November 16, 2007
Fatburger cometh soon? (and other food news)
New Burger on the Block: Thanks to the always up-to-date Christine Lu from the China Business Network, we learned that Los Angeles based burger joint Fatburger is planning on expanding big into China, starting with their first restaurant at the Venetian in Macao. From their press release:
Additional Fatburger restaurants are scheduled to open in Hong Kong in the coming months: the first on Queens Road East and the second at Jia Hotel in Causeway Bay in early 2008. Fatburger also plans to open a Beijing location at Solana – the city’s first lifestyle center – in April 2008. Fatburger estimates call for approximately 25 locations in China by the end of 2010, all company-owned. Additional sites on the horizon include further locations in Hong Kong, Macao, Shenzen, Beijing and Shanghai.
Christine has an interview with Fatburger CEO and chairman Andy Weiderhorn which you can listen to or download here. Shanghaiist grew up in the greater L.A. area, and while our burger loyalties lie strictly with rival chain In 'N Out, we know our fair share of Fatburger devotees who will be eagerly awaiting the Shanghai opening.
News from the chef world: Shanghai fusion restaurant Tian Di, located on the 3rd floor at Bund 6, has brought in Texas-based restauranteur Scott Chen to revamp the menu and operations, so expect to see changes to the food and feel of the place.
Erik Berger, chef and GM of the Naked Cow, is moving on to a new venture. We'll keep you updated here on where he moves next.
We hear Eduardo and Kelley of the iiiit! group have parted ways with the City Diner group. Eduardo has just opened Casa 13 on Huashan Lu, and maybe had enough on his plate without having to deal with complications regarding City Diner's Hongmei Lu restaurant. We wonder if the food quality at City Diner will suffer in any way.
The search goes on: The International Herald Tribune has now gotten into the game of finding the best xiao long bao in Shanghai. Others have been down this road before, but does the prestige of the IHT unveil anything new? Nope, Din Tai Fung it is. When does this stop being a question that still needs to be answered? Yes, the restaurant got its start in Taiwan, and yes, it doesn't meet that food traveler qualification of being off the beaten path and cheap as hell. Let's live with the fact that the best xiao long bao in town does indeed reside inside a fashion mall at the tail end of touristy Xintiandi.
Eric Hu is Shanghaiist's Food Editor. Email tips, recommendations, and news and gossip about Shanghai's food scene to food at shanghaiist.com
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Expect western prices as well. Probably 40+ per combo. If you say the chinese name of fat burger real fast, it sounds like "f*ck" 富客。
I told the VP of China operations they should change it to 富饱。 Guess we'll see what happens when they open.
40+ for a combo? that's how much my beers were in shanghai.
I was expecting double that. Would be surprised to paying anything less than 60 for just a burger, no combo.
There are no definite plans to open one of these things in Shanghai yet, and you guys are already whining about the prices.
What is fat burger anyway?
"No helicopter looking for the murder . . .two in the morning got the Fatburger" - Ice Cube, "It was a good day"
"If I wanna squirt her, take her to Fatburger" - Biggie Smalls "Going back to Cali"
It is one of the three cornerstones of the Los Angeles chain fast food burger triumvirate - and they serve an excellent excellent fast food burger. Although, it's probably my least favorite of the three (the other two being Tommy's Original and In-N-Out) I still eagerly await its arrival.
It is hard to believe that such a crap hole as LA could create such quality fast food.
But Roy Rogers ain't so bad either.
Would prefer Tommy's but oh well...
Yeah LA's not an epicurean hotspot like Denver... Tommy's on Rampart.... nnnghhhh (drooling)
Eric,
Thanks for the mention of my recent interview with Andy Weiderhorn of Fatburger.
I'll be having lunch with Andy while in LA in the next few weeks so feel free to drop me a line and let me know what kind of questions I can grill him on.
They are definitely coming to Shanghai but will open in Beijing first in April '08, but Shanghai is in the works. Macau is already open and HK locations almost done I believe.
I got so damn hungry after doing the interviewing that I went to the one here in San Diego the next day for dinner. LOL. My goal is to convince him to give the Turkeyburger an intro to China. They left it off the menu because they weren't sure if people would take to it. I say give it a go as they'd be the first and only ones so you never know, it might fly.
Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes is a part owner in the first 10 ventures so it'll be interesting to find out if they plan on leveraging their ties to hip hop and also the NBA to market to Chinese youth.