Burger Trail
Something has been happening to Richmond’s burger scene. It has been accumulating. Johnny Boi Smash Burger arrived in Point Richmond with its mural-bright interior and neon glow. Tommy’s Burger Co. opened on San Pablo Avenue in the North and East, chef Tommy Ryan grinding his own brisket trim for patties, a Richmond native coming home to feed the neighborhood. Golden State Kitchen moved into the old union hall on South 12th, packed the room on TikTok hype alone, fresh-baked buns hitting the flat-top with a crunch that made people stop mid-bite and reconsider things.
Now Butter’s Burgers has soft-opened at Armistice Brewing on Marina Bay Parkway, and there is a kind of beautiful hysteria to it now, this return of the burger, as if every kitchen in the country suddenly agreed to lose its mind at the exact same moment.
Butter’s Burgers is not a Richmond story in origin. Chef Christopher Ruiz, known as Butters, a name earned at a French Laundry catering event that ended with a popcorn machine on the floor and grease splattered everywhere, built his name in Napa. He started with a hot dog cart during the pandemic. Then a food trailer outside a bar at 2 a.m. Then a permanent kitchen inside the Napa location of Armistice Brewing, the brewery founded by Richmond-based siblings Alex and Gregory Zobel.
That Napa location is where Butter’s Burgers found its footing and its following. The Richmond location is where Armistice started. So Butter’s crossing the bay makes a certain kind of sense, following the brewery back to its origin city, landing in a place that has been quietly building toward the moment when a burger like this would fit right in. Though lately it has also become the kind of place where newcomers arrive convinced they’ve uncovered something hidden, rather than walked into something long-standing.
On a Thursday afternoon, the beer garden was running about five to one, men to women. By the time food arrived, the outside deck had filled out closer to seven to three. Many are already enjoying an Armistice pint. Which, if we start Day Drinking, will most absolutely lead to Day Napping.
Lunch economics were being discussed; the former food vendor, Curbside Kitchen, was tracking twenty-two dollars for lunch. Someone noted that a single burger and fries also comes to $22, which is either a coincidence, the universe being tidy, or just the going rate now.
The single is a Big Burger. We want to be precise about this. We showed restraint in our ordering and still received a Big Burger. It arrives on a sesame seed bun, traditional, correct, not trying to be anything other than what it is, and it is presented on a bed of pepperoncini, which turns out to be exactly right, the kind of touch you don’t know you needed until it’s there. Pop ’em in your mouth, squirt them on your fries. Go wild.
It is a smash burger, technically. We note this with some caution because the smash burger as a form has a particular failure mode: the over-seared lacy disk that has been pressed until the fat renders out and the whole thing swims in grease, more char than meat. This is not that. The crispy edges are present, the bits that curl and brown and announce themselves, but there is still meat here, still juice, still parts of this patty that are operating somewhere in the medium-rare vicinity and are not apologetic about it. Melty American cheese, grilled onions, tomato, and a serious quantity of iceberg lettuce fill out the burger. We read Ruiz believes in lettuce, and he is correct to believe in it. A sauce that does its job without grandstanding.
The fries are thin-cut, crispy, and golden. They arrive ready. They hold that readiness. They do not require an apology. One order is enough for two.
Phila Burger, Red Onion, and Frosty King have been there all along. What’s new is everything arriving around it, stacking up, getting noticed, getting priced accordingly. Butter’s Burgers has now crossed the bay to join the pile.
The trail keeps growing.
Butter’s Burgers is at Armistice Brewing Company, 845 Marina Bay Pkwy, Suite 1, Richmond. Hours follow Armistice Brewing business hours.
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