Atlanta: Just Say Yes to Yeah! Burger - Yeah! Burger 1168 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30318 (map); 404-496-4393; yeahburger.com

Atlanta: Just Say Yes to Yeah! Burger

[Photographs: Todd Brock]

Yeah! Burger
1168 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30318 (map); 404-496-4393;
yeahburger.com

Cooking Method: Flattop
Short Order: Outstanding-but-smallish build-your-own burgers in a funky
and fun setting that's earning rave reviews in a burger-mad town
Want Fries with That? Hand-cut fries are great, buttermilk onion rings are
excellent, a half-and-half order of both is the best of both worlds
Price: 6-oz. beef double stack, $6.49; w/cheese, $0.89, additional toppings
up to $1 each
These days, when a new burger joint opens up it's generally met
with yawns and exaggerated eye-rolls. But the reactions were
decidedly different around Atlanta when longtime culinary wiz
Shaun Doty first fired up the flattop at his hip burger boutique in
2010. After cooking alongside the legendary Guenter Seeger at the
Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, working overseas in both France and
Belgium, and opening a string of successful restaurants upon
returning to the ATL, Doty set his sights on the all-American
classic with Yeah! Burger. And if you're wondering whether this
fledgling competitor in the city's crowded burger scene is a worthy
addition, look no further than the name that's plastered all over the
place.

Yeah! Burger employs a build-your-own approach, offering a 5-
ounce patty of turkey, bison, or veggies—or the most common
choice, a 6-ounce double-stack of grass-fed beef raised locally by
White Oak Pastures, the same farmers who supply nearby Miller
Union. Choose your bun (wheat, gluten-free, or "Southern White")
and then go wild with the toppings. You have six organic cheeses
to pick from, eight free toppings, eight $1-or-under add-ons, and
15 sauces (all free) ranging from buttermilk ranch and Yeah! sauce
(chipotle mayo) to exotic mixes like white BBQ, sunflower pesto,
and bacon jam. Mix and match sides like hand-cut fries, buttermilk
onion rings, and fried pickles, and you could eat here every night
and not have a repeat meal for an awfully long time.

From top left and working clockwise, that's a 50/50 order of fries
and onion rings (an option that should be required by law at all
places that serve both); a beef burger on white with cheddar and

Shaun's red chili; fried pickles; and a beef burger on white with
pepper jack, avocado, and jalapenos. The burgers are small (that
"6-oz. double stack" includes both patties), and as a result, cooked
to medium unless "well done" is requested (you can't get them
cooked less than medium).

But don't let that stop you. Yeah! Burger is aptly named, since
that's likely to be the first thing out of your mouth after the
burger goes in. (Your actual response may vary. "Holy f**king
s**t, that's awesome! Burger" wouldn't fit on the sign out front,
though, so "Yeah! Burger" pretty much captures the essence of it.)

The "secret blend" of seasonings used before the meat hits the
flattop is subtle enough to be overlooked entirely, so it's a
testament to the outrageously-high quality of the beef that
these burgers are as lip-smackingly good as they are. There's
also a lot to be said about the bun. Squishy but substantial, the
Southern White was allegedly custom-created by Doty and the
geniuses at H&F Bread Co. (of Holeman & Finch fame) and is one
of the best buns I have ever tasted. The toppings are all top-
notch (sorry, couldn't resist) and added in sweet-spot proportion to
the burger and bun, often creating a whole that's greater than the
sum of its parts.
My chili-cheddar burger, for example, was carefully chosen. I find
the chili cheeseburger to be a great idea that usually falls flat
because either A) it's great chili that overpowers everything else, or
B) it's suck-ass chili that makes you regret ruining a perfectly good
burger with it. (The Ghetto Burger at Ann's Snack Bar is the
exception to this—and almost every other—rule.) And we all know
that cheddar, while one of the all-time great cheeses, doesn't bring

a lot of bright-tasting gooeyness to the party. So the fact that I
enjoyed my chili-cheddar burger should speak volumes about the
exceptional ingredients they're using at Yeah!

In fact, my only complaint is size-related. Scroll back up and
check out that avocado-laced burg in the lower left corner of the
quad-box. My brother's a big dude, but that burger in his mitts is
tiny by any definition. My plan had been to cap off dinner with one
of their seven milkshakes or a concrete, soft-serve ice cream with
add-ins like Butterfinger bars, Reese's cups, or (God help me)
dark chocolate-covered pretzels. But even after tearing through
all of the food in that four-square photo, my brother and I were still
hungry for more than dessert in a cup. So we bellied back up to the
bar for Round Two. My brother ordered the supremely-sexy
American-cheese cover-shot beauty at the top of this article, while
I opted for mushrooms and Swiss with black peppercorn steak
sauce.

We were clearly not the first to double-dip at Yeah!, because
behind the register, Tasha didn't bat an eyelash. "They're small,
aren't they?" That has its pros and cons. On the downside, I'll have
to wait for my concrete. The plus? I'll work my way through
Yeah! Burger's millions of combinations a little faster.
About the Author: Todd Brock lives the glamorous life of a stay-at-home
freelance writer in the suburbs of Atlanta. Besides being paid to eat cheeseburgers,
he's written and produced over 1,000 hours of television and recently penned
Building Chicken Coops for Dummies. When he grows up, he wants to be either
the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys or the drummer for Hootie & the
Blowfish. Or both.