Omnivore - Yeah! Burger opens
You get burgers made from grass-fed beef and bison or organic turkey and veggies.
The much-anticipated Yeah! Burger opened June 10 and we paid a visit Sunday night. Shaun Doty, one of our city’s most popular chefs, has opened Yeah!, and the accent is definitely on everything green — from organic, local ingredients to wind-generated electricity.
The menu features four burger types — beef, bison, turkey and veggie — and a grilled chicken sandwich. The beef and bison patties are made from grass-fed animals and the others are certified organic. You choose your bun, your toppings and your sauce.
I ordered beef topped with blue cheese, grilled Vidalia onions, avocado and bacon jam, with onion rings and fries (right picture). Wayne chose bison with Swiss cheese, bacon, tomato and a “hot Alabama relish” (left picture). While I ordered the white-bread bun, which seemed a bit squooshy to me, Wayne selected the healthier “lettuce wrap.”
The menu says that the beef and bison are always cooked medium-well here and I’ve heard a few complaints about over-cooking. But my two-patty stack arrived with a pink center and had great flavor. As I’ve said before, I like the flavor of grass-fed beef but many others find its relatively fat-free taste inferior to the meat of more zaftig cows. (Tom Maicon of Atlanta Cuisine recently posted a great rant about grass-fed beef.)
We also ordered combos of hand-cut French fries and Vidalia onion rings. The fries were way limp but tasted good enough. The rings were much crispier. You can eat them straight up, with ketchup or order from the list of 12 designer sauces.
Hot dogs, also made with grass-fed beef, are available, too, along with salads. Gluten-free buns and French fries are also on the menu.
Yeah! is serving organic soft-serve ice cream in milk shakes, floats, sundaes and “concretes,” which are concoctions of vanilla ice cream blended with your choice of ingredients. I ordered one made with Heath Bars and chocolate espresso beans. My idea was to kinda-sorta duplicate Zesto’s Toffee Coffee Arctic Swirl, one of my favorite binge foods. You’ll pay over $5 for the version at Yeah! Yes, the espresso beans are an improvement over Zesto’s coffee syrup but I’m sorry to say my concrete dessert was a bit watery.
The restaurant has a full bar. Check out their Facebook page. Look for more in a future Grazing column.
(Photos by Cliff Bostock)