Flat Out Burger Expands from NYC to CT with Fairfield Location

The smash burger trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anywhere. Especially not in Connecticut. Popping up all over the state, well after big chains like Five Guys and Shake Shack arrived on the scene, are smash burger spots, both independent ones, and micro chains.

7th Street Burger, which operates over 40 locations, just opened in New Haven, with another set to debut in Stamford in November 2026. The New Jersey-based Mashed Burger, a smaller chain that also serves Nashville hot chicken and churros, got into Stamford back in February.

Burgers in what used to be Whip Salon!

Also growing and recently making its entry into the Connecticut market is another Big Apple burger joint is Flat Out Burger, which started slinging crispy-edged, cheesy, saucy burgers at the busy corner of Grasmere Avenue and the Post Road on August 15.

For Flat Out, Fairfield marks their third location (not including their concession at the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater this summer) after their flagship in Bedford Stuyvesant, another on the Lower East Side, and soon, a fourth in Williamsburg.

All Flat Out’s smashes have that signature Maillard reaction crust, yet remain juicy on the inside.

See?

Although many of these smash burger joints seem similar on the surface level, each has specific techniques and ingredients that they swear by.

At Flat Out, they’re less about the trio of faces who founded the place, and more about what goes in to each burger that hits their flat top.

We spoke to one of the founders—each of whom prefers to not be named as to let their burgers shine—who told us a few specifics about what they’re all about.

“It’s 100-percent grass-fed Pat LaFrieda. Our pickles are brined especially for us by The Pickle Guys. A bakery makes our brioche every day and it comes in fresh daily along with the beef. We’re putting the focus on a common product and taking it one step further. We don’t want people to feel like crap after they eat it, which is a normal thing to feel after eating most smash burgers. We’re hand selecting our ingredients and making sure it’s the best quality we can give them.”

Flat Out’s menu is straightforward. There’s the classic single or double that comes with American cheese, onions smashed into the beef, pickles, and a secret burger sauce. For something beefier, there’s The Big Flat with its quarter-pound patties, also available in either a single or double, and come dressed the same way.

Their turkey burgers get a lot of cred, too. Flat Out says the response to them initially was so strong that they had to keep it on the menu.

“We sold 150 turkey burgers a day without it being on the menu. One day we took it off and people got mad. Our turkey burger, as a secondary option, has surpassed the veggie.”

If you don’t do beef, Flat Out has a smashed turkey burger, or if you are meatless, there’s a Beyond Beef option.

Should you want to crank up the heat, burgers can be made “spicy” with NOT PICKLED, fresh, thin sliced jalapeños smashed into the patties and topped with an aioli that packs more fiery punch than Flat Out’s standard burger sauce.

Having sprung upon the scene only a year ago, Flat Out’s goal, says one of its founders, was to “take something familiar and see how we could elevate it.”

“It took us six months to get the burger down. Between the sauce and hand selecting ingredients, we love burgers, and we ate burgers every day for six months. The fries are similar to McDonald’s. The burgers are a course grind, chuck blend with short rib, but a special fat content just for us. We had to sit down with Pat (LaFrieda) and we’d try all kinds of burgers to land on the right one.”

Now that they’ve landed in Fairfield, you can try it for yourself.

Flat Out is open daily, but since they’re still new, check their hours via Instagram updates until it’s set in stone @flatoutburgernyc.

58 Post Road, Fairfield
flatoutburger.com