a.kitchen+bar
another philly burger for my birds
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I ate a burger on Ash Wednesday. I’m not a practicing Catholic but I can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt. Fork found in kitchen. Speaking of kitchen I dined at a.kitchen+bar in Philadelphia a few weeks ago at the recommendation of a Philly follower who saw my River Twice takedown think piece and sent over a hefty list of burgers to try!
My friend Kira and I started with the chickpea panisse that was served with eggplant tahina, grilled broccoli and saffron vinaigrette and it was the perfect app. Crispy, smokey, salty - I genuinely could’ve had two more and it got me very excited for the main event.
The burger at a.kitchen, available on their lunch, dinner AND brunch menus, is $26 and my most expensive burger in Philly so far, but more than ten bucks cheaper than my top price point in NYC. Plus it comes with a pile of thick cut steak fries - a surprise since it’s not listed on the menu! The burger is topped with cornichons (!), dijonnaise and green leaf lettuce. All of that and both thin patties come on a sesame brioche roll sourced from High Street, just a few blocks away.
With a thin patty, I’ve noticed that I either get a crusty exterior and a cooked-through patty or a patty with some pink but a lack of a textural contrast. The burger at a.kitchen is the rare one that can achieve both - a nice salty crunch with a juicy medium inside. The folks here are not stingy with the sauce which I appreciated and the diced cornichons plus the lettuce gave me some fresh snap. The sweet fluffy bun is a great counter to the salt and acid at play here.
I really loved this burger, and told Kira with every bite. I think that the Fountain Porter and a.kitchen burgers are neck and neck for my favorites in Philly - the former is $20 cheaper, so now I feel confident in a high and low recommendation for my Philly friends with more to come!
Come try Huda Burger in Fishtown, it’s a pretty damn good one