An OG BK Burger from Ramblin’ Chick, with caramelized onions and particular sauce.
Photograph: Courtesy of Ramblin’ Chick
Historical past solely takes form looking back, however to me, there’s at all times been one thing Obama-era concerning the saga of serial ice cream entrepreneurs Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna — and never simply because Smith initially made his title as an audiobook director whose career-defining tape, in 2005, was Obama’s recording of his 1995 memoir, Goals From My Father.
The duo at all times had a cheery, “we did a factor” vibe, and so did their ice cream: wacky however educated mixtures of flavors like Snap, Mallow, Pop (marshmallow and Rice Krispies) and It Got here From the Gowanus (darkish fudge with caramel). The shop itself was named after a snatch of Whitman and grew nearly immediately from a pushcart in Prospect Park to a store entrance on Vanderbilt Avenue. On the time of Ample Hills’ unique opening, in 2011, I lived immediately throughout the road and watched traces kind down the block.
One retailer led to many, led to a manufacturing facility, led to non-public {and professional} bankruptcies, led to demise. That story is well-known, however whereas the intervening years have dinged the attract of Obama-era schmaltz — for one factor, tagging dessert gadgets “crack,” as Ample Hills and lots of others did round this time, is not seen as LOL-sy — the indefatigable Smith and Cuscuna nonetheless appear to exemplify that earlier, questing tweeness. Their new enterprise is a fast-casual, kid-friendly Carroll Gardens sandwich store known as Ramblin’ Chick, whose mascot is a bindle-toting hen roaming America within the spirit of Woody Guthrie’s “Ramblin’ Spherical.” (Obama was additionally a Guthrie man — lest we neglect, Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger carried out “This Land Is Your Land” at his 2009 inauguration.) However you may nearly name it I Can Haz Chickenburger?
You may, however must you? I did my finest on a pair of sequential weekends to check the speculation with as little reference to the lengthy, much-discussed historical past of the Smiths as potential. No matter their weaknesses as businesspeople, Smith and Cuscuna additionally had one thing particular as cooks and alchemists. I made my approach by means of many pints of their stretchy, taffy-sweet Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. They clearly have a expertise, they usually refuse to skulk quietly to the sidelines. A poster outlining their falls and rises is prominently displayed within the store. Sure, we’ve screwed up, they appear to say, however sí, they puede!
The animating query of Ramblin’ Chick is, “What if a burger … have been hen?” Smith grinds Bell & Evans thighs in-house and griddles them flat and crispy, smashburger model. The outdated Ample Hills alchemy is available in by way of the advised subjects of some topical burgers: a Buffalo-chicken model, with a sweet-hot crumble of toasted Cheetos and crisp cornflakes, an impressed mixture; a chicken-and-waffles burger with bacon, maple butter, and scorching honey. You may order your fries with “hen mud” — crackled pores and skin bits, primarily Yiddish gribenes, which I’d not have been stunned to see spun into Ample Hills’ sweet-cream base again within the day — or mac ’n’ cheese with pretzel crumbs. And although the store is situated in a less-than-ideal-for-casual-foot-traffic stretch of Courtroom Road down by the Gowanus, inside days of opening, the store closed once more for the set up of a brand new and bigger grill, one thing I discovered after I went down to search out the grate closed and an apologetic signal.
Which may be a proof of idea (the individuals need extra chickenburgers!) or an admission that logistics nonetheless bedevil the crew. Possibly each. The hours have already been decreased to dinner solely, and on my first go to, two hours after opening, they’d bought out of each aspect. (On neither go to might I strive their nuggets, although Cuscuna mentioned they’d be accessible this week. Floor in-house of a mix of thigh and breast meat, brined, and fried twice, they’re a high-touch nugget.) Nonetheless, the small store was full, with exhausted-looking dad and mom jamming strollers into corners and curious Ample vacationers right here to strive the most recent.
I ordered an “OG Brooklyn Burger” with caramelized onions, American cheese, and “Secret Ramblin’ Sauce.” It regarded interesting, golden patties (every burger comes with two, although you may order singles should you want) whose pineapple-orange colour peeks by means of their charred griddling, hanging over their tender, squishy buns. The OG isn’t carried out any actual favors by its beneficiant serving to of caramelized onions, which give it a candy mush taste; I most popular, stunning myself, the Buffalo model I had on a subsequent go to, whose MSG-laced sharpness and acidic, hot-sauce tang higher balanced the scales.
The factor I couldn’t shake with both is that there’s a purpose individuals don’t typically make burgers with floor hen. Even thigh meat is leaner than floor beef, and the wetness of the sauces and toppings wasn’t sufficient to lend the burger itself the satisfying drip of an amazing patty. Taken alone, the patty has a rubbly chewiness.
Sides fared higher. The fries are completely respectable, the 18-spice hen chili higher: warmly spiced and topped with chopped onions. (I requested Cuscuna, working the counter, what the 18 spices within the chili have been, however she shrugged. “Brian exhibits up with luggage and luggage from Kalustyan’s,” she mentioned. In equity, McDonald’s doesn’t share its Particular Sauce recipe, both.) One of the best, although, was the tender serve, which makes me suspect that ice cream nonetheless holds a particular place of their inventors’ hearts. On my final go to, one possibility had Fan Fan Doughnuts steeped within the base.
Will or not it’s sufficient? Smith and Cuscuna have been counted out earlier than. In the meantime, a captive viewers hungers. I watched a father run his lovely toddler up and down the store earlier than bundling her off for bathtime and mattress; she’d demolished the sampler cup of soppy serve Cuscuna provided them. They lived close by, he mentioned, and all their neighbors have been keen to listen to his report again.
EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.
Join the Grub Road e-newsletter.
Vox Media, LLC Phrases and Privateness Discover