Sometimes, inspiration doesn’t come from within—it comes from a YouTube short.
I was watching a clip the other night of a burger spot in NYC layering up a cheesesteak smashed burger. It was over-the-top, loud, and looked like the kind of thing you eat with both hands and a few napkins.
But more than that, it looked doable.
I paused the video, looked around the Sugarbush kitchen, and realized: we’ve got everything we need to build something like this. But we wouldn’t copy it—we’d put our spin on it.
So we did.
Instead of traditional steak, we used our house prime rib—thinly shaved, juicy, and already packed with flavor. We smashed a seasoned burger patty on the griddle, added a rich queso blend, and didn’t hold back on the American cheese either. It’s heavy. It’s melty. It’s messy in all the right ways.
To bring balance, we added a swipe of our tart house-made thousand island dressing. That sharpness cut right through the richness. The whole thing felt like a dish you’d remember the next day.
It was, as someone said after the first bite, “a heart attack on a plate—in a good way.”
After testing and tweaking, we landed on the final build. It’s layered, craveable, and grounded in flavor, not gimmick.
Prime Rib Cheesesteak Smash Burger
Coming the week of 9/22
Ingredients (per plate):
• Brioche bun, butter-toasted
• Two 3 oz beef patties, smashed
• 3–4 oz house-shaved prime rib
• 3 slices provolone cheese (2 for patties, 1 for topping)
• 2 oz each sautéed onions, peppers, mushrooms
• 2 oz beef gravy
• Thousand Island dressing
• Fries or chips
Method:
- Smash and season patties on the griddle, top each with provolone, and melt.
- Sauté the prime rib with onions, peppers, and mushrooms.
- Fold in a slice of provolone and a splash of beef gravy to bind.
- Toast the bun.
Plating:
Bottom bun → Thousand Island → smashed patties → cheesesteak mix → drizzle of beef gravy → top bun.
Serve with fries or chips.
Sometimes dishes don’t start with a recipe. Just a spark. A moment. A memory waiting to be made.