ORLANDO, Fla. — We discovered a burger joint in downtown Orlando that instantly transports guests to Miami.
Chris Hernandez started Papi Smash as a food truck.
“We did a burger special one night,” he said. “And the next event we had, we had 250 in line.”
So he used that momentum to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant on 66 East Pine St., Orlando, paying homage to his Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage.
“My dad passed away about four years ago," Chris said. "He’s Cuban, so I wanted to develop the theme of the restaurant about him.”
He showed us two of his favorite burgers, the Papi O.G. and Noche en Miami. The latter features his father’s special mojo pork.
Let’s eat!
Papi O.G. Burger
Ingredients:
- 2 grass-fed beef smashed patties
- 2 yellow whole milk American cheese slices
- Papi’s special “bourgeois” sauce
- In-house sweet heat pickles
Noche en Miami Burger
- 2 grass fed beef Pattie’s
- 2 white American whole milk cheese
- Papi’s special Mojo Pork
- Sweet plantains
- Crispy plantain chips
- mojo aioli
- Guava jam
To make the burgers:
- form fresh beef into balls
- on grill top, put wagyu beef tallow
- squirt mustard
- place meat on mustard to help form crust and tangy flavor
- house seasoning
- thinly shaved onions on top
- smash with Papi’s smashers, the onions into the balls of beef
- cook 45 seconds — 1 min
- flip cheese
- toast buns
- bring over for toppings (either Papi O.G. or Noche en Miami)