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SALT LAKE CITY -- Here at KSL News, we're neighbors with Crown Burgers and know just how popular those burgers are. Well, word spread to the Big Apple and the food section of one of the country's leading newspapers.
That first bite satisfies so many. They wait for the Crown Burger--strips of pastrami atop a patty. For three decades, Utahns and tourists have beaten a path to the popular restaurant chain. Recently, the New York Times dining section focused on this fast food with a twist. [CLICK HERE to read the New York Times article]
"New York Times is a big newspaper, but even yesterday after the article, people coming and commenting on how they'd seen us in there and everything. You can't get better advertising than that," said manager Mike Katsanevas.
The seven Crown Burgers--six in Salt Lake, one in Layton--are Greek family-owned and operated. Katsanevas's father and sister join him working side-by-side with the staff; uncles and cousins manage the others locations. Customers are loyal.
"This is on the corner of North Temple and 3rd West, and my son worked at the Delta Center, and this is where he spent half his paycheck. And if I wanted to have lunch, this is where we came," said customer Leon Harward.
Customer Marty Millet told us, "I come here and get food for my dad all the time. He sends me from work—we work together. But I enjoy their food. Haven't had a salad here in a while, but it's fresh. And the food, my dad loves it."
Crown Burgers are so popular with some people around the country that ‘I'll take it to go' means something other than you think.
"I have a gentleman who comes from Florida, and he'll order 10 Crowns and have us put everything separate so he can take it back to Florida with him," Katsanevas said.
The family says as long as the Crown Burgers tradition passes from one generation to the next, there will be plenty of pastrami-meets-the-patty in Utah.
Katsanevas' uncle brought the idea of pastrami crowning a burger from Southern California. He says the name is "catchy."
E-mail: cmkita@ksl.com
