Kwame Boakye all but established himself as a local legend with the Nashville hell chicken sandwiches … er, hot chicken sandwiches … he served from his food truck at À La Cart, East End Market and Barley & Vine, and continues to serve at Chicken Fire in Coytown.
He then made a flap, and further inflamed his fans, when he opened That Wing Spot next door to Buttercrust Pizza in SoDo last spring.
But now, the man is diversifying and getting into the burger game.
Boakye will open Cow & Cheese December 1 in the old Olea Mezze Grill space at 400 S. Orlando Ave. in Maitland (map) with a roster of just four “real deal” smashburgers, none of which will scorch the hairs off your tongue or leave you walking like a bow-legged penguin.
The hyper-focused menu (see below) will allow Boakye to keep his burger standards high, fresh-baked brioche buns and all. Crispy crinkle-cut fries, deeply caramelized onions and beer cheese sauce will also be offered to augment the burger experience at what will certainly be one of the hottest new restaurants in the 32751.
“I feel like the food scene in Maitland is up and coming,” says Boakye, “so when the opportunity presented itself to open a restaurant there, it was a no-brainer.”
As to why he threw his hat into the smashburger ring, Boakye points to the burgeoning trend.
“Over the past couple of years, I noticed that smashburgers became very popular, similar to how Nashville hot chicken was around the time I started Chicken Fire. I had tried some smashburgers at different restaurants, food trucks and pop-ups and, while some of them were tasty burgers, I didn’t feel any of them were making a proper smashburger or employed the level of technique required to achieve what we at Cow & Cheese call a ‘real deal’ smashburger. Instead of waiting for someone else to do it better, I just decided to do it myself.”
Boakye launched Cow & Cheese as a pop-up concept last year with three separate events. To his surprise, Boakye says each pop-up was wildly successful — way more than he anticipated.
“By the end of third pop-up, I knew that Cow & Cheese had legs and definitely needed its own space.”
For all the latest, follow @eatcowandcheese on Instagram.
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This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2023.
