Sizzling New Lunch Choice for TJ Students
The new Smashburger at I-25 and Hampden allows students to get more variety at lunch. Photos by Rachel Uyemura
A famous new burger joint, Smash Burger, has hit the Hampden South neighborhood at the North East corner of the Hampden and I-25 intersection. Many Thomas Jefferson High School students were surprised by this new choice for lunch as they returned for school after the winter break.
Smashburger is a very well known restaurant that has eight locations in Colorado. The Sheraton and Marriot at Hampden and I-25 was ripped down, and transformed in to a section of retail stores including Smashburger and a Sprint Mobile store. This began with brainstorming during April of 2012, and was finally completed during December of 2012. The Smashburger burger joint is the most popular of the new establishments among the Hampden South remodel.
“One of the most difficult choices of my day is where to go for lunch,” said Spartan Senior, Marcus Allen. “After two years of being able to go off of the Thomas Jefferson school grounds, the same restaurants get very boring and I find myself going back to the same place several times during the school week. One week we went to Chipotle three times!” Allen said.
“Smashburger is not your average fast food joint. Upon entering this fine establishment, one may get a comforting feeling just walking in the door,” Ty Roder, Thomas Jefferson Senior, said. “Prior to the grand opening of this Smashburger I became increasingly excited when I realized there would be a new location in closer proximity to my house, and my high school,” Roder also said.
“Smashburger uses high quality ingredients, which is instantly noticeable upon biting into one of their juicy, tender burgers,” Spartan food fanatic and burger connoisseur Corey Hernandez said. “And once wrestling season ends, I will be a frequent customer to their restaurant.” One of Smashburger’s greatest selling points is that they don’t freeze their beef before grilling. If this is the truth, then we could be seeing a trend in how all other fast food burger restaurants cook their meals. “There is a noticeable difference in the quality of beef that I get when I go to Smashburger as opposed to other places, and it never gets old due to their menu, which has extreme variety and endless combinations,” Hernandez said.
Many people from the Thomas Jefferson community have really enjoyed the recent addition to the Smashburger on the Southeast corner of the Hampden and I-25 intersection in the south Hampden neighborhood. Over the course of the two months that this particular Smashburger has been open, many Thomas Jefferson students have made it a frequent lunch choice. This reporter has been there about four times, and each time it has lived up to all of the hype.
“Smashburger has made a huge impact on my lunch choices during school,” Thomas Jefferson Senior Jackson Epstein said.
