Good Ducking Burger To Bring Burgers With An Indian Flavor To Bethesda

BETHESDA, MD — Good Ducking Burger, owned by chef and restaurateur Ashish Alfred, will be opening in Bethesda on Sept. 29, taking over the former space of Alfred's Duck Duck Goose restaurant.

While Duck Duck Goose Bethesda was an upscale French brasserie, great for special event celebrations, Good Ducking Burger will be a family-friendly burger joint, described by Alfred as “smash burger meets Indian street food.”

Good Ducking Burger isn’t a new concept for Alfred. It has made appearances at Alfred’s other restaurants in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. as a delivery-only ghost kitchen, focusing on American classics like burgers, chicken and fries, with a nod to Alfred’s Indian roots.

Duck Duck Goose’s location in downtown Bethesda, at 7929 Norfolk Ave., opened as a French brasserie in 2016, with 27 seats. Alfred was named Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Maryland, and the restaurant was named Best Brunch by Washingtonian Magazine three years after it opened.

“For Duck Duck Goose Bethesda, it all came down to the numbers. Despite having a packed dining room most nights, the rising costs of doing business caused DDG Bethesda’s profit margin to plummet,” Alfred said.

While Alfred’s four other restaurants in Baltimore and D.C. are spacious and busy, Duck Duck Goose’s Bethesda location was not big enough. At about 1,100 square feet total, including interior and the seasonal outdoor patio, Alfred said it became obvious that the business was just no longer sustainable as is.

It was time to pivot and change the space to a fast-casual restaurant, which would make more sense for the square footage, he said.

Expanding Good Ducking Burger into a brick and mortar, “fast-casual bistro” was something Alfred had always wanted to do.

The menu features classic burgers, fries and chicken sandwiches, plus Delhi Hot Fried Chicken, a fried chicken sandwich with butter chicken sauce, green chutney and yogurt aioli; The Pato Del Sur, a juicy burger, topped with plantains, duck confit and a sunny-side-up egg; and Bollywood Fries, double-fried fries, topped with tamarind chutney, cilantro chutney, yogurt sauce, and chaat masala.

Good Ducking Burger’s dining room will be open starting on Sept. 29.

RELATED: Duck Duck Goose Plans New Concept For Downtown Bethesda Location