67 Burger Owners: 'Our Concept Is To Be A Neighborhood Burger Joint'

While living in Los Angeles for 15 years, 67 Burger owner Ed Tretter got the entertainment bug. He worked for Activision, eventually becoming the manager for the financing director of studio finance for Paramount Pictures.

After a while, though, he realized he didn’t like the corporate structure. He moved back to New York City. He bought a building. And despite his aversion to waking up early and drinking coffee, he did one day to meet Jeff Maslanka, a local chef who had worked at BR Guest, Vento, The Grocery on Smith Street and Tribeca Montrochez.

Voila: 67 Burger was born.

"I had my burger concept in my head," Maslanka said. "My thought was, let me come in and learn how to open a restaurant."

"We had a six-month verbal contract," Tretter said. "If he needed help, I would help him open his restaurant."

And it happened. The restaurant’s first location at 67 Lafayette in Fort Greene started off slowly upon its Nov. 2011 launch, but after the third week, there was a line out the door. One time, there was a four-hour line. 

"Coming from some pretty serious kitchens, everything needs to be seasoned perfectly – everything," Maslanka said. "I will not tolerate hacks in my kitchen. If they’re coming into my kitchen, they need to have the basic semblance of what it means to cook for someone."

At both 67 Burgers in Fort Greene and now Park Slope (234 Flatbush Ave.), the menu includes 14 different types of burgers as well as the do-it-yourself option with hamburger, turkey, grilled chicken, veggie and tofu options.

"Our whole concept is to be a neighborhood burger joint," Tretter said. "Brooklyn is the one place that still felt like a neighborhood."