Best American Lunch in Boston: Burger Dive

Fun, friendly, and approachable, there’s nothing more American than a good old-fashioned burger. When you have a high-quality beef patty slapped between potato buns, the toppings are as limitless as your imagination. That’s the inspiration behind Burger Dive, Legendary Restaurant Group’s upscale fast casual burger joint in Somerville. We sat down with co-owner Chris Damian to learn which burgers Boston foodies go crazy for and what inspires the creative menu items at this epic eatery.

What’s the story behind Burger Dive? When did you open?

We were looking to open a burger concept 10 years ago but every space in Boston was too big for it. As we were building Papagayo on Summer Street, I noticed it was connected to another space separated by a partition. I thought, “after we finish Papagayo, I’m going to cut down this wall and open a burger restaurant called Burger Dive,” because it was on the lower level. Long story short, we didn’t execute our plan until a location became available in Somerville’s Assembly Row. We were among the first restaurants to open in the development, and that was three years ago.

How long have you been working with Fooda?

We’ve been with Fooda since last January.

What would you say is your best-selling dish?

Our best-selling dish is our classic burger that people build on their own with whatever toppings they’d like. In the restaurant, our best-selling specialty burger is the BD Bacon Burger, which is a blend of half local ground beef and half ground Applewood bacon. Our Brunch Burger, topped with potato chips and a cage-free fried egg, is also popular.

What is your personal favorite dish?

My favorite is the turkey burger with pepper jack cheese and hand hacked guacamole.   

Where do you find inspiration for the menu?

A lot of my inspiration comes from eating out, traveling the country, and seeing what other people are doing. Burgers are friendly and approachable; it’s whatever you want to put on them that makes them unique.

Do you have any exciting plans for Burger Dive in 2018?

We talk about expanding, but [the space] would have to be the right size. Burger Dive is independent and to stand out against national brands is tough competition. We’ll see how the real estate market settles down, and in the meantime continue to work-off site events, continue with Fooda, and continue with delivery to expand the brand.

Boston foodies have cast their vote and named Burger Dive the Best American Lunch in Boston. Think this innovative eatery has what it takes to win top honors in the Best of Fooda Boston Awards 2017?