Downtown's newest palace of meat, Chop House Burger, opened quietly on Monday afternoon, exactly one day ahead of schedule. CHB is brought to you by DRG Concepts, the group behind Dallas Chop House and Wild Salsa, and is located in the Kirby Building on Main Street, across from Chase Bank and just a stone's throw from the Chesterfield and City Tavern.
We wandered in at 7:30, and it was packed with couples and families seated around wooden picnic benches. The interior is clean and simple, a giant diagram of a cow and its various cuts of meat occupying one of the brick walls. Grab a menu or gaze up at the chalkboard and order at the counter and a server will deliver food to your table on a cute metal cafeteria-style tray. We opted to escape the raucous din inside for a bench on the small patio overlooking Main Street.
CHB has a significantly lower price point than most other gourmet burger joints, with burgers ranging from $5.95 for the signature burger with black truffle sauce to $7.95 for one with goat cheese and arugula. There's other non-beef options, too, including a Hulk-green falafel burger with tzatziki, a crispy chicken sandwich with white peppercorn gravy, and an ahi tuna sandwich with wasabi mayo and crispy nori.
French fries are super crispy and nicely salted, and can be doused with truffle oil and Parmesan for a buck extra. Besides the usual soda fountain, there's a small selection of bottled beers and drafts including Modelo and Fireman #4.
There's also a fun selection of milkshakes made from Plano-based Henry's Ice Cream, including PB&J, Nutella and Whopper varieties. We requested an off-menu peanut butter and chocolate concoction and the friendly girl manning the shake machine was happy to oblige.
CHB stresses the importance of sourcing local ingredients whenever possible; their beef is all-natural certified Angus from Amarillo, free-range chicken comes from Fran's Fryers in Milford, the brioche buns are from Empire Bakery and even the lettuce is local, hailing from Tassione Farms in Stephenville.
This place is going to be a total madhouse at lunch; things seemed to be running very smoothly for their first night, and if they can maintain the high quality of their food and service it'll be a surefire hit with office workers and downtown residents.
