Burger With Your Beer

John Thompson started with a food truck in 2021 and recalls having it parked across the street from Olde Mother Brewing Co., 526 N. Market St., on an 8-degree winter day when one of the owners came out. “I said, ‘I heard you were thinking of opening a kitchen.’” That thinking became reality recently with Thompson’s Fifty Fifty burger opening inside the brewery. 

The business describes the burgers as “half beef, half bacon and 100 percent delicious.”  Thompson says the two meats are ground together to produce the unique flavor, and special homemade sauces and toppings complete the deal. “We aren’t lettuce, tomato and pickle,” he says, instead naming off combinations including the Peter Piper, a burger with roasted poblano cream cheese, hot pickled cherry peppers and bourbon molasses. There’s also a vegetarian burger option.

Sides on the menu include Old Bay fries, sweet potato fries and beer-battered onion rings. These also are uniquely presented with sugar cinnamon on the sweet potato fries and homemade blueberry ketchup. “We’re always looking for something new” to offer customers, Thompson says, adding that “I’m obnoxiously meticulous” before signing off on a new menu item. Fifty Fifty partners with Sweet Hollow, a local bakery, for desserts.

Thompson says brewery customers “are overwhelmingly positive” about having a food place on the upper end of North Market Street, especially one that’s open for lunch. At the recent grand opening, more than 600 burger fans showed up. The food truck is still operating around the area “and I have another truck in storage. I’m exploring finding a permanent spot” for one of the trucks.

The restaurateur believes in “unique and creative burgers and I believe in charging a fair price.” www.oldemother.com and www.fiftyfiftyfoodtruck.com