BY CATHERINE LOUISE PASCERI
By Catherine Louise Pasceri • C-PASH •
CHEW STORY In recent years it’s become obvious that the Melbourne food scene wants to create a niche for American diner style burgers. This niche goes beyond your regular burger restaurants such as McDonalds or Grill’d and is being developed by individual small businesses, or as I would like to call them, burger boutiques. Each small business will obviously have its own flare and own style yet ultimately they all share the same goal and that is to provide local Melbournian’s with a little trip to America in the form of a great burger experience. Chew burgers in Preston is an example of this growing and popular pattern in the food industry. Chew is about good, simple. quality food. The owner along with two freinds identified that Preston was lacking a burger joint, so decided to take on this business venture with the intention of bringing a bit of burger goodness to the locals. Chew is new (less than 3 months old) and I felt it would be exciting to follow the story and ultimately the birth of this new burger place to commemorate this growing trend and to explore what goes on and what happens to bring customers that much loved burger experience. We all order food, wait for it to arrive, eat then leave; so I thought it was worth documenting on the story of what really goes on after a customer makes an order.
location Chew Burgers is located at 147 Plenty Road, Preston. Local residents can walk to the shop or drive and park on Plenty Road or up side streets, whilst visitors can take advantage of the conveniently located #86 tram line that stops in front of the shop.
staff
Chew Burger managers have put together a fantastic bunch of people to make this all happen. They are all like a big happy family which makes it easier for the locals and costumers to create a close bond betweeen eachother.
artist window series
The exterior front window of the shop exhibits a large artwork by Melbourne based artist Ghostpatrol who created this piece on the launch of Chew Burgers. Every two months there will be a new feature on the front window from various artists around Melbounre. It seems as though the front window plays a big part of Chew as it’s captured by customers first impression of the restaurant.
taking an order Pick up a menu
Choose your burger and sides
Have a quick conversation with the friendly staff
Sit back and wait for your meal
In the mean time, here’s what happens before it gets to you
bread
Every day Northcote Bakeshop delivers fresh bread to Chew’s door step. With only a four minute drive, the bread has garenteed freshness. They provide the classic Brioshe Bun, Pumpkin seeded buns and Gluten Free options.
the pumpkin buns As our contemporary society becomes highly concerened with all means “super foods” it seems only fit to create a burger bun with encompassed some element of the “healthy” food pyramid. Chew have introduced something new to a lot of people, and that’s the Pumpkin seeded bun. Not only recognisable by its colour it’s full of flavour, delightful texture and added health benefits all add to the experience of the modernised Pumpkin burger bun.
the brioche buns The essence of the burger lies betwen the two more than mediocre scafolds that create the structure of the perfect burger. Gone are the days of two pieces of medicre bread instead our Melbournians have ditched the wonder white and have introduced their French Forefathers. Brioche in nature is similar to us; full of character, soft as a cushion and enough butter for the Chew lovers.
plenty Local ingredients are used to put together not only the Plenty burger that stands as a crowd favorite but everything on the Chew menu. All their sauces and pickles are made in house.
the signature burger
2x190 g Wagyu Beef
Smokey Bacon
Pepper Cheddar
Cos Lettuce
Tomato
Mustard
Onions
Zucchini Pickles
onion
rings
Lightly battered onion rings are deep fried and tossed with smokey paprika to add a kick of spice to any burger.
takeaway
There is something at Chew for everyone. They have Waygu burgers, Vegetarian burgers, a Chicken burger, modern salads and of course their thin cut fries, onion rings and artichoke hearts. alongside their weekly specials, whatever it may be. All these are available to take away so that you can enjoy them in the comfort of your own home.
coming up
order pick-up
we are now closed however...
we are
open Tues: 12:00pm - 9:00pm Wed: 12:00pm - 9:00pm Thurs: 12:00pm - 9:30pm Fri: 12:00pm - 9:30pm Sat: 12:00pm - 9:30pm Sun: 12:00pm - 9:00pm Mon: Closed
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A very speical thank-you to the following people that have helped me complete this book:
• Chew Burgers Managers - Andrew, Ben, Capri, Marty & staff
• RMIT Diploma of Photo Imaging 2014 classmates
• RMIT Tutors - Jessie DiBlasi & Robert Gale
• Abrar Peronace & Paulie F
@chew_burger www.chew.net.au
@cpash www.facebook.com/cppash
This is based on a CHEW STORY