The idea of a healthful burger joint is pretty laughable, especially considering how much fat and calories are packed into the average Big Mac (29 grams and 540, respectively). But Coal Burger, the "coal-fired burgeria" which launched this past March at Scottsdale Quarter, is aiming to make fast-food better for us. A second location at Chandler's Casa Paloma shopping plaza opened this past Monday.
Run by the folks behind Patsy Grimaldi's pizzeria, the restaurant makes use of the same coal-fired brick ovens as its sister eatery to give the burgers a rich, smoky flavor. Their all-natural Angus beef is sourced from Niman Ranch, and an organic, grass-fed version is available for a few bucks extra.
In addition to a hormone-free chicken club and 1/4 pound and 1/2 pound classic, bacon blue cheese and BBQ burgers, the Chandler Coal Burger location will dish up salads including a mesclun-based Asian chicken salad and an American one with hard-boiled eggs, bacon, blue cheese, tomatoes and pepitas.
Oh, and did we mention all of the dressings are gluten-free and burgers are available with gluten-free bread or lettuce wraps instead of buns? Clearly, the wheat-intolerant population will do well here, though the rest of us can still get a whole wheat bun if we want.
Side salads are available, as are crisp fries and sweet potato fries -- cooked in "healthful, anti-oxidant rich" rice bran oil, we're assured. All of the dressings and sauces are made in-house, and drink selections range from syrupy Boylan's sodas to local craft beers and biodynamic wines.
The new Coal Burger is located at 7131 West Ray Road, Suite 25, in Chandler. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
