Phantom Gourmet: Cheeburger Cheeburger In Swampscott

SWAMPSCOTT - Phantom has another new burger joint that burger lovers will want to try. This place has everything you'd expect to find in a 1950s style malt shop.

With a name this nice, you'll want to say it twice, and with food this fresh and tasty, you'll want to eat at Cheeburger Cheeburger. Located in the Vinnin Square Shopping Plaza in Swampscott, Cheeburger Cheeburger is a fun, family friendly restaurant decked out in throwback vintage decor.

"Cheeburger Cheeburger basically is a bigger and better burger place," said General Manager Jeffrey Ellis. "It's kind of like that 50s vibe -like Happy Days. The music's hopping. The kids are having a good time. The neon is up. The kids are just seeing bright and vibrant things, and we're extremely friendly to that."

Named for the old Saturday Night Live Skit, featuring John Belushi as a grumpy cook who served JUST cheeseburgers, this cheery eatery has a menu boasting a variety of eats from sandwiches and salads to hot dogs and shakes. But, according to Ellis, the specialty of the house is the always fresh burgers - hand packed to order.

"For us the bigger the better and the fresher the better. We don't even make the patties until you order it. It's only pressed just very lightly. It's nice and fluffy. It's not handled too much. Burger, when you handle it, the tougher it gets."

Each one of their Cheeburgers gets cooked on a flattop creating a perfect crust on the outside, while remaining juicy in the center. With five different sizes to choose from, Ellis has a burger to satisfy any appetite.

"We've got the classic burger which is a 1/4 pound. We've got the semi-serious burger which is a 1/3 of a pound. We have the serious burger which is a 1/2 pound, the delirious burger which is 3/4 of a pound, and then our famous pounder."

Not for the faint of heart, the pounder actually weighs in at more than a pound- 20 ounces in fact. The beast of a burger is so big, if you can actually finish it off, you're rewarded with some fanfare.

"If you eat the pounder we embarrass you," Ellis promised. "One of the servers will come up, get everyone's attention. Everybody claps. We take a picture of you… and put you on our wall of fame."

Just as big as the pounder is the selection of toppings. In fact, between all of the cheeses, sauces, veggies and more, Cheeburger Cheeburger has recorded 8,721,000 combinations.

"People, they come in and they take so much time, not because they don't know exactly what to order, but because there's so much going on that in their mind. They think, 'Oh I could go this way. I could go that way.'"

Of course, you'll need something to wash it all down, so there are over a million possible flavor combinations in the shakes as well.

"We do fresh ice cream here," Ellis said. "We take milk and add it too, and we have all these toppings: over 1.2 million types of combinations that you can go with, from flavorings to toppings, and we grind them up by hand the old fashion way."

So you can sip on an Oreo Green Mint Shake chock full of cookies, mint syrup and mint chocolate chip ice cream, or indulge in the Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Shake.

"Think of a chocolate dipped banana with peanut butter," Ellis described. "We take chocolate ice cream, and then we take fresh banana. Drop that in and we take peanut butter and we grind it up with the milk, and it just all blends together into a smooth, rich, unbelievable yumminess."

Beyond burgers and shakes, there's a huge menu of the comfort foods you crave, like BLTs overflowing with bacon and something called the Cheedog - loaded up the way you like it. Then there are the fries -another customizable treat with plenty of possibilities.

"You can just have them plain or you can get loaded," said Ellis. "Loaded is a build-your-own concept. So they can put chili, cheese, jalapeños, onions; you can just go crazy with all the things that you want on it."

If you can't decide between onion rings and fries, that's no problem. Just order the so-called Best of Both Worlds – a combo with portions of rings and fries, perfect for sharing.

Of course, you might not want to share, but that wouldn't be in the spirit of Cheeburger Cheeburger.

"I want them to experience a good time," said Ellis. "From the moment they walk in the door I want them to be able to just put a smile on their face. Come in, have some good food and walk out thinking, 'That was awesome. I gotta go back.'"

You'll find Cheeburger Cheeburger at 435 Paradise Road in Swampscott, and online at cheeburger.com.

Watch Phantom Gourmet on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 11 a.m. on myTV38.