Community Insider: Burger Garage takes over an iconic restaurant location
By Chad Frey
Newton Kansan
The Burger Garage isn’t really a new restaurant, though the eatery is working out of a fairly new to them location.
A location full of history — history not lost on owner Sandra Gough of Hesston.
The small gas-station themed restaurant at 1816 N. Main Street, Newton, is operating where Chong’s did business for decades, and before that, a Tasty Freeze.
Among the current gas station and auto decor sits an advertising piece that likely dates back to the Tasty Freeze.
“That picture, I don’t know how long it has been on the wall. When Chong’s went through and put their boards up, we took that down and found the picture behind it,” Gough said. “We took it off the wall and framed it.”
Gough can tell anyone who wants to know which part of the building is original, and which pieces were added on.
The seating area was added on, as was the current lobby/ordering area.
“I have a lot of people come in and say ‘I used to work here in the 1950s when it was an ice cream parlor,” Gough said. “’I worked here in the 1960s when it was a liquor store.’”
The building is small, and that allows her to run the business day-to-day.
That is what she was looking for when it was time to move the business out of what was once a convenience store in Hesston.
“I like this location, it is really central south Newton, North Newton and Hesston,” Gough said. “It takes less time to get from here to Hesston than it takes to get to Wal-Mart. It is very central.”
Steve Kimmi, a social media influencer who explores Kansas, stopped by on a cold, windy day last spring, spotting the restaurant as he drove through town.
Kimmi has been looking for the best burgers in Kansas, and while he didn’t put Burger Garage in his top five, he did give a good review after a burger with everything.
“I’ll tell you what I love about this,” Kimmi said. “You can taste how fresh everything is. There is so much crisp. … There is a lot going on in here besides the beef.”
His burger had lettuce, pickle, onion
The Burger Garage menu has 13 burgers on the menu including a chili cheeseburger, mushroom/swiss burger, nacho burger and a collection of cheeseburgers.
Also on the menu is a chicken sandwich, pork fitter, hot dogs, chili dogs and more.
The hot dogs moved front and center of the Burger Garage’s Community Insider effort — show the perk at thekansan.com after logging in as a subscriber and a free dog can be had with the order of a combo meal.
“I thought [Community Insider] sounded interesting,” Gough said.
All at the intersection of Old 81 and K-15, in a small building.
“I have a lot of fun doing it,” Gough said.