What happens when complete amateurs with big, somewhat naive dreams open a restaurant with American hamburgers the likes of which Zagreb had never seen before? Well, with lots of research, persistence, maintaining quality, and dedication, they survive a successful 11 years and become the city‘s favorite burger bar. If you needed a push to finally start that project that‘s been on your mind for months, or even years, maybe the story of Danijela Stepić and Željko Kvarda and their beloved Burgeraj will finally inspire you to take that first step!
Danijela and Željko, people from completely different worlds, with no experience in hospitality, spent two years before opening Burgeraj—today a burger bar that‘s already a full 11 years old—innocently dreaming about a project they would create and build themselves. At that time, no one in the city was making smash burgers, and in general, only Marin Medak was seriously involved with burgers. It was hard to offer Zagrebians something other than a thin patty in a big bun, which is what they were mostly used to, and then charge them properly for it. Still, they didn‘t give up. They liked the style and the whole movement around smash burgers in America so much that they wanted to bring at least a small part of it to Zagreb. Few believed 11 years ago that they had a promising future, and in many moments, they doubted themselves. But then the first five years passed, then the first ten, they moved to a new address, and not only do they still exist, but for most serious gourmets, they‘re always the first choice for burgers in the city. This is the story of Burgeraj, its beginnings, growing up, a story of persistence and sticking to their own vision until the very end. Come what may. And it turned out just right!
"I would say that smash is actually the oldest American style of burger preparation. We didn‘t have it here for a long time, but over there it was always made, maybe it just wasn‘t that popular. It only really took off with the appearance of Shake Shack, Danny Mayer‘s chain of restaurants, from the 2000s, and then everything exploded in 2006 and 2007. There are those stories that it was invented when someone accidentally squashed meat with a can, but those are all myths—who knows what really happened. Smash was made in America in all the small joints, even more so in smaller towns, at roadside stops. Even McDonald‘s is, in a way, a variation of smash—it has a thin patty and a small bun, which is already half the job," introduces us to the story Željko Kvarda, the creative mind behind Burgeraj, a former marketing guy who got bored of office work and swapped it for the kitchen, where he‘s been grilling burgers almost daily for over a decade now.
He says that‘s what truly makes him happy and that, if he could do anything in the world, he‘d choose this job again. And specifically smash burgers, not just any burgers. Burgers that are made in such a simple way and are the best precisely because of that simplicity. You make a ball, smash it, grill it so it gets a crispy edge, "pack" it in a small, soft bun, and that‘s the whole trick—this is more or less how Kvarda explains the preparation of the best burgers in the city.
"And those exact hamburgers we ate in New York, when we went on our out-of-wedlock trip for our three-year anniversary. We were in some small bar, a neighborhood pub that‘s been around for more than 50 years. The atmosphere was so cool, they had three hamburgers on the menu and they were amazing. Then we came back to Zagreb and couldn‘t stop thinking about it. Back then, there was Coca-Cola, coffee, and pizza—there wasn‘t even Mundoaka yet, after which everything kind of took off and came to life. Of course, there were restaurants, but a restaurant means you get ready, go there, sit for hours, and plan everything... Burger bars are something else, more relaxed and simpler," Kvarda continues, then his partner, the systematic and more reasonable half of Burgeraj, Danijela Stepić, joins the story. "Actually, we never wanted to be restaurateurs. We cooked at home for friends and that was it. When we got back from New York, some desire awoke in us to start something, and burgers were the logical choice. Of course, it took us two years to figure out how to make it happen, we looked for spaces and dreamed of having enough money to finance it all."
Željko still vividly remembers how he got interested in Medak‘s project, visiting that kiosk which was once a total hit in Zagreb, from which the tastiest burgers in the city came out and where the whole craze began. When Medak saw how interested he was, he even offered Željko a job, but he refused—not because he didn‘t want to, but because he felt he wasn‘t qualified enough.
"He would knead the meat by hand, really got into it, did everything from scratch, and everyone who cared about good food* knew how great what he was doing was. At the time, we were just thinking about everything, and I remember thinking how this guy had figured it all out and wondering how we would even start. But later I realized that he had set a good foundation. His burgers were something completely different from what we wanted, but he was a good role model in that whole world. A pioneer, you could say. At that time, I had made two burgers in my life, but I knew a lot of theory and hung around there, so he found it interesting that I was so interested."
Two years later, when Medak had already gone down other paths, Danijela and Željko finally opened their own Burgeraj. Although, as Željko says, he was into streetwear and sneakers at the time, good hamburgers interested him a bit more. They borrowed money from friends and family, Danijela took out two loans, and they jumped in headfirst.
"When we opened, people didn‘t really get what we were doing. Like, it‘s some kind of smash, we get it, but please explain what exactly that means?" they recall with laughter the first reactions from guests.
