{"id":187227,"date":"2026-04-06T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187227\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:44:08","slug":"brooklyns-ramblin-chick-wants-to-put-chicken-smashburgers-on-the-map-will-consumers-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187227\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn\u2019s Ramblin\u2019 Chick wants to put chicken smashburgers on the map. Will consumers bite?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for the Slatest<\/a> to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s got to be a challenge to start a food business around a dish that has a reputation of being unappealing\u2014or totally unheard of\u2014to large swaths of the general public.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicken burgers don\u2019t bring a joyous response,\u201d says Jackie Cuscuna. \u201cYet.\u201d<\/p>\n

But haters be damned: Cuscuna and Brian Smith are the wife-and-husband owners of Ramblin\u2019 Chick<\/a>, a new restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, where the chicken smashburger is the very centerpiece of the menu. It may be just the right time for a chicken burger to become a significant stop on the American burger\u2019s continual evolution\u2014but whether beef-clinging purists will acquiesce to a poultry spin, or cry fowl, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\n In the kerfuffle, I lost the bottom bun to the goo, and worked through my fair share of\u00a0napkins.\n<\/p>\n

Ramblin\u2019 Chick\u2019s burger is made by marinating chicken thighs for 24 hours in buttermilk, mayonnaise, eggs, honey, vinegar, and a spice blend, before grinding them and forming them into patties. They go on a hot griddle, where clarified butter caramelizes the fat. They\u2019re double-stacked with American cheese, caramelized onions, and a house burger sauce, all in a squishy Martin\u2019s potato roll.<\/p>\n

Those classic garnishes convey that this is not supposed to be a pretentious offering. \u201cThe whole thing is built around the idea of that roadside American burger,\u201d Smith says. \u201cIt\u2019s just through the prism of chicken.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I tried it\u2014Smith cooked one for me a few days before the March 19 opening\u2014I felt the same sensory experience of all the elements working together in a single bite. But it was distinctly chicken. \u201cThe goal isn\u2019t for it to taste like beef,\u201d he says. \u201cThe goal is for it to scratch the same itch that eating a juicy beef smashburger does.\u201d<\/p>\n

One notable difference for me was that the patty had a slightly softer exterior, meaning the other components were liable to slip and slide out of place. In the kerfuffle, I lost the bottom bun to the goo, and worked through my fair share of napkins.<\/p>\n

They may achieve a crispier crust in time; Smith admits it\u2019s still a work in progress, even after two years of countless iterations. It\u2019s tricky because of how \u201cchicken performs on a flat-top\u201d grill, Smith says. \u201cChicken wants to fall apart when it doesn\u2019t have enough glue.\u201d The marinade also acts as the adhesive; they didn\u2019t want to use easy-fix binders like breadcrumbs.<\/p>\n

The R&D came with the territory: Smith admits he wanted to create something completely new. The couple had innovated at Ample Hills Creamery<\/a>, their former ice-cream company known for its creative flavors. But that venture rather infamously ended in bankruptcy<\/a> and being pushed out of their own business by investors. Smith knows when it comes to burgers, different can be risky. \u201cThe chicken burger, if it exists on anybody\u2019s menu, is a sorry and second cousin to a turkey burger,\u201d he says. \u201cWhich is in turn a sorry and second cousin to a beef burger.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear why the concept of the chicken burger is not so appealing to the masses. Perhaps it\u2019s the riskiness of underdone chicken; Smith says the thin patties work in their favor in that respect, as does the dark meat that is \u201calmost impossible\u201d to overcook.<\/p>\n

But I think the distrust goes deeper; it\u2019s tied to the very question of what makes a burger a burger. A guiding principle is that a burger is ground meat\u2014which is why something like the McChicken, a whole cut battered and deep-fried, is not a burger, but a sandwich. (To make things more confusing, I\u2019m from the U.K., where we would call a fried-chicken sandwich a burger.)<\/p>\n

Smith says theirs is \u201cabsolutely\u201d a burger. But hamburger hard-liners might scoff. George Motz, a \u201cburger scholar\u201d whose documentary Hamburger America<\/a> became the name of his own Manhattan restaurant in 2023, considers a burger to be ground beef only<\/a>. Preferably chuck, no need for brisket; not ground lamb (that\u2019s meatloaf), and not ground chicken (that\u2019s still a sandwich<\/a>). \u201cA hamburger should be defined as some part of a cow that\u2019s cooked somehow and put on bread as a vehicle for delivery,\u201d he once declared in an interview<\/a>. Smith would like Motz to try his burger one day, but \u201cI don\u2019t want him to punch me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Agree with his strictness or not, but Motz\u2019s burgers are a gold standard of the smashburger: a cold ball of ground beef smashed down on a hot griddle to create a Maillard reaction<\/a>, the interaction between protein and sugar at a high temperature to cause browning. The outside becomes crusty, almost lacelike\u2014which Smith admits is not fully achievable with chicken.<\/p>\n

The smashburger became popular in the 2000s with the rise of chains like Shake Shack. But that was really just a resurgence; the first true American burgers of the early 20th century were basically smashburgers\u2014including the beloved Oklahoma-style burger with onions smashed into it<\/a>, which was an invention of the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

Through the decades, some chains smashed but didn\u2019t explicitly call it smashing, from Five Guys to Culver\u2019s. But many fast-food chains got into the model of preformed, frozen patties, in the McDonald\u2019s mold. And the thicker \u201cpub-style\u201d burger emerged<\/a> as a sit-down alternative. That style has come back into vogue, with many of New York\u2019s top-rated burger places<\/a> today serving up those thick, juicy patties.<\/p>\n

