'Loaded' Brings Gourmet Burgers, Barbecue to Garwood

Ask Jacob Han, owner of Garwood's recently opened Loaded, to describe what the place is like, and you'll get an funny answer.

"It's a burger joint," he says, proudly. "I wouldn't even call it a 'restaurant.'"

Han, a 33-year-old Scotch Plains native, says "no frills" is all part of the theme – from the diner-style counter where most customers sit to the open kitchen and simple decor in this teeny spot at the corner of Center and South streets.

You might believe him, until you see what Han and his crew are actually dishing out: organic, antibiotic-free seven-ounce burgers on brioche, with toppings like goat cheese, shallots, pork belly and house-cured bacon, just to name a few. No frills, indeed.

The burgers "start out the size of a baseball," says Han, and are seven ounces – "because seven is a divine number, and because everyone else is doing six."

It's the beef that's key, says Han, who previously worked at the Huntley Tavern in Summit and D'Artagnan, the high-end NYC meat purveyor (which is where the products here come from). Before all that, Han was in management at Verizon, but feeling unfilled, he quit his job and enrolled in culinary school.

"The meat tastes like it did 200 years ago," he says. "No antibiotics, no corn, no steroids. We're going above what is usually required for burgers and barbecue. There's a huge taste difference between a regular commodity cow and the cows that produce our beef. Ours actually taste like beef."

Han says customers are noticing the difference.

"We've had people say, 'I think this is my first burger ever' or 'I never knew beef tasted like this,'" he says.

No wonder he's sold a whopping 3,000-plus burgers since Loaded opened in February – an extra-impressive feat when you consider that the same space has seen multiple businesses open and close in the past five years.

On those burgers, customers have their choice of seven cheeses: cheddar, provolone, Swiss, Gruyere, smoked Gouda, pepper-jack, herbed goat cheese or crumbled blue cheese. And there's the gourmet more-meat toppings – house-cured bacon, pork belly, pulled pork and Taylor ham ("because we're in Jersey after all" says Han) – plus oyster mushrooms, crispy fried shallots and avocado, but no lettuce or tomato. A plain burger costs $6; a "loaded" burger, with cheese and two toppings, is $8.50.

The bacon, especially, is a point of pride for Han.

"Store-bought bacon sucks," he laughs. "It's usually injected with some kind of fluid or curing liquid or brine to keep it juicy or get it uniform. Our product starts with the best quality pork. We flavor it ourselves with just maple syrup, salt and pepper, and it's cherrywood smoked in-house. The difference is night and day."

The barbecue side of the operation features pulled Berkshire pork shoulder or brisket served "au jus" also smoked onsite (for 18 hours over applewood and 12 hours over hickory, respectively) and smothered in homemade barbecue sauce. And then there's the just plain fun section of the menu – Han's take on chicken and waffles: fried boneless, skinless, buttermilk-and-tarragon-marinated chicken sandwiched between two cornbread Belgian waffle corners.

For sides, Han offers mac-and-cheese or house-cut, twice-fried fries that customers can order "loaded" – topped with pulled pork, melted cheese and gravy. There are also several kinds of seasoned fries including spicy, with a ghost chili seasoning blend from Savory Spice in Westfield, and sweet, with vanilla spice, that Han says "tastes sort of like a churro."

In addition to the barbecue sauce, Han offers "better-than-ketchup" Loaded sauce – a combo of mayonnaise, ketchup and whole-grain mustard – and a "honey" mustard with Canadian gold maple syrup instead of honey.

And feeling like a beer or glass of red with your meal? Good news. Loaded is also a BYOB.

The customer service is also part of Han's priority list here, and he says it comes naturally for him and his staff.

"We are all people-persons," he says. "We love to chat with people about anything – news, weather, the product, whatever. And at the counter they all seem to chat with each other, recommend dishes to each other."

Han's pitch for those who haven't tried Loaded yet?

"If you're in the mood for a good quality hamburger in a comfortable environment, come on down," he says. "There's no gimmicks here, just quality. We’ll take care of ya.”

Loaded, 101 Center Street, Garwood, 908-518-7800, loadednj.com.