Hamburger Heaven: 'Slow food cooked fast'

Hamburger Heaven

5303 U.S. 280 South

981-6402

hamburgerheavenrestaurants.com

Monday-Thursday, 6 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

Friday, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.

Saturday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.

From the diner booths to the drive-through, classifying Hamburger Heaven as a fast food joint seems appropriate. Until you get to the menu, that is.

“We’re not fast food,” owner Pete Flach said. “We’re slow food cooked fast.”

For more than a decade, Hamburger Heaven on U.S. 280 has served up food made from quality ingredients. The hamburgers are hand-pressed from top quality beef that’s brought in the same day. The store slices Hormel hams and turkeys every morning. They buy their produce from local growers, and they were doing it before the demand for fresh and local became prevalent in Birmingham’s food culture.

“I’d go out of business before we quit using the meat we’re using,” Flach said.

Flach opened the 280 Hamburger Heaven in 1998, but his relationship with the brand goes back more than two decades and involves familiar Birmingham food families.

Hamburger Heaven’s Irondale location was the first. Jack Caddell, the founder of Jack’s Hamburgers, launched it in 1982.

In 1992, Flach and his father-in-law, Eli Stevens, purchased the Hamburger Heaven in Irondale from the Caddell family, merging a 280 staple with a Birmingham brand. Stevens is the owner of Lloyd’s Restaurant, and within five years he partitioned some of his land on the corridor to bring Hamburger Heaven to 280.

“We’ve been really fortunate out here,” Flach said. “This community has supported us continuously because they know we’re about quality.”

Flach said that idea extends to every item on the menu, which is extensive. Burgers are available in quarter- and half-pound options. Each patty is weighed and seasoned after the order is placed. After that, it hits the grill.

“The hamburgers are charbroiled, which is what really gives them their flavor,” Flach said.

The menu is also stocked with fresh salads, grilled chicken, smoked turkey and Nathan’s Famous Franks served in a variety of ways. Flach said the Triple-Decker Turkey Club is popular with the lunch crowd, as are the Hamburger Steak special and the seasonal Chili and Grilled Cheese. Customers can finish any of them off with a hand-spun milkshake made from reduced-fat ice cream.

For breakfast, the restaurant offers a full selection to savor on the commute — big biscuits with fresh Hormel meats for those on the go or pancake platters if there’s time to dine-in.

But there’s one item on the menu that shouldn’t be ignored.

“Our sauce is a huge selling point,” Flach said. “People dip their fries and chicken fingers in it, it goes on burgers, and they even buy a bottle to-go after finish their meals.”

Flach said the concoction starts with a ketchup and mustard base, but the list of ingredients goes on to include A-1 and Worcestershire sauces and pickle juice.

The collection of quality and care that goes into the menu prevents Hamburger Heaven from being classified as a particular kind of restaurant, but that’s just fine by its owner.

“It’s just unique in all sorts of ways,” Flach said.