But most food trends are cyclical, and the smashburger looks like it\u2019s back for another round. The National Restaurant Association anointed it one of the top food trends for 2026<\/a>. New restaurants are having fun with names: Smish Smash in San Francisco; both Smashed and Shmash in New York.<\/p>\n

Saying it is fun but doing it is even more fun, and TikTokkers are smashing everything in sight, from tacos to zucchini. \u201cIt\u2019s the platform of smashing that is trending, and what you smash could be anything,\u201d says Barb Stuckey, chief new product strategy officer at Mattson, a major food and drink developer for retailers and restaurants. Based on a confluence of trends, Stuckey thinks Ramblin\u2019 Chick\u2019s offering could take off. \u201cIt just has all the fixings of something that people would want to try,\u201d she says. \u201cIt makes total sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

One reason it has a route into the mainstream: somewhat driven by the MAHA movement<\/a>, there is a proclivity for protein, with 61 percent of Americans<\/a> increasing their intake in 2024. And proteinmaxxers certainly have a preferred protein<\/a>, one considered lean and clean. Chicken consumption has also been on the rise for a long time, with Americans eating 30 pounds per capita more<\/a> than they did 30 years ago, and surpassing beef in 2010<\/a>. Chicken is cheaper, more sustainable, and viewed as healthier. America loves chicken, and America loves burgers, so the mash-up makes sense.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a gap in the market for a new chicken thing. In 2019\u2019s \u201cchicken sandwich wars<\/a>,\u201d Popeye\u2019s, Chick-fil-A, Wendy\u2019s, and others tried to one-up each other<\/a> with their offerings (and via exhaustingly sassy feuds on Twitter<\/a>). It was lucrative business: Online spending on chicken sandwiches reportedly surged<\/a> by 420 percent between January 2019 and December 2020. \u201cEveryone and their mother has a spicy chicken sandwich at this point,\u201d says Stuckey\u2019s colleague Katie Hagan, a chief innovation officer at Mattson.<\/p>\n

But Stuckey says that concept is now a bit \u201ctired,\u201d and she likes the idea of achieving crisp through smashing rather than relying on breading. Hagan adds that consumers today are also eager for textural differences in opposition to each other, like crispy with gooey.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I Thought My Worst Habit in the Morning Was Probably Ruining My Life. When I Investigated, I Found Something Else.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our Culture of Excess and Distraction Is Making Us Sick. But I\u2019ve Found a Cure, and It\u2019s Delicious.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a Mom, Vacations With My Kids Are Hell. A Radical Parenting Strategy Changed Everything.
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

In the social media era, all it takes is one snap of the \u2019gram or a TikTok that blows up. In the past it may have mattered that the Ramblin\u2019 Chick restaurant isn\u2019t in the buzziest New York neighborhood; it\u2019s not in Williamsburg or the West Village, but rather in sleepy Carroll Gardens, on a block dominated by pizza joints. But the new word of mouth\u2014posts from influencers and content creators\u2014travels fast.<\/p>\n

Whether that will happen remains to be seen, as well as whether more restaurants will try to get in on the action. They may be constrained by equipment, when a deep-fat fryer is cheaper and easier, or by the messiness. \u201cHow much McDonald\u2019s is eaten in the driver\u2019s seat?\u201d Hagan points out. Many of these corporations now do have \u201cquick-strike teams\u201d dedicated to rapidly jumping on the next big thing\u2014as Gatorade told me when I researched why the Shirley Temple<\/a> was suddenly coming back. \u201cIf it\u2019s a big enough opportunity, they\u2019ll figure out a way,\u201d Stuckey says. But the Mattson contingent thinks it probably wouldn\u2019t be McDonald\u2019s, which is not nimble enough. It may suit a Shake Shack or Five Guys. It could work as a sit-down concept, like at a Chili\u2019s or Applebee\u2019s.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Chason Gordon
\n Grocery Hackers Are Obsessed With This Secretive Element of Snack Production. But Can It Survive a Legal Crackdown?
\n Read More\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, Smith would like to expand their own concept ahead of the big guns. \u201cOur hope is that we get to open a few more [locations] before McDonald\u2019s starts making them,\u201d he says. After the Ample Hills debacle, they\u2019re taking this business more slowly than the \u201crunaway train\u201d of growth for growth\u2019s sake, and are leaning toward a \u201cconcentric circles\u201d model of expansion: borough to city, to state, then the rest.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also expanding the menu. There are already other burgers, like the chili burger I also tried\u2014and that was my favorite\u2014topped with an 18-spice chicken chili. There are nuggets and chicken-skin-dusted fries. Chicken hot dogs are on the way. But they want to build something to outlast fleeting fads. The entire concept leans into the long evolution of the burger; a picture on the wall shows a cartoon timeline from 1895 to today, like \u201cThe March of Progress\u201d for burgers.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Ramblin\u2019 Chick<\/p>\n

Smith says the concept, down to the name and mascot\u2014a literal rambling chicken with a guitar in tow\u2014was inspired by Woody Guthrie. It\u2019s about the mythical spirit of pursuit in America: the constant search for opportunity. And for the next great burger.<\/p>\n

In fact, on the storefront sign, right under the restaurant name, the tagline reads: \u201cIn Search of the Great American Burger.\u201d It\u2019s an ongoing quest, like the Great American Novel. (If the beef smashburger is Gatsby, and the pub burger is Huck Finn, what is the chicken burger? A Confederacy of Dunces?)<\/p>\n

Smith is not so arrogant as to think that their burger will definitely be the next stop on the evolution chart. \u201cWhether we get there or not is irrelevant,\u201d Smith says. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily an attainable thing, but the search for it is what, in its better moments, makes up the American spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sign up for Slate’s evening newsletter.<\/p>\n