Burger Breakout was a success at its one-day pop-up event at St Chad's Place earlier this Summer. Now the man behind it, Dave Aherne (aka Cork Gourmet Guy) is joining up with the Old Crown pub on New Oxford Street to completely revamp their menu. There will soon be Burger Breakout burgers on the menu along with a selection of ribs, chicken wings, tacos and more.
The burgers include some from the pop-up like alongside a host of burgers that veer away from traditional beef. These include
- The O.C. Burger - Devon Long Horn 8oz beef patty, smoked onion jam, 3 cheese sauce, hot pickle, lettuce, tomato & house made 1000 island dressing
- The Camilla Burger - free Range chicken breast fillet, sweet tomato relish, smoked cheddar cheese, crispy onions, lettuce & tarragon mayo
- The Whiskey Beast - dry Aged Orkney beef patty, treacle cured bacon, blue cheese & whiskey mustard
- The Baa-Baa Bab - lamb Patty, crispy deep fried leeks, minted roasted garlic tomato ketchup
- The Bambi Bought it - venison patty, brie, beetroot pickle, chocolate & quince BBQ sauce
- The Swine Time - rare breed pork patty, 24hr cooked pulled pork, american cheese & apple and jalapeno mayo
We caught up with Dave to find out more about what we can expect at the Old Crown.
How did the idea for Burger Breakout at the Old Crown come about?
When I met Ed Salter at The Old Crown and he was looking to change the direction of the food offering at the pub. It's always buzzing with people enjoying a drink and hanging out with friends but the menu wasn't really working. What we want to do is provide people with great food that suits the atmosphere. There should be food that people simply have to clear some space on their table when it arrives and then dig in. So I came up with the idea to expand on the Burger_Breakout menu.
What should people expect from your burgers - and what makes them stand out from the crowd?Our burgers are completely bespoke, the meat is prepped to my exact spec by my butcher. The beef comes from animals that have been hung for 28 days, from two separate small herds. One is a Black Angus herd from Orkney and the other is herd of Long Horn from Devon. All the mixes between fat and meat are not only specified by me but I even specify which plates the meat is ground through so that the burgers have the consistency and feel that I am looking for.
Likewise all the sauces are unique, made from scratch to my own recipes. As you can see with the Burger Breakout offerings, I wanted to combine classic flavours with each of the meats. This meant chocolate with the venison or whiskey with the beef, for example. Even offering different types of meat in each of the burgers is a departure from the norm as most places do a standard patty with a variety of toppings.
It's probably some sort of mild OCD that causes me to want to do everything from scratch and have as much control as possible over every stage of the development of a dish. However, I think the more control you have then the better the finished dish.
The menu contains some burgers seen at your recent pop-up at 6 St Chad's place - how has the menu evolved since then?
I have designed the rest of menu to be The O.C's signature menu, applying the same detail and design that went into the original Burger Breakout menu. This means bringing people dishes they may have seen or had before but with a new twist or approach.
I am not someone who puts a new twist on something just for the sake of it - I will only do so if I think the finished result will be better than the original. In a lot of cases, it's my wish to take a dish that has suffered at the hands of bad chefs for years, becoming something of a bad joke, and bring them back to people's attention. One example of this is our Wing and Prayer Chicken Wings. In many places these are bought in frozen or coated in generic seasonings and then tossed in some sauce from the cheapest supplier.
How long will you be at the Old Crown - and when will you be serving food?
This is not a pop up or a residency, it is a fully fledged joint venture between Burger_Breakout and The Old Crown Pub on New Oxford Street. There is no finite timescale for how long this will run. If people enjoy what we are offering and keep coming back then we will keep it going. One thing that is certain is that the rest of the menu, minus the Burger_Breakout burgers, will be available at The O.C. for a long time to come. It's now their menu.
Burger Breakout launches at the Old Crown at lunchtime on October 2 at 33 New Oxford Street. An additional sandwich menu as well as a weekend brunch menu which will be announced soon.
