The Fresh Grill: Messy, but Tasty

The Fresh Grill is a local burger spot in Bethesda located in the Woodmont Triangle, and let’s start it off by saying they can make a good burger. There are nine different burger choices on the menu as well as a ‘Build Your Own Angus Burger’ option. We went with the Dragon’s Breath, which is an 8 oz. patty with pepperjack cheese, red onions, charred jalapeños, and fire sauce over coleslaw. Be sure to order the burger medium-rare (the way any quality meat should be cooked anyways). The Fresh Grill gets medium-rare perfect, with a delicate pink center and a solid char on the outside. The burger was barely able to hold itself together, but I’d rather have that problem than have some chef overcook my burger. The 8 oz patty is quite big and delivers heavily on the juices. The fire sauce combines with the extremely juicy burger to make a mess so be prepared with extra napkins on hand. With a tidal wave burger juice and sauce swirling around the bun is sure to suffer, but the levies managed to hold. The bun stayed intact, albeit soggy by the end of the burger. There was pepperjack cheese on the burger, and while I could see it, it was barely detectable by the taste buds. This is largely in part due to the one-two punch from the jalapeños and fire sauce. The jalapeños are awesome. They cut a whole jalapeño in half, grill is on both sides to get a nice char and throw in on top of the burger; great flavour without overwhelming spiciness. That being said, this is not a burger for someone who is afraid of a little heat. The coleslaw manages some relief but the jalapeños and fire sauce are definitely spicy. The full leaf lettuce was a nice and crisp, and the tomato and red onions were fresh. Well done on the LTO, Fresh Grill. The burgers come with homemade chips done excellently. While fries are the standard burger side-dish, these chips are an superb change of pace. The atmosphere at the Fresh Grill is slightly above your standard counter joint. The service is solid; they changed the TV over to the U.S-Panama soccer game. They have a few different beers on tap and a couple of crafts in bottles. No macrobrews in sight, so Fresh Grill gets an ‘A’ in terms of beer. While this isn’t a place to hang out and drink all night, it’s a nice place to grab a burger and a pitcher. The Fresh Grill has one of the better burgers in Bethesda and that’s considering the Burger Joint is right around the corner. If you ever find yourself strolling down Woodmont craving a burger, the Fresh Grill is a great spot to grab a bite.