B2A2: Echelon's Smash Burger
Entry three takes us to the wood-fired kitchen on South Main. The James Beard semifinalist has a burger, and it has opinions.
I have been putting this one off. Not because I didn't want to eat it, but because I knew it would complicate things.
Echelon Kitchen & Bar is a James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant. Chef Joseph VanWagner trained in Michelin-starred kitchens. The dining room at 200 S Main St has an open kitchen anchored by a wood-burning oven, wallpaper with Ann Arbor landmarks, and a cocktail program good enough to carry the restaurant on its own. This is not, on paper, a burger place.
And yet the smash burger has developed the kind of following that usually requires its own zip code. When I wrote about Echelon's James Beard nomination, I called it a serious contender for the best burger in Ann Arbor. That was before B2A2 existed. Now I have to back it up.
This is the third entry in B2A2, Best Burger in Ann Arbor. After the Raven's Club smash burger and the Frita Batidos frita, we go upscale.
The Burger
Two smash patties, cooked on the flat-top with the kind of sear that only comes from a kitchen that understands heat. The crust is dark and deeply caramelized. It has more char character than the Raven's Club version, which I attribute to the wood-fire influence on the overall kitchen, even though the burger itself hits the flat-top. When you cook in a room dominated by live fire, everything absorbs that energy. The air smells like smoke and rendered fat, and the burger tastes like it belongs in that room.
The cheese is melted tight against the patties. American, I think, though VanWagner could be running something from the Creamery and I wouldn't be surprised. It's the right call regardless. The melt forms a seal over the beef that keeps the juice in and adds that salty, creamy layer between the crust and the bun. The bun is soft, lightly toasted, and stays intact through the last bite. It does not try to be interesting. It holds.
There's a house sauce. I don't know exactly what's in it, but it leans tangy and slightly sweet, and it works with the sear rather than against it. Pickles, thin and sharp, cut through the richness. Shredded lettuce adds texture without adding volume. The construction is tight. Nothing slides. Nothing drips where it shouldn't.
The burger costs more than the frita at Frita Batidos. It should. This is a sit-down restaurant with a James Beard nomination on the wall. But the price does not buy you theater. It buys you a burger made by a kitchen that knows how to handle beef.
The Fries
Hand-cut, fried until the edges go golden and crisp, salted well. They land on the plate hot and stay crunchy longer than they have any right to. These are not the thick-cut fries from Raven's Club and not the shoestring tangle from Frita Batidos. They split the difference: substantial enough to eat on their own, thin enough to get properly crisp.
No aioli this time. I didn't miss it. The fries are seasoned with enough confidence that a dipping sauce would be redundant.
The Drink
At Raven's Club, I said order a cocktail. At Frita Batidos, I said order a batido. At Echelon, you have choices, and all of them are good.
The Brine martini is the move if you want your drink to match the food's intensity. Briny, sharp, cold. It resets between bites the way a well-chosen pairing should. If martinis aren't your thing, the Modern Medicine (bourbon-based, and it might arrive via a tabletop dispenser that will either charm you or annoy you) is a solid second choice.
I went with a local IPA on draft, which worked fine but didn't elevate the meal the way the cocktails at Raven's Club elevated theirs. The cocktail program here is too good to ignore. Use it.
Where It Fits
Three entries in, and B2A2 has three distinct arguments for what a great burger can be.
Raven's Club is restraint. Two thin patties, a hard sear, garlic aioli tying the plate together. Everything in its place, nothing out of line. The burger as discipline.
Frita Batidos is personality. Chorizo and beef, shoestring fries piled on top, a soft egg bun, and a batido to cool the heat. The burger as self-expression (if it's even a burger, which we're still debating).
Echelon is firepower. A kitchen with serious credentials cooking a bar staple with the same attention it gives the kampachi crudo and the lobster bucatini. The sear is the best of the three. The construction is the tightest. The setting is the most complete.
If I had to rank them today, the Echelon burger takes the lead. The Raven's Club version is close behind, and the frita occupies its own lane entirely. But B2A2 isn't over, and the next entry might change everything.
I will say this: if you are sitting at the bar at Echelon on a Tuesday night, and you order the smash burger and a Brine martini, you are having one of the best casual meals in Ann Arbor. That the restaurant also happens to be a James Beard semifinalist is almost beside the point. The burger doesn't need the nomination. It stands on its own.
This is part of our ongoing series. Read the full tracker: Best Burger in Ann Arbor (B2A2): The Running List.
Echelon Kitchen & Bar is at 200 S Main St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Open Tuesday through Sunday. Reservations recommended.