Devine Street burger joint serves up smashing fare
You order, they smash.
Hand-rolled Angus meatballs and spicy, seasoned black bean balls are flattened in one swoop with the chain’s signature smasher and grilled just beyond the front counter. It’s a smash, not a squish, and the resulting flavor is, well, smashing.
Smashburger is Columbia’s newest burger joint — sitting just in front of Cross Hill Market. It’s a chain that’s grown from Denver and plays each location’s menu to the locale with a taste of local favorites.
Columbia’s Smashburger opened next to the new Moe’s on Dec. 12 and has attracted students, families and professionals with a low-cost menu that perfectly caters to taste, nutrition and selection.
There are seven Smash-designed burgers, including mushroom swiss and avocado club sandwiches, as well as a list of add-ons and a create-your-own-burger menu.
The Carolina Chili, topped with American cheese, chili, yellow onion and coleslaw, is Columbia’s tailor-made selection for $5.99, or $6.99 for the “big smash.”
Here’s the rundown: There’s a small smash, a smash and a big smash. The smash itself hangs over the edge of the bun — with the pick of classic egg, multigrain, pretzel, spicy chipotle or the low-call lettuce wrap — and more than satisfies. In the create-your-own column, the smash is $4.29, and the big smash is $5.29. The seven specialty burgers are $4.99 or $5.99 for the smash and $5.99 or $6.99 for the big smash.
Although the barbecue bacon and cheddar and spicy Baja are tempting choices predesigned for deliciousness, the power of Smashburger is in each customer’s ability to play chef.
Spreading avocado across a pretzel bun and adding applewood smoked bacon, perhaps with a pile of haystack onions, is only where the options begin. There are fried eggs, garlic mushrooms, fried pickles and goat cheese — smash sauce, spicy chipotle mayo and spinach.
Then, there’s the personal favorite: the black bean burger ($5.99). The meatless patty can be dressed with all of the create-your-own toppings — may I suggest the aged swiss and avocado — or, there’s the spicy Baja black bean burger set up with a long list of Baja specialties.
All of the Smashburger classics are also available with crispy or grilled chicken breasts — from the spicy Baja to a spinach and goat cheese sandwich with balsamic vinaigrette. Stack your favorite sauces and toppings, and melt on blue cheese, pepper jack or sharp cheddar, just to name a few, to create your own savory chicken burger.
The Smash fries are dangerous. The thin-cut potatoes are tossed in rosemary, olive oil and garlic and make their way from the red-and-white paper dishes to your mouth with far too unnoticeable ease. A hearty side, more than you will ever wish you had ordered, is just $1.99. Or, for $2.29, opt for the sweet potato Smash fries. They are, in fact, as amazing as they sound. You will lick your fingers.
The haystack onions, or very thin-cut onion rings, are also available as a side item for $2.29. Order them on top of your burger, or order them as a side or order them as both.
And, as if you’re not feeling guilty enough just reading this list of salty, sweet and savory combos, there’s one last thing that defines Smashburger: the Haagen-Dazs shakes. There’s vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, Sundrop and Cheerwine floats and a NutterButter milkshake or malt. Each is served diner-style with a silver cup of the extra shake, a dollop of whipped cream and a red straw.
It all sounds sinful, but healthier options are available, too. Not in the malt and milkshake showing, but in the grilled chicken and black bean burger, the no-dressing salads and even the smaller-sized burgers.
On a Saturday afternoon, the line wraps around the restaurant. A few scattered diners sat outside, while the others slid into big booths and half-table, half-booths that stretched the length of the restaurant.
In just five minutes, customers from the back of the line were placing orders and moving on to the infamous Coke freestyle machines, first made Columbia-famous in the Main Street Moe’s.
To-go customers line up just beside the front counter, while in-house diners take a number to their table. Members of Columbia Smashburger’s management stood at the kitchen line and delivered orders to tables, dropping off plates and plates of burgers and a couple of milkshakes to two excited children.
It’s a dine-in experience, without the added cost of sit-down restaurant dishes or tips.
And, at the risk of sounding cheesy, Smashburger is a smash hit.