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If you haven’t noticed, smash burgers are having a moment in NYC. Crispy, charred and impossibly thin burger patties are certainly trending, with a series of smash burger concepts cropping up all over the city. If we had to pinpoint where it began in New York, all signs point to Smashed NYC. A viral hit in 2021, the made-to-order smash burger joint is coming to Time Out Market on August 31.
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Behind it all is owner Mark Mendaros. While currently the reigning champion of all things smashed and griddled, Mendaros didn’t start out in the burger business. After moving to New York in 2017, he opened his first New York restaurant in 2020: Oola’s Kitchen, an American bistro with a French twist in the Lower East Side. But when the pandemic hit, he struggled to stay afloat. On top of dealing with day-to-day pandemic restrictions, his chef and business partner moved back to Sweden at the end of 2020.
Thinking on his feet, he closed the restaurant in December of 2020 and converted it from a sit-down restaurant to a takeout window. When he reopened in January 2021, he banked it all on his best seller from Oola’s: the smash burger. The walk-up and takeout menu only consisted of three menu items: The Classic Smashed with griddled and raw onions, a twist on the Big Mac, The Big Schmacc, and the vegan classic made with a griddled Impossible burger. Each burger came with a classic Smashed Sauce. It became a hit, with people coming in from all of the five boroughs for a taste.
“It kind of just took off. No one else had a smash burger place. People [were] going to pop-ups here and there, but no one had a brick-and-mortar they could rely on,” he tells Time Out New York.
To keep up with the business, Mendaros rang up his good friend and chef Fredy Centina. Together they perfected the art of the smash burger, churning out patties that were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. What started as three burgers expanded to 20 different smashed varieties, plus chicken sandwiches, hot dogs and smashed potatoes. In June of 2021, The New Yorker covered the burger saying it was “the best to eat in New York right now.” And while the smash burger joint now has plenty of competition, to Mendaros, Smashed NYC sets itself apart due to its scratch-made ethos.
“If you go out there and you try the other smash burgers, most of them either use Thousand Island dressing or just use ketchup. We're in a totally different direction,” he says. “We make our own sauces—we make our own smash sauce, barbecue sauce and truffle sauce for a truffle burger. Everything is just made in the house. It's a chef-made gourmet burger.”
Arriving at Time Out Market on August 31 (just in time for Labor Day!), the burger concept will bring 14 of its favorite burgers, from The Big Schmacc with double the patty and double the cheese on a sesame bun to the decadent Bacon Jalapeño Burger with bacon three ways: housemade bacon jalapeño jam, house bacon cream cheese and bacon dust. Four vegan burger options are available, including the classic that helped to start it all and the plant-forward Vegan Oklahoma Burger with thinly sliced griddled onions. Fries sprinkled with truffle Parmesan cheese or smothered in chili cheese can also be ordered, plus a lineup of shakes whipped with chocolate, strawberry and Reese’s.