At the new Huda Burger in Fishtown, the secret ingredient is the buns
Chef Yehuda Sichel bakes his own milk bread buns for his sandwiches.
One of the keys to the sandwiches at Huda — chef Yehuda Sichel’s acclaimed shop in Rittenhouse — is the cloudlike, house-baked milk bread.
At Huda Burger — opening Nov. 19 near Suraya and Palmer Park in Fishtown — Sichel is also building his burgers and chicken sandwiches on the luxurious, mildly sweet buns inspired by Japanese shokupan.
In fact, he built the entire place around them. “This kitchen is like half bakery, half prep kitchen just for the buns,” Sichel said. The buns at Huda Burger will be seeded, unlike those at the original shop, which serves one of The Inquirer’s favorite smash burgers — the Mott, topped with buttermilk ranch, pickled peppers, pepper Jack brie, and hot honey.
Sichel is banking on the buns to separate him from the other burger makers. (New York’s 7th Street Burger has a location opening this winter down the street, further adding to the pressure.)
“Being in a saturated market really forces you to get better, and there’s nothing I like more than some competition,” said Sichel. Besides the bread, everything else is being made in-house, including pickles and sauces, and every item is prepared to order — even the chicken is butchered in the back.
Besides three kinds of crispy chicken sandwiches (coated in rice flour, cornstarch, Wondra flour, and what Sichel describes as “a whole bunch of spices”), Huda Burger’s menu includes a rotating line of five or six smash burgers. There’s a classic cheeseburger, a create-your-own option, a vegetarian burger, a pastrami fried onion burger (a cross between a pastrami burger and an Oklahoma-style smash burger), and a bread-free cheeseburger salad. The menu also includes curly fries, pickles, and shakes made with soft serve from 1-900-Ice-Cream.
His partner is Dan Berkowitz, the chief executive and co-founder of 100x Hospitality, an event production company specializing in immersive and travel experiences.
The space, designed by Lance Saunders, includes a half dozen indoor counter seats and a few outdoor tables in season.
Sichel, who grew up in Elkins Park, started in the restaurant business at age 15, making sandwiches at a kosher deli in Baltimore. After culinary school in Israel, he moved home to work for chefs Georges Perrier at Brasserie Perrier and Daniel Stern at Rae, followed by a stint with chef Neal Fraser at Grace in Los Angeles.
In 2010, he joined Steven Cook and Michael Solomonov at Zahav. He rose through the ranks — from line cook to pastry to sous chef — and played a major role in the opening of Citron & Rose (2012) in Lower Merion and Abe Fisher (2014) in Rittenhouse. Abe Fisher was named a Best New Restaurant by Travel & Leisure, and Sichel was named to Zagat’s 30 Under 30 Rock Stars Redefining the Industry. He left CookNSolo in 2020, opening Huda at 32 S. 18th St., that summer amid the pandemic.
Huda Burger, 1603 Frankford Ave. Hours: 11 a.m. till 9 p.m. daily, but there are plans to extend.