Ad: Seasonal Burgers & Shakes @ Filling Station Co.
In the month of January, Filling Station Company is presenting diners with a healthy start to 2011. Sticking to those New Years resolutions = one great tasting burger. This month, The Filling Station Co. is featuring "The Resolution Burger," a chickpea burger with Greek salad trimmings and tahini dressing. Pair this with their January milkshake in smooth bold flavors of Chocolate Mint, and suddenly 2011 is looking mighty fine.
A favorite amongst kids and parents for their organic grass fed fast-food burgers and dogs, The Filling Station Co. recently introduced a new seasonal calendar featuring inspired monthly burger creations and milkshakes that owner Nick Type says are "fun to produce" and even more fun to eat.
January brings the "New Years Resolution:" a chickpea burger, tzatziki, feta and kalamata olives, and just wait till April when the Caramel sea salt shake makes its debut. Click here for the complete seasonal burger & shake calendar.
FREE special for CTbites readers: Tell the folks behind the counter that you're with us and get a FREE regular size milkshake when you order any burger, hot dog or sloppy joe.
For those not yet familiar with The Filling Station Company, everything in their menu is prepared with organic raised beef from local farms. Hamburgers, hot dogs and sloppy joes are made to order with nearly twenty five toppings to make their own tasty creations. Organic fries and hormone free / anti biotic free milkshakes are also available.
Filling Station Company is located at 19 South Avenue, New Canaan, CT
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Reader Comments (13)
I have not been a big fan of FS but decided to give it another shot with the seasonal menu in mind. I ordered a cheeseburger with grilled onions and tomato, the special turkey burger and a pumpkin shake.
The cheeseburger was better than previous visits but I am still not a fan. At least they are now cooking them better so they do not arrive overly well done; I give them some kudos to them on improving the process. The meat itself, although organic, lacks flavor in my opinion. It appears that the toppings are the highlight of each of the burgers I have eaten. I would move this to a “not bad” category.
The turkey burger is not something I am rushing back to eat. It was more tasteless than the beef burger. In fact, if you just pulled a piece of the burger and ate it, there was no flavor at all. The bacon was good but to state this was like eating Thanksgiving Dinner is an enormous stretch in my opinion. So I would place this in the “no so good” category.
The pumpkin shake has potential. The pumpkin flavor did remind me of pumpkin pie. Interesting in that when the syrup settled on the bottom and you had a good sip through the straw it was pretty good, so if they added more pumpkin flavoring to the shake than what I received I could definitely see this moving into a “pretty good” category.
The owner was cruising the room while I ate and he was extremely pleasant to all the customers so he has his hand on the customer service piece. Eating inside is extremely crowded though and it is not something I would want to do on a regular basis.
Really J Food? Its an Ad for a blog that you contribute to. I now move you to the "Tired of your pointless opinon" category.
I love Filling Station and the seasonal menu. Its a great place to go especially for something quick.
Ketchup or mustard? I like mustard on hot dogs and ketchup on burgers. Others have a different opinion and taste preference. That is the purpose of this site, to discuss differing likes / dislikes and to be "Your Guide to Great Food in Fairfield County."
There is an advertisement on the right column for FS but this is a center column "article" (yes i see the word "AD" at the beginning of the title) Stephanie Webster, the Editor of CTBites, also placed the "comment" link under this article so people could comment. And I did and you followed, so that is a good dialogue.
I very much support the exchange of opinions on this, and other, sites. You love FS and made that known on the Shout Out along with Flipside. That is great and I hope you support both. The owners of both seem to be great guys in the brief dialogue I had with them and glad there are customers who love their products. I just have a different opinion than yours. C'est la vie.
Some Advice for Filling Station
Full disclosure, I am not only a fan of Filling Station, I am also a regular who has gotten to know the owners and staff very well since they opened earlier this year. Also, I don't typically blog about restaurants but now and again I do sift through some of the food sites because I find some of the dialogue interesting and, at times, fun to read. Further disclosure, Filling Station did tell me about Jfood's comments on ctbites and his original comments about the restaurant on chowhound.
I'm not quite sure what to make of somebody like Jfood and what my friends at Filling Station should think about him. On one hand, I think restaurant owners should cater to their customers and make sure that they have the best experience they can possibly give them in their restaurant. On the other hand, objectively, I know that a restaurant won't be able to please every single customer that walks through their door. Such is life, some may say...
