BMC Smash Burgers — Restaurant in Oakland Park

Story time: Here’s why I’m never setting foot in this burger dump again.

I’ve been here before, I know the drill: bring an extra outfit, I’ll explain. The AC in this joint is busted or if it does in fact work, the owner doesn’t turn it on. So expect it to be hot. On top of that, the exhaust fan above the cooking line, where they grill the burgers and whatever else they cook, doesn’t work well either. The place fills with smoke to the point it stings your eyes and you can expect the smell of onions to cling to your clothing for the rest of the day—or eternity really, even after doing laundry that smell will never really get out—so, expect that outfit to go in the garbage basically. Somehow, I overlook that type of stuff. I prefer to support a local spot over a chain any day, even if it’s a bit scrappy; but if eating a burger in a hot-armpit like environment and eternally smelling like onions isn’t your kind of vibe you should skip this place. But that’s just the start. There’s more reasons to skip this place. Mainly is that the owner? the manager? I don’t know who, the dude who talked to me like I spit in his whiskey or something, has zero people skills. Can you have less than zero people skills? this guy does, which probably explains the permanently placed “Help Wanted” sign; I’ll bet he lumbers about the place muttering Arg! nobody wants to work! sure that’s what it is. Help Wanted, yea bud we can tell, help is definitely wanted. Serious help. But, mistakes happen. Should I blast the place over this? Yes. Actually. Here it goes. There was some mix up with our order, and basically we were shorted an order of fries. I let the waitstaff know when they brought our stuff out. I’m going to pause here and mention that the fries at this place are basically a scam, the portions I mean, sometimes it’s a handful sometimes it’s half-a-handful it’s whatever they feel like an order of fries is in the moment. Might be one day you just get a single lonely fry and that’ll be the order. There’s no consistency on portions and who knows where else. But, whatever, let it be, local joint and all that right? Not today though. I guess, someone thought I was trying to pull a fast one. After ordering 100 plus dollars worth of burgers, for our group of four, apparently what I needed to do was to squeak out a free order of fries because that’s what I’m about. At least that’s how the owner? manager? whoever that was that came out like ready to start a brawl, “What’s the problem here with fries? There were only three orders,” it would have been hilarious if the dude wasn’t charged-up, like it was the beginning of a pub brawl or something. Instead of owning the mistake or even just vaguely mentioning a mishap and explaining we were never charged for the missing fries and would need to pay. None of that. Just came at our table like a correction officer in a mess hall. Which brings me to the last thing, I’ll mention, is ask for and check and double and triple check your receipts. Like I had to do—mid meal mind you to sort the French-Fry-dilemma out. Anyway, thing is there is no way to see your order as you are being charged, if they made the mistake of not charging me for something, it could have just as easily gone the other way, where you get charged for something you didn’t order. There’s more but do we need more, this thing is long enough, probably longer than this place’ll end up being there if this is how they handle...

For those who don't know, BMC started as a food truck and now they have opened a physical location in Oakland Park. The inside is pretty small. Two 4-seater tables at the back and then 3 counters (with bar stools) located around the edges of the room. The grill area is open and while they do have a working hood over the grill because it's such a small space you end up smelling like a grilled burger when you leave. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on you.

Anyway, they serve Oklahoma Style Smash Burgers. 3oz patties topped with finely sliced onions and then smashed and cooked to a delicious, crunchy edge, perfection. Toasted white bread buns. Burgers come with house made pickles, American cheese, and their "bmc saus". What's in the sauce? Honestly, I have no idea. I can tell you it's ketchup+mayo based, but it didn't have a strong enough flavor to come through over the grilled onions.

Their menu is simple, four styles of burgers. Regular smash which I had (single $9, double $13), Spicy smash (w/ pepper jack cheese, spicy saus, home made pickled jalapeños), a Pattymelt (dbl patties, American & Swiss cheese, saus, roasted garlic saus, on rye bread), and something called the K-Dub which is basically a combination of all the ingredients from the other 3 burgers.

They also serve hotdogs, but we didn't have any.

Fries and Tots are ordered ala carte. They're both extremely good. Deep fried to perfection. Crunchy outside, soft pillow-y inside. After they're drained they're tossed into a bowl and salted.

Here's the part where it gets weird... They do not offer just plain ketchup, or mustard. You're locked into one of their sauces. I had the curry ketchup and while it was good, I really think they should keep just plain ketchup on board.

For drinks they offer various bottled sodas, beer, pre-mixed hard drinks like spiked iced tea and lemonade. For water, they only have Liquid Death, sparkling or flat. Being a person who has never had water from a can before... it was weird. I mean it was good.. but it was just weird drinking water from a can.

The staff were all very nice from the cashier to the cooks. All friendly and checked in on us several times during our meal.

Definitely recommended giving this place a try if you like a good smash burger. Just be aware of the few quirks that I mentioned.

**second trip back I stand by my first...

Some of my favorite places to eat are restaurants that transitioned from food trucks as is the case with BMC Smash Burgers. BMC Smash Burgers began in 2021 as a popular food truck, Eat BMC operated by Jason "Jay Rok" Smith. In August of this year the brick-and-mortar location of BMC Smashburger opened on Dixie Highway in Oakland Park. Smith has taken smash burgers, thin beef patties cooked on a super-hot griddle to a new level of deliciousness. The burger is pressed with a spatula, to increase browning and crispy edges for maximum flavor. The smash burger technique is said to have been popularized by the Smashburger chain founded in Denver in 2007.

I finally got the chance to try BMC Smash Burgers after visiting the Small Biz Saturday Local Makers Market that was being held across the tracks. Parking for the restaurant is limited but I found a strip of free spaces across the street. The inside is no frills with a few tables and two more out front. You order at the counter and they brought my food out to me when it was ready. While I waited for my meal I was able to watch cooking in the open kitchen.

The menu features the smash burgers that made them famous but it also has a patty melt, hot dogs, tots, and fries. Dessert is a fresh baked cookie. You can't go wrong with the BMC Smash, a house blend patty of chuck-brisket-short rib blend , grilled onions, American cheese, BMC sauce, and house pickles, or take it up a notch with a Spicy BMC Smash, which start with the classic BMC Smash Burger and adds pepper jack cheese and house-pickled jalapeños.

I ordered the single BMC burger with fries and I was not disappointed. The flavor packed burger had crispy, lacy edges while still remaining juicy in the middle. The house made pickles are chef's kiss and the BMC signature sauce was the perfect topping for the burger while also making an excellent dipping sauce for the fries. It is easy to see why so many lists have named BMC smash burgers as the...