Smashburger ~ national chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado

Last visit: Mar 2022 (Colorado Springs - Promenade)

First visit: Oct 2009 (Denver - DTC)

I've been a bit hard on the Smashburger chain, only in that it's so transparent that business comes first, food second. Though in theory one concept should help the other. But just to evaluate the restaurant on the burger alone (I had the double), it does standup well with peers like In-N-Out and Five Guys. I had no need on this visit to try the fries again, and I would have loved to divulge in a shake, but I had other priorities this day. Besides, I tend to cringe when fast food meals start to cost $15 or more. Smashburgers are sloppy and salty, but very flavorful. I also enjoy their secret sauce which is different than the usual Thousand Island dressing. All in all, a worthy fast food option, though not worth seeking out if traveling, more as a matter of convenience.

As it turns out, my prediction for the NE Tarrant location came true and it is no longer in business. There are currently 5 total in the Dallas area and none in Fort Worth. Of course, they are much more present here in Colorado, given that they are based in Denver. The Springs has 3 to themselves. Their website "locations" option totally sucks, so I had to use Google Maps to determine just these small facts.

---original 1/26/13 review (Fort Worth, Texas)

It appears all along that Smashburger was designed to be the next big thing in burgers. Their website is quite telling. There's no history talking about how Mom spent years working in the back kitchen of a bakery working out a special burger recipe, and finally scraped enough pennies to open her first store. And by word of mouth, it was so popular a second location opened up 10 years later. And finally some investors came in, and bought out sweet old Rosie May, and began to franchise the concept. NOPE. What you get to read about instead is their Executive Team and Board of Advisors. Even McDonalds has a good story to tell. Not Smashburger, unless you're enthralled with something that goes along the lines of: "We sat in a boardroom, and came up with a new winning concept regarding the QSR industry. Our return to investors is...". Smashburger is based in Denver, and really that is an excellent locale to seed their idea. Other than the drive-through only Good Times Burgers, there really isn't any major local burger chains in the area. And Denver is a proven stomping ground for chains in the making - one needs to look no further than Quizno's, Chipotle, and Qdoba to determine that. As you all well know by now, the RJG resided in Colorado (mainly Denver) from late 1993 to early 2003. There were no Smashburger's then. We first heard of the chain while spending the summer of 2009 there. I tried the location in the Denver Tech Center (Greenwood Village). It was packed to the rafters, and quite frankly the burger is indeed very good. I vowed to return, but there were just too many other places in Denver to try, and I never made it back.

As mentioned in the premise, Smashburger wasn't meant to be a local or regional chain. And now they're spreading the country like a weed. DFW already has many locations, most opening up in the last couple of years. And Watauga was chosen for our Northeast Tarrant location (technically Fort Worth for that one guy who gets bent out shape about these things).

Since this is really a Corporate America restaurant, I'd say this location is already on its back heels. Because it's all about money, I don't know if it will be given a chance to thrive. There were only a couple of folks in the restaurant, and it was Noon time. It was nothing like the scene I saw back in Denver. But the reality is this: There's only so much burger dollar out there. DFW isn't Denver. We have tons of burger places already. And with the new genre of burger houses offering up a full array of beers, and other libations, that alone wipes away part of the market. As for strictly fast food options, not only do we have our indigenous Whataburger and Mooyah, but we've been invaded by popular outsiders such as In-N-Out and Five Guys (we've written about all of these in the past). And that doesn't even begin to discuss the mega-chains, and popular local places. As a corporate guy myself, I'm going to say that Smashburger didn't do their homework regarding this market. We'll see. I'm sure some locations are doing OK, but the Watuaga one is way too lonely of a space.

Oh, you came here to read about food, and not business? Sorry about that. So there's a lot less to talk about regarding the food. It's a burger joint. Their gimmick? Roll up the patty like a big ol' meatball, and then... (can you guess this part?)... they SMASH it. Wowweeeee. Amazing. Is it good? Heck yea! It has that key ingredient that makes all of our favorite burgers so great: Salt. And I like the egg buns, which are soft and delicious. And be sure to use their spicy chipotle mayonnaise as a condiment. In the end, Smashburger is good at what they claim to do.

But will I be back? Maybe. If I'm in the area, or if I haven't been in a long time. Hopefully they'll still be there, but I have my doubts. There's just too many other choices out there right now. Perhaps if they open a location within 5-10 minutes of our house, that could increase the chances that we'll go.

10/9/09; 1/26/13 (new entry); 1/28/16; 6/24/19; 3/28/22

First Watch ~ national chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado

Latest visit: Mar 2022 (Colorado Springs - Chapel Hills)

First visit: Mar 2021 (Colorado Springs - Chapel Hills)

Time for our annual review, and happy to say First Watch passes with flying colors. For this visit I was joined by an old friend and former boss from the Castle Pines area. I'm sure I named him somewhere down the line, but Old Boss will have to do. I had the same thing as below. I could tell Old Boss enjoyed his meal as well. In addition to this visit, Mrs. RJG and I went to their Scottsdale, Arizona location last October while there for one of our Official Niece's wedding. We had 6 family members go, and we all enjoyed it!

As of June 2021, First watch has 420 locations in 28 states. They have 10 Denver area restaurants and only this one locale in CoS.

Rude Dante adds his thoughts from his recent Cincinnati venture: "A regional chain that seeks to out-hip Le Peep - and generally succeeds. Enjoyed a home-rolled omelet with fruit & sourdough toast, coffee, stunning waitress. Why was I even thinking about Bob Evans?"

---original 3/8/21 review

To celebrate the RJG's new freedom, both at work and the pandemic easing, we've decided that Monday morning breakfast's are in order. This follows from the success in Prescott Valley for similar. With any luck at all, this routine will continue for some time. Or it may need to be another day, but for now, Mr. RJG's work has free Monday mornings. And having Monday morning free seems like I'm on vacation even though I'm not.

For our first venture, the place we wanted to try had to unexpectedly close for the day, so we'll be back as soon as we can. On the way home, we decided First Watch would be our new destination. Prior to the pandemic, and probably still the case on weekends, this place was always super crowded. And there's good reason for that...

First Watch is part of a new wave of trendy breakfast houses. Better ingredients, everything is organic (cage free eggs, locally grown products, etc...) - and they have prices to match. IHOP and Denny's this ain't. They're a chain started in Florida and have experienced rapid growth in recent years. Apparently they bought out the Colorado Egg & I outlets as well. This is our first encounter with First Watch.

Walking in, it's a large place and very comfortable. Here's a place that understands how to allocate seating with limitations. We took them up on the coffee, which is excellent BTW (yes, they have flavored creamers). Mrs RJG went for the traditional breakfast that included well done scrambled eggs, toast, and seasoned potatoes. I tried the ham and gruyere omelet which also came with toast. Right from the first bite, I knew this was a cut above. It's tempting to say eggs are just eggs, but this clearly was much better tasting than I'm usually accustomed to. And of course, gruyere cheese is a winning concept any way you look at it. The ham is a high quality Black Forest deli-styled cut, and really adds the perfect smoky balance. I also tried Mrs. RJG's bacon, which was delicious as well. And speaking of Mrs. RJG, she's enjoying every second of her meal too. The only downside was the bread, which seemed to come straight out of the bag and wasn't toasted (much). A small gripe on an otherwise excellent meal. 

First Watch is one of those rare places where the large crowds makes sense.

3/8/21 (new entry); 10/30/21; 3/5/22

Colorado Springs; Scottsdale, AZ;

OCC Brewing ~ Colorado Springs, CO

First visit: Feb 2022

Always up for a new brewpub! Mostly breweries nowadays outsource to food trucks, while they focus on the beer. Perhaps OCC should consider the same. It was on a Sunday, so they offer brunch. Had to have my staple breakfast burrito smothered in "salsa verde". I had really hoped they meant Green Chile, but they did mean green sauce - like you would have for chips. It was decent, but it wasn't hot enough (temperature)! C'mon, that should be easy. And the flour tortilla was right out of the bag and rolled. You guys can do better. Try at least - it's too expensive for this kind of negligence.

Beer was great though (covered in the Bier Reise - see above). Nice spacious location - street parking is required, and will likely to be one block over on Pikes Peak. We'll try more typical brewpub fare next time. So incomplete it is...

3/5/22 (new entry)