And then comes along somebody like Jfood. I guess what it is that irks me about a Jfood type blogger is that I consistently see in posts on chowhound and ctbites some sort of misplaced indignation at certain restaurants. Yes, admittedly I see more of it at chowhound because that website fosters an environment that breeds the sort of anger-laced "opinions" Jfood or others seem to be known for but, regardless, I'm still left wondering whether my friends at Filling Station should pay any mind to somebody who merely puts a negative exclamation point on his subjective food opinions.
Should Filling Station listen to the customer who said he didn't like their space before they even opened for business? Should Filling Station listen to the customer that was annoyed with one of the employees who works for the restaurant because he didn't tell him "nicely" enough that they had run out of food in their first week of opening their restaurant? Should Filling Station listen to the customer who favors certain restaurants over others for reasons, rumors and site posting restrictions abound, other than the quality of their food?
I think the answer is yes.
Filling Station should listen to what Jfood has to say in spite of the fact that they know that he will probably never like their food and they should be OK with that. Some like ketchup and others like mustard. Jfood is one person and your goal, Filling Station, should be to please many people as you have been doing. Obviously I am a big fan so, you should take solace in the fact that you have supporters within the community who love your food. As for Jfood, take what you can away from him; call it a lesson in humility, even if you don't like how he says it.
Yes, you should do that. Who knows, maybe next time Jfood goes to your restaurant he will shed his persona and introduce himself so that you can meet without the acrimonious exchange the internet affords anonymous bloggers.
In the meantime, continue doing what you are doing because there are many of us out there who love your food and your willingness to do your best to please all of the customers that go to your restaurant. As for the Jeffrey Schlessinger blogger's of the world, well, they will keep on blogging won't they....Asi Es La Vida.
Woweewowowww. What a great post.
You bring up some great points and I actually agree with most of your POV.
1 - Should Filling Station listen to the customer who said he didn't like their space before they even opened for business?
- I first posted on CH on March 6, a week after FS opened. So this cannot be directed at me. I was actually looking forward to another burger place in town.
2 - Should Filling Station listen to the customer that was annoyed with one of the employees who works for the restaurant because he didn't tell him "nicely" enough that they had run out of food in their first week of opening their restaurant?
- Fair point on this one. I’ll take the minor ding on this one. They could have done better was my point and you agree.
3 - Should Filling Station listen to the customer who favors certain restaurants over others for reasons, rumors and site posting restrictions abound, other than the quality of their food?
- I think restaurants should listen to all POVs from customers whether it is their favorite restaurant
Just to correct one of your data points though:
As far as “shedding my persona” to FS. I did that months ago. I returned a week after my initial visits and after eating the burgers and fries, I had the same opinion. The cook was standing out front (he is still there manning the grill) and I introduced myself to him as Jfood. We had a nice conversation about what I thought they could do to improve, he listened and seemed truly interested and I did not write a single word about that visit hoping that over time it would improve. And if you read my post above, it has in certain areas which I mentioned and in each case i was careful to place "in my opinion" (notice that was placed twice in the post). Hopefully you are on board with people having a different opinion than you.
As far as acrimonious exchanges, please count me out. I have been the target not the shooter. Likewise I have offered to meet some of these posters for a burger, then radio silence. It would be hard for me to hide behind the internet when I am sitting across from them at a table, but no takers. And my name is fully out there on your post and many others; are you and the others willing to do likewise?
Last point. I will commit to call and meet with the owner (he did offer many months ago) and share a burger, have a good dialogue and maybe work on a joint post on CTBites. Likewise I am willing to meet any of those who have disagreed with me on this site who would like to do a burger/joint post. You can’t get more open and transparent than that. Offer on the table. The email to contact me is jfoodctbites@gmail.com.
We all come to CTBite because we care about food and the passion that FS lovers bring is great in my opinion. There will be difference of opinions and I will do my best to keep the focus on the food.
Nice job staying above the fray jfood.
Amazing how someone who uses the handle "The Patron Eater" criticizes others for writing anonomously. TPE seems to have a view on FS that I would like to hear versus his trashing someone with a differing opinion.
But if those are the type that support FS and they stay silent about this, maybe I won't go in for a quote for my off-site celebration. Does anyone have a suggestion for a party of 100? I hear Rosies does a good job.
It is now three days later and wanted to give feedback.
