12
NEWS / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
LOCAL
Burger Stand finds new location on Mass
BY JANENE GIER
jgier@kansan.com
Goodbye health food, hello hamburgers.
Popular Lawrence restaurant The Burger Stand will move from Dempsey's Irish Pub, 623 Vermont St., to the former location of health-food store The Casbah, 803 Massachusetts St., by July 1 to pursue more independent business endeavors.
The Burger Stand started using Dempsey's kitchen in February 2009 and decided to make the move after The Casbah closed this spring.
The Burger Stand, a popular Lawrence restaurant, is moving out of its current location at Dempsey S., 623 Vermont street, to The Casbah at 803 Massachusetts street early next month. The restaurant is known for its gourmet burgers, like The Classic seen here with truffle fries.
"The location we're moving to opened up and we saw it as an opportunity to improve and expand," said Codi Bates, one of the four owners of The Burger Stand.
quality ingredients into the process," he said. "We're excited about moving to the Casbah because the kitchen we have now is the size of a walk-in closet. The building already has a great feel to it."
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
Bates said they would like to offer more vegetarian options using key ingredients from local farmers.
Manager Chris Hoffman said the restaurant's popularity drove the desire for more room to experiment.
"We would like to expand and draw from what the Casbah was and the mentality and idea behind it," Bates said.
"We had no idea how much the community was going to embrace the idea and thought of putting high
bar menu that fits its food menu. Bates said that because Dempsey's and The Burger Stand were separate businesses, there was not as much freedom to do that.
The Burger Stand's new location will be called The Burger Stand at the Casbah. The building has maintained the Casbah name since the early '70s.
"Out of respect for the owners of the building, it only makes sense to keep the name," said Ken Pingleton, bar manager for the Burger Stand and Esquina, 801 Massachusetts St., which are owned by the same people.
Bates said The Burger Stand will now have more freedom with its bar, allowing it to try interesting pairings with burgers and beer and create a
Christen Johnson, Burger Stand shift manager and 2009 KU graduate, said she would miss the old location and the bartenders she had worked with at Dempsey's, but she was looking forward to the move.
"The Burger Stand just needed more room. People would walk in and see the place was full and just walk out," she said.
In the absence of The Burger Stand, Dempsey's co-owner Greg Mann said the bar would bring in Matt Lawson, the sous chef at downtown restaurant 715 and former Wolfgang Puck Los Angles employee, to help develop their own version of a gourmet burger.
"We're excited about taking over and stepping up the game a little bit," Mann said. "Since we're taking over, we figured its worth it to clean up and
invest a bit."
Mann said he was excited about Lawson developing a new menu. Students and burger lovers wait to see how the changes will affect the bar.
"If the new food at Dempsey's is
just as good, it won't affect them," said Kait Wurst, a 2010 graduate. "I'd probably try it."
Hannah Jennison contributed to this story