Burger & Shake: Cubano Style

Maddie LaKind  

The setting: Washington St., Ann Arbor. The scene: a stark white room with four long white picnic tables, a minimalist, steel drink bar, and a menu spanning across five hanging metal boards. The director: famed Ann Arbor chef and Top Chef contestant Eve Aronoff. And the stars: Frita and Batido.

No I’m not talking about a new motion picture event, but rather a true superstar in the Ann Arbor food world named Frida Batidos. If the buzz surrounding this foodie mecca has yet to find you, have no fear, here is the lowdown.

Ever since its debut in 2010, Frita Batidos has been a hit with local foodies, serving traditional Cuban street food in a casual, comfortable environment. The menu is unlike anything in the area, offering items like plantain chips, traditional Spanish churros, and pulled pork, but the real must-have items, as the name suggests, are the frita and the batido.

Basically just the Cuban adaptation of the good ol’ American trio of burger, fries, and milkshake, fritas are a Cuban-style burger, typically made with spicy Chorizo sausage, and topped with french fries on a brioche bun. Batidos are another Cuban specialty reminiscent of a milkshake, combining fresh fruit or flavorings, ice, and sweetened milk. Aronoff opts to make her batidos with goat’s milk, which maintains a thicker texture and slightly more sugary taste than your average cow’s milk.

Like any good burger place, Frita is all about the toppings, presenting a menu of items that put the normal sliced red onion, lettuce, and tomato to shame. A normal, unmodified burger—of which you can choose from chorizo, beef, chicken, fish, or black bean— starts on a heavenly fluffy brioche bun custom made by Zingerman’s Bakehouse. Then a nice schmear of lemon scented mayo coats the bun just enough to moisten the burger and provide that slight pop of citrus. A large handful of french fries come next, draping the sides of the burger in a crispy and perfectly greasy potato blanket.

Now it’s topping time. Like cheese…add muenster! Need some veggies…go for the cilantro-lime salsa or tropical coleslaw. Love that decadent fattiness that only an egg can provide…add one, sunny side up! Can’t narrow down all of these delectable options…ask for your frita “loco style” and get them all. Winner, winner, frita dinner.

Once you have locked down the burger, attention must be shifted to its sweet, chilled counterpart—the batido. Embodying all the hallmark flavors from the tropics, Frita offers milkshake choices ranging from passion fruit, to fresh lime, coconut cream, and mocha. Thick to the point of spoon-use (straws just don’t cut it here) and nearly brimming out of the cup, the batidos are topped with a signature colorful paper umbrella and are ready to accompany your mondo burger.

The visit I paid to Frita this past week reaffirmed all of my initial elation surrounding its opening in town. Going with the fish frita for the first time—loco style of course—and a coconut cream batido, I couldn’t have been more grateful that the frita and batido gods had finally made their way back into my life.

As I watched the waiter carry over my king size burger on their signature metal cafeteria tray, my stomach instantly knew to expand and prepare for the onslaught of burger heaven that was about to ensue. Unlike a normal hamburger with easy pick-up capabilities, the frita requires a creative eating strategy that allows for a bit of frita and topping in every bite, while still maintaining the cleanest eating space possible. I can assure you this is no easy feat. French fries will fall. Sauces will drip. Buns will disintegrate. And hands will be covered in a whole assortment of burger remnants but every moment of that burger experience will be well worth it.

I can’t quite pinpoint what was in the air on this particular day, but my frita took on a whole new realm of flavor excellence. The patty itself, made from Lake Superior whitefish, tasted like the crabcake’s lighter cousin—meaty, briny, and perfectly savory. Combined with the vinegary tang of the coleslaw, the freshness of the salsa, the impeccably crunchy shoestring fries, the luscious ooziness of a nearly raw egg yolk, and, of course, the buttery, lightness of the brioche bun, this burger redefines the everyday patty to create something worth talking about.

Eaten in conjunction with intermittent spoonfuls of ice-cold, creamy coconut batido, there is no better way to leave the chilly days of the Midwest fall behind and escape to the beach for dinnertime.

Frita Batidos 117 W. Washington Ann Arbor, MI 48104