I stopped by on Friday, introduced myself and spent about 20 minutes chatting with the owners. We had a very nice conversation, very good guys. They thanked me for some of my suggestions (some of which have been implemented) and we agreed to disagree, on a very adult and professional level, on some of the others. We spoke of the burgers, the fries, the shakes, and I explained the difference between the sloppy joe they serve and the NJ sloppy joe (I sent them a picture of the latter on Saturday). We agreed to meet again as they were preparing the other monthly specials and I can give them feedback mano-au-mano prospectively. Overall I was extremely happy with the discussion, the tone and the forward looking discussion. It was extremely interactive and positive.
As to my offer for a sit down for a burger to the other posters here...as expected, once again no takers, still hiding anonomously.
It’s been a very busy three days at the restaurant since we had the distinct pleasure of meeting jfood.
We thank jfood for being extremely gracious and introducing himself to us. A twenty minute conversation on a sidewalk was not sufficient time. We plan on inviting jfood back to continue our discourse on all things burgers, food and whatever else. Jfood, we value your opinions and look forward to welcoming you back soon. To those loyal FSC fans, we appreciate your support and comments on this and other websites but let’s move on!
ps: To Alan - Rosies is an excellent choice. But our invitation to consider FSC still stands.
Filling Station’s Holiday Burger is a Hit
After several attempts to enjoy a burger at the Filling Station in New Canaan followed by lengthy conversations with Nick, its gregarious owner, the burger at Filling Station finally joins my recommended list. The improvements that Nick, Seth and the team at FS have instituted successfully addressed my earlier concerns and the last two burgers were cooked well, seasoned properly and included several tasty toppings, including the bacon, which I have been a fan of since the beginning.
The modifications include a squirt of water to steam and maintain the moisture of the burger during the cooking process plus the cook no longer maintains the constant pressing of the panini press during the preparation. The grilling is now better timed resulting in a burger with a nice pink interior. The meat still remains dense as a result of the burger preparation and the cooking process for those that enjoy a firmer burger.
On the last two visits I enjoyed the Holiday Burger. My first Holiday Burger included the standard offering of a single patty, horseradish sauce, currant jam, bacon and frizzled (referred to as fried at FS) onions, all served on a grilled potato roll. On the second visit I thought that a double patty would handle the bold toppings better, plus Nick decided to switch out the currant jam to lingonberry jam. I liked the horseradish sauce and it worked well with the burger, the currant jam was OK but the change to lingonberry was a significant improvement. The slight tartness of the lingonberries worked very well with the meat. The onions and bacon complemented the burger with saltiness and added some nice crispy textures. With all of these bold flavors I would recommend the double patty version.
I also enjoyed the current holiday Peppermint shake. I really like peppermint and was a little skeptical, but the flavor from the previous month’s Pumpkin shake gave me some confidence. And the flavor in the Peppermint shake was excellent. It had the cool crispness of peppermint, plus they added some shattered candy canes that added two features. First it added a nice crunchy texture to the shake and secondly, as the candy canes dissolved, the red color streaked down the interior sides of the cup, creating a cool visual for the kids.
So after many months, my perseverance and open mindedness coupled with some changes by FS were rewarded with another good burger in my home town.
I like the falafel nuggets
January 2011 - Resolution Burger
Filling Station’s Special of the Month for January 2011 is named a Resolution Burger. This low fat chickpea patty is topped with a Greek salad, lemon dressing and finished with a Tahini sauce. In addition, Filling Station leveraged last month’s highly successful Peppermint Shake with the January 2011 version of a Chocolate Mint Shake.
I am a big fan of falafel and decided to order the double Resolution Burger. I liked the falafel patties but thought a double was a little too much chickpea flavor and Nik recommended I remove one of the patties. He was correct; the single patty created a better balance with the salad. In addition, when I order falafel I always ask for extra Tahini and I would recommend asking for some extra Tahini sauce, either on the patty or on the side as its flavor gives a very nice complement to the patties and Greek salad.
The chocolate mint shake is delicious. I was a big fan of December’s peppermint shake and this month’s shake is different; it is a chocolate shake with a touch of mint. Since the chocolate can stand up by itself you may opt to order without the whipped cream. Either way works, but I like as much chocolate flavor as possible.
So for this meat-burger lover I think the Resolution Burger has nice flavors, is a welcome change of pace and gives some hope that the snow may eventually melt and the warm season will arrive.
Darn it. I had my weekend meal plans all set and this is a serious monkey wrench. Must try this. Sounds amazing.