They also had craft beer, which they sold way below cost at the time, which no one who knew anything about that scene could understand. But they wanted, they say, everything to be authentic. They wanted to bring a bit of pop culture into their business, which had suddenly become a great love, turning from boring computer work and chasing numbers into something else entirely.
"Everything in that place was well thought out, everything was ours, everything made sense and was part of our image. We had that beer, Brooklyn lager, which was probably the cheapest in the world right here. The supplier told us we‘d go bankrupt just because of that beer. And the hamburgers, they were small but expensive for the standards at the time. Actually, very few people believed in us back then," they continue their story.
Although opening Burgeraj threw them into unprecedented expenses, running up debts everywhere, they knew that at some point things would start rolling and that sooner or later they‘d win over the public. They say there was no doubt about that. They persevered and didn‘t give up on their plan. And best of all, they‘ve survived all 11 years with the same menu. Hambi, Bacon Cheese, Onion Jam, Pepper Jam, and Tamari Mushroom are the staples that keep customers coming back, and that‘s why it‘s rare to get a table at Burgeraj on the first try, even now when they‘re in a slightly bigger space in Zagreb‘s old Vlaška street.
"It‘s very simple, if you stick to one thing, to smash burgers, to something American and now already traditional, you stick to that and that‘s not a bad thing. But if that‘s everything to you, then you have to constantly make sure you don‘t drop in quality, so that people come because they know exactly what they‘re coming for, for that one good hamburger they‘ve already eaten here 20 times and it‘s always just as good. That‘s what we wanted, to become a recognizable place precisely because we have something good and we‘ve stuck with it always and forever. With us, 80 percent of guests have their burger and keep coming back to it, that‘s what makes it worth it for us."
And to survive for so many years and earn the title of the best burger bar in the city, every single working day of the year they have to make sure to maintain the level they set from the very beginning. That‘s why Željko, on his bike, in shorts you can see him in both summer and winter, goes to Dolac market, buys meat from the same butcher for 13 years now, gets buns from the same supplier, and makes all the sauces and extras fresh every day. No compromises.
"The most important thing is that the meat is fresh, we grind it ourselves, make it several times a day and that‘s just how it is, there‘s no deviating from that. Preparing the meat actually takes us the most time. The dominant direction in smash is that crispy crust, but that‘s not necessary. What‘s necessary is that the time from grinding to putting it on the griddle is minimal. The bun is also very important. Americans usually use potato buns for smash, which Danny Mayer popularized and in America they use Martin‘s potato rolls, which even our friends sent us from there, but it was impossible to get them all the time. We tried making them with local producers, but it just wasn‘t the same. Since we found a regular supplier for our buns, we‘ve been satisfied. Everything is up to standard, always the same weight, and that‘s most important to us. When we opened, people told us we should make the buns bigger, but why? If that‘s how we want it, that‘s how it‘ll be, that‘s what we decided and we think that‘s best. Also, we didn‘t want to use brioche buns because they‘re too spongy and, honestly, to me that‘s like eating a hamburger in a cake, that‘s not smash to me," Željko comments, then adds: "I mean, there‘s nothing wrong with that, I‘d make a hamburger in a donut if I had time to do it, but then it would be the best donut and the best hamburger in the world," he says decisively.
It‘s clear, Željko is simply a man who wanted to dedicate himself to one thing and he succeeded. And if tomorrow he wants to dedicate himself to a hamburger in a donut, we believe he‘ll do it the same way. He‘ll research and dig until he finds a way to make it turn out the same every time. That‘s the magic of Burgeraj, he says. Persistence, consistency, and not deviating from the original plan. At the same time, modesty and humility, without too much fuss, with lots of care, both in the kitchen and in front of guests.
Željko and Danijela still remember the first day, when on the new, just-installed griddle he burned the meat too much and left two big black stains, which are still there today. They‘ve worked with the same people for years. They‘ve had the same suppliers and guests for years. And that says more than enough about how they do their job. It‘s also interesting that they‘ve never had delivery, never participated in festivals, simply because they didn‘t want to offer a lower quality product than what they make on their scarred griddle in the restaurant. Not even the coronavirus era broke them, when, to everyone‘s surprise, they managed to do business at a high 80 percent of their usual turnover. People supported them even then, in any way they could, and succeeded. And that‘s also something that speaks volumes about them. After ten years in Preradovićeva, people followed them to their new space and today they‘re just as successful as all the previous years. These people have simply found their way.
"We won‘t brag too much, but I think people recognize when you do something thoroughly and with full dedication. I mean, if we didn‘t do it that way, we wouldn‘t have lasted this long," Danijela tells us. Željko concludes: "You know what, we started doing this because we found it interesting and because we knew it wouldn‘t get boring. And if one day we close this, I‘ll buy a little truck and we‘ll keep doing this. I‘m really sure of that."
*At that time, back in 2011, the magazine Dobra hrana started coming out, which wrote about Medak‘s burgers and which both Danijela and Željko say they read with great interest
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