Schlow Now, Ground Cow: A Radius Burger Walk-Through
Editor's note: If you're a regular reader here, Kenji Alt needs no introduction. But here's one anyway: He's the dude who made the awesome Blumenburger and who went on the 8-burgers-in-12-hours marathon. He also blogs on Good Eater.
I'm firmly on the "thin and griddled" side of the great grilled-griddled burger divide, but I have to admit to a bit of local Boston pride in when chef Michael Schlow of Radius. Last year at the South Beach Burger Bash, his horseradish-slathered, crispy-onion-topped creation took the prize from my main squeeze (the salty, crusty, perfect-in-its-simplicity Shackburger).
One year later, still curious as to how this upset occurred, I emailed Schlow to see if I could get a firsthand look at the burger that bested my beloved.
If you've never been to this Boston landmark, Radius is no burger joint. It's at the high end of the high-end restaurant scale, and the burger is only available at the bar (at which it accounts for more than 30 percent of sales). You come here to eat Asian-tinged fancy French food like ponzu-glazed hamachi with summer truffles or day-boat scallops with morels and yuzu. But every extravagant restaurant these days needs its signature burger, and Radius is no exception—the exception being that Radius' burger actually ain't that fancy. In fact, you can even make it at home with barely more effort than it takes to make your regular old burger. It's all in the technique.
Watch as chef Schlow takes us step-by-step through the process.
