Sebastopol chef shares secrets to grilling up a great smash burger

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to burger season, and the burger that seems to be taking the nation by storm, including Sonoma County, is the smash burger.

They’re on menus at Willi’s Wine Bar in Santa Rosa and Wurst in Healdsburg. Sebastopol seems to be smash-central, with three restaurants within about a mile of each other listing smash burgers on their menus. Blue Ridge Kitchen and Fernbar in The Barlow have them, and then there’s Sonoma Burger, a restaurant focused solely on the smash.

“I want to cook a burger I enjoy, and this is what happened,” said Bob Simontacchi, Sonoma Burger’s chef and co-owner along with Brandon Parkhurst, the general manager.

Like for so many restaurant owners, the pandemic forced them to diversify from fine dining, which they still offer at Gravenstein Grill, Sonoma Burger’s sister restaurant. During the shutdown, Parkhurst said, the pair trialed a couple of pop-ups. One was Pleasant Hill Pies, selling pizzas. The other was what would become Sonoma Burger, and it stuck.

They found an ideal location for it just across Pleasant Hill Avenue from Gravenstein Grill in the former Giovanni’s Deli, tucked in the corner of a strip mall. The two have taken Sonoma Burger on the road to events and fundraisers to get the word out, and they’re opening the Sonoma Burger Snack Shack at the long-shuttered concession stand at Spring Lake, Saturday, May 27. The snack shack will serve burgers, hot dogs, vegan options, seasonal slushees, beer, and wine, noon to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

What’s a smash burger?

Smash burgers have become increasingly popular, thanks in part to the rise of a Denver-based restaurant chain called Smashburger, founded in 2007. But the concept of smash burgers goes back much further.

Some credit the dish to Dairy Cheer, a fast-food spot in Kentucky that was making the burgers in the 1960s. Other sources say it’s a Great Lakes tradition, while more internet sleuthing points to the Steak ’n Shake chain, which has been around since 1934, as the true originator.

However it started, the idea is pretty simple: beef patties, smashed thin so as much meat as possible makes contact with a sizzling-hot grill.

Smash burgers have their detractors. Those looking for a big beefy patty find this style of burger lacking. But smash style is exactly how Simontacchi likes it.

“I like to be able to order a smaller burger, have a shake, have the fries. I like to have all three components together and not be totally like I need to take a nap afterwards,” he said.

He also likes it from a sustainability standpoint, as the movement to reduce meat consumption gathers traction.

“Everyone can enjoy a burger without so much meat,” he said. “You can have a good burger with less meat. Everything that goes along with raising cattle, we can enjoy, but we can enjoy just a little less (of it).”

Building a better burger

“The reason we named it Sonoma Burger is because we were able to source everything for the restaurant from Sonoma County,” said Simontacchi, who became interested in food while stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Europe.

He served in Operation Desert Storm, and after leaving the Air Force, attended culinary school at City College in San Francisco on the GI Bill.

It’s that training that makes Sonoma Burger a cut above a regular burger joint. Sauces and pickles are made in-house. Then there’s the golden, toasty buns, with their alluring sheen.

“A great burger starts with a great bun,” Parkhurst said about the several hundred Parker House-style buns baked fresh in-house each day.

“Part of the concept is starting with a great handcrafted bun to put that burger on. A real focal point of the restaurant is building the burger around the bun,” Simontacchi added.

The beef comes from Sonoma Mountain Beef Co. The cattle graze the grassy hills of a ranch in Bodega, raised by Jamie Mickelson, who Simontacchi said is “adamant about happy cows.

“You can truly taste the difference,” Simontachi said. “Start with higher-quality ingredients. They make all the difference in the world. If you want something good, you’ve got to start with something good.”

Bacon is from Sonoma County Meat Co. Turkey burgers are made with Willie Bird turkey from Willowside Meats. Little gem lettuce comes from nearby farms like Singing Frogs or Longer Table. When tomatoes are in season, Simontacchi buys them locally.

The commitment to local goes beyond the burger. Milk and ice cream for shakes come from Petaluma’s Double 8 Dairy, and there’s always a seasonal flavor: most recently, strawberry made with fruit from Stony Point Strawberries.

During apple season, they serve a Gravenstein apple slushie with fruit from Hale’s Orchard, less than 2 miles from the restaurant. Even fountain drinks are locally sourced from 55 Mile Craft Soda, a Santa Rosa-based cola maker.

In addition to good ingredients, having the right equipment is key to making sure the burgers are a smashing success. The No. 1 thing to know about smash burgers? Cooking them on a grate isn’t going to work.

This is a job that calls for a flat-top grill if you have one, or a cast-iron skillet or plancha. You’ll also need something to flatten them with. Kitchen stores will try to convince you that you need a fancy burger press, but anything that can mash it down, like another heavy skillet, is fine.

Simontacchi highly recommends using parchment or waxed paper on top of the patty to keep the meat from sticking to whatever you press it down with, and to prevent cross contamination.

Also, this isn’t a job for a flimsy plastic spatula.

“You want a proper spatula, ’cause what’s going to happen, you can really end up breaking the burger into bits. You want a really strong, not very flexible spatula.”

Putting it together

Cooking the burgers might be the first thing on your mind, but it’s actually the last thing to do, according to Simontacchi and Parkhurst.

“Have ingredients sliced and ready to go. Have your cheese all separated,” Simontacchi said. “I have everything ready to go in front of me, and then I cook. Once you’re ready to cook, it all comes together really quick.”

They recommend toasting the buns first so you can give them and the burgers your undivided attention.

Simontacchi experimented with precut buns and said they just didn’t toast the same. If you’re not making your own buns, look for some you have to slice open yourself, because they’re fresher.

He brushes the sliced buns with butter, then places them cut side down on the cooking surface until they’re bubbly and crisp, to add another layer of texture to the burger. He uses a charger to lightly flatten them while they cook, but a lightweight cookie sheet will work, too.

“Some people are all like, ‘I’ll do them in the broiler in the oven.’ Boom! There goes your buns,” Simontacchi said. “Don’t leave the buns while they’re toasting. Make sure your buns are taken care of and they’re not burnt.”

Once the buns are nice and toasty, slather both slices with sauce. Then it’s time for the meaty main event.

Simontacchi takes a ball of meat 2½ to 3 ounces, maximum, or the patty gets too big when pressed out, he said. He seasons the ball with a healthy pinch of salt and pepper, adds a bit of butter to the pan or grill, puts the ball on the grill, then smashes.

“There’s a little technique to getting it out,” Simontacchi said. “You want to really push it out, pushing all the way down. You smear it out a little bit. The edges will start to break apart. They’ll start to fray, and those get all crunchy.”

The burgers being so thin can pose a challenge for flipping, which is why a quality spatula is important.

“What I do, I invert the spatula and really get underneath it to release it and then flip it over,” Simontacchi said. It may take a little trial and error at first, he said. The burgers are cooked in about three minutes.

While Sonoma Burger offers a variety of burgers from turkey to tempeh as well as a choice of toppings, Simontacchi prefers a classic burger, topped with American cheese, an ingredient for which he makes no apologies.

“A good burger is (more than) the sum of its parts,” he said. “When it’s composed properly, it’s really good.”

This story has been updated to announce the opening of the Sonoma Burger Snack Shack at the long-shuttered concession stand at Spring Lake, Saturday, May 27.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Graue at 707-521-5262 or jennifer.graue@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JenInOz.