Signs of life at Farm Burger in downtown Asheville

Jason Sandford January 8, 2013

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Owner George Frangos shares on Twitter that it’s almost time for him to start a construction blog for his new Asheville restaurant, coming soon to Patton Avenue:

As we reported last year, Farm Burger is coming to Asheville in the Leader Building next to Salsa’s. (A nano-brewery, One World Brewing, is planned for the basement below.)

From an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of the Decatur location:

(Chef Terry) Koval and owner George Frangos have devised an appealing menu of burgers ($6) with gourmet mix-and-match toppings. Side dishes straddle an attractive line between homey Southern (pickled eggs, fried chicken livers, braised greens) and greasy diner (fries, onion rings, floats). There’s also a small selection of beer and wine.

I really enjoyed this burger, which came cooked to a juicy medium and had that kind of honest beefy flavor you recognize as soon it hits your palate. I added gruyère cheese, arugula and caramelized onions (an additional $4) as well as a side of the FB sauce (kind of a spicy Thousand Island dressing). Other intriguing options include oxtail marmalade, a fried egg, bone marrow, pimento cheese and house-cured bacon. The roster of cheese sound more like the types you’d find on a cheese trolley than in a burger joint.

The burgers are a good size: bigger than those at Flip, but not one of those pub monsters.

No open date yet.

Farm Burger has locations in Dunwoody, Buckhead and Decatur (all in Georgia), and looks like a great fit for Asheville. From its website:

AFTER ALL, IT’S JUST A BURGER JOINT… RIGHT?
SORT OF. BUT NOT REALLY, NOT AT ALL, ACTUALLY.

Farm Burger is defined by its mission, its farms, its team, and its community. We depend on local farmers, ranchers and land stewards to make your burger as good as it is. From our beef to our tomatoes to our compostable containers to our owners, Farm Burger is sustainable, local, humane, and helping to reroute our food system to function more like an ecosystem than a corporation. Our goal is to connect soil, animal, plant, rancher, butcher, chef & you…all in a simple wire basket.