Steeze Burger, once called the best in the region, finds a permanent home in Gaithersburg

Have you ever tried a burger in the heart of Pennsylvania coal country that locals top with marshmallow fluff?

Hunter Karametos downed the Fluff Screamer and loved it so much he bought some of the chili sauce to make his own version back home in Maryland.

That marked but one highlight in his hunt for the perfect burger, which the Gaithersburg native celebrated by founding Steeze Burger as a pop-up in 2022.

The pop-up will plant roots as a brick-and-mortar shop in Gaithersburg with a targeted opening in early April.

Karametos consumed scores of burgers around the world before he settled on a recipe for his business.

“It started as 100 burgers, turned into 150 burgers and, I mean, if you have a good burger … you’re gonna have two,” Karametos, 30, said at his under-construction shop at 12141 Darnestown Road.

“So I had close to 200 burgers in 2020, strictly for research.”

He can envision making burger specials dedicated to Kentucky, Hawaii and beyond.

“Different regions have different regional-style burgers that have been served for 100 years. You know, Maryland has never heard of a Kentucky-style burger.”

But Karametos can just as easily wax poetic about one of his favorite burgers that can be found pretty much anywhere: a Big Mac with the middle bun removed.

Triumph

Karametos’ own creation became a sensation.

Diners enjoyed his pop-ups at breweries and shops across Montgomery County and the D.C. region. Then, little more than a year after his burgers debuted, came the accolade that changed everything.

In June 2023, The Washington Post named Steeze’s double cheeseburger the best burger in the D.C. area.

“Everything that we use for our pop-ups — the tent, the grill, the meat, the buns, everything — I shoved into a 2007 Lexus IS 250,” Karametos said. “So the pop-up we had after that article came out, I pull in [to Kensington’s BabyCat Brewery] and there’s a line all the way around the corner.”

“I start unloading my car, and people are like: ‘It’s this? This is it’? And I’m just like, ‘Oh my God, do we even have enough burgers?’ We definitely did not have enough burgers. It was like that for a while afterward.”

I was one of the many who stood in line for one of Karametos’ burgers not long after the WaPo honor.

Steeze, a slang term used by skateboarders combining “style” and “ease,” was everything I craved in a burger — right down to the American cheese, steamed onions and pickles. But what stood out was the burger patty. It had an unctuous hit of marrow, which takes a cue from Burger & Beyond, a small, London-based chain that Karametos loves.

He took that international inspiration from the London burger and blended it with tastes from home. Steeze’s beef is sourced from farms in Dickerson, Derwood, Damascus and Gaithersburg, Karametos said. The farthest he goes for ingredients is Pennsylvania to get plain white bread buns, because he says other modern burger buns, such as brioche or potato rolls, overpower the beef.

Coming home

Karametos has been gearing up to order way more from his purveyors ahead of opening the shop. And Steeze will pop up across the region even when the store is up and running, Karametos said. As we stood there last month, he was waiting on permits and inspections from the county but had expected to be in the soft opening phase already.

Karametos holds Montgomery County restaurants close to his heart and takes pride in the fact he will soon open his own. “Montgomery County’s food scene is like a fortune cookie,” Karametos said. “There’s an answer for absolutely everything.”

He spends off days traversing the county with his fiancée/Steeze’s manager (and Wootton High School sweetheart), Kenzie Gilbert, to eat burgers from small shops and meals from the county’s wealth of immigrant-owned restaurants. Their favorites include Filipino cuisine from Kuya Ja’s Lechon Belly and Matthew’s Grill.

Despite his frustrations, it means even more to Karametos to open the shop in this particular strip mall.

He looked at potential locations in North Potomac, Rockville and Gaithersburg. But he grew up down the road and recalled childhood memories of grabbing bagels from Neal’s on weekend mornings in the same storefront where he’ll soon open Steeze. Or the nights he spent at the burger chain Fuddruckers and then renting a movie from Blockbuster, which both stood in this plaza.

“This one just felt right,” Karametos said. “It literally feels like a welcome home.”