees on only two things: Taylor Swift is queen, and smashburgers are everything. Declare yourself a devoted fan of either, and you will find acceptance and community.
It's the sort of craze enterprising restaurateurs might exploit to launch a new fast food brand. Enter Eat Crispy Burger.
Since launching in Encinitas in 2022, local smashburger shop Eat Crispy Burger has been popping up new locations faster than a Whack-A-Mole game. It's opened five locations in three years, all across San Diego County, including Oceanside, Convoy, and La Jolla — though I'd say its most fully realized location would have to be the National City spot, which inherited a fully functioning drive-thru from its previous occupant, Freddy's Frozen Custards & Steakburgers.
We don't see a lot of Freddy's here in San Diego, but it's a national chain that proliferated over the past two decades or so using the now passé term steakburger. Despite the drive-thru, it obviously didn't thrive in this spot, perhaps because it was forced to compete with other fast food eateries on the same block, notably Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out. Maybe Freddy's would have lasted longer if its branding let local burger fans know that its steakburgers had been smashburgers all along?
Fewer fast food workers, replaced by digital kiosks (and one of them is out of order)
Eat Crispy Burger gets that point across better, and the upstart fast food chain seems poised to compete with its better-established neighbors. Which is fascinating, because, for decades, the Double Double has been the Southern California fast food burger gold standard. And yet I found Eat Crispy Burger busy on a weekday, with lines both at its drive-thru and inside counter. Given the choice between juicy and smashed, these folks chose smashed.
Why do people love smashburgers so much? In part, because they think the best part of a burger patty is the charred crust, and smashburgers are all crust. But I think it's more primal than that. Even the pickiest of kids love smashburgers, because they make omitting vegetables a point of pride. So-called "original" smashburgers are designed to be cheap and easy.
And smashburgers were cheap, before they became an internet celebrity. They used to cost the same or less than a Double Double. Today, they cost more. At Eat Crispy Burger, a single patty Original "OG" Crispy Burger starts at $8; the double patty goes for $11. Anything with vegetables on it will cost a little more.
A double patty smashburger topped by lettuce, pickles, avocados, and a hash brown
This despite cooking with less beef, and serving with fewer employees. Walk into any In-N-Out, and you'll find as many as a dozen people bustling behind the counter. Walk into Eat Crispy Burger, and you'll find digital touch screen kiosks that ask you to order and pay yourself (and add a tip).
Now, $11 for a burger isn't out of line these days, but Double Doubles continue to be about 40% cheaper, even though we've long known the chain pays better than most fast food joints. What troubles me most is how mediocre Eat Crispy's burgers are. They're low on flavor, high on grease, and they certainly don't look like much, what with their ill-fitting brioche buns.
Eat Crispy Burger does outdo In-N-Out in available toppings, which range from egg to jalapeños to pastrami. But even dressing one up with standard veggies, a hash brown, and avocado, I couldn't be influenced into thinking this smashburger was anything special. Still, I'm guessing that if it appeared on a podcast with Travis Kelce, fans would tune in.