'I like to think we’re anything but basic': Fox Den's smash-patty burgers find a home
After starting out the summer with a food truck, Fox Den owners Jacob Neitzer and Sherilynn Law moved their operations to a space inside Great Lakes Distillery, 616 W. Virginia St. in late September.
It’s been a good fit.
The duo worked together in the service industry for almost a decade before launching their own business. They’ve amped up their offerings of smash patties, veggie burgers, fries and other bites, but the need to know here is that nothing is basic. Menu items are composed with intent, and there are eight house-made sauces available daily. (Don’t even think about asking for ketchup. It isn’t here.)
While most customers order and eat at the distillery’s space, they do offer takeout and they’re starting to see that pick up. Fox Den’s walk-up window is open from noon to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 11:30 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday. For updates and additional information, go to their Fox Den's Instagram page or greatlakesdistillery.com.
Neitzer and Law spoke recently about their inspirations, perfect pairings and how a distillery became a perfect fit for their growing business.
Finding the space for Fox Den
Jacob: We initially had a food truck concept, launched on June 10 of this year. That came with all of its ups and downs, and we evolved the concept and found our way into the distillery, which has worked nicely. We both found we both enjoyed working in a brick-and-mortar space better.
This is what makes their approach different
Sherilynn: You can get a cheeseburger literally anywhere, whether a butter burger, pounder, smash patties. Anywhere. What can elevate that and how can we make something approachable and enjoy it and bring our creativity to it. That is all evident in the sauce combinations and flavors we do with our burgers. We are offering an alternative view on something basic. I like to think we’re anything but basic.
I feel like we’re riding this new wave of entrepreneurship and doing things different in the service industry. I’m enjoying the creative aspect and autonomy and being able to present something very, very thought-out to the public. There is not one aspect of our burger or bites that has not been thoroughly thought through and figured out to its soul, the flavor combinations, the texture, the look. Everything has to go together.
How Fox Den works inside Milwaukee’s oldest distillery
Jacob: We’re two separate businesses. They had the space that was going to be open, and it helps the distillery to have options for dining. It gives us exposure to people who wouldn’t maybe go to a typical brick-and-mortar if we had one. We get a broader exposure, and we’re being inspired by Guy Rehorst and all the spirits and creativity there. It has been awesome for us to be jumping on a business collaboration. They’ve been super supportive about everything.
Sherilynn: Look at Troublemakers (Cocina) and how they teamed up with Central Waters Brewing (1037 W. Juneau Ave.). There is more opportunity if you partner with local. We are all about building up local, small places, down to where we get our meat from: Tower Chicken and Buddy’s Meat Market (3620 S. Clement Ave.). I got introduced to Tower Chicken (4111 S. Sixth St.), by one of my customers from bartending. They were passionate about the place.
What exactly is a smash patty?
Sherilynn: First of all, it is always going to be well done. You’re taking hand-rolled beef, always fresh, never frozen, never pre-formed patties. We put it on a very, very hot flat top (grill), then you smash it and it gets that really great crust on the bottom. We mix butter with our burger meat as well. It gets a nice lacing. They’re thin patties, but juicy.
Pub burgers are thicker, medium rare or medium well done — a taller, fatter burger. A regular burger is just on the grill or flat top, not smashed down, or a hand patty or mechanically formed patty.
Skip the ketchup, try the sauces
Jacob: In our opinion, ketchup is the worst of all of the sauces as far as condiments is concerned. We just think it is bland and boring. It kind of goes back to what people expect to be on a burger. They think ketchup, mustard, lettuce and so on. That’s fine; that’s not necessarily what we are about here.
We want to give our customers an experience they don’t get at home. You open anybody’s fridge, you’ll find mustard and ketchup. Those things are fine. It is just not what we do. Wanting to bring creativity to the forefront of our menu, it was important to lean into that and steer people away from them. Show them you can have fun with any food. All of our sauces are made by hand. We don’t enjoy ingredients we can’t pronounce. That is important. We are sticking to as many whole natural ingredients as we can.
Sherilynn: If you want a different experience, we’re the place to try out. … Ketchup doesn’t really go with anything we make. It would actually ruin it. No offense, I like ketchup on a good crinkle fry, but we have skinny fries. It just doesn’t go with what we have.
People tend to think when we say that we’re being pretentious, and we truly aren’t. You like what you like, that’s fine. Not everybody likes smash patties. We’re not for everybody, that’s our approach to our menu.
Their menu must-haves
Sherilynn: The wonton nachos, made with bulgogi beef or tofu. I don’t believe you can get these type of nachos many places, and it is a fun experience.
Jacob: Choosing is hard, because every item was created in such a way we are trying to entice our customers to come back and try new things. For chicken burgers, we have the Bollywood burger, an Indian-inspired burger with chutney and mint; it is unlike any burger you’ll have anywhere else. Then for beef, we have the Umami Bomb, a mushroom and Swiss and a lot more. The Chimi Hendrix, that has Dominican slaw with carrot and raisins and a smoked cheddar chorizo spread. Then our vegan patties, you’re not going to find anything like those anywhere else.
Vegan options aren’t an afterthought
Jacob: The Beetbox is a beet and black bean quinoa patty, some cilantro mixed in, garlic and other spices. What pulls it all together is the way we top it, with pickled carrots, spiralized cucumber and we hit it with charred lemon tahini on top. That melds all the flavors together, the pepperiness from arugula we throw on there, it is very fresh and filling. We steer away from ingredients we can’t pronounce, and a lot of vegan burgers are not that way. Giving people good fresh food is very important to us.
Fox Den also has a dedicated gluten-free fryer
Jacob: We do use a gluten-free fryer, and we do gluten-free buns at no extra charge. We try to be as inclusive as we can. Every burger we have, if you get it with a gluten-free bun there is no gluten in the ingredients.
Sherilynn: We are not a gluten-free kitchen though. My cousin has celiac, that’s why we have a dedicated fryer, but this is not a gluten-free kitchen. We do have things that have gluten in it and we make things in this kitchen.
When ordering, keep this in mind
Sherilynn: We don’t do any substitutions or modifications on our menu. It is because of the thought we put into our menu. However, we do offer an option to build your own, so if somebody doesn’t like onions say, we can build a burger from the ingredients we have for the other burgers. They can get as creative or as basic as they want.
What to expect in the coming months
Sherilynn: We are definitely considering the idea of bringing wings on. That’s something we’ve been playing with for a little while.
Jacob: There are probably going to be a couple (new) burgers put on the menu sometime next year. We have thoughts on weekly specials and one off burgers, things we want to try, but maybe not necessarily the best thing to always have on the menu. We like to get really creative, but it doesn’t always work to have this creative expensive thing on the menu.
If they could only eat one thing
Sherilynn: Bang burger — that is my story of being a child as a grown-up. It has a lot of nostalgic value to me, and I literally eat it at least once a week.
Jacob: I try to rotate through them all. I do enjoy every side and every burger we have. if I had to pick one, it would probably the the Chimi Hendrix or maybe the Umami Bomb. Yet I probably eat the Bollywood the most if I am honest.
Their perfect pairing
Jacob: Definitely the Old Fashioned here. More often than not we see the Old Fashioned with the Chimi Hendrix, and I speak from experience that it is a great pairing.
Sherilynn: They make a good Old Fashioned here at Great Lakes Distillery.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email clewis@journalsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fox Den's smash-patty burgers find a home at Great Lakes Distillery
