Get Lifted

Elevation Burger

by Drew Lazor

They BUY "Clean Energy Offset Credits." They use sustainable building materials. They rely on energy-efficient appliances. They convert waste oil into bio-diesel. Basically, they do all the Earth-friendly things you don't do. But before you dispose of this column (in a recycling bin, please) because you can't handle any more bludgeoning from the Green Gestapo, know that these practices are being employed by a chain burger joint.

Virginia-based Elevation Burger, which opened its first area location in Wynnewood in July, prides itself on respecting the environment. That means meeting green standards in everything from construction to ingredient sourcing. They share info about all of this respectfully, meaning you won't feel like you're getting a sermon on your lunch break. It should be noted, however, that Elevation's the only burger flipper ever to cite The Omnivore's Dilemma — page number and all — on its soda/shake cups.

Single-source, organic, free-range, grass-fed beef is the restaurant's biggest point of pride, so I tried it in the signature Elevation Burger, a double patty layered with cheddar and your choice of toppers (I picked lettuce, tomato, pickles and a zingy balsamic mustard, but there’s also stuff like caramelized onions, hot pepper relish and the tomato-based "Elevation Sauce"). The burger's lean ground-in-house meat was round in natural beef flavor, but my patties tasted slightly dry — likely a result of their across-the-board cook-to-well policy.  I easily squished the bun into submission, and it didn’t draw attention away from the main meat attraction, the way a good burger bun should. Less successful was the veggie patty (there’s also a vegan option), which hewed too close to a char-grilled Gardenburger to justify ordering it out a second time. Its $3.59 price tag, however, was more than reasonable.

The French fries, done in olive oil instead of canola or peanut, are incredibly tasty, and I definitely picked up on the full flavor that this high-end upgrade provided the shoestring spuds. The 16-ounce milkshakes — I sipped on traditional vanilla and coffee, but you can add in everything from Oreos to tropical fruit — are thick, cold and jaw-achingly sweet, in that I-really-ordered-this-didn’t-I kind of way. (Elevation’s hormone-free dairy is sourced from Lancaster County.)

For $5.99, I expected more than just lettuce, walnuts and Mandarin oranges from the Elevation Salad — but such shortcomings are difficult to dwell on when you're being helped by a staff as young and maniacally friendly as Elevation's. Are these kids well-versed in the scientific nuances of their beef's conjugated linoleic acid, the immunity-boosting "good fat" detailed on the menu? Probably not, and neither am I. But they do know how to make you feel welcome, something that can't be said for many spots of this ilk.

(drew.lazor@citypaper.net)

Elevation Burger | 50 E. Wynnewood Road, Wynnewood, 610-645-7704, elevationburger.com. Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun., noon-8 p.m. Sandwiches and burgers, $2.69-$5.99; sides, 99 cents-$2.50; ice cream, milk shakes and malts, $1.89-$3.89. Wheelchair